Elderwood Sound by Annie Dyer

Puffin Bay had been Zoey’s safe space since she was a teenager, when the jaws of fame had started to bite. I was a bit more than a kid when we became friends, hoping each time she had a break that she’d return to the town, hoping that we could hang-out like we had that first summer.
Hoping that she’d return to me.
I was her first, a favour she asked. She was the first girl I fell in love with, not that she knew. To her, I was a laid back Casanova, never committing to anything apart from my research in marine biology, winging it through life.
Now, both of us several years older, she’s returning to Puffin Bay indefinitely, stepping away from fame and the man who’s been stalking her, a secret she’s been keeping to herself, until now.
It’s my job to keep Zoey safe, and sane, but that’s not the hard thing – somehow I need to keep my heart safe from her breaking it, in case I’m not enough for her to stay.