Page 70 of The Summer We Started Over

“Somehow,” Barrett said, “I’m not feeling sorry for you.”

“I get you.” Drew steered onto the Cisco road. “I’m not doing the poor-little-rich-boy bit. I’m lucky and I know it. I would just rather have spent tonight with you.”

Drew parked the car at the barriers to the beach.

“How cool is this?” he asked. “No other cars here. It’s all ours! Let’s walk.”

They kicked off their shoes, left the car, and walked and half slid down the dune to the wide beach. It was a sultry night with a crescent moon blurred by haze and humidity. The ocean hid its shades of blue and silver beneath a deep expanse of black. Beneath their feet, the sand was still warm from the sun.

“It’s hot,” Barrett said.

Drew stopped walking. He took Barrett in his arms. “You’rehot.”

He kissed her softly. Sinking onto the sand, they lay back together,side by side. Darkness covered them, with only enough light from the moon for them to see each other’s faces. Drew slid his hand up her thigh and beneath her shorts.

Barrett said, “Drew,no.”

In a low voice, Drew said, “Barrett, you’re all I think about. I’m crazy attracted to you and I think you feel the same.”

“Drew.” She rolled away from him, putting space between them. She didn’t think she’d ever been so confused. This was the guy romances told her she should want, this wealthy, handsome, urgent suitor. And he was attractive. But something wasn’t right and she couldn’t figure out what it was.

She said, “It’s late, and I have to work tomorrow, and I’m sorry, but I think I need to go home.”

Immediately she sensed his disappointment. It seemed as if anger was steaming off him like the summer’s heat.

Then Drew took a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right.” He stood up and held out his hand. “We should go home.”

As they walked toward his car, Barrett said softly, “Drew, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Drew muttered.

Still, when Drew sat behind the wheel and started the car, Barrett noticed how tight his lips were, almost thin, and his jaw was clenched. Or maybe it was a trick of the moonlight.

—

Eddie was writing on her laptop. Her bedroom window was open to allow the cool night air to drift in with its alluring scents of salt and honeysuckle. She’d turned off her bedroom lights as she always did, so that people would think she was asleep. She needed privacy for what she was doing. She knew she was being paranoid and even ridiculous, but she didn’t want anyone else to see what she was writing. After all, not one, but two writers were in the house now, and her efforts were nothing compared to theirs.

What she was writing was a journal in a way, but really, it was more than that. Was it the beginning of anovel? From the first page, the first line, she’d embroidered and reordered the events of her own personal day with the events, emotions, and dreams of a woman much like her, but different, and it was only as she sat at her desk, typing words into her laptop, that this other woman was becoming clearer, as if she were telling Eddie her own story, which was like Eddie’s but also very different.

It was about a woman named Edie who had come to the island to run her sister’s shop while her sister and her sister’s new husband were on their honeymoon, and were kidnapped. Her sister’s husband was from a wealthy family, and the kidnappers wanted ransom and his parents were stalling about paying…

Writing this novel or whatever it was made Eddie’s brain wake up. She could almost feel all the little brain cells light up like fireworks asshe wrote. She was only halfway through, and she knew at some point she wanted someone else to read it, but who could she trust to read it and still love her and respect her afterward? What if she was deluded that it made any sense at all?

Her computer chimed to alert her to a new email. It had to be junk if someone was sending it so late, but she was stalled at a scene, so she opened her email.

And almost fell off her chair.

It was fromDove.

Hi, Eddie, I’m coming to the island this summer, with Bobby. I have a lot to tell you and Barrett but I’ll wait until I see you all in person. So much has changed in my life. I hope you and Barrett and your father are well.

Love, Dove

“What?”Eddie threw her hands up in the air. She hitReply. The email address was @coloradocybercafe.com.

“Dove,” Eddie said aloud. “I don’t believe this!”

In a barely controlled frenzy, Eddie typed,OMG Dove, I’m sohappy to hear from you! I can’t wait to see you! Call me. Here’s my cell number. Plus, here’s Barrett’s cell. We will be SO HAPPY to see you and Bobby! Love, Eddie.

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