Page 39 of It's a Love Story

“It’s a great movie, I think.”

Cormack asks me, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, of course. Why?” I ask.

“You’re gripping your chest like Reenie’s finally done you in with all the bacon.”

Everyone laughs, and I look down. My hand is actually on my heart.

Dan smiles. “It’s a very heartfelt script,” he says. “It’sThe NotebookmeetsThe Blair Witch Project.”

I shake my head. “It’s not the stupidNotebook.And no one gets murdered in the woods.”

“So what happens?” Reenie asks. “To bring them together at the end.”

“He comes back for her,” I say.

“He realizes she’s the one who sees him as he really is,” says Dan.

Cormack pushes away from the table. “Danny, are you having a heart attack now? Jesus Christ, Reenie.”

Dan removes his hand from his heart and puts it in his lap. “It’s a beautiful story,” he says.

“It is,” I say.

“Well, finally,” says Aidan. “If that last script you almost worked on had been any good, you two would actually be dating.” Paula elbows him, almost imperceptibly. “Probably,” says Dan without looking my way.

Brian asks, “Have you even gotten her on the water yet?” Then, to me, “I swear there’s more to Long Island than Mom’s kitchen.”

Dan just shakes his head. “Did you guys get the boat in the water this year?”

Brian says, “If by ‘you guys’ you mean me, yeah, I cleaned it and moved it down to the beach before Memorial Day. Jane, want to go out today?”

“You mean with Danny,” Cormack says, and it’s definitely not a question.

“Well, yeah, if he wants to,” says Brian. The look in his eyes is playful. The look in Dan’s is not. “I mean, I think he’s on record saying you’re not his girlfriend, Jane.”

“Don’t,” says Dan.

Reenie pats my hand. “They do this. It’s nothing. And Brian knows how to be a perfect gentleman.”

“Well, I’m coming anyway,” Dan says.

The ensuing awkward silence prompts me to say, “Fun.”

“It’s going to be perfect weather for it,” Reenie says. “Did you bring a swimsuit?”

“I bought Eleanor Roosevelt’s childhood swimsuit in town, I’m all set,” I say, and Dan laughs. I have to stop that.

*

DAN AND BRIANdon’t talk as we drive to the beach. At least not to each other. They’re both talking to me. They point things out, a park that has something to do with a tennis player, the tony area where they think Jack rented a house.

My mom texts me a selfie of her head collapsed on her work keyboard. I text back a video of the ocean as we drive. She replies: You win!

Me: How was Santa Barbara?

Mom: Dreamy

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