Page 63 of The Beachgoers
twenty-two
— Now —
LAUREN THINKS IT’S BEST TO take care of this now, before the night gets underway. Before the partying is in full swing. Before the food’s served up. Before the music’s on repeat. The dancing, unstoppable. The looks, the touches, the words flowing like sweet wine.
Yes, best to take care of this while she can get Jason’s undivided attention and Kyle can finalize his plan with Maris. So together, she and Jason go outside through Elsa’s kitchen door. The sun has set; solar garden lights illuminate the inn’s lush grounds.
“What’s up?” Jason asks as they walk on the lawn. “Everything okay?”
“Perfect.” Lauren gives his hand a squeeze. “Let’s talk on the front porch, where it’s quiet.”
As they head around the inn—passing illuminated windows with white starfish propped in the panes; hearing the hum of talk and laughs come through the dining room’s floor-to-ceiling open windows; breathing the salty air lifting off the night’s seawater—Jason says he’s really happy for her and Kyle. That he’s not sure how they pulled it off, but the vow renewal ceremony couldn’t have been better. That she and Kyle deserve all this tonight.
“Thanks. Elsa stopped by the diner yesterday and roped me and Kyle into her shenanigans.”
“Huh. That sounds like Elsa. But just yesterday?”
“You got it. She really kicked things into high gear. Between now and then? It’s been all hands on deck. Celia, Elsa, my parents—they transformed the beach for us today. And somehow managed to keep it all a secret.”
“That they definitely did. We had no idea.”
“So now I’m married—again!” Lauren tells him when they turn onto the front porch. White-painted, slatted-back rockers sit on either side of the inn’s main entrance. There are more rockers on the expansive porch, and an arrangement of vintage metal lawn chairs, too, set around wicker garden tables topped with vases of flowers. But Lauren passes it all on her way to the large swing hanging from thick ropes at the far end of the porch. She sits there, adjusting her long lace wedding skirt beneath her.
Jason leans against the nearby railing and crosses his arms. “So. What’s on your mind?” he asks. “There’s a reason you pulled me away, no?”
“There is. It’s about…work, actually.”
“Work?”
She nods. “I wanted to propose something to you, for the Fenwick job. If you don’t mind, I mean.”
“I’m listening.”
“Well, I thought maybe you, or Mitch, might consider commissioning my artwork. A custom driftwood painting for his cottage, maybe. You know, I could even replicate the rowboat painting Eva has—the one of the rowboat you salvaged for them. Or maybe I could paint a mural like I did on the inn’s staircase?”
“Those are great ideas. I can absolutely run them by Mitch.”
“It’s just that I thought it would be a nice—oh, who am I kidding.” Lauren turns up her hands. “This isn’t about my work, me dragging you out here.”
“Honestly? I figured as much, Lauren. So you’renotinterested in contracted work?”
“No. I mean, yes! Yes, I’dloveit. But that’snotwhy I wanted to talk tonight.”
Jason tips his head and eyes her from the shadows. “So what’s going on with you?”
Lauren pats the swing’s cushioned seat. “Sit with me?”
After a moment, he joins her on the porch swing. It creaks a little then, and Lauren gives it a nudge to get it moving.
“That’s better,” she says, sitting back and taking a long breath. “Because I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
“About me?”
She nods. “You didn’t know our vow renewal was happening today, and I worried about you, once you realized. Because… well I saw your interview onToday’s New EnglanderMonday, on TV, and the way you got broken up talking about the past.”
“Oh man, don’t remind me.” Jason drags a hand along his jaw. “Bad, bad interview on a day that caught up with me. But listen, it’s okay. I’m over it.”
“Maybe.” Lauren gives him a sympathetic smile. The night is misty, the type of night that draws memories in that mist. Memories, ghosts, emotions. “But ten years agowasa hard time for you. I remember you at our wedding that September afternoon—in your wheelchair, your leg on the amputee board. Oh, Jason. You weresobeaten down. It wasn’t an easy day for any of us, after losing Neil. But mostly? It was hardest on you.” Lauren looks at Jason in the dusky light. His whiskered face is in shadow on the porch. But he’s relaxed, sitting back on the swing. “So if tonight brought back any memories, I want to be sure you’re doing okay. Especially on top of what’s going on with you and Maris.”
