Page 48 of Dreaming at Seaside
Just had a run-in with my son, can’t find my girlfriend, and I’m sure I’ll have three more thefts to deal with tonight. Life is grand.
“Great. Just stopped by to see if I could catch Bella.”Man, he missed her.
“I was with them at Cahoon, but the sun’s really warm today, so I came back to get some things done.” Amy shifted the laundry basket to her other hip. “She’ll be bummed she missed you, but she had a great day and I know she’ll be excited to tell you about it.”
“Yeah. I’ve been texting her, but if she’s at Cahoon, she won’t get them until she leaves.” He ran his hand through his hair and debated driving over to the beach, but the chance of catching her in the parking lot was nearly zero. “Can you just ask her to check her phone?”
“Sure.” Amy shifted her eyes to Tony and her cheeks flushed.
The dispatcher’s voice came across the radio in his patrol car. “Thanks, Amy. I’ve got to take this. She can text me, and if I get a break, I’ll swing by again.” He waved to Tony, took the call, and headed back to Nauset to handle another vehicle break-in report. He had a feeling it was going to be a very long night.
BELLA AND JENNA stayed on the beach long after the sun went down. Her hair whipped across her cheeks, reminding her of the night Caden tied her hair back with fishing line. He was always doing thoughtful things like that—taking care of her in ways that no man had done before. He was different in so many ways from the other men she’d dated, and she realized that she was different when she was around him, too, and even though she wasn’t her snarky self, she liked the softer woman she became when she was with him.
Jenna pulled her chair closer to Bella and draped a blanket over their legs. “You look like you’re deep in thought.”
“Thinking about Caden.” She inhaled the cool, salty air, and her mind drifted to Caden’s fantasy. Bella had always been adventurous, and she’d never been especially modest. Having sex in places other than the bedroom wasn’t new to her—tents, cars…been there done that. Outside, though? That had always carried a trace of danger, but the thought of doing that with Caden didn’t feel dangerous at all. Caden wouldn’t let them do anything dangerous. Maybe they could find an adventurous, private spot to satisfy his fantasy…
“Aren’t you always thinking about Caden?” Jenna wore a sarong draped around her shoulders and it blew behind her like a colorful mane.
“Am I a total loser for tossing away my convictions so quickly and agreeing to date, aka commit to, Caden?” She had tried to get herself to believe that she might be making a mistake or setting herself up to get hurt, but being with Caden didn’t feel anything but right.
Jenna reached for Bella’s hand and cupped it between her own. “Bella, Bella, Bella. Haven’t you learned anything from me? Convictions are meant to be broken.” She reached into her bathing suit top and pulled out three small rocks.
“Jenna.” Bella laughed. Ever since they were little girls, Jenna had found creative ways to carry rocks home from the beach. She would put the tiniest of rocks between her gums and her cheek and then forget they were there. Her cleavage was another favorite hiding place, and Jenna’s cleavage could hide a boulder.
“I can’t help it. I love them.” She ran her index finger over a gray-white rock. “They’re not perfectly heart shaped, and they’re not perfectly gray or white, but look at them.” She petted the rocks in her palm. “Can’t you just see them on my coffee table beside the big one that looks like an ostrich egg?” Her eyes widened, and she flashed that killer smile of hers and blinked her eyes in rapid succession, the same way she had when she was fifteen and had scored a date with the hottest surfer at the beach.
“Yes. I can totally see it there.” Bella leaned her head on Jenna’s shoulder. “I needed this time with you. I wish Amy had stayed longer. I’ve missed spending our days at the beach this summer.”
“Me too. But this is all for a good reason, and next summer we’ll be back on track with the beach all day and hanging out at night.” Jenna gasped. “Oh no.”
“What?” Bella scanned the water, thinking that Jenna saw someone in trouble.
“You can’t date Caden.”
“What?” Bella turned to face her. Jenna’s thin brows were drawn together. Her eyes were full of concern. “Why not?”
“Leanna has Kurt, and we see her maybe half as much as we used to. If you and Caden stay together, then next summer we’ll only see you half as much.” She shook her head. “No, this isn’t good. We can’t lose you, too.”
“You’d never lose me, and we see Leanna a lot. She and Kurt stay at Seaside all the time. I mean, it’s different with him around, but you love Kurt. We all do.”
“I totally love him, and from what I know of Caden and Evan, I really like them, too, but it’s different.” Jenna tucked her rocks back into her bathing suit top.
“Yeah. But it’s kind of better, too. I’m happy for Leanna. She’s never been happier, and you know how much Kurt adores her. He moved from New York to be with her. That’s love.” Caden had moved from Boston to the Cape for Evan.That’s love, too.
“I know, but what if you end up with Caden? Amy’s cute as a button. She’ll get swooped up next. Jamie’ll show up here one summer with a computer geek girlfriend, and Tony…Heck, he’ll have a harem. Then it’s just going to be me, lusting after Pete.” She covered her face with her hands. “Oh, no, Bella. I can’t be a forty-year-old-woman lusting after Pete.”
Bella laughed. “Wow, a little dramatic, aren’t we?” She patted Jenna’s arm. “You aren’t going to be a forty-year-old woman lusting after Pete. He’ll be long married by then.” She leaned away and Jenna swatted her arm.
“Wow, I hate you.” Jenna feigned a scowl, but her teasing eyes gave her away. “You watch. That man will be mine before I’m thirty-five.”
“I should hope so. That gives you five and a half years. If you can’t snag your man in that long, then maybe it’s time to move on.” Jenna had been nursing a crush on Pete for years, but while she was a total extrovert around everyone else, she turned into a mousy introvert around him.
“Bite your tongue.”
“Can we get back to me for a minute?” She used her foot to bury Jenna’s foot beneath the sand.
“Always.” Jenna wiggled her toes free from the mound of sand, and Bella went to work covering her foot again.
