Page 23 of Hearts at Seaside
“I want comforting,” Amy said with another sigh.
“Oh shoot.” Bella closed the curtains and covered her mouth.
“What?” Jenna pulled the curtains back. She spotted the cookie dough wrappers on the porch and slammed the curtains shut. “Shoot, shoot, shoot. She knows it was us.”
“Great.” Amy sank onto her couch. “Now she thinks I’m the bad one.”
“Oh, hush,” Bella said. “No one ever thinks you’re the bad one. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
“Well, girls, are we on for the beach tomorrow?” Leanna asked.
“Yeah,” they all agreed.
On the way back to her cottage, Jenna thought about what Bella said about being afraid of something other than Pete. She thought of her parents’ divorce and her mother floundering to navigate a future that she hadn’t planned for or wanted. She pulled the screen door open and pushed the uncomfortable thoughts away. Maybe Bella was right, and what she was afraid of was staring her in the face every time her mother called. Maybe there really was no happily ever after.
