Page 37 of Sunsets at Seaside
“We’re all going so we can check him out.” Jenna grabbed a noodle and floated over to Jessica’s raft. “You two should come. We’re going to listen to a band play at Marconi Beach. I’m going to make Petey dance with me.”
“I’ve never even seen a band on a beach.” Jessica squeezed Jamie’s hand. “Do you think Vera would want to go?”
“You have no idea how much I love that you want to include her, but she’s been going to bed early these days. I’ll ask her, but it’ll probably be just us. Do you mind if I go spend a few minutes with her?”
“Of course not. Go.”
After a quick kiss, he swam the length of the pool, grabbed a towel, and joined Vera, the call with Mark all but forgotten.
“YOU CAN BURN a hole through a man if you stare too much,” Bella teased.
“Do they sell full-body heat protectors, then? Because there’s no chance that I’ll be done staring at him anytime soon.” Jessica couldn’t believe she’d admitted that out loud, but she was practically salivating over Jamie’s muscles as they bunched and flexed while he dried his delicious body—the taste of which was too fresh in her mind to forget.
“Said by the woman who suspiciously didn’t answer the door this morning at seven thirty.” Bella raised her brows.
“Bella!” Amy yelled. “We said we wouldn’t embarrass her.”
Jessica pulled Amy’s noodle closer and asked quietly, “Did you guys really come by?”
Amy nodded. “Don’t worry. We didn’t stick around and listen or anything. But we heard enough to know that we shouldn’t bother you.”
“Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.” She covered her mouth and shot a look at Jamie. He was laughing with Vera. She loved how attentive he was to his grandmother. “Oh no. Did Vera hear us, too?”
“No, Vera was playing her violin,” Amy assured her. “Tony was too angry about me going on a date to be aware of anything, Kurt had his nose in his computer, and Caden was out running, so it was only us girls.”
“Oh, thank heavens. I’m sorry I didn’t answer the door.” No, she really wasn’t. She’d had the best morning of her life, and every time she revisited the feel of Jamie lying with her, or… She had to stop thinking of him.
“Don’t be. At least you’re not like Leanna.” Amy laughed. “She leaves her windows open and all of Wellfleet can hear her. That’s probably the real reason they stay at their house on the bay instead of the cottage.”
“Oh, that’s awful. If we ever do that, please, please tell us, because I’d be mortified.” She realized she’d used the termus. It felt natural. It felt good.
“You guys are such a cute couple. I wish my favorite surfer dude would ask me out. I’ve been in love with him forever.” Amy’s eyes went soft when she looked at Tony lying on a lounge chair.
“If he’s that mad over you dating, it means he likes you. I know he was only helping me onto the raft to make you jealous.” Jessica lowered her voice to a whisper. “He looked right past me and stared at you.”
“Well, he sure doesn’t act like it, but I do like the guy I’m going out with,” Amy explained. “Jake Ryder, he’s Blue’s younger brother.”
“Much younger brother. She’s a cradle robber,” Jenna said.
Did that make Jamie a cradle robber, too?
“He’s only twenty-eight, but he’s some kind of hot, mountain rescue guy, so…” Jenna wiggled her eyebrows in quick succession.
Amy swatted Jenna’s arm. “Stop trying to stir up trouble.”
Jenna laughed.
Jamie and Vera walked by, and Jamie crouched beside the pool. “I’m going to help Vera get situated. She doesn’t want to come this evening, so it will be just us. Okay?”
“Sounds good.” Jessica waved to Vera. “We’ll miss you tonight.”
“Thank you, dear. Have a nice time.”
She watched Jamie escort Vera out of the pool gates and sighed, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world. She got out of the pool to lie in the sun, and her phone rang with an unfamiliar number.
“Hello?”
“Hi. Is this Jessica Ayers?”
