Page 16 of Secrets at Seaside
“It’s gonna be a chipples night,” Jenna whispered.
“It’s always a chipples night with you around,” Amy teased. “Put your towel on. Jeez, Jenna. And how can you sleep naked like that with your windows wide open?”
Jenna rolled her eyes and wrapped her towel around her body, tucking the top securely. “Happy?”
“Not really, but happy about your towel, yes.”
“Shh.” Bella glared at them as they approached Leanna’s window. Bella was the tallest of the group, towering over Jenna’s four-foot-eleven stature and a couple of inches taller than Amy at five four. She peeked into the window, then crouched with her back against the house. “She’s not in there.”
“What?” Jenna stood and started jumping up to try to see in the window. Bella yanked her back down, and she fell across Bella’s lap, laughing. Bella slapped her hand over Jenna’s mouth.
“Shh. Do you think I’m blind?” Bella hissed.
“No, but sometimes I wish you were mute,” Leanna said as she came around the corner of the house. “Get away from the window before Pepper hears you.” She motioned them over to the road. “I heard you guys before you even reached the windows,chipplescrew.”
Jenna covered her mouth and laughed.
Arm in arm, they walked down to the pool at a snail’s pace, thanks to Amy’s bare feet. Leanna was the only one who’d remembered to bring her pool key.
“What would you do without me?” Leanna teased as she unlocked the gate.
“We’d probably get more sleep.” Jenna crossed her arms over her chest and puckered her lips. “Oh, Kurt. Yes, more, baby, please…”
Leanna swatted her arm. “Shut up before you wake up Theresa, and get in the pool.” Theresa Ottoline was another resident at Seaside. She was also the property manager, and she was a stickler for the rules. Swimming was prohibited after eight o’clock at night, but that never stopped the girls from indulging in their favorite rule-breaking activity.
Chunky-dunking was a ritual that hadn’t changed much over the years. It usually involved wine or cookie dough, but Amy had been too distraught over Tony to think of anything other than being with the girls and washing away the hurt of rejection.
“Theresa’s not here. She had to go back home, but she said she’d be back in a few days,” Leanna explained as Jenna went running by buck naked. Jenna always dropped her towel by the gate, then ran to the far end of the pool to use the stairs. She’d done it for years, and why she dropped her towel so far away when everyone else wore theirs to the far side of the pool was a mystery. Then again, much of what their obsessive-compulsive friend did was a mystery, like collecting rocks and organizing every little thing she could get her hands on.
The girls descended the stairs and dunked under to their shoulders. Amy missed Jessica and the way she always said,Cold, cold, cold,when she dunked under the water. She hoped she and Jamie were having a wonderful honeymoon, and knew that it wouldn’t matter where they were, as long as they were together. They would be happy in a cardboard box if they had each other.
I’d be happy with Tony in a cardboard box. Naked.
Stop…
“This is freaking cold.” Bella reached for the foam noodles and tossed one to each of the girls. They’d all forgotten to pin up their hair, and each had a halo of tendrils floating around them.
Amy’s teeth chattered. “I need the cold. I need to freeze thoughts of Tony out of me.” Amy kicked her feet to keep warm as they drifted toward the deep end of the pool.
“Don’t give up on him, Ames.” Leanna swam over to her.
“Yeah. He looked like a caged tiger tonight before he finally put his arm around you,” Bella added.
“Um, yeah, right. He as much as told me to give up on him, and he only held me because I was cold.” Amy sidestroked away from the group, needing a moment to breathe. She hadn’t counted on them urging her to try again.
“Because he cares,” Jenna added. “If he didn’t care, he’d have let you freeze.”
“Kinda like we are right now.” Leanna laughed. “This would have been easier if we were drunk. Hey, are we having breakfast tomorrow?”
“Of course. I’ll bring the coffee,” Jenna offered.
“Muffins from me. Bella’s house?” Leanna asked.
“Sure.” Bella swam over to Amy. “How can we help, Amy? Want me to beat the stuffing out of him?”
“No one can beat the stuffing out of Tony. He’s…” Amy mulled over her answer.Hot, strong, sexy, frustrating, and totally not in love with me.“Total alpha.”Just not my alpha.She swallowed the sadness before it could swallow her.
Jenna let go of her noodle and hung on to Leanna’s with her. They kicked across the pool and joined Amy and Bella.
