Page 24 of Memories By the Shore
“Okay, I can take a hint,” she says before leaving my office and closing the door behind her.
My heart never slowed for the remainder of the afternoon.
Walking to my car, I scroll through my phone, searching for Avery’s number. It was surreal putting it in after Gail read it off to me before I left. As soon as I heard the first three numbers, I recited the rest in my head. I’ve had it memorized for years. I figured she’d have changed it, but she didn’t.
Is it too soon to call her?I can’t let her know I’m anxious tospeak with her. Maybe I can chalk it up to being respectful of her time. No, she’ll never believe that.Ugh.I wipe a palm down my face and hit send on the number that’s been tattooed on the back of my eyelids for most of my adult life.
“Jasper,” she says my name in a breathy tone as if she’s relieved to hear from me but annoyed by it simultaneously.
“Don’t act like you’re not happy by my call. I know you’ve been waiting for me all day,” I quip, keeping my voice low.
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” She sneers.
“What are you doing?” I ask, starting my car.
She pauses before answering. “My takeout just arrived, so I’m sitting on the deck eating dinner.”
“Are you staying with Helen?”
“I’m not, but oddly enough, just down the way from her house in a vacation rental,” Avery replies.
While taking the last left into my driveway, it quickly dawns on me Avery might be staying at the Hannah family’s beach house. They spend the summers in Seattle and rent out the small bungalow while they’re away.
“Isn’t that the Hannah family beach house?” I ask, walking inside and heading straight for the bay windows toward the water.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
As if fate couldn’t have planned it better, my new place is exactly three houses down from the Hannahs—which means less than a two-minute walk from Avery right now. Opening my balcony doors, I stare down the beach at the row of cottages and bungalows, letting my eyes land on hers. I can see the lights on, but I can’t make out if she’s on the back deck or not.
I bite back a satisfied smile. “Where did you get takeout from?”
She sighs. “Did you just call me to chat?”
Getting comfortable in one of the chairs on my lower-level deck, I prepare to keep her on the phone as long as possible. The sound of the waves is now amplified through the phone because we’re both listening to the same ones.
“I haven’t decided yet.” Propping my feet up on the opposite chair, I smile at her annoyance. “I’m the mayor, you know, so I have a personal interest in all the businesses in this town.”
“Yes, I realize that.” Her words are tight.She’s smiling.“Are we going to talk about a divorce?”
I’m not going to make this easy on her, but I am surprised at how fast she got back to the topic of divorce. I might have to save this little game for another day. “I have another call coming in. I’ll contact you tomorrow.”
“Jasper!” she exclaims.
“I promise. I’ll call you in the morning,” I tell her, then end the call. I glance over at her cottage to notice the light is now out. She’s pissed.
Now that I feel like I’ve done my part for the day and stalled her attempt to leave town so soon, I can focus on what I plan on doing to ensure she stays.Do I want her to stay?I do, but in what context? She left me once, and I’m pretty confident she’ll do it again.
I lift off the chair, close the doors, and head inside to make myself dinner. Walking through my three-story beach house, I imagine what it would be like to have someone to share it with, but the solitude of being alone is hard to let go of. Averyextinguished those dreams long ago. By now, we’d have a child with whom to run through these halls. I’d teach him or her how to surf and raise them in this small coastal town I love so much.
Chapter Eight
Then
Avery
Ithought getting a job would help me make friends, but the last two weeks have done nothing to further that cause. When my aunt Helen mentioned her friend Mel was hiring for her sought-after bikini store on the boardwalk, I jumped at the chance. Staying cooped up inside my bedroom was not something I wanted to do for the next three months.
It’s a benefit that Helen knows almost everyone in town, but that also comes with the bonus of local catty girls, who conveniently found and sniffed me out in this small town. I assumed I’d left that sort of behavior in high school. Of course, the ones out here in Coconut Grove have found me. They sense I’m different. Girls like that always do.
