“Air? I have no idea either, but I’m glad we’re together. You guys don’t know this about me, but I haven’t had many relationships, and I swear to you, the sadness felt like it could drown me at any second. And getting through every minute was like wading through concrete.”
“We’ve all been there way too many times,” Bella said in a quiet voice. “You’re lucky you haven’t had to go through it much.”
“Well, I don’t know how you survived it more than once.” Jessica shifted the noodle beneath her arms. “Hey, what do you do if Theresa shows up? I mean, we’re naked.”
“She’s fast asleep. She caught us last summer, and Jenna told her we were cleaning up around the pool or something,” Amy explained. “Then the dingdong asked her if she wanted to go skinny-dipping.”
“Well, you left the cookie dough wrappers down here, remember?” Jenna swam over to the side of the pool. “Speaking of cookie dough…”
“I don’t have any,” Amy whispered.
“Me, either.” Bella swam to Jenna’s side. “Some person under five foot tall ate all of mine.”
“I was having a meltdown.” Jenna feigned a frown.
“Why?” Jessica asked.
“Petey reorganized my rocks on the deck. It totally threw me off.”
Amy mouthed OCD to Jessica.
“I have cookie dough. Jamie and I bought some to make cookies for the barbecue but then forgot.” She let go of the noodle and kicked her feet to stay afloat.
“Want me to go get it?”
“Yes!” the others whispered.
Jessica laughed and swam to the shallow end of the pool. Eating cookie dough after midnight, swimming in a pool naked…She never would have imagined herself doing these things. Ever. And now she couldn’t imagine ever not doing them, with these friends. She climbed from the pool and Bella whistled.
“Hottie on deck,” Bella said quietly.
“Yeah, right.” Jessica wrapped her towel around herself, slipped on her flip-flops, and hurried toward the gate. “I’ll be right back.”
She passed Tony’s cottage and ran across the gravel road, then took the steps to the apartment as quietly as she could. Inside, the apartment smelled like Jamie. She turned to close the door as quietly as she could.
“Hey, babe.”
“Ack!” She spun around and found Jamie sitting on the couch in his boxer briefs. “Holy cow, you scared me.”
He arched a brow and smiled. “Because robbers often address you as babe?”
She sat beside him in her towel. “No, because you’re supposed to be asleep.”
“So you can play naked without me? I like to play naked with you.” He tugged teasingly at her towel.
She turned away with a soft laugh. “I need to get the cookie dough.”
He arched a brow.
“We’re chunky-dunking.”
“There’s nothing chunky about your sweet little body.” He nuzzled against her neck.
“You feel good.” Goose bumps raced up her arms. “That’s not fair.”
“Why?” he whispered against her ear.
“Because they’re waiting for me, and…oh, I love when you kiss my neck.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Wait. Stop.” She pressed her hands to his chest and pushed him away. “This is bad, bad, bad. What kind of a friend am I if I promise to bring them cookie dough and fall into bed with you instead? They need cookie dough.”
Jamie sat back. “Blown off for cookie dough. That’s a new low.”
She pressed her lips to his. “I promise to make it up to you after we’re done.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He drew her into an embrace. “That’s not really why I was out here.”
“Oh. Why were you?”
“Because I thought you were coming in for the night, and I wanted to surprise you with something.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t you have cookie dough to deliver?” His lips curved into a teasing smile, and he pulled her into his lap. “Are we still having dinner with your parents when we get back to Boston?”
“Yes, Monday night. Why?” Her father had been overwhelmingly happy for them, while her mother had said she was happy, with no change in the inflection of her voice. She’d followed that statement with a question about how their relationship would impact Jessica’s career. Her mother’s reaction had been a harder pill to swallow than she’d anticipated, but Jessica had drawn upon the advice she’d given Jamie about not blaming Mark for his wanting to protect him. She’d taken that advice and bitten her tongue.
“Remember the day we met?”
“Of course. How could I forget? You walked up to the deck and stole my heart with your smile.”
He rolled his eyes. “Before that.”
“When I pegged you with my phone?” She rubbed his head. “I’m so sorry about that…sort of. If I hadn’t, we’d never have met.”
He smiled. “Right. Totally worth it.”
He reached behind him and handed her a clear glass box. She peered inside. It was hard to see in the dark apartment, but there was no mistaking the shape of the baseball, or Mickey Mantle’s autograph colored in with red Magic Marker.
“Jamie,” she whispered. She squinted, turned the glass in her hands so she could see each side. “How on earth…?”
“Let’s just say that that little boy likes Mickey Mantle’s clear signature a whole lot more than he liked the colored-in one.”
She couldn’t believe it. She’d given up so easily, and not only had he not given up, but he’d kept it a secret this whole time.
“I can’t believe you did this. Do you know how happy my father will be?” Her eyes welled with tears.
“I knew how happy it would make you to give it to him.” He brushed her wet hair from her shoulder.
“We’ll both give it to him. Thank you, Jamie. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“Jessica? Are you in there?” Jenna’s whisper came through the front window.
Jessica covered her mouth with her hand, feeling guilty for taking so long and still reeling from Jamie’s thoughtful gift.
“Of course she is,” Bella said. “Where else would she be?”
“She probably went back to bed with Jamie,” Amy added.
Jamie gathered her in his arms and whispered, “I’m about to do something even nicer for you and pretend I’m asleep so you can go eat cookie dough naked with the girls, when what I really want to do is put that cookie dough all over you and nibble it off.”
He took her in his arms and crashed his mouth over hers, pressing her back to the couch.
“I think she’s sleeping,” Jenna whispered. “I see the edge of the couch. I see her feet. I think.”
Jamie tore his lips from hers and pressed his finger over her lips. Jessica opened her mouth and twirled her tongue around his finger, earning her a heated stare.
“Let me see,” Bella whispered. “Those aren’t feet. Oh wait, yes, they are. Wait.”
“It’s her and Jamie!” Jenna laughed. “Guess there’s no cookie dough for us tonight. Go, go, go.”
As their feet scampered down the steps, Jessica pushed away from Jamie and grabbed the cookie dough, then flung open the front door and hurled it over the deck, pegging Bella in the back.
“Ow! What the…?” Bella said. She and Jenna bent over and searched the ground, finally spotting the cookie dough.