“Hey, handsome.” The tall brunette embraced him. She, like the others, had on jeans and a hoodie.
“Sky, this is Jessica.” Jamie touched Jessica’s arm. “She’s renting at Seaside. Jessica, this is Sky.”
She wished she could pretend that Jamie touching her arm had meant something, but his other hand was on Sky’s lower back, and she realized they must be dating.
“Nice to meet you.” Jessica shifted her eyes away from Jamie’s hand connecting him with Sky and hoped the disappointment in her voice wasn’t as evident to them as it was to her.
“Sky’s my fiancé, Pete’s, sister. She hangs out with us a lot,” Jenna explained. “I’m sorry about the whole thong thing,” she added.
“Yeah, that was meant for Theresa, but we didn’t expect that you’d be there when she came down,” Amy added.
“I did,” Bella said. “That was the whole point, for all of us to do what we’re not supposed to.”
Amy elbowed Bella.
Jessica didn’t know how to read Bella. If everyone was supposed to wear a thong, how come she was the only one who didn’t?
“What?” Bella’s brows knitted together at Amy. She sighed, and her voice softened. “Okay, so here’s the deal. Theresa’s a stickler for rules, and I like to break them. So…yeah, I knew you might go down to the pool, and if you did, I, like Jamie, hoped you’d wear a thong—”
“Don’t bring me into this.” Jamie held his hands up in surrender, which made Jessica laugh. “I wasn’t even at the pool.”
Maybe he wasn’t dating Sky after all.
“Anyway, it was way more fun with you wearing one, but I never expected Theresa to bare her butt.” Bella laughed. “What was up with that?”
“Oh my gosh, I know.” Amy’s eyes were wide.
“What’s wrong with wearing a thong?” Sky asked.
Jenna explained Bella’s prank to Sky, and Jamie leaned down close and whispered, “Sorry you got caught in the crossfire.”
“Your grandmother saved me. She covered my butt with a towel before Theresa saw me.”
Jamie glanced at Vera. “Did she? Good old Gram.”
“Hey, are you guys up for a few drinks?” Sky asked. “We could go to the Beachcomber.”
“I’m up for a few drinks, but I’m not sure I can handle the Beachcomber tonight. Why don’t we light a bonfire in the quad?” Amy suggested.
“The quad?” Jessica asked.
“That’s what we call the grassy area between the cottages. I have no idea why, but Bella said it one night when she had too many glasses of Middle Sister wine, and the name stuck.” Jamie touched Jessica’s arm again. “It’ll be fun. Join us?”
“Sure.” She tried to ignore the heat his hand was causing to sear through her veins.
“Okay, but there aren’t any single guys at the quad, so you blew my chance at a hot date night.” Sky set her hands on her hips. “Are you single, Jessica? Maybe you and I should hit the Beachcomber.”
I guess Jamie’s not your boyfriend after all.
“I am single, but I’m not really up for a bar tonight. Thank you anyway.” No Jamie, no bar. Quad, here I come.
“Excuse me a sec.” Jamie went to help Vera with her violin, and when he returned with Vera on his arm, Vera ran her eyes over the group and sighed.
“Do you know how much it pleases me to see all of you here?” Vera met Jessica’s gaze. “Together.”
Jessica handed her the bouquet. “These are for you. The consonance was lovely, and the capriccio at the end…” She covered her heart with her hand. “Took my breath away.”
“Why, thank you.” Vera exchanged a look with Jamie that Jessica couldn’t read. “Do you play?”
“A little,” Jessica answered. It was hard for her not to talk about her career, but she knew it would lead to all sorts of questions about how someone so young played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and then Vera would want to know why she’d taken an extended break. She wasn’t ashamed of her reasons, but she also wasn’t ready to give up being a regular person yet. Being a regular person, it turned out, was really fun.
“What’s a capriccio?” Amy asked.
“A quick improv. The spirited piece they played at the end,” Jamie answered.
Holy cow. You just got a million times hotter.
JAMIE HELPED VERA out of the car and into the small cottage. “Are you going to join us for the bonfire, Gram?”
“I think I’m going to turn in. We had a nice turnout tonight, didn’t we?” She sat on the couch, and Jamie spread a throw blanket across her lap.
Jamie had enough money to buy one of the million-dollar estates overlooking the water, but he loved the three-bedroom cottage and the memories it held. Before his parents were killed in a freak accident while on safari, they summered at Seaside as a family. In addition to the few memories of his parents he’d retained over the years, the friendships he shared kept him in the community.
“Yes, and I got shushed.” He laughed, remembering the look in Jessica’s eyes when the man behind them had shushed them. Her cheeks had pinked up, and she looked so stinkin’ cute he’d nearly pulled her against him.
“That little Jessica is a sweet gal, isn’t she?” Vera picked up her book and set it in her lap.
“She’s not so little, Gram. She’s probably in her mid-twenties, but yeah, she is sweet.” He hoped to find out more about her tonight. “Do you want me to make you some tea?”
“No, thank you, dear. You go ahead and have some fun. I’ll be just fine.” She opened her book and leafed through the pages.
Jamie gazed down at the woman who had raised him. He loved her so much, and he knew how lucky he was that she was still in good health. She was the only family he had left, and he feared the day he would lose her, too. He wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, which was why he’d arranged to spend the entire summer here at the Cape, and now he felt a little guilty for hurrying out to the quad to see Jessica.
“Gram, I loved listening to you play tonight.”
“Thank you, Jamie.” She smiled up at him, then turned back to her book. She’d always been a big reader, and of course a music lover, and she’d traveled the world playing with some of the most prestigious orchestras. That was before Jamie’s parents had been killed, when Vera said goodbye to the best parts of her life to raise him.
“I probably don’t tell you enough, Gram, but thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I couldn’t have become the person I am without you and Grandpa there to guide me.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I love you.”
She patted his back in the comforting way she always had. “I love you, too, dear. Now go see that pretty little thing before Tony arrives and steals her out from under your nose.”
“I’m not looking for a girlfriend, Gram.”
“Whatever you say, dear.” She kept her eyes trained on the book.
“Besides, what’s a six-two surfer got over a six-two computer nerd?” He rose to his feet and spread his arms out.