Page 62 of Beachside Kisses With My Enemy

“Well, yeah, that’s been obvious for a while.” Elisse waves her hand through the air. “What, do you like him back or something?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug a shoulder. Maybe I can actually get them off the scent of Blake. The idea of reliving our kiss—of having to tell them about his very sweet, very noble “rejection”—makes my stomach twist. Or maybe my gut just doesn’t like this sushi. I push my half-full plate aside and grab my Diet Coke instead. “He’s nice enough.”

Chloe purses her lips. “I thought?—”

“Maybe I should give him a chance.” I mean, I don’t want to, but my friends don’t need to know that. Although, perhaps I really should. Maybe I’ll end up with someone like Thomas. After all, he’s a good guy. Honest. A self-made businessman. And he loves Hallmark Beach just like I do. To my knowledge, he doesn’t ever plan to leave. Not that I can say that out loud without raising suspicion. So I go for the catch-all that will describe Thomas’s basic appeal. “There’s nothing wrong with him.”

“A ringing endorsement if ever I heard one.” April shakes her head at me, then laughs almost hysterically. “There’s literally zero chemistry between the two of you.”

“Maybe chemistry isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” Oh no. Now my lower lip is actually shaking. Stop it. Stop. It. But my lip doesn’t listen, and now my whole chin is joining in the fun. Argh.

I turn my head away from my friends, allow my gaze to take in the people strolling the boardwalk below where we sit on our raised decking. I don’t know any of them. They’re all in their own worlds, Air Pods in or head down and walking somewhere with purpose.

I wouldn’t fit in here. I wouldn’t belong. The only place I belong is Hallmark Beach. It’s the only true home I’ve ever known, where the people are a comfort and a balm to my spirit—except in these moments when they flay me open with their directness. But even then, I know it’s because they love and care about me.

My fingers slide around my torso, the soft robe calming my shaking hands.

And a tear leaves my eye and makes a trek down my cheek.

Before I know it, Mare has moved to my chair and is squishing me so she can sit beside me. April’s reaching her hand across the expanse between us, squeezing my arm. Chloe and Kelsey plant themselves on the bottom half of my lounge chair, tipping the whole thing slightly their way.

And then Elisse squats between me and my view of the ocean. She takes my cheeks between her hands gently. “Lucy,” she says, the tease all gone. “What’s going on?” Her words are sweet and soft and so very un-Elisse. At least on the surface. Under-the-surface Elisse is exactly this—standing between me and all the ways I try to hide the truth from my friends—and from myself.

These friends of mine make me face the lemons of life. Maybe it’s not possible to ignore the pain, to just simply make lemonade like Mama said. But if there are lemons, I can trust that these girls will sit here and peel each one, biting into them and tasting their bitterness right along with me.

Mama might not be here, but these girls are. They’re my family, and they aren’t going anywhere.

Elisse releases my face and sits back on her haunches, waiting patiently. She’s not budging.

I inhale sharply, release slowly. “I did a really stupid thing.”

“We all do stupid things,” Mare murmurs as she leans her head on my shoulder, and I wonder if she’s thinking of Donny.

But there’s a difference between being fooled by a con artist and willingly walking into a situation, knowing exactly what you’re getting into—and doing it anyway.

“I…” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I let Blake kiss me.”

And that thought is all it takes for more tears to finally release.

Though they’re not saying anything, I can practically hear my friends’ concern, the questions they have (one of which is whether they need to throat punch Marilee’s brother from this existence). Someone hands me a napkin, and I use it to dab away the wetness cascading down my cheeks.

And I tell them everything.

When I’m finished, spent emotionally and physically from the reliving of it all, I zero in on the pressure of their hands holding me, stroking my ankle, squeezing my elbow. They’re anchoring me here, letting me be myself. Accepting me. “Thank you,” I manage to whisper. “Thank you guys for loving me, even when I’m a mess.”

“Are you kidding, Lucy?” That’s April, my feisty cousin. “Have you met me?”

We all laugh, and it breaks some of the tension.

“Can I tell you something?” Elisse is all seriousness again, and it makes me sit up straighter. I nod. “First, I think you’re taking too much on yourself with the restaurant. It’s way beyond your job description, and ultimately, it’s Winona’s job to make sure her restaurant is flourishing.” At my mouth opening to protest, Elisse holds up her hand to stop me. “I mean, feel free to continue with the business plan if you want to. But don’t let the success or failure of it define whether you are a success or failure.”

I inhale a trembling breath. “I just feel like I’ve never really achieved anything before. I’m surrounded by all of you with these fabulous and huge dreams, and…I don’t know. I just feel inadequate. Like I should be doing more.” Oh, that hurt to admit. There’s a hollowness in my stomach that feels raw, cut. “Helping out Winona kind of felt like something bigger. A bigger purpose, I guess. But I’m failing at it.”

“Trust me, you don’t have to have big dreams to achieve something, Lucy.” That’s Chloe, and I know she understands more than most. “And you did something for me that nobody else ever did. You saw deeper. You saw me. And you welcomed me into your town, into your life without reserve. I don’t think you understand how rare that is.”

My other friends nod along, squeeze, hum.

“I agree with Chloe,” Kelsey says. “But I do wonder…” She bites her lip, as if afraid to say the wrong thing. She doesn’t want to hurt me, but maybe I need to hear what she has to say.

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