Page 21 of The Sandover Beach Billionaire

Chapter Eight

“Rach!”

For what felt like the fiftieth time in the past few days, Jenna was crying as she ran out onto the front porch. Rachel darted through the rain, holding her purse over her head like it would do something to block the deluge. Her light brown hair was soaked by the time she reached Jenna. They embraced on the edge of the porch, ignoring the rain until thunder crashed and made them jump. Rachel screamed. Jenna was laughing as they ran into the house.

Rachel hugged her once more. “So good to see you. It’s been too long.”

“It’s been like a month. But you’re right. We need to do a better job of seeing each other. I need to come to Burlington more. It’s easier than you trying to cart the girls around.”

“Whatever. I can do it. We’ve got a DVD player in the car. I can drive wherever. I just need to know where that wherever is. Or, you could always move to Burlington.” Rachel waved a hand and Jenna noticed the flash of a ring on her right hand.

Jenna grabbed Rachel’s hand and looked at the ring, a big blue gemstone. “Holy bling, Batman. Is that a sapphire?”

Rachel pulled away self-consciously. “Brady’s having a good year. It’s nothing.”

Jenna scoffed. “It’s okay to be happy and married and have money, Rach. Don’t make it weird. That ring is gorgeous.”

It had been hard to have a younger sister like Rachel. Jenna wasn’t jealous, exactly, but it hadn’t always been easy to watch the way Rachel sailed through boyfriends and college and marriage and kids. Her life seemed like a direct contrast, revealing what Jenna lacked. Not that Jenna was a total wallflower or that it was all easy for Rachel—Jenna got a front-row seat to her sister’s heartbreaks and the struggles. But somehow Rachel always floated back up to the top. She was buoyant, while Jenna kept sinking.

Thinking about it like that was depressing. Jenna learned years ago that she needed to be happy for her sister and celebrate with her. That way jealousy and bitterness didn’t rise up to choke her.

Rachel held her hand out, looking down appreciatively. “Okay, fine. It is gorgeous, isn’t it? I love it more than you should love a thing. Brady is amazing.”

“He is a great guy. I love that he’s babysitting the girls so you could come.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Don’t call it babysitting. They’re his kids. He’s being a dad. A solo dad. But yeah, he’s great. A lot of my mom friends have husbands that don’t do anything with their kids. Like, anything. I simply don’t get that.” Rachel stopped, her eyes wide. She grabbed Jenna’s arm. “Hang on—shh! Shh!”

Jenna froze, hearing only the distant rumbling of thunder as the storm receded. “What?”

Rachel threw her head back and laughed. “Nothing! That’s just it! That’s the sound of no children whatsoever calling ‘Mommy Mommy Mommy!’ You know I love them. I do. But I needed the break. I want to enjoy every second of this.” She made a face.

“Totally understand.” Jenna forced out a laugh. She did know that Rachel loved her kids. Through their phone calls and time together, Jenna also knew that they were exhausting. Rachel had the right to complain about being exhausted or to enjoy time away. Still, it stung a tiny bit thinking about the fact that Jenna might never have kids of her own.

“Okay, so packing up Mom’s stuff isn’t the best. But we can make the best of it together. Right? Sister bonding! You’ve done a great job so far. It’s practically empty.”

“Hardly. It seems like I do one thing and then five more things pop up that I need to do. I feel like I’m playing whack-a-mole, but with stuff. How was the drive?”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Remind me never to drive out on a Friday. It’s not even tourist season and the line at the toll booth was ridiculous. Did I hear they’re getting rid of that thing?”

“You know how it is. I heard they’re voting on it. But City Council is never going to pass something getting rid of the toll booth. The thing is an institution. And it’s really the last thing standing between Sandover becoming like the rest of the Outer Banks—just enough inconvenience to keep some people away.”

“They need to pick. Either Sandover is going to become a tourist destination or not. No more of this halfway business.”

“It’s more than halfway. I mean, other than the fact that we have more of a year-round population of On Islanders, we’ve become a vacation spot. It will help us get more for the house, apparently.”

“Does that mean you’ve called a real estate agent?”

“I did, but I hated her. She knew the neighborhood and told me over the phone without even seeing the house that it was probably a teardown. Worth a lot for the property and the fact that it backs up to the refuge, but the house wouldn’t stay.”

“It probably is, though, right? You said that yourself.”

“Yeah.” Jenna shrugged. “It’s different somehow when someone else says it.”

“Do you want to stay? You know we don’t have to sell. Or do you want to be the agent? I know you said you didn’t want to represent it, but you could. It’s whatever you want.”

Rachel’s voice was intentionally even. This was not their first discussion over the past few months about the fate of the house. Mostly they went in circles about it, ending with Rachel telling Jenna she had to decide.

“I can’t stay. And if I can’t handle an agent talking about it, no way could I show it and listen to people’s feedback. Yuck.”

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