Page 22 of The Sandover Beach Billionaire

“Leave it to me, then. I’ll call in the morning. I want to go to the beach in the afternoon. The storm is apparently bringing back the warm weather, thankfully. I brought my bathing suit. I need the sand and sun.”

“Even if it warms up, it’s not going to be hot enough to swim.”

“I just want a little tan. I don’t need to get in the water. I’m pasty like Casper. You can join me. You look like a vampire.”

“I’ll take vampire over ghost. They’re usually hotter.”

“Have you been watching The Vampire Diaries again? Because we’ve been over this: you’re too old for the Salvatore Brothers.”

Jenna scoffed. “Not a chance. They were pre-Civil War, remember? They’re at least like a hundred years older than me.”

“Yeah, but they look like they’re in their twenties. Which makes you a cougar.”

Jenna made a gagging sound and clutched her throat. “Call me a vampire, but please don’t ever call me a cougar again.”

Rachel pursed her lips and looked at Jenna seriously. She had a tendency to switch from silly to serious on a dime, giving Jenna whiplash. “Are you doing okay?”

“Sure. I’m just feeling a little lost, you know?” There were too many choices now. Jenna felt like she was in a long hallway full of open doors that all looked equally uninviting. She longed to be a kid again, when all the decisions fit into the easy boxes of whatever you were supposed to do: breakfast, school, homework, play time, dinner, bedtime, repeat. High school, college, job, marriage, kids. That’s when it all fell apart.

“I’m really sorry, sis. About Mark and just everything. I hate that it happened to you. You deserve so much better than what you got. It plain sucks. That’s an understatement, but I don’t have any better words for it.”

“Yeah, well. My life certainly went a different direction than what I planned.”

“Like if you had married Steve?” Rachel’s face scrunched up like she smelled something rotten.

Rachel had never made a secret of the fact that she hated Steve. What would she say if she knew he had been in this very house the night before? It felt sneaky not to tell Rachel, but she didn’t want to have a conversation about Steve. Not now. Maybe not at all. The same way she didn’t want to talk about the way she kept running into Jackson. Or how her resolve to hate him melted a little more every time.

“Would that have been so horrible if I married Steve? I mean, it couldn’t have been worse than Mark, right?” Why was she defending him? She had defended Jackson to Steve and now was defending Steve to Rachel. Her life really had reverted to high school.

Rachel made a gagging noise. “Jenna, you had blinders on from the start with that guy. I heard that he cheated on Anna, so he never changed. We need to find you a nice guy and …”

So that’s what happened to Steve’s marriage.Her stomach twisted. Jenna stopped listening to whatever Rachel was saying. It shouldn’t be surprising. After all, he had gotten together with Anna while he was still with Jenna. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Why had he come last night, really?

“I’m not interested in dating anyone. Like, ever. I think I’m done. Singleness is a gift, right? I think the Bible says that somewhere.”

Rachel looked sad, but didn’t say anything. Then she shook her head and clapped her hands. “Let’s get going. I feel restless. Where should we start?”

“I haven’t even started on the bedrooms. Just some of the bigger things in the living areas,” she said. “I haven’t been able to go in there.”

Rachel nodded. That was the thing about having a sister. You didn’t have to say everything out loud. “We’ll do mom’s room tonight. Together. Or … maybe tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow. I’d prefer never, but if I have to do it, I’m glad it’s with you.”

“Aw, you’ve turned into a sentimental woman in your old age.”

“Shut up. You’re two years behind me. Menopause is right around the corner. Now, pick a room, any room. Dealer’s choice.”

Jenna may have been older, but it was Rachel who made quick decisions and saw them through. She barreled into situations like she was born to do it. No hesitation. Jenna once read a book on birth order and personality. According to it, Rachel was the firstborn and Jenna was the second. If Rachel was there, she took charge, no questions asked. Some people might have been bothered, but for Jenna, it was a relief to fall back into these patterns.

“I’ll take the family room for 500, Alex.”

“And the answer is: Daily Double!”

They both laughed, and Jenna felt an ease slip over her that she had been missing since she arrived on Sandover. As they began pulling things off the shelves in the family room, Jenna thought about what it would be like to move to Burlington. Rachel said that real estate was booming there. She could see her nieces more. If she wasn’t going to have her own kids, she could just be the best aunt ever.

The thought of living here in her mother’s house felt wrong, but so did the idea of moving away. Sandover was full of ghosts, but something about it called to her. Was it just the pull of the ocean? To her history and childhood memories? Or was she drawn to a particular man with honey-brown eyes who refused to give up on her?

* * *

---