Page 30 of The House on Firefly Beach
“No way. I want to live with you forever.” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly, making her glow with adoration for him.
“You’re welcome to,” she said, kissing the top of his head.
“I’ll live with you…” He pulled back. “As long as you don’t make me wear these shoes very much. Yuck.”
“It’s good to dress up every now and again,” Sydney told him.
“Your mother’s right,” Sydney’s mom said. “How else will you appreciate the comfort of your sneakers?”
“I already had to wear fancy clothes at the wedding,” Robby said, tugging on the collar of his shirt.
“You’ll be a pro at dressing up then,” Sydney said. “Yourgirlfriendwill be impressed!”
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said, giving her the side-eye.
“What about Susie Jones at school?”
“She’s not my girlfriend! She just talks real weird around me.Like this.” He said the last two words in a sultry voice, making Sydney and Jacqueline laugh out loud.
“Watch out,” Jacqueline said. “With that kind of talk, she’ll be your girlfriend before you know it.”
Robby rolled his eyes. “What time are we going to the party?”
“We’ll leave in about twenty minutes,” Sydney replied.
“Okay! I’ll go get my football!”
“Try to stay clean!” she called after him as he ran down the hallway.
Sydney walked along the road toward Malory’s house with the rest of the family, the birthday-themed bag containing an expensive bottle of wine and the gift card they’d all pitched in to buy swinging by her side, while Jacqueline carried the tin of lemon bars.
Robby strolled along next to her, tossing his football into the air and catching it. “Think Nate will play a game or two with me tonight?” he asked.
“It’s his sister’s birthday, so I’m not sure, but probably,” Sydney said. She’d started to get her mind around the idea of Nate and Robby spending time together, although she still wasn’t certain if it was the right thing to do or not. Robby just seemed so relaxed around him. Even after all his fame, Nate had that effect on people.
“I heard that Nate managed to get his hands on one of Sally Ann’s peach cobblers for tonight,” Uncle Hank said, pacing up beside them. “Between that and the cake, you’ll need to play some football to burn off all that sugar.”
“How did he get one of Sally Ann’s cobblers?” Sydney’s mother asked. “The bakery’s been sold out of them for a week now, since the tourists have started arriving.”
Sally Ann, the town baker, was famous for her homemade peach cobbler. The whole village knew how good they were, and in the summer months they had to be ordered specially, because they sold out faster than one could say “pie.”
“I asked her when I saw her in town this morning,” Uncle Hank said. “She was so star-struck by Nathan Carr entering the bakery that she gave him one from her personal stash in the back that she reserves for special occasions. She took a photo of him holding it, and then ran straight to her phone and posted the picture on all the bakery’s social media outlets.”
“Why does Nate have two last names?” Robby asked.
Unaware that he even knew that fact, Sydney tried to hide her discomfort while she tried to figure out the most concise way to explain a pen name. “When he’s writing, he uses the last name Carr.”
“Why doesn’t he just use his regular name?” Robby asked.
“I think it’s easier to remember a short name like Carr than a long one like Henderson, and it isn’t as common, so people will remember it.” She didn’t want to mention her own opinion about it: that she’d felt Nate wanted to get as far away from who he was as possible—as far away fromher—and that he wanted to reinvent himself as a superstar with no connections to his past.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Robby said. “When he’s with us, his last name is Henderson, right? That’s what I heard Hallie say at the wedding. But someone else called him Mr. Carr.Ithink it’s because he’s like Superman.” Robby grinned. “Superman has two names.”
“I doubt Nate would consider himself a hero…” she replied. She certainly didn’t.
“You certainly have taken a liking to Nate,” Uncle Hank said, moving over and walking beside Robby. “You like him?”
“Yeah.” Robby tossed his ball into the air and caught it with both hands. “He’s as much fun as Ben.”
