Page 25 of 28 Summers
“Yes,” Mallory says again. “I’m in love right now, as a matter of fact. So…would you please hand me the ketchup? My burger is getting cold.”
She’s in love with me, Jake thinks. Or she’s in love with the owner of the board shorts. It’s agony not knowing. He’ll ask her when they’re alone.
No, he won’t. Why ruin the weekend?
At ten o’clock, they pile into the Blazer to go to the Chicken Box. Cooper sits shotgun, Jake is in the rear, mesmerized by the back of Mallory’s neck, her earlobe, the tiny silver hoop.
“Your first time to the Chicken Box!” Mallory says to Coop.
“I should have known Krystel was bad news when she told me to come home last year,” Cooper says.
“We’re not talking about Krystel,” Mallory says.
“We’re talking about Alison!” Jake says.
“Who’s Alison?” Mallory asks.
“The stewardess whose number I got today,” Cooper says. “She’s meeting us at the bar.”
Jake isn’t sure the flight attendant will show up, but there’s a woman waiting out front when they arrive, and that woman is indeed Alison from USAir.
“Cooper!” she says. “Hey!”
Cooper pulls Jake and Mallory aside. “Don’t be pissed, but if this goes well, and I’m going to make sure it does, then I probably won’t be back tonight. Or maybe tomorrow either, who knows.”
Will he and Mallory be that lucky? Jake wonders. “Mal and I will be fine,” he says. “We’re old friends.”
“Mal?” Cooper says. “Is it okay with you? I need this.”
Mallory swats her brother away. “Go have fun. Don’t worry about us. Just be a gentleman, please.”
As Cooper and Alison disappear into the bar, Jake thinks about lobsters and stargazing tomorrow night, Great Point on Sunday, then home to play music and talk about books and maybe shower together in the mansion before they order Chinese food and watch an old movie. Maybe the networks playSame Time, Next Yearthe same time every year, to be clever.
Mallory is about to follow Cooper inside, but Jake grabs her hand. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
She bounces on her toes. “He sure was easy to get rid of.”
“Mal, seriously.”
“Seriously what?”
“I noticed the board shorts hanging in the outdoor shower, and I want to make sure there won’t be some guy in there waiting to kick the shit out of me.”
“Ah,” she says. “Those belong to JD.”
Jake waits.
“The rescue officer, from last year.”
Jake was afraid of that.
“We’re dating,” Mallory says. “Casually.”
“But nottoocasually—because he showers at your house and leaves his clothes behind.”
“Well, we’re not engaged or planning to get engaged,” Mallory says. “And…he’s away this weekend, at my suggestion, mountain-biking with his buddies.” She grins. “So you’re safe.”
“We’re the only two people on earth,” Jake says.
