Page 30 of Summer Ever After
“Oh, come on. You don’t buy that Seaside Oasis rumor about the two of them hooking up, do you?”
“It’s not a rumor. I heard it myself from Deedee.”
I roll my eyes, knowing Deedee’s inclination to gossip.
Marlyss shakes her head. “What am I going to tell Hailey and her friends? They were so excited about the new community pool. Stuff like this means a lot to fifteen-year-olds.”
“I know.”
Mayor Barnes leans his head into our conversation. “No money, no pool.”
“We’ll find the money somewhere else.” I give him an encouraging smile. “We’ll just have to get creative.”
“Jane, I love your optimism, but the additional forty-five thousand dollars isn’t all we need to make this pool work. Those inter-fund transfers were our only hope for getting started. We still need more than that to complete the project. It’s just not going to work. We’ll have to cancel the ribbon-cutting ceremony and the excavation scheduled for the middle of July.” He shakes his head, his mustache outlining his frown. “Oh, well. Maybe next year. I’m headed home to Betsy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Marlyss pulls her purse strap over her shoulder. “I need to go too. I have to stop by Beach Break and make sure everything’s okay before I head home. See you later.”
I watch as everyone disperses. The crowd parts, and I catch Beau’s gaze again. This is totally our thing, and I’m loving it.
I smile as he casually walks toward me.
“That didn’t go well.”
“No, it didn’t.”
“You know what else didn’t go well?” he says. “Our first date.”
“I’m really sorry about that.” My mouth twists into a grimace. “Last night was me being stupid. Please forget it ever happened.”
“You don’t need to apologize. In fact, I’d like to go to dinner with you again. What about Wednesday night?”
I smile. “Is this a date, or are we discussing island affairs?”
“I mean, island affairs does sound a little exciting, but I was thinking just a date. I have to work that afternoon, but we could do it after. Pick you up at seven?”
“Yeah.” My nod is a little too enthusiastic. “Seven o’clock is great.”
“Okay, see you then.”
I started the day getting shot down by Dax Millerbut rallied in the end—minus a detour through the charms of Walker Collins.
The Summer of Jane is looking up.
I can’t wait to text Capri about it. I’ll just leave out the part about her brother and how my heart momentarily forgot BFF code.
Walker
I relaxmy shoulders and take a deep breath.
There’s a pause before I pull my driver back, twisting my body as I swing the club behind me and back down to the tee with as much force as I can.
My body tilts and leans as I watch the ball sail through the air.
“Stay right! Stay right!”
Sand explodes from the bunker, letting me know the ball didn’t stay right.
“See?” I turn over my shoulder to Pete. “Everything pulls left.”
