Page 21 of Summer Ever After
“Okay, you’ve convinced me not to give up. I’ll cross off the tropes that are too far-fetched and forge ahead with the ones that could still work.”
“I’m glad. I have no doubt that you’ll be in love by the end of summer. You know what you want, and you go after it until you get it. To anyone else, your summer romance plans might be ridiculous. But for you, it’s perfect.”
“I mean, I know it’sa littleridiculous.” Okay, maybe it’salotridiculous. And I’m probably setting myself up for failure with some of these tropes, but I’ll never know if I don’t try, right? “I really want the kind of love in romance books or in movies. The kind of love my parents have.”
“I know you do, Jane. That’s why I like you so much. You’re unabashedly you.”
My brows furrow. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
“It is. Now, since things didn’t work out with Beau, we need to pick someone else for you to go out with. I see a few men on your list that don’t live in Sunset Harbor, and if I know anything about you, Jane Hayes, you’re never leaving that island. You’ll die there and be buried at the beach since there’s no cemetery.”
“So?”
“So I can’t believe you’re entertaining the idea of dating someone that doesn’t live on the island. If having the kind of marriage your parents have is number one on your list of importance, being a resident of Sunset Harbor is number two. And it’s aclosenumber two.”
“I know.” I brush my fingers through my brown hair. “I refuse to fall in love with anyone who isn’t willing to grow old with me on this island. That’s why I started with Beau. Ever since he moved back to the island, he’s been so invested in the community. He’s here for the long haul.”
“But that was a crash and burn?”
“Amajorcrash and burn.” I glance at my sheet, zeroing in on a name. “But today is a new day.Maybe I’ll stop by Dax Miller’s mechanic shop on my lunch break.”
“Dax Miller? Whoa. You’re swinging for the fences on that one.”
It’s true. Dax and I have never really hung out. I was in the principal’s office for student council, and he was there because he was in trouble. But that was almost a decade ago.Dax is friendly around town in a please-leave-me-alone kind of way. But nobodyreallywants to be left alone.
“What trope do you have in mind for Dax?”
“What about the bad-boy trope? I mean, I know he’s not a typical bad boy—more like a rebel—but he’s the closest thing we have to a bad boy on the island. So maybe I’ll just show up to his shop and test the waters before I completely commit my time and energy to him.”
“Yes, the bad-boy trope! I love that idea. I’ll be anxiously waiting to hear how it goes.”
“As always, you’ll be the first person I text.”
“Okay, good. For now, I have to get back to editing my next book. The deadline is coming so fast.”
“And I should get back to working on the Sunset Harbor website.” I shake the computer mouse, waking up the computer again. “I’ll talk to you later.”
I hang up the phone, pick up my pink papers, and flip to the list of tropes, crossing out a few that are beneath me. It would’ve been amazing to have someone growl, ‘That’s my wife!’ But I’d have to be married to hit that trope, so it’s out of the question.
I also scribble overDamsel in distressandExtract something from hair.
Those tropes are ruined for me now.
I can thank Walker Collins for that.
Walker
“A bouquetof flowers doesn’t make it okay that you haven’t visited me in the past three years.” Grandma Deedee hands me a glass of lemonade before she takes the seat across from me.
“But it helps a little, doesn’t it?” I smile, hoping to charm her out of her annoyance.
She scolds me with her eyes as she sips her lemonade. I must’ve lost my touch.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay inside where the air conditioning is nice and cool?” We’re shaded from the noon-day sun, but the humidity makes my shirt cling to my back.
“I’m plenty cool out here.”
“Really?” I glance over her black short-sleeve sweater with a mock turtleneck. “You feel cool enough?”
