Page 16 of Not Another Beach Read
"I'll drop her off with Eden, so at least both of her arms will be the same length when she comes back."
"I don't know if I would subject her to all of that," said Sarah as she smoothed her ash-blonde waves back and slid her headband back over them. "Those two are a little wild together."
"You can say that again," said Cat, returning from the bathroom. "The one time Elyse made the mistake of bringing Eden to a pool party, Roxy ended up teaching her how to make a game out of jumping from the sides onto whomever was floating on a nearby raft."
Holly doubled over with laughter. "That had to have been quite an experience," she said. "Maybe I'll leave Eden at home then." She turned to Paige. "I'd love to come over and take Roxy for a walk. I love golden retrievers. My mom and I had a neighbor with a small golden retriever. She was such a good dog. We could rarely hear her barking from the apartment next door. Mostly, she just licked everyone to death."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," said Paige. "And I'm serious, you're welcome to come over anytime."
Holly and I headed toward the island where Jenna sat scrolling through her phone.
"Jenna, how are things going at the bakery this week?"
She looked up and spun her chair in a quick circle, her excitement palpable. "I was just checking my messages on myFacebook business page. Ever since Raina got the ordering system up, it's been even busier. Pretty soon I'm going to need to hire some help."
"That's incredible," said Cat. "And let me tell you, I've been seeing more and more of those white and purple bags coming through the door. It makes me so happy."
Jenna looked embarrassed, and as per usual, changed the subject to point the attention at someone else. "How are things going with Allie?" she asked Cat.
"She's doing very well, and Noah seems to really be enjoying his new preschool."
"Noah is doingsowell in preschool. It's amazing to see how much he's grown in just the last few months, and it's nice to have another little guy around now that Sarah's kids are growing up," said Grace.
"She's been getting ready for the fall semester to begin, so her availability has been a little erratic, but we've been making it work."
"Is anyone else going to the concert in the park this weekend?" asked Sarah.
"We'll be there," I said. "Holly doesn't know it yet, but she just adores classic rock, and especially classic rock cover bands," I said with a chuckle.
"Anything is better than non-stop Frank Sinatra," Holly retorted, rolling her eyes with a playful smirk.
"Oh yes, that brings back quite a few memories," I said. "My whole childhood is set to a Frank Sinatra soundtrack." I turned to Sarah. "But, yeah, we'll probably go. Should we meet up there? Who else is going?"
Grace raised her hand and then looked at Cat.
"Yes, I'm going too," said Cat. "Although classic rock isn't my favorite, I do enjoy live music."
"Grace, how's your book coming along?" asked Paige.
"I've been stuck for two months. I'm not sure what it is, but it'snot the first time it's happened. I'm thinking about heading out of town next weekend to try to get things moving again. Sometimes a little time alone is all I need to get things moving. What about you, Paige? Your book launch is coming up. You must be so excited."
Paige's eyes got wide for a moment, but she recovered quickly. "It's at the end of next month. I'm not sure how it's going to go," she looked at me with a nervous grin, "but I have to trust that Elyse has done this enough times that she can guide me. I'm just nervous that no one is going to show up."
Grace cleared her throat. "Well, you know that you will have at least six people there," she said.
"Seven. Kari will be here for sure," said Paige. Kari was Paige's friend from Madison, Wisconsin and they'd been close since they met each other at summer camp when they were ten and discovered they lived blocks away from one another. They spoke on the phone every afternoon and Kari had visited several times in the year since Paige had moved to Florida.
"Are your parents and kids coming in?" asked Sarah.
"They all said they wouldn't miss it for the world," said Paige.
"Well, there you go. I'll be there too," said Holly.
"What about your kids? They haven't been here for a while. Will they be coming for your book launch?"
"They said they wouldn't miss it for the world," Paige said with a huge smile on her face.
"I can't wait to see them again," said Sarah. "Your kids are such remarkable young people."
