doughnuts over the trash can. Is this the person I’ve become? Sneaking bites like my mom? News flash: not a good way to keep a guy interested. If it didn’t work for my dad it certainly won’t work for a guy as handsome as Jack.
I didn’t know what else to say to Susan so I slipped past her to go back to the room I share with Jill. As I did, she turned and stopped me with a hand on my arm.
Susan: You were so beautiful last night. Jack couldn’t take his eyes off you. I just wouldn’t want you to start forming bad habits that would get in the way of that.
My cheeks were burning, but I forced myself to meet her gaze. This was what tough love must feel like. Susan was telling me the truth . She was saying what I needed to hear instead of what I wanted to hear. Maybe if my mom had a friend like Susan she wouldn’t have wound up sobbing into my shoulder while clutching a pint of ice cream. Maybe someone telling her the truth would have kept her from losing my dad.
I nodded at Susan, who smiled at me, then pulled me toward her and kissed my forehead, then poured herself a cup of coffee and asked where my new polka-dot bikini top was hiding.
Susan: Jill couldn’t stop talking about what a knockout youwere when you tried it on in the store. I haven’t seen it yet!
I smiled and she winked at me as I slipped out of the kitchen and back into my room, where Jill was still asleep. Quietly, I pulled off my sugarcoated T-shirt and fished the polka-dot swimsuit and a little pair of cutoffs from my bag. I also grabbed this journal so I could write about what just happened. I’m sitting in the bathroom on the edge of the tub writing.
It made me feel so good when Jill’s mom said Jack couldn’t take his eyes off me last night—mainly because I’d felt that too, but I wasn’t sure if I was just dreaming. It’s nice to have confirmation of good things. Sometimes I get excited about things, and then instantly I feel silly and afraid. This voice in my head tells me that this just can’t be happening, and that I shouldn’t be excited about it because somehow that will jinx it.
Last night Jill and I were getting ready while Rob and Jack helped her dad dock the boat at the marina. When we felt the boat stop and heard the dull roar of the engine go quiet, Jill was changing outfits.
Again.
For the seventh time.
You wouldn’t think we’d have had that many outfit changes between us on a trip where we were limited to one bag each.Let me assure you that this was not the case. We only had three skirts between us, not counting the white one I was wearing. Jill tried on almost every top with almost every skirt.
Me: He’s already completely smitten with you. I’m not sure why you’re in a panic about what you wear tonight.
Jill (wide-eyed pronouncement face): I am not reacting to panic. I am enacting perfection.
Me: We may miss the appetizers is all I’m saying.
Jill: You can’t rush perfection.
Me: No, but you can’t eat it either, and if I don’t have some food soon, I may lack the strength to actually carry myself down the gangplank under my own power.
At that moment, we heard Susan call for us down the hallway from the stairs that lead out onto the main deck, and Jill took one last look in the mirror before turning and leading the way out of our room, onto the deck, and down the walkway to the dock, where Jack, his parents, and Rob stood waiting. Walking down the ramp, I felt like I was heading to dinner on the dock via a fashion show runway, and as I walked next to Jill, I could sense Jack’s eyes on me immediately.
Naturally, Rob couldn’t contain himself and let out a low whistle as Jill stepped onto the dock and took his arm. She smiled, then informed him that she was not a baseball game to be whistled at and shot him a look that silenced his joke aboutgetting past third base before it had fully escaped his lips. In the awkward silence that followed, while James glared at Rob and Susan arched an eyebrow at
Sinéad Moriarty
Cheryel Hutton
T. S. Joyce
Jordan Silver
Jane Robinson
Mia Moore
Allison Lane
Will Collins
Mark Tompkins
Maya Banks