Read Online Summer Beach Reads 5-Book Bundle: Beachcombers, Heat Wave, Moon Shell Beach, Summer House, Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer - Free Book Online
Authors: Nancy Thayer
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her. “It might help you get back—”
“I don’t want your charity!” she’d screamed. “This ring is a sign of your love! This ring is a sign of our hopes for the future!” She’d thrown the ring at him. The two carat, square-cut diamond ring.
Idiot.
She couldn’t stand it that he pitied her. But of course he did. She was a loser. She’d lost her job. She’d lost her savings. She’d lost all hope for the future.
10
Marina
All morning long, rain fell in shining, stinging needles. Marina whistled to herself as she buzzed around cleaning her little nest. She emailed Christie, played a few games of computer solitaire, then made a fresh cup of coffee and curled up with a book she’d bought at the airport, reminding herself what a luxury it was to lie around reading on a rainy day. But the book didn’t hold her attention.
Her mind sidetracked back to its endless loop of self-pity and memories, replaying the moment in the kitchen with Gerry and Dara. Dara’s contrite, triumphant announcement that she was pregnant with Gerry’s baby.
Replaying the moment she walked into their ad agency to clean out her office, down the corridor past the receptionist and the desks of copywriters and all of them beaming at her with such
charitable
smiles.
Replaying the pain, and the hopelessness, and the crushing sense of defeat.
“Okay, that’s enough!” She tossed her book on the coffee table and began to pace around the little cottage. She wiped down the already clean kitchen counter, adjusted the candlesticks on the little wooden table, and now she craved something to
do.
It was not her style to sit alone in a room with a book and the rain clicking away on the roof like someone nervously tapping her fingers.
She would go out for lunch, and to the library for a new book.
She pulled on white jeans and a pink shirt and slid her feet into espadrilles. She took her time putting on just a touch of makeup and selecting earrings, because why shouldn’t she take her time? She had all the time in the world. Time was all she had.
She belted on her khaki trench coat and stepped out into the rain.
Umbrella
, she thought. She’d packed so few things when she flew out here. Her first stop would be at Nantucket Pharmacy to buy an umbrella. The wind batted at her, whipping rain in her face. She walked down the drive, taking care to avoid the deepest puddles.
Just as she reached the street, a red pickup truck turned into the drive with Jim Fox at the wheel.
He slid his window down. “Where are you off to?”
“Oh, just into town. I have to buy an umbrella.”
He laughed at that. “If you stayed home, you wouldn’t need an umbrella.”
“If I stayed home, I’d go stir crazy.” Quickly, she continued, “Not that it isn’t a nice little cottage.”
“Little being the crucial word. Listen, let me take you out to lunch.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised, and her vision did a kind of wriggle, so that the man in the pickup truck suddenly came in clearer. He was handsome, and he was definitely hitting on her. She was astonished to feel something deep inside her raise its little hopeful head, like a flower sensing rain. “Well. Okay!” She opened the passenger door and stepped up inside.
“I’m going out to the Downy Flake,” he told her as they headed along the street.
“When I used to come to the island, the Downy Flake was in town,” she said.
“Right. They moved more than fifteen years ago. Good thing, actually. In the summer, all the restaurants right in town get plenty of foot traffic from tourists, but the places out of town still have room for us locals.” He glanced over at her. “So you used to come here?”
“For three summers, with my friend Christie. To work—and play.” She idly reminisced as Jim drove along the narrow lanes. When other cars inched out of side streets, he braked and waved them ahead.
“No one would do that in the city,” she told him.
“What, let someone go ahead? Not
“I don’t want your charity!” she’d screamed. “This ring is a sign of your love! This ring is a sign of our hopes for the future!” She’d thrown the ring at him. The two carat, square-cut diamond ring.
Idiot.
She couldn’t stand it that he pitied her. But of course he did. She was a loser. She’d lost her job. She’d lost her savings. She’d lost all hope for the future.
10
Marina
All morning long, rain fell in shining, stinging needles. Marina whistled to herself as she buzzed around cleaning her little nest. She emailed Christie, played a few games of computer solitaire, then made a fresh cup of coffee and curled up with a book she’d bought at the airport, reminding herself what a luxury it was to lie around reading on a rainy day. But the book didn’t hold her attention.
Her mind sidetracked back to its endless loop of self-pity and memories, replaying the moment in the kitchen with Gerry and Dara. Dara’s contrite, triumphant announcement that she was pregnant with Gerry’s baby.
Replaying the moment she walked into their ad agency to clean out her office, down the corridor past the receptionist and the desks of copywriters and all of them beaming at her with such
charitable
smiles.
Replaying the pain, and the hopelessness, and the crushing sense of defeat.
“Okay, that’s enough!” She tossed her book on the coffee table and began to pace around the little cottage. She wiped down the already clean kitchen counter, adjusted the candlesticks on the little wooden table, and now she craved something to
do.
It was not her style to sit alone in a room with a book and the rain clicking away on the roof like someone nervously tapping her fingers.
She would go out for lunch, and to the library for a new book.
She pulled on white jeans and a pink shirt and slid her feet into espadrilles. She took her time putting on just a touch of makeup and selecting earrings, because why shouldn’t she take her time? She had all the time in the world. Time was all she had.
She belted on her khaki trench coat and stepped out into the rain.
Umbrella
, she thought. She’d packed so few things when she flew out here. Her first stop would be at Nantucket Pharmacy to buy an umbrella. The wind batted at her, whipping rain in her face. She walked down the drive, taking care to avoid the deepest puddles.
Just as she reached the street, a red pickup truck turned into the drive with Jim Fox at the wheel.
He slid his window down. “Where are you off to?”
“Oh, just into town. I have to buy an umbrella.”
He laughed at that. “If you stayed home, you wouldn’t need an umbrella.”
“If I stayed home, I’d go stir crazy.” Quickly, she continued, “Not that it isn’t a nice little cottage.”
“Little being the crucial word. Listen, let me take you out to lunch.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised, and her vision did a kind of wriggle, so that the man in the pickup truck suddenly came in clearer. He was handsome, and he was definitely hitting on her. She was astonished to feel something deep inside her raise its little hopeful head, like a flower sensing rain. “Well. Okay!” She opened the passenger door and stepped up inside.
“I’m going out to the Downy Flake,” he told her as they headed along the street.
“When I used to come to the island, the Downy Flake was in town,” she said.
“Right. They moved more than fifteen years ago. Good thing, actually. In the summer, all the restaurants right in town get plenty of foot traffic from tourists, but the places out of town still have room for us locals.” He glanced over at her. “So you used to come here?”
“For three summers, with my friend Christie. To work—and play.” She idly reminisced as Jim drove along the narrow lanes. When other cars inched out of side streets, he braked and waved them ahead.
“No one would do that in the city,” she told him.
“What, let someone go ahead? Not
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