AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Okay." As long as they were clear on that.
The little girls sighed happily. It was just so romantic.
276
A few minutes later Jacqui appeared, wearing sunglasses and shorts and carrying a croissant and a coffee cup from the Hampton Coffee Company. She held several newspapers and magazines underneath her free arm.
"Who are you?" William asked on his way to the pool.
"I'm Jacqui--I've been taking care of you all summer!" Jacqui joked.
He looked puzzled.
She smiled when she saw Mara and Ryan together.
"Look what I found," Jacqui said, holding aloft copies of New York magazine, Hamptons magazine, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and the New York Times. There were photos of Mara everywhere, with photo credits from her friend Lucky Yap.
"The summer's latest IT girl--and she didn't have to run over the back wall of a club or tape a sex video to do it!" blared the always-restrained Page Six.
"Hey, you're more famous than me," Ryan said, noticing that the latest round didn't even mention the "Perry heir."
Mara paged through the magazines and newspapers with a thoughtful smile on her face. She felt confident and blissfully happy--not because she'd achieved in one season what most Hamptonites crave their whole lifetimes, but because she was with the guy she loved.
277
jacqui is a miracle worker
Jacqui rounded up the kids and took them to the pool. She pumped up Cody's water wings and tugged them on his chubby arms.
"Let's go!" She whooped, jumping into the deep end. Amazingly, he followed her in, splashing and kicking like a duck.
"Good boy! Good boy!" Jacqui said, laughing.
She didn't even realize how miraculous this was--Mara and Eliza had been trying to get him in the water all summer, but as far as ever-absent Jacqui knew, Cody was a born swimmer. William jumped in the pool too, almost knocking out his brother.
"Be careful!" Jacqui chided.
The little boy stuck his tongue out. "DUNK!" he said, and pushed Cody's head under water.
"WILLIAM!" Really, that one was such a monster.
Chortling, William let his brother go and swam to the other end of the pool.
278
Cody kicked and splashed happily.
"Not bad," Kevin Perry said, kneeling down. "Hey, Jacqui, right? You want to hit the steam bath later? We just put in a new showerhead. It's amazing."
Jacqui swam to the edge of the pool. She was sick of being watched, being slobbered over, and after the night at the party she'd had it with older men.
"I don't think your wife would appreciate you talking to me that way," she said evenly.
He looked confused. A lot more confused than he should have. "Sure. I'll, uh, see you around," Kevin said.
Jacqui nodded. She felt relieved. After years of kowtowing and bowing and scraping and flirting with men for a tip or a ride or another drink or an invitation to a party, she had finally stood up for herself.
It felt fantastic.
