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Chapter 9
The beach house, though it was in Wayford, was more in line with the more modest beach houses of Riviera View. The interior was beautiful and the catered buffet looked promising. However, the ocean and the beauty of the sunset over it drew everyone out to the large porch.
Hope clandestinely pulled at the shaper she wore under her blue, V-cleavage dress, wondering if she would be able to eat anything with this thing on. She had taken a bit of extra care getting ready today.
“Mom, your hair looks pretty like that,” Hannah had said when she had finished with the curling iron.
“I wish I had your beautiful curls,” she had replied, patting her daughter’s hair. Hannah liked her curls now, but there was a time when she had gotten back from school and asked why she didn’t have straight hair like Brittney’s.
“You have my mother’s hair, and it’s beautiful,” Hope had told her.
Roni’s and Donnie’s reactions when they had picked her up confirmed that she had succeeded in looking her best. The wink Roni had given her had also confirmed that her friend knew that Jordan Delaney was the cause of her digging out her fancier makeup kit.
Yes, she had a date set up with Chris for the following week and shouldn’t care about the man who wasn’t supposed to interest her due to several reasons. Reasons she enumerated in her head again now—his relationship with Avery, his temporary status here, him being Libby’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, and him being unlike her in almost everything. Nevertheless, she wanted to look good when she next encountered him, especially after he had been privy to her not-so-great moments.
But, except for the initial greeting between them, when he had shaken her hand and her breath had shallowed under the depth of his gaze and the level of sexiness and masculinity this man effortlessly exuded, she hadn’t had much chance to speak with him. All she needed was a short opportunity to properly thank him for helping Hannah and rid herself of this debt of gratitude.
Though Libby had told her the day before that Avery wouldn’t be there—“All I know is Patty said she wasn’t expecting her”—Hope was still relieved to see it for herself. It wasn’t jealousy, she told herself.
There were enough people to meet and greet—Ava and Zack, who thanked her for attending their wedding; Gabe, Libby’s brother, and his wife and kids; Luke’s parents; and Libby’s aunt, Sarah.
At some point, when she stepped from the porch and back into the living room to pour herself another glass of juice, she found Roni standing by the table that carried an array of freshly squeezed citrus juices. She stopped next to her, holding a lemonade, and followed Roni’s gaze. She was watching Jordan and Gabe, who were standing at one corner of the room, conversing.
“They were friends, not just neighbors, growing up,” Roni explained quietly. “But their lives took such different turns. Kinda like Libby and Luke. Gabe had to work after his dad had left them, and Jordan went to Cornell, and then for this high power career … Can’t get more different than that.”
“They don’t seem that different now.”
“You can take someone out of Riviera View, but you can’t take Riviera View out of someone, I guess,” Roni said. “Cornell-Schmornell, he must still be a Riviera View guy under all that.” She made a sweeping gesture aimed at Jordan from head to toe. “He’s not a bad guy.”
“You never said he was bad.” She tried not to stare at Jordan, which was hard given that his light-blue, button-down shirt, the dark tie, and matching dark chinos fit him in a way that made her heart beat erratically.
“No, but I did hint that he was a player. We were four years younger than him; anyone who got some action back then seemed like a player to me. But I stand by what I said—he looks like he could shred …” Roni didn’t finish her sentence because, just then, her husband appeared and handed her a cell phone.
“The babysitter,” Don said as Roni took the phone from him. “Where’s the bathroom?” he asked Hope when Roni went to take the call.
“Over there, I think,” she mumbled, gesturing with her head toward the hall that opened from one side of the living room.
The mental image that Roni had begun painting made her almost ache. Good thing she had that date planned with Chris. It was time.
Most of the others were still outside, watching the sunset, and the kitchen buzzed with action.
Hope lingered a second more, which was unfortunate, because just at that moment, Jordan looked away and caught her gazing at him from across the room. Gabe was telling him something, and Jordan replied without taking his eyes off her.
She was the one to avert her gaze first, taking advantage of the fact that Anne Drecher and Connie Latimer had just emerged from the kitchen with trays of specially made pastries that they had brought from Breading Dreams.
“Hey, Anne.” Hope turned to her enthusiastically. “These smell great! I love the wedding cake you made for Ava. I was at the wedding. Can’t wait for Libby’s. I’m going out to the porch. Come with me?” That verbal diarrhea made her forget that Anne hadn’t been invited as a guest.
“I’m not staying. I just came to deliver these.” Anne placed the tray down. Then, maybe seeing the look on Hope’s face, she added, “I’m busy. I have to deliver today’s saves. The boxes are in my car.”
Though Anne was Libby’s and Roni’s age, and her parents had bought Connie’s bakery when the Latimers had been in debt and let Connie stay as a salaried employee, Anne mostly kept to herself and never really meshed with them. That was strange, because Hope liked her and thought she could have easily fit into their little group. Being an outsider, she seemed better able to befriend Anne, and the two of them were involved with donating the bakery’s and other shops’ daily leftovers to local institutions that needed them.
“Is Avery here?” Anne asked, skimming her gaze around the room.
“No. Were you expecting her to be?”
“Heard her say she’s working on snagging Jordan Delaney, so I … Please, don’t say anything. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Avery was Anne’s cousin, but there wasn’t much love between the two. Hope felt even more connected to Anne over it, though she didn’t know the roots of Anne’s dislike of Avery.
