AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He swallowed again. “Mandie.”
“Did you kiss her?”
“You said you just wanted to know if it was her or Sariah.”
“Now I want to know more.”
He glared at her. “I don’t have to tell you everything.” He collected his phone and got to his feet. “I have to get to work.” He left the kitchen, and Alice let him go without calling anything after him.
“He definitely kissed her,” she said to herself. Now she had two things she didn’t want to tell Robin, and she sighed as she followed her son. She bypassed the steps he’d gone up and went into her front office. She sat at her desk and looked at the case she needed to finish that afternoon.
She tried, but her mind kept wandering. She kept seeing Clara, Scott, and Tessa with Jennifer. She kept imagining what the future would be like if Charlie and Mandie got married.
At least she’d already know the bride’s parents, and that thought alone got her through the dull documents and hours until Arthur got home.
She got up to meet him in the kitchen, and he took her into a smiling hug and said, “Hey, how was your day?” just before he kissed her.
Alice didn’t want to tell him about any of the confusing things, so she just kissed him back. “Good,” she said. “You?”
“Good enough.” He stepped away from her. “The twins are both working tonight?”
“Yep.”
“Let’s go get tacos and sit on the beach.” He grinned at her. “You want to?”
“Absolutely, I do.”
He unknotted his tie and said, “I’ll go change,” and a moment later, Alice’s phone rang.
Robin.
Her gut clenched, and her heart sank all the way to her heels. Then she swiped the call to voicemail. She didn’t have to answer every time her best friend called. Nerves and guilt combined inside her, and Alice paced the kitchen for a few seconds.
“If she calls back, then you’ll answer,” she told herself. “She could be calling about anything.” She looked at her phone, and it didn’t ring again. She also didn’t get a voicemail notification, which meant Robin hadn’t left a message. Couldn’t be that serious. Before, when she’d been concerned about Mandie and Charlie’s relationship, she’d left messages in her Very Stern Voice for Alice to call her back.
Right when Arthur came out of the bedroom and said, “Ready,” Alice’s phone rang again.
Robin.
ChapterNineteen
Robin frowned at her phone as her call to Alice went to voicemail for the second time. With Mandie off shopping for pastries for a wedding that would happen after she left for college, and Jamie down the street babysitting, Robin was home alone.
She hated being alone. Duke was three hours behind her, and he’d be out on the boat at this time of day.
“Arthur just got home, I bet,” Robin said. She shoved her silent phone in her back pocket, but something seethed inside her. She’d seen her friends a lot this summer, but they didn’t feel as connected.
Kristen was dating someone new, and her daughter had returned to the cove. Robin opened her freezer and pulled out a bag of chocolate chip cookies. She could run these over to Kristen and see how she was doing. Maybe then Robin wouldn’t feel so disconnected from everyone.
Eloise had texted that morning to say the same thing Robin felt. Once she had Julia here and working full-time, she wouldn’t be so consumed by the Cliffside Inn, but until then, El had said,I feel so out of the loop. What’s everyone up to?
Robin hadn’t truly known. Life was life, and it felt like they did talk, but that there were definite secrets between all of them too.
She pulled her phone from her pocket.Beach weekend, she typed out.Everyone needs to come. I feel like we haven’t really hung out together this summer. Bring the kids, bring your coolers, and let’s chat and relax together on Sunday afternoon.
She took off the last period and made it an exclamation point. That felt more exciting, and more like she wasn’t calling them out for living their own lives. She’d known things would change a little bit when there were four weddings last summer. That was inevitable.
“It’s something else,” she mused, and she quickly tapped to send the message to the group before she could change her mind, worry about what people might think of her, and erase the text.
