Don't Forget to Write: A Novel(22)

I lay on my back and pushed my sunglasses up onto my forehead, closing my eyes against the brilliant sunlight, and slowly I began to drift off into a doze.

“Well, if it isn’t the siren of the shore,” a male voice said, waking me. I squinted against the sun, but I could only see the silhouette of a man in a pair of Avalon Beach Patrol trunks. Sitting up and holding my hand above my eyes, I could just make out the young man who had pulled me from the bush my first night in Philadelphia.

“Freddy, isn’t it? I hardly recognize you when I’m not sprawled in shrubbery.”

He grinned. “I’d know you anywhere.” Looking around, he asked, “Are you on the clock? I don’t see that aunt of yours lurking around corners.”

“She’s back at the house. Apparently we get to relax in the summer.” I lowered my sunglasses so I wouldn’t be squinting, and he sat on my towel next to me. I was very aware of the heat of his leg almost touching mine—and even more aware of how unclothed I was. “Wait—I didn’t tell you she was my aunt.”

“Maybe I asked around about you.”

“Who would you ask? I just arrived!”

“There are no secrets in Oxford Circle. Or Avalon, for that matter.”

I gestured to his trunks. “Are you here for the summer, then?”

“I am. My last summer of freedom before I graduate and have to decide between law school and the family business.”

“Which is?”

He looked sideways at me. “Sizing me up as a match or asking for yourself?”

“If there are no secrets in Oxford Circle, Ada already knows all your business.”

Freddy swept some sand off the towel, brushing against my leg in the process. “She does. You know, she called me after you got my number, and I asked about you. She said you weren’t available.”

“Did she now?”

He nodded. “Is it the rabbi’s son? Or was that whole story a red herring?”

I scrunched up my nose, making a face that would surely upset Ada and her concern for future wrinkles. “True, unfortunately. But I did refuse him.”

“Then you’re not available because—?”

“Because Ada says I’m not.”

He smiled, then rose off the towel. “We wouldn’t want to go against Ada Heller, now would we?”

I felt a slight sense of disappointment as he prepared to leave. Ada had said no men, but what Ada didn’t know . . .

“I have the afternoons free,” I said. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Maybe. How strong a swimmer are you?”

“Decently so.”

“Shame,” Freddy said, his lips spreading into a flirtatious grin. “I’m certified in mouth-to-mouth.”

“Good to know,” I said. “I’ll make sure you’re around before I start drowning.”

Suddenly he was kneeling back on the towel. “We could practice now.”

I pushed his chest away playfully and he tumbled over into the sand, clutching his heart. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Get up, you fool.”

“I can’t. I’m mortally wounded. Only true love’s kiss will break the spell.”

There was another lifeguard sitting in a chair a little ways down the beach, and I pointed toward him. “Should I go get him to help you? I bet he’s certified in mouth-to-mouth too.”

“Another dagger to the heart. Maybe I should give up and try one of Ada’s matches after all.”

That sobered my mood quickly. He should, actually. I was off limits, especially if she was working with him. Ada made that much clear.

“Hey,” he said softly, sitting up. “What just happened? You stopped smiling, and it’s like the sun went away.”

Against my better judgment, I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “That’ll have to do.”

“For now,” he said, standing up again. “I’ll see you soon, Marilyn.”

And he took off jogging down the beach toward the lifeguard stand.

I reached up and touched my own cheek. I was smiling. Not smart at all. But a little flirtation couldn’t hurt anyone. As long as Ada didn’t find out.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN


Ada sent me to the small grocery store in town two days later.

“Isn’t that Frannie’s job?” I asked. It wasn’t like I did any of the cooking.

“Frannie deserves days off just like everyone else,” Ada snapped. “It won’t kill you to pick up some produce.”

Yes, Frannie deserved a day off, I grumbled to myself as I walked the half mile to the store. But so did I. Okay, I had the afternoons, and Freddy had come to find me on the beach both days. Of course, even on the days we didn’t have clients, Ada had errands or other jobs for me to do. I would have liked a morning to sleep in and do what I wanted instead of catering to her.

But that was my penance, I supposed. Had I any idea that Daniel would have been so much trouble—well, who was I kidding? I probably would have done exactly what I did regardless. But maybe I would have stayed away from that stained glass. I had no regrets about anything except getting caught.

I soon found myself in the produce aisle, utterly confounded by the melons. Ada said to make sure they were ripe, but short of cutting one open, I had no idea how one would go about doing that. And I feared they would frown upon me cutting them all open and sampling them.