The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(101)

No matter how much she missed him, she still wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.

Instead, she FaceTimed her mom and Bill and told them how eager she was to start her new job.



* * *





Friday afternoon, she attended Sheree’s bridal shower at Alice’s Tea Cup on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Guests had been encouraged to wear their afternoon-tea best. Noelle wore a pink floral-print dress with puffy short sleeves. Last night she’d taken out her braids, and now she wore her naturally coily curls in a slicked-back low bun. She’d also found a matching pink fascinator at a vintage thrift store.

She sat with the other bridesmaids, including Sheree’s cousin Raven, who was pouring champagne into her teacup. The other guests in attendance were Sheree’s mom, her aunts, and older relatives. They played games and drank tea and ate finger foods and sweets. Noelle was required only to smile and make casual conversation with Sheree’s loved ones. Surface-level topics like the weather and music. She said enough to be engaging but not too deep.

She used to not mind this kind of talk. She’d preferred it, actually. But the more that she spoke with Sheree’s guests, the more that she wished there were someone here who she shared a real connection with. The Smiths and the connection she’d built with them were the reasons for this change in her mindset. She missed Jeremiah, of course. Missed him so much. But she also missed hanging out with Amara and Robin, and simply being in Celeste’s presence. She kept thinking about Harper and Ashley and wondering if they felt ready for the talent show tomorrow, feeling guilty because she didn’t know if she could bring herself to go back to Heart Beach and see them perform. She wondered if Percy had realized that he deserved to take a break. She even found herself thinking about Caesar, who probably didn’t care whether she lived or died.

It was a Friday afternoon, and usually around this time she’d be heading to Heart Beach with Jeremiah. Now they were all probably at the house without her.

After the group finished playing a game of wedding word scramble, Noelle excused herself to go to the bathroom. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and let out a deep sigh. Would she ever be able to take on another Bridal Bestie gig and not feel disappointed by playing pretend?

She startled as someone stepped out of the stall behind her. She immediately brightened her expression when she realized that the other woman was Sheree. Her white fascinator hat had a dramatic net that covered half of her face.

“Hey!” Noelle said. Even if she was in her feelings right now, she still had a duty as Sheree’s bridesmaid. “Are you having a good time?”

“I am!” Sheree said as she washed and dried her hands. She tilted her head as she looked at Noelle. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you much today. You okay?”

“Absolutely. How’s wedding planning going?”

“Stressful,” Sheree said. “I’m ready for this wedding stuff to be over. I just want to be married.” She smiled. “It must be busy season for you. How many other weddings are you working right now?”

“You’re the only one left this summer actually,” Noelle said. “I had, um, another long-term commitment.”

“Oh, nice.” Sheree checked her makeup in the mirror. She turned to Noelle, and her expression became serious. “Also, I meant to apologize about Brian. When he told me how he tried to talk to you outside of your job, I got so upset. Turns out, he was bothering Raven too and wouldn’t stop texting her, even after she cursed him out multiple times. We kicked him out of the wedding party, and he won’t attend the wedding, period. You don’t have to worry about running into him.”

Noelle hadn’t been worried. She’d figured if Brian refused to take the hint again, she’d hit him with a good dose of pepper spray. But it was good that Sheree and Justin were thinking about everyone else’s well-being.

“Oh, I would say I’m sorry to hear that, but…” she said.

Sheree laughed. “The other reason I bring that up is because we already paid the venue for our guest count, and with Brian’s seat vacant, we have space for another person. Do you want to bring a date? You’ll know the least amount of people there, so I wanted to offer that option to you first.”

“That’s really sweet of you,” Noelle said. She bit her lip and glanced away. She would have loved to bring Jeremiah as her date. But…“The person who I’d bring will be across the country by then.”

“Oh.” Sheree frowned. “Long-distance partner?”

“Something like that.”

Sheree leaned her hip against the sink, looking at Noelle with intrigue and care. “Is everything okay with y’all?”

“It’s a bit complicated.” Noelle paused. “You don’t need to listen to me talk about my problems! It’s your bridal shower! You should get back out there with your guests.”

Sheree waved her hand, dismissing this.

“You were there to listen to me when I needed it, so now I’m here to listen to you.” She gently placed her hand over Noelle’s. “Tell me what happened.”

“Okay…well, remember the long-term commitment I just mentioned having this summer?”

Sheree nodded.

“A guy—his name’s Jeremiah—paid me to pretend to be his girlfriend for a weekend with his family, but it turned into a lot more than that.”