The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(27)

The inside of Jeremiah’s car smelled like his spicy cologne, and his seats were buttery smooth. He drove out of her complex and through Brickton toward the parkway entrance. Noelle checked her phone and saw a text from her mom.


Have fun at the beach this weekend, honey! Love you!

Her mom knew about her bridesmaid side hustle, but this situation with Jeremiah was a bit harder to explain. She didn’t want her mom to worry about her or ask more questions, so when she’d talked to her mom on the phone yesterday, she’d told her that she was spending the weekend at the beach with one of her brides.

She responded, Thanks! Love you too!

Then she put her phone away and dug around in her purse for the mini client bible that she carried with her during gigs. She flipped the journal open to her current page about Jeremiah and the Smiths.

“I think it would be a good idea if we went over the details again,” she said.

After Jeremiah had signed the contract, she’d FaceTimed him to hear a more thorough rundown on his family. Jeremiah had been sitting at his kitchen table. He’d unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt and leaned back in his chair, drinking a can of Dr Pepper. A fancy coffee machine sparkled on the countertop behind him. He’d looked tired as they’d talked, and his voice sounded a bit deeper from exhaustion. But otherwise, he’d been game as he’d answered each of Noelle’s questions with as much detail as possible. They decided that they would tell the truth about how they met, but they’d lie about when. Their official story was that they’d met in early May at Hidden Gems Books. Noelle had helped Jeremiah browse for books, and he’d asked her out to dinner. They’d been inseparable ever since.

They’d also agreed on levels of PDA. Hand-holding, hugging, and kisses on the mouth with prior warning were approved. She’d gone to bed that night wondering what it might feel like to kiss Jeremiah, which meant she was already starting off on the wrong foot. She couldn’t let those pesky butterflies invade her brain again. She needed to remain professional. She shifted in her seat and straightened her posture, journal perched on her lap.

“For sure,” he said as he merged onto the parkway. “Shoot.”

“Okay, so Celeste is your mom. She’s the current CEO of Smith’s Sweets, and she likes fancy things and cats, and she’ll to want to know everything about me and my life.”

Jeremiah laughed and glanced at the open notebook in her lap. “Yeah, that’s an easy way to sum her up.”

Noelle continued. “Percy is your older brother. He works with your mom and he can come across as standoffish, but I shouldn’t take it personally because he’s like that with everyone. His wife, Robin, is a child therapist, and she’s seven months pregnant with a baby girl. Their twin daughters, Harper and Ashley, are ten years old. Amara is your younger sister and we’re celebrating her twenty-seventh birthday this weekend. She’s a graphic designer at Smith’s Sweets, loves horror novels and films, and she’s also a talented painter on the side, even though she sees it more as a hobby. And oh my goodness, I’m just realizing that I didn’t get her a birthday gift! I can’t show up empty-handed!”

“You won’t,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road as he switched lanes. “I signed her birthday card from both of us. You helped me pick out her gift.”

“I did,” she said, relieved. And touched that he’d already thought to include her in that way. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” He flashed her a smile that immediately made her heart flutter.

She forced herself to refocus on her notes. On their call, Jeremiah had also shared that his parents had divorced when he was in elementary school, and his dad lived in Seattle with his longtime partner, Vicky. Noelle could relate. She’d told him how her dad lived in Dallas with his second wife, Monica. When Noelle was younger, she used to spend every summer with her dad, Monica, and Monica’s sons, Will and Greg, who were older than her. Back then, she’d often felt like the puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit anywhere. Jeremiah was lucky to have grown up in a big family where he knew he belonged, without the shadow of a doubt.

He nodded at her notebook and smirked. “I appreciate your analog way of documenting this information.”

“Thank you.” She closed her notebook and held it to her chest. “I use this for all my jobs.”

“How many weddings have you worked?”

She did a bit of mental math, then flipped through her notebook to confirm. “Sixteen.”

“Damn.” Jeremiah whistled. “You’re a real pro.”

She smiled and shrugged. “I’d like to think so.”

“You’ll have no problem with my family,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

She appreciated his confidence in her. If this were any other family, she’d rely on her usual bag of tricks to dazzle everyone and get through the weekend. But the fact that she was spending the weekend with the Smith’s Sweets family, and that she was supposed to act aloof around them, was throwing her off her game.

It didn’t have anything to do with her attraction to Jeremiah, when she’d never had to worry about being attracted to any of her brides before.

They ran into traffic, which was unsurprising. It was the weekend, and a good portion of people in New Jersey were probably headed for the beach.