The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(36)

He nodded. “True. I like how you think. Let’s kiss as we walk into the dining room, before we sit down. What should be our cue? I’ll let you take the lead.”

“I’ll wink at you,” she said.

“Perfect.”

When they entered the dining room, the rest of the Smiths were already seated around the table.

“There they are,” Celeste said, smiling. She was sitting at the head of the table, and she shook her finger at Noelle and Jeremiah good-naturedly. “There’s always a couple stragglers for dinner.”

“Sorry, Jeremiah was helping me with my necklace,” Noelle said. She looked up at him. “Thanks, babe.”

Then she winked, giving his cue.

Jeremiah reached up and lightly cupped her cheek. Their eyes locked as he slowly lowered his mouth to hers, like he was giving her a chance to change her mind if she wanted to. But Noelle didn’t move. Their lips pressed together, and it sent her rebellious butterflies on a frenzy, rattling around inside her chest and begging for release. The kiss was sweet and chaste. Featherlight with no tongue. But electric currents moved through Noelle, nonetheless.

She pulled away from Jeremiah, ending their kiss, and she smiled easily as she walked to one of the open seats at the table, even though every cell in her body was buzzing. As Jeremiah sat next to her, she was afraid to look at him, afraid for him to see how much their simple kiss had affected her. When she finally found the courage to glance over, she found him looking down at the table, smiling quietly to himself.

“How are things at Good Boy?” Percy asked. He was sitting directly across from Jeremiah, who looked up and blinked, like he was surprised to hear Percy ask that question. Percy glanced at Celeste. “Mom was telling me that you just landed a new deal with Shop Mart. That’s dope. Congrats.”

“I didn’t know that, Miah,” Amara said, grinning at Jeremiah from her end of the table. “That’s amazing.”

“Yeah, congratulations,” Robin said.

“Very proud of you, honey,” Celeste added.

Harper and Ashley applauded, even though they probably had no idea what it meant for Jeremiah to land the deal with Shop Mart. Noelle didn’t know the details about the deal either, but his family wasn’t aware of her ignorance. She rubbed Jeremiah’s back like a proud girlfriend. It said that this deal was old news to her, and she enjoyed seeing him receive praise from his family.

“Thanks, y’all,” he said. His attention lingered on Percy, and Noelle wondered if Percy’s praise mattered to Jeremiah the most. He sent a smile over his shoulder at her, and her heart skipped a beat. “I appreciate it.”

The private chef, Chef Amir, entered the dining room with his small staff, who placed plates in front of everyone. He explained their meal. Sautéed pork chops, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus. For dessert, Celeste baked a blueberry crumble pie from scratch using a Smith’s Sweets recipe. Noelle inwardly groaned. She wouldn’t be able to have any of that pie. At least not directly after dinner in front of his family.

They thanked Chef Amir and his team, and everyone fell quiet as they ate. A long day spent on the boardwalk made for empty stomachs. The food was delicious. Noelle was savoring the taste of the creamy mashed potatoes and wondering how much it cost to have Chef Amir cook for them tonight, when Celeste broke the silence.

“Noelle, hon, you mentioned that you and Jeremiah met at the bookstore where you used to work,” she said. “Where are you working now?”

Noelle’s fork froze halfway to her mouth. She glanced around the table. Each of the Smiths was looking at her. Jeremiah’s smile was encouraging. She’d told him that she’d planned to lean toward honesty if asked about her job. She was going to say that she wasn’t working right now because she was focusing on school, which was technically true in a way. She was focusing on going back to school. It was a fair answer.

But when she placed her fork down on her plate, she blurted, “I’m a librarian.”

It appeared that without her prior agreement, her alternate reality and actual reality had decided to clash.

“Oh, that’s lovely!” Celeste said. She looked at Amara. “We have another book lover in our midst.” Amara nodded eagerly.

For his part, Jeremiah continued to smile like Noelle hadn’t just thrown a monkey wrench into their lore. She smiled too and rubbed her dampening palms against her thighs.

Why? Why had she lied? She wasn’t here to impress anyone. She was just a weekend prop for Jeremiah’s story! But…she couldn’t help caring what Celeste thought about her. And she didn’t want Celeste—or any of the Smiths for that matter—to think she was a gold digger who’d hooked her claws into their beloved Miah. She wanted to be a librarian so badly. It was the reason she was here pretending to be Jeremiah’s girlfriend in the first place. His money was going to help her reach her goal of becoming a librarian. She wished that her lie was true right now. Hopefully it would be true soon enough. Didn’t that count for something?

“What kind of librarian?” Percy asked.

Noelle glanced across the table at him. “I’m sorry?”

“Are you a school librarian? A public librarian?” Percy asked. “Do you work at a university?”

“Oh.” That actually was a pretty great question. “I, um, work at the public library in Brickton.”