The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(61)
Noelle thanked Celeste as she sat across from her and tore off a piece of funnel cake. It melted on her tongue. Jeremiah started to join them, but he paused as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He squinted, reading the message he’d received.
“It’s Aaron,” he said. “Gotta handle this.”
He hugged Celeste good night and told Noelle he’d see her upstairs. Noelle watched as he left the kitchen with his phone pressed to his ear.
“How was your date?” Celeste asked.
“Oh, it was nice,” Noelle said, turning to Celeste again. “We looked at dresses for the gala.”
“Did he take you to Daniela’s?” she asked, and Noelle nodded. “Good. I’m glad you’re coming with him. This will be our first year hosting the gala without my dad. We didn’t have it last year. It felt too soon.”
Celeste looked away with a twist to her mouth. Noelle wished she could have met the man who’d clearly meant so much to his family.
“How was the movie?” she asked Celeste when the silence began to stretch.
“We couldn’t decide on the same film, so we split up,” Celeste said, looking at her again. “Percy and Robin took the girls to see an animated movie, and Amara dragged me to see some ghastly horror film about a demon on the loose.” She shuddered. “The things I do for my children.”
Noelle laughed. With just the two of them here in the quiet late-night hour, Celeste seemed less intimidating as she enjoyed a snack in her kitchen. Together, they finished the last of the funnel cake.
“I’m sorry that you had to witness that spat between Jeremiah and Percy on the boardwalk earlier,” Celeste said quietly. “I’m sure Jeremiah has talked to you about his issues with his brother.”
In the simplest terms, he’d explained their issue. He hadn’t gone in depth. But Noelle nodded, because as far as Celeste was concerned, Jeremiah liked Noelle so much, he’d been willing to forfeit multiple weekends with his family in order to spend time with her. Of course he would have told her every detail about what was going on with him and Percy.
Celeste sighed. “I’m an only child, so I don’t know what it’s like to be competitive with a sibling. Percy and Miah have been competing with each other since they were kids. It used to be good fun, but lately…” Celeste trailed off, gazing out the window again.
“I understand them both,” she continued. “Percy is upset because Jeremiah left the company when that wasn’t originally the plan. And Jeremiah is trying to strike out on his own. I’ve talked to them about seeing things from the other’s point of view, but I’ve learned that sometimes I have to let my children work things out among themselves. When all is said and done, they really do love each other.” She looked at Noelle. “Do you have siblings?”
“I do,” Noelle said. “Stepsiblings. But I don’t see them that often. They live in Texas near my dad. They’re a lot older than me.”
“So most of the time, you must feel like an only child,” Celeste said. “Like me.”
“Yeah,” Noelle said, thinking of how she’d wished for a bigger family growing up as a latchkey kid, during those nights when her mom had worked late. She’d wanted to be part of a close-knit family, not unlike the Smiths.
Celeste smiled softly. “Well, I hope we aren’t driving you too crazy.”
“Not at all.” Noelle smiled too. “I like being here.”
“Good.” Celeste patted Noelle’s hand. She stood and poured a glass of water. “I’m taking my butt to bed. Sleep well.”
“You too.”
Noelle remained where she sat. She still needed more time before she went upstairs and faced Jeremiah and her complicated feelings.
Eventually, she left the kitchen and cut off the light. As she reached the second floor, something soft and warm slipped past her ankle, and she heard a distinctive hiss. She held back a yelp as she realized that she’d just made contact with Celeste’s elusive cat, Caesar. She couldn’t see the cat in the dark, but she heard his claws scraping against the wood floor as he scampered down the hall.
Heart pounding, Noelle ran upstairs and darted inside Jeremiah’s bedroom. She was about to tell him how she’d just run into the cat, but Jeremiah was knocked out, still fully clothed on his side of the bed atop the covers.
Noelle gingerly sat on the edge of the bed. She reached up and smoothed the wrinkle between his eyebrows. He breathed a contented sigh, and she felt herself smile.
Clearly, her crush was not going to die as quickly as she’d hoped.
Chapter Nineteen
“Did the Shop Mart guys seem happy, though?” Aaron asked Jeremiah. “Did they enjoy themselves?”
They were on a video call. Last night Jeremiah had taken the Shop Mart buying team out for dinner in Manhattan to celebrate their new partnership. Even though it was Saturday morning now, Aaron wanted a recap. Jeremiah finished zipping his freshly dry-cleaned tux inside of its garment bag, and he glanced around his room, confirming that the rest of his things were packed for the weekend. Well, everything except for his laptop.
“Yeah, it went well,” he said. “I think they had fun. They’re excited to work with us.”
Jeremiah had treated the team to dinner at Le Bernardin. The buyers were based out of Seattle, so afterward they’d asked Jeremiah to show them the best bars. Jeremiah had wanted to beg off. The last place he’d wanted to be was at the bar. He didn’t want to risk another awkward run-in, like with Theo at Amara’s party. But declining to entertain the Shop Mart team wouldn’t have been good for business, so he’d taken them to Piano Bar in SoHo and had kept a smile plastered on his face the entire time. Luckily he hadn’t seen anyone that he’d recognized.