The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(96)

“I was embarrassed,” Jeremiah admitted. “And ashamed. I didn’t want any of you to know how awful our last talk was. I didn’t want you to know how disappointed he was in me before he died.”

“You know he said those things because he loved you, right?” Amara said. “Maybe he was disappointed in some of your behavior at that time, but not in you as a person.”

“He would be so proud of you and how hard you’ve worked and the things you’ve done with your life,” Celeste said. “Just like how I’m proud of you. But what’s this about you thinking you couldn’t contribute anything of value compared to the rest of us? Why did you think that?”

“I just…” He glanced at his siblings, who watched him, awaiting his answer. “The rest of you are so amazing and good at what you do, and you’ve always been that way. It was hard for me not to compare myself. It’s taken me a lot longer to find my footing.”

“Honey, you contribute something of value, just by being yourself,” Celeste said. “I hate that you’ve felt this way.”

“It’s not a competition to see who’s the best Smith,” Amara said. “We’re family. We all bring something to the table.”

Beside Amara, Robin nodded in agreement. Percy continued to watch Jeremiah in quiet contemplation, like he was viewing the last few years through a new lens.

“Thank you, that’s true,” he said, in reply to his mom and sister. It was a relief to hear them say these things, a real balm to his soul.

But he wasn’t done sharing the truth yet. Maybe it wasn’t necessary to tell the full backstory about how he and Noelle had gotten together. But he didn’t want to hide any more lies. Coming completely clean was the only way to move forward.

“I lied earlier this summer about having a girlfriend who I was spending time with because I needed an excuse not to come here,” he said. “There was no girlfriend. I’m really sorry for lying to you.”

The four of them sported matching frowns of confusion.

“But…what about Noelle?” Celeste asked.

“She was pretending to be my girlfriend at first,” Jeremiah said. “We really did meet at a bookstore. That part was true, and I did like her when I met her. But she came here and pretended to be my girlfriend as a favor to me. I didn’t want you to know that I was purposely avoiding the house or why I was avoiding it. And then I realized that telling you that I lied would hurt you and make things worse, and I didn’t want to do that. At the end of summer, Noelle and I were supposed to go our separate ways, but our feelings for each other became real. She really is my girlfriend now.”

And he hoped it would stay that way.

“Wow,” Celeste said quietly, brows furrowed. Amara, Percy, and Robin stared at him with renewed surprise.

“I deserve your anger for lying,” he said. “But please don’t be mad at Noelle. She was always encouraging me to be honest with you.”

“This is a lot to process,” Celeste said slowly. “I am angry that you lied to us, but mostly I’m sad that you felt you had to lie because you were ashamed to tell us the real reason that you didn’t want to come to Heart Beach.” Celeste sighed, shaking her head. “Honey, Pop loved you. And we love you. You never have to hide anything from us. Don’t lie to us like that again. I’m serious.”

“I swear that I won’t,” Jeremiah said quickly, grateful to still have his family’s love even though he’d kept things from them. “Again, I’m sorry. You don’t have to worry about me lying again ever. Not even for simple stuff, like if I like the food you cooked.”

That got a smile out of Celeste, Amara, and Robin. But Percy didn’t smile. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Us getting in a fight wasn’t right,” Percy said. “I’m sorry that I accused you of not caring.”

“I’m sorry about the fight too,” Jeremiah said. “I understand why you were mad at me for leaving, especially because you didn’t know the real reason why.” He looked at Celeste. “But I don’t think you should sell. I stand by that not being what Pop wanted. What can I do? How can I help?”

“We’ll table the selling conversation for now, okay?” Celeste said. “Today has been a lot. We can talk more at a later date. For now, can we just watch a movie together as a family?”

Jeremiah wanted to convince Celeste and Percy that selling wasn’t the right thing to do. But he recognized that it had been a long day for everyone, and he was exhausted too.

“Okay,” he said.

Jeremiah sat down on the couch to Celeste’s right. They continued watching The Best Man. And even though today had been hard, the fact that they still were able to watch a movie together spoke volumes. After everything, his family was his soft place to land, just like Noelle had said.

Later, alone in bed, he stared at Noelle’s reply text to him saying he’d be there whenever she was ready. She’d texted, Okay. He respected however much time she needed. He hoped to hear from her soon, though. She was his soft place to land too.



* * *





As the new week started and the days passed, by Wednesday, Jeremiah still hadn’t heard from Noelle. He was wrapping up a pitch meeting with Wellman’s, a chain grocery store primarily located in the western part of the country. Months ago, Jeremiah had suggested to Aaron that they reach out to Wellman’s, but Aaron had dismissed the idea, choosing to focus on pitching Good Boy to bigger prospective clients, even though western states had the highest percentage of dog ownership. In the end, Wellman’s reached out to Good Boy because the CEO’s daughter loved Good Boy’s products. A few members of the Wellman’s team were in the city this week for a conference and they’d requested a meeting. Jeremiah met the head buyer, Cara, and her assistant Ian at Serafina’s in Midtown for lunch. It was a meeting that could have happened months ago if Aaron had only listened to Jeremiah before.