Chapter Thirty-Five
Thirty-Five
Fourth of July weekend dawned bright and hot. Shelby stood on Hunter’s deck, looking out at the beach below. The baby shower theme colors, cobalt blue and peach, really popped against the sand and sea. Six round tables were set with fresh sunflower centerpieces and icy carafes of pink lemonade. The plates, glasses, and striped table runners were coral, blue, and white, with two decorative white starfish resting atop each folded cloth napkin.
Shelby passed the deck’s sangria bar, dropping her gift off on the designated table covered with gifts wrapped in pastel-colored paper. The centerpiece was white, eco-friendly helium balloons tied to glass baby bottles filled with jelly beans. On the beach below, two dozen or so guests milled around. The Harry Styles song “Watermelon Sugar” played over the outdoor sound system. The salt air met Shelby like a kiss, a moment of pure summer that took her breath away.
“Shelby!” Pam Miller called out, rushing across the deck to give her a hug. It was typical Pam exuberance, just as it was exactly like Annie to smile quietly and trail after her.
Pam was in her fifties, tall and lean. She wore her gray hair boyishly short, and always seemed to be dressed in a white button-down, faded jeans, and Converse. Her familiar scent, a cinnamon-sugar mix, made Shelby feel like a college kid again.
“Look at you—a bestselling author. And we can say we ‘knew you when.’”
“I tell everyone who will listen about my summers at Land’s End,” Shelby said. It was true; she mentioned Land’s End whenever she spoke about her path to becoming a novelist.
“You’ve done us proud,” Annie said, pushing up on her toes to kiss Shelby’s cheek. She had a round face framed by shoulder-length blond curls and wore a pale purple T-shirt, cargo shorts, and Birkenstocks. “And thank you so much for helping with the store. And all of this!” She waved a cocktail napkin decorated with a pink-and-blue anchor in the center and above it, the words Babies on Board .
From the beach below, Colleen caught her eye. They shared a smile.
“Excuse me for one minute. I just want to say hi to Colleen.”
Shelby took the wooden stairs down to the sand and followed the tarp path leading to where tables had been set out. Colleen was already seated at a table with a centerpiece of coral balloons anchored by a balloon weight wrapped in turquoise foil.
She noticed Colleen’s T-shirt and laughed.
“I didn’t think you’d be wearing it today .” Shelby bent down to give her a hug. When she’d stopped by to visit a few nights ago, she gave Colleen a T-shirt that said on the front, Sorry, I Just Can’t...and on the back, I’m Busy Growing Two Tiny Humans.
“Oh, I’m wearing it every day,” Colleen said, leaning into her hug. “Thank you for putting all this together. You and Hunter. I love you guys.”
Hunter stood near the neighboring table, talking to a young local, Jaci Barros, whose family owned the boatyard. Shelby waved, but Hunter either didn’t notice or pretended not to notice.
Shelby hadn’t seen her since the night of Anders’s book reading. Aside from their initial shower planning meeting at the house, they’d only communicated by text or DM. Since Shelby was hunkered down writing every night, she didn’t even have the chance to run into her after work. She wondered, for the first time, if Hunter was upset with her again for some reason.
“It’s just like the old days,” Colleen said, following Shelby’s gaze. The expression on her face was hopeful. “The three of us. Here on the beach.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Shelby said.
She felt people hovering nearby, waiting to say hi to Colleen. It made it easy for her to slip away, to get Hunter’s attention and pull her aside.
“Can we talk for a sec?” Shelby said. Hunter tried to shake her off, but Shelby wouldn’t take no for an answer. Shelby turned towards the sun, watching the way it seemed to bounce off the ocean. The water was dotted with boats, and a test firework sounded off somewhere. Shelby almost forgot it was the Fourth of July; the town’s festive vibe felt like an extension of the baby shower.
They walked towards the water.
“What is it?” Hunter said impatiently, glancing back at the party.
“I just wanted to say I’m glad we did this together. And it makes Colleen really happy to see us friends again.”
Hunter barked out a strange laugh. “Is that what we are?”
Shelby stopped walking. “I thought so.”
“Just like nothing ever happened. How convenient for you.”
Was she serious? “Is this about my book? Because I thought we were past that.”
Hunter stopped walking and turned to her. “It’s not about the book. The book just confirmed it. You’re not capable of being anyone’s friend. Or girlfriend, apparently. I’m not sure how Colleen convinced you to come out here this summer, but I’m sure you’ll let her down somehow, too.”
Shelby was confused.
“Hunter,” she said quietly. “What’s this really about?”
Hunter opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. Shelby glanced back at the other guests, hoping no one would interrupt them. She wasn’t going back to the party until Hunter spilled it.
“Just tell me,” Shelby said.
“Fine,” Hunter said, crossing her arms. “Do you remember that last summer we went sailing with my parents?”
The question was so out of context, it took Shelby a second to think about it. “We did that a few times.”
“Right. But the day when we did edibles and kept hanging out belowdecks and they didn’t know why we were freaked out by the wind?”
Shelby smiled. She did remember that day. They’d accidentally gotten way too high. It hadn’t been funny at the time, but it was now that she thought back on it. Still—what did that have to do with anything?
“That morning, before the boat, I told you there was a guy I liked,” Hunter said. “But that I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.” Hunter’s face turned red and she toyed with the small gold hoop near the top of her ear the way she did when she was upset.
Shelby had no recollection of the conversation.
“He was someone I’d been thinking about for a while. Someone I thought I had, I don’t know, some sort of connection with that might turn into something more. I was, like, sure of it.”
“I’m sorry, Hunter. I don’t remember you telling me about him.”
“That’s because I never did. Not specifically. Because a few nights later, you showed up at the Canteen with him.”
Shelby tilted her head to one side. It took her a beat to be sure she was understanding her.
“You don’t mean... Justin?”
“I do mean Justin. The night we went to dinner after his talk at Town Hall, I felt like we connected. And for some reason, I just couldn’t get my mind off him all year. I thought, I don’t know, that something might happen that summer.”
Shelby’s jaw dropped. Hunter had just described exactly the way she herself had felt after that first night with the Lombardos. And she didn’t wonder why Hunter never mentioned it; Shelby hadn’t, either. It was too ephemeral. It felt, well, silly. And they were not silly girls.
“When he picked you, I could live with it. I was happy for you. I thought, okay maybe it’s true love or something, and how could I compete with that? Who was I to even try? But then you just dumped him. Like it was nothing . And it seemed like...such a waste.”
Shelby pressed her fingers to her temples. “I’m trying to process this. Are you saying this was all about Justin? Not the book?” She lowered her hands, incredulous.
“It all ties together. I saw how you ended things with Justin, and I thought, wow, she turned it off just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “But I guess we all make choices.”
“That’s not true,” Shelby said. “I didn’t... Nothing turned off.” In fact, breaking up with Justin had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. But she knew it came down to a case of “right guy, wrong time.” She’d learned, moving around so much as a child, that goodbye was a part of life. Understanding this, acting accordingly, wasn’t a character flaw. It was her strength.
“I felt bad for him,” Hunter said. “I couldn’t imagine losing you as a friend. And I thought, well, she’d never do that to me. But when you moved to New York, you kinda did.”
“Hunter, that’s not fair. Our lives changed. You got busy, too.”
“True. And I didn’t blame you. You had other things on your mind, new friends. So did I. And maybe you forgot about me a little. I had no problem with that. But you didn’t forget about me at all, did you? In fact, you remembered so much, you felt the need to write it into a book .”
Shelby stared at her. Hunter looked away, her attention caught by something beyond them. Shelby turned to see Pam walking over.
“Ladies, I’ve been looking all over for you,” Pam said. “Doug’s about to make a toast before he leaves.”
“Lead the way,” Hunter said, brushing past her.
Stunned by the turn things had taken, all Shelby could do was follow along.
Doug stood on the deck, Colleen by his side. He raised a champagne flute filled with orange juice. Shelby’s heart was pounding like she’d just run a six-minute mile.
“They say timing is everything in life,” Doug said. “We’ve all heard that. But what I never realized was how much of that timing is out of our control. This summer is nothing like Colleen and I had planned. And it’s better than anything we ever imagined.”
“Actually, I imagined getting out of bed a lot more,” Colleen said, and everyone laughed.
“It’s true: you have the harder part of this bargain. And as soon as I can share the load, I’m there! But if it makes you feel better, after the babies arrive, I’ll stay off my feet for a few months just to even things out.”
People laughed again. “Seriously, though, to the love of my life, mother of my children, and current champion of our latest Scrabble tournament—Colleen.”
Shelby raised her glass. “To Colleen,” she echoed, part of the chorus around her.
Doug bent down to kiss Colleen, and she was radiant. Shelby thought about what he’d just said—that timing was everything in life. He was absolutely right.
The deck felt hot and crowded. She needed space. She needed to think. And with everyone busy pouring champagne and hovering around Colleen, it was easy for her to slip away unnoticed, back inside the apartment.
Shelby took refuge in the guest bathroom and locked the door. It was decorated with paper hand towels that matched the cocktail napkins outside, and a conch shell filled with small soaps wrapped in patterned paper. She stood in front of the sink and ran the water, avoiding her reflection in the mirror. Instead, she watched the water hit the steel drain stopper, a shallow pool forming. When she realized she was being wasteful, she turned off the faucet.
All this time. All this time, Hunter had feelings for Justin? Well, maybe not for him—not really. But feelings about him, certainly. Shelby tried to remember that last summer together. Not a single moment came to mind that suggested she should have somehow known Hunter had been interested in him. If she had, would it have changed anything? Maybe. She might not have risked a friendship for a guy. Shelby had been deeply attracted to Justin, but at the same time, she’d known on some level that any summer relationship would have its limits. As Doug said, timing was everything. That summer, her priority had been her writing career. It still was.
Shelby faced herself in the mirror. Then she walked back to the party.