CHAPTER 7
Turned out that Operation: Crush Dalton’s Ego was pretty simple.
We didn’t need to make things complicated.
Jamie didn’t need permission to reach for my hand, and I didn’t need permission to wrap my arms around him.
We both trusted each other enough to follow the other’s lead, no matter what situation arose.
It made things far, far simpler than the fake dating books Nellie said she normally read—we didn’t need rules or code phrases.
Heck, just being ourselves got us halfway to this predicament in the first place. We could do this.
And even though I still wasn’t sure I wanted to, I knew I needed to.
“Daisy.” Jamie’s gaze locked on mine in the rearview mirror while he waited for the traffic at the stop sign to move forward. “You good?”
I picked at the braided strap of my beach bag, hating how frayed the edges were getting but unable to quit my fingers. “Yep.”
Nellie, in the front seat, planted an elbow on the console and turned to me. I’d loosely braided her dark hair back into a French braid down her back, and she had her sunglasses perched on top of her head. “Don’t be nervous,” she said. “These people are like dogs and toddlers. They sense fear.”
I snorted, some of the tension breaking at her ridiculous words. “Got it. Don’t be nervous, less I tip off the toddler dogs.”
“Lest,” Jamie corrected.
“Shut up.”
I caught a glimpse of his smile in the rearview mirror, and, like Nellie’s joke, the grip around my chest eased further.
It seemed everyone was kicking off the week with a trip to the bay. We’d been waiting at the stoplight before the parking lot for almost fifteen minutes, inching forward as all four directions passed through the intersection.
A beach day. With the Alderton-Du Ponte group.
And Dalton Giovanni.
I shifted in my seat, pretending it was anxiety, not anticipation.
I was seriously testing my self-control, especially on four hours of sleep.
Except this time, it wasn’t just me who’d be embarrassed if I caved—Jamie would be dragged under too, either looked at as the pitiful guy who I’d cheated on or the pathetic friend who’d agreed to help his even more pathetic friend make her ex jealous.
It was a lose-lose if I screwed this up.
So I couldn’t. I had to put on my game face.
We had to park pretty far out in the lot, right beside a van of children unloading from it, with their father grabbing a beach chair out of the trunk. One of the girls looked Theo’s age, with blonde hair like Ivy’s. A sick feeling pricked at me, thinking about the way we’d all parted this morning.
I closed my eyes, wincing as Junie’s worried face flashed across my mind.
And when I opened them again, I found Jamie watching me in the rearview mirror.
My door wrenched open. Nellie had climbed out, slid her sunglasses over her eyes, but I could see her raised brows above the rim.
“It really is okay, Daisy,” she insisted as I climbed out.
“You look great. And like we talked about—it’s really no different than normal.
You just have to hold Jamie’s clammy hand. ”
“My hands are not clammy,” Jamie called as he got out of the driver’s seat.
“I’m fine,” I said, not wanting to go into everything that’d happened this morning. It felt ten kinds of wrong to complain about the kids, and I felt too guilty over it to rehash. “I’m just hungry.”
“Our first stop after we find our group can be getting corn dogs from Hoppin’ Dawgs,” she promised.
“With extra mustard.”
“Gross. But sure.”
We both giggled as Jamie went to unload the trunk. Nellie had packed a small handheld cooler of soda cans, and Jamie had a bigger bag full of towels and other supplies. He hooked the bag over his narrow shoulder, picked up the cooler, and shut the trunk.
Jamie slid his fingers underneath my beach bag strap and eased it from my shoulder, hoisting it over his own without thought. “You don’t have to carry all the bags,” I objected, reaching for it again. “I can—”
“Let your fake boyfriend hold your bag, Daze.” Jamie held his free palm out to me. “Hold my hand instead.”
I wrinkled my nose. “That was dorky,” I muttered, but slid my fingers between his.
Nellie had a strange look on her face, but turned sharply toward the beach. “Let’s go before my skin starts crawling.”
My flip-flops smacked as we walked across the parking lot, otherwise in silence.
The sun was hot; the perfect day for the beach.
Jamie’s hand wasn’t clammy, but mine felt like it was, dampening further when we reached the loose sand.
I paused to slip off my flip-flops while Nellie continued on, her strapped-on sandals not budging.
I straightened, looping my finger through the rubber part of my shoes as I readjusted my other hand on Jamie’s. “Make sure your acting skills are up to par to match mine,” I told him, shooting him a dirty look. “Because mine are great.”
“If you say so.”
“Better than yours.”
“Oh, really? Is that why you were gaping like a fish when everyone came into the guest room?”
I scoffed once, then scoffed again. “You—you caught me off guard!”
“Right, right.”
“I’ll catch you off guard and see how you respond!”
Jamie couldn’t wipe the grin off his mouth. It was so deep that his dimples appeared again, though not as deep as the other day. “I’d love to see you try.”
“Oh, just you wait.” I narrowed my eyes on the bay’s shoreline, trying to figure out how exactly to follow through on my threat. Flustering Jamie would be quite the challenge, but he deserved it. I’d come up with an idea somehow. “Be honest—did you pack a book?”
Jamie arched a brow at me. “Did you pack your sketchbook?”
A slow smile spread across my lips. Jamie’s lifted in response.
This was real—this banter, smiling at each other. Not that romantic weirdness from last night. Whatever butterflies that’d batted their wings must’ve been residual ones from the hallway with Dalton. They just… chose to wake up at the wrong moment.
Jamie’s eyes traced the spot on my browbone again. “I’m going to have to call social services,” he said, turning to face straight again. His voice was light. “If you keep showing up with bruises, I’m going to have to intervene.”
“At least it was the same eye,” I said in an equally cheery voice, watching Nellie scan the beach for our group.
His fingers squeezed mine a little tighter, but since his were so big, it hurt a little. “You’d tell me if something was wrong. Right?”
“Come on, Jamie. You really think I’m getting abused at home?”
“I’m just worried.”
And Jamie was the world’s biggest worrier. I shifted my hand in his, my fingers aching so much that I wanted to let go. “You know what, maybe you should talk to the kids. Scare them into acting better.”
“So they’re not behaving?”
“They’re fine—ugh.” I suddenly groaned, yanking Jamie to a stop and unwinding our fingers.
“This isn’t comfy.” Jamie was so much taller than me that instead of our hands hanging at our sides, I had to reach up and hang onto him.
Knotting our fingers pinched mine, so I cupped his palm instead. “Much better.”
Jamie cleared his throat. “You’re right. Much better.”
“You guys!” Nellie called back to us. She’d nearly reached the shoreline, waving her hand at us. “I found them! Let’s go!”
Another bolt zinged through me, and I drew in a deep breath. “She seems too excited for this.”
“If Nellie does anything, she makes sure she does it perfectly.” Jamie stared after her, squinting against the sun.
I wasn’t sure how Nellie had been able to spot the right blanket, since the beach was packed with towels and umbrellas, and it was only Beck waiting on a patchwork quilt they’d stretched out. He had on a black tank top and gray swim shorts, his sunglasses shielding his eyes.
“Hey, the hair turned out pretty good!” I said as we came close enough, grinning at the freshly bleached roots that mostly matched the rest of Beck’s platinum blond hair.
Jamie and I had been there when Nellie started the bleach session, but we’d left for Lydia’s party before I’d gotten to see the final product. “Not that I was worried, of course.”
Beck threaded his fingers through his locks and shook them. “Right? My future lawyer-slash-hairdresser only missed a major chunk at the back of my head. No big deal.”
Nellie gave a little gasp, kicking lightly at his calf. “I did not!”
Beck’s laugh was delicate, as was the way he grinned up at her.
Even with sunglasses hiding his eyes, there was no shielding the fondness in his expression.
“I can’t believe you’re showing up late,” he murmured, watching Jamie set our belongings down on the blanket.
“And I can’t believe you made me be the driver of the Alderton-Du Ponte schmucks.
I thought I made it clear the only people allowed in the convertible are you three. ”
“Lydia and Raelynn didn’t have a ride,” Nellie said, crouching down to pull a soda from the cooler. The wind stirred her hair. “And you live the closest to them.”
Beck caught at the strands that slid across her face, curling them gently behind her ear. “Just this once,” he allowed.
“Twice,” Nellie corrected. “You’ll need to drive them home.”
Beck puffed his lip out in a scowl.
“Where are they, anyway?” I asked, looking around the beach for Lydia’s stream of blonde hair. Not looking for a certain muscular boy. The beach was pretty packed, though, a lot of people celebrating their first day of summer vacation the same way we were. “Did they already go into the water?”
“I sent them for a slushie.” Beck reclined further onto his elbows, dramatically ducking lower under the umbrella. “I need something cool. The sun burns.”
I snorted. “Okay, vampire.”
Beck gave a halfhearted hiss.