28. The Dance
THE DANCE
It was getting dark out by the time Jake and Isabel drove to the beach for the New Year’s Eve dance.
The parking lot was full, with all kinds of cars, motorcycles, and bicycles parked in every place imaginable.
Jake honestly hadn’t believed enough people lived in Eventide to populate an entire parking lot.
He finally found an empty spot and pulled in next to a cute little scooter he’d seen around town a few times before.
They both stepped out, following the glow of the twinkling lights down the path to the water.
The sea was smooth as glass, and the setting sun made it look like liquid gold.
Jake glanced at Isabel. She was wearing a dark blue gown that swept the stones they walked on, and she hiked it up with her free hand, keeping her other arm linked in Jake’s.
Jake himself had put on the best suit he had, which happened to be his only full suit.
It was black, and he wore a navy tie with a delicate gold fleur-de-lis pattern embroidered on it.
He felt entirely out of place, both in the suit and at the dance, but he held his head high as they joined the crowd.
Scents of roast pork, charred vegetables, and clam chowder mixed in the air.
Laughter cascaded through groups, from clear trills all the way to hearty belly laughs.
Notably absent among the crowd of people in gowns and slacks and minidresses and tuxedos were the Eatons.
Jake glanced around, still looking for the best-dressed couple on the beach, and then their son.
According to Isabel, the elder Eatons always arrived fashionably late, but Robbie should have been there by now.
“Maybe he’s not coming,” Jake said, and in that statement was a hopeful, unspoken thank Mier.
“Ah, there he is.” Isabel pointed to the outcropping of rocks on the periphery of where the party was set up. Robbie was sitting on one of the rocks with Safiya, who seemed to be carrying the bulk of whatever conversation they were having. “You should go and talk to them.”
“Nah,” Jake said. “I’m good sticking with you.”
“Well, dear, I’m going to go dance and get some food.”
“Oh. Then I’ll just grab some food too. I could eat.”
“Go talk to him.”
Isabel left Jake’s side, and he was suddenly surrounded by people he barely knew.
He recognized some, of course: there were Robbie and Safiya off in the distance, and Isabel’s friends were standing in the sand talking, their faces lighting up when Isabel approached.
Connor Everheart was by the bar set up closer to the park treeline along with Nick, who was tending the makeshift bar.
Connor waved to Jake, smiling, and Jake waved back.
He considered joining them, but then he locked eyes with Nick, who scowled.
“Talk about holding a grudge,” he muttered.
He saw Isabel’s neighbors from across the street, the mail carrier, Sarah from the town hall, and plenty of people who frequented the beach when Robbie and Jake were volunteering. He made his way through the crowd, slinking past people who were having much more fun than he was.
Robbie looked up as Jake approached. He didn’t smile or wave, like Safiya, but instead stared, unspeaking. He was wearing a dark suit, possibly midnight blue, though it was hard to tell in the waning light. It was tailored perfectly to his body, and no doubt reserved for such occasions as this.
“Hi,” Safiya called brightly, jumping up from her rock seat. “Come join us, Jake. Did you get a drink yet?”
“Uh, no,” Jake said.
“No problem. I was gonna get a refill, so I’ll grab you something too.”
“Thanks. A beer is fine.”
“Awesome. Robbie?”
“No more for me, thank you.” Robbie smiled and set his empty plastic cup down on the rock next to him. He wouldn’t leave it there; he wasn’t nearly as much of a hypocrite as Jake liked to believe.
“Okay, I’ll be right back. Don’t have too much fun without me.” Safiya was off, her long, flowing skirt swaying in the wintry breeze that had kicked up.
“Do you think she did that on purpose?” Robbie asked, turning his gaze back to the water.
“What, left us alone?”
Robbie nodded.
Jake shrugged. “Probably. She knows about us.”
“Of course she does.”
“Mind if I sit down? Because I can go if it’s a problem.”
Robbie answered Jake’s question with one of his own: “What day are you leaving?”
“Monday. Tomorrow. I doubt we’ll see each other again after this.”
“Sit then,” Robbie said.
Jake glanced back at the tables that were filling up with loaded plates as people sat to eat. “Maybe I shouldn’t.”
“Hot and cold, the Eaton-Wynn specialty.”
If Jake didn’t know Robbie better, he would have thought he was mocking him. But Robbie had said it all too sincerely, and he’d included himself. So Jake sat down, regret be damned, and hugged his knees close to his chest.
Robbie turned to look at him again, his eyes softening until they twinkled in the moonlight, and he smiled. “I’m going to miss you.”
“No, you won’t.” Jake smiled back, shaking his head. “You’ve got a lot to look forward to in the new year. You won, Robbie. You got the house, you got your parents’ cafe plans axed, and you’ve almost gotten rid of me.”
“Ah, so you heard about the cafe.”
“Oh, yeah, I heard about it. Safiya told me first, as a matter of fact. I’ve been dying to know: what happened?”
Robbie looked back at the parking lot in the distance, then his eyes swept over the beach-turned-dance floor. For a moment, Jake wondered what he was looking for.
“I threatened them,” Robbie said. “Well, not so much threatened as explained to them what would happen if they went through with it.”
“You mean with Mier and the town? That’s never stopped them before, has it?”
“No, with me.” Robbie’s smirk, the one that used to make Jake’s blood boil, returned with a vengeance.
“As it turns out, I was a key part of this plan working. That’s why they’ve been so hell-bent on keeping me around—if I’m not here to run the store, they’ll have to allocate a lot more upfront and in the next few years to hire a manager and more employees.
It wouldn’t turn a profit for, according to their estimate, five years, versus the year or so it would take with me at the helm.
The bookstore was just their excuse to keep me around, and that was less and less necessary the older I got and the more obvious it was to them that I would follow along like an obedient little dog.
You were right, Jake: I let them walk all over me.
I really was—am—no better than they are. ”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s true, and you can gloat if you want. I don’t care anymore. Of course, they saw the writing on the wall with Mier, too. If the sea kept acting up, whether they believed it was Mier’s doing or not, tourism wouldn’t bolster that damn coffee business. They were always banking on that.”
“A few extra years of being in the red is hardly a problem for them, though, is it?” Jake asked.
“It is when they’re planning on retiring within the next decade. They want to retire with a secure set of businesses, not be forced to keep going until that happens. I finally figured that out when I had a lot of time to think thanks to you, and I confronted them.”
Jake pressed the back of his hand to his cheek. It was hot, and no doubt red if only there were any light left from the sun to see. “You sneaky little bastard,” he said quietly. “That was a risky plan. Good work, Robbie. You saved Eventide.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Robbie said, offering a small, sad smile. “No one else will see it that way.”
“But you know what you did, and I know, so it does matter. Everyone else will get it in good time.” Jake paused. “Most importantly, though, you finally stood up for yourself.”
“I still lost you.”
Those words hung in the air between them for what felt like hours. Jake didn’t look at Robbie. He couldn’t. He couldn’t think or speak or hear above the ringing in his ears. But Robbie didn’t look at Jake either, perhaps fearing Jake had taken what he’d said wrong.
Finally, Jake opened his mouth and prayed something—the right thing, whatever that was—would come out. “I—”
“Here’s your beer, Jake.” Safiya sighed and plopped herself down between them.
“Sorry it took so long. The party’s really getting going.
Hey, anyone wanna get out there and dance?
” She looked back and forth between the two men, her expression switching in the blink of an eye.
“You know, I think I’ll just head over there right now, and you can join when you’re ready.
I’ll talk to you guys later.” She patted Robbie’s leg and jumped up again, heading off across the beach to the action.
“Dear Safiya,” Robbie said. “She’s a gem.”
“Yeah, she is.” Jake gripped his beer bottle tightly, the cold, sweaty glass making his hand feel clammy.
“What were you saying?”
“Oh, nothing.” Jake shook his head. “I had nothing, Robbie. I’m sorry.”
A sleek, charcoal-colored electric car slid into the parking lot, catching the light from the fairy lights strung across wooden poles staked into the sand. Both Jake and Robbie looked back, Robbie heaving a sigh.
“They’re here. I need to go greet them.”
Jake reached his hand out, crawling his fingers across the rocks until they brushed against Robbie’s knuckles. “I’ll go with you if you want,” he said.
“Yeah, thanks. I’d… I would really appreciate that, Jake. You have no idea how much that would help.”
“I think I do.”
They got up and walked side-by-side over to the main part of the beach.
Isabel and her friends had sat down at one of the long fold-up tables with plates of food.
Safiya and Connor were dancing, with Connor twirling Safiya around awkwardly every few steps.
Nick tossed a shaker into the air and caught it upright again in one hand.
Everyone was still having a great time—everyone except Robbie, who looked like he was walking into his own funeral. He may as well have been.