Chapter Nine #2
“I didn’t know that, Miah,” Amara said, grinning at Jeremiah from her end of the table. “That’s amazing.”
“Yeah, congratulations,” Robin said.
“Very proud of you, honey,” Celeste added.
Harper and Ashley applauded, even though they probably had no idea what it meant for Jeremiah to land the deal with Shop Mart.
Noelle didn’t know the details about the deal either, but his family wasn’t aware of her ignorance.
She rubbed Jeremiah’s back like a proud girlfriend.
It said that this deal was old news to her, and she enjoyed seeing him receive praise from his family.
“Thanks, y’all,” he said. His attention lingered on Percy, and Noelle wondered if Percy’s praise mattered to Jeremiah the most. He sent a smile over his shoulder at her, and her heart skipped a beat. “I appreciate it.”
The private chef, Chef Amir, entered the dining room with his small staff, who placed plates in front of everyone.
He explained their meal. Sautéed pork chops, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus.
For dessert, Celeste baked a blueberry crumble pie from scratch using a Smith’s Sweets recipe.
Noelle inwardly groaned. She wouldn’t be able to have any of that pie.
At least not directly after dinner in front of his family.
They thanked Chef Amir and his team, and everyone fell quiet as they ate.
A long day spent on the boardwalk made for empty stomachs.
The food was delicious. Noelle was savoring the taste of the creamy mashed potatoes and wondering how much it cost to have Chef Amir cook for them tonight, when Celeste broke the silence.
“Noelle, hon, you mentioned that you and Jeremiah met at the bookstore where you used to work,” she said. “Where are you working now?”
Noelle’s fork froze halfway to her mouth.
She glanced around the table. Each of the Smiths was looking at her.
Jeremiah’s smile was encouraging. She’d told him that she’d planned to lean toward honesty if asked about her job.
She was going to say that she wasn’t working right now because she was focusing on school, which was technically true in a way.
She was focusing on going back to school. It was a fair answer.
But when she placed her fork down on her plate, she blurted, “I’m a librarian.”
It appeared that without her prior agreement, her alternate reality and actual reality had decided to clash.
“Oh, that’s lovely!” Celeste said. She looked at Amara. “We have another book lover in our midst.” Amara nodded eagerly.
For his part, Jeremiah continued to smile like Noelle hadn’t just thrown a monkey wrench into their lore. She smiled too and rubbed her dampening palms against her thighs.
Why? Why had she lied? She wasn’t here to impress anyone.
She was just a weekend prop for Jeremiah’s story!
But…she couldn’t help caring what Celeste thought about her.
And she didn’t want Celeste—or any of the Smiths for that matter—to think she was a gold digger who’d hooked her claws into their beloved Miah.
She wanted to be a librarian so badly. It was the reason she was here pretending to be Jeremiah’s girlfriend in the first place.
His money was going to help her reach her goal of becoming a librarian.
She wished that her lie was true right now.
Hopefully it would be true soon enough. Didn’t that count for something?
“What kind of librarian?” Percy asked.
Noelle glanced across the table at him. “I’m sorry?”
“Are you a school librarian? A public librarian?” Percy asked. “Do you work at a university?”
“Oh.” That actually was a pretty great question. “I, um, work at the public library in Brickton.”
“She’s good at her job,” Jeremiah added, resting his arm across the back of her chair.
“I know Brickton,” Robin said, perking up. “My cousin and her girlfriend just bought a house by that park with the gazebo and the lake. Do you know which one I’m talking about?”
Noelle nodded. “That’s a really nice area.”
“It is,” Robin agreed. “Do you live around there too?”
The people who lived on that side of Brickton had corporate jobs in the city and sent their children to private schools.
Their roads were better paved, and they put up elaborate decorations outside their homes every year during the holidays.
They were like their own separate community.
One that Noelle and the people she’d grown up with in Brickton were not part of.
Noelle simply shook her head. “No.”
“We have an announcement!” Ashley declared.
Noelle silently thanked Ashley for stealing the attention away. As everyone turned to look at the twins, Jeremiah leaned over to Noelle and whispered, “Are you okay?”
“I’m good, thanks,” she whispered back, sparing him a quick smile.
“We’re doing the summer talent show this year,” Ashley said. “We’re going to dance.”
“Oh wow!” Celeste said. “That’s wonderful. Just the two of you?”
“No, Ciara and Zoe too.”
“Ciara and Zoe’s family vacations at the home next door,” Jeremiah explained to Noelle, and she nodded.
“We still need to figure out an appropriate song for them to dance to, though,” Robin said. “We can’t seem to agree on anything yet.”
“We want to do ‘TGIF’ by GloRilla,” Harper said. “But Mom said no because there’s too much cursing.”
“And Dad says no too,” Percy added. “No way at all.”
Jeremiah snorted, and Percy shot him a look across the table.
“I’m sure there’s a Kidz Bop version of that song somewhere,” Jeremiah said.
Noelle covered her mouth to muffle the sound of her laughter.
“How about some dessert?” Celeste asked.
She went to grab the blueberry crumble pie from the kitchen. She placed it in the middle of the dining room table and as she began slicing a piece, Noelle’s mouth watered.
“Noelle, since this is your first time in Heart Beach, the first slice is yours,” Celeste said. “I used one of my parents’ favorite recipes to make this pie. It’s also a top seller for us every summer. I hope you love it.”
Oh, goodness, here we go.
“Oh, um, I’m really sorry,” Noelle said. “But I don’t like eating sweets.”
The words were physically painful to say.
Celeste looked up sharply. Confusion wiped her face blank. The rest of the family blinked at Noelle. She sat up straighter. In a protective gesture, Jeremiah inched his chair closer to hers.
Celeste laughed lightly. “I’m sorry, hon, we’re just a little shocked because that’s not something we hear around here very often, but I understand.” She looked at Jeremiah. “Miah, big or small slice for you?”
“I’m not gonna have any pie either,” he said.
Celeste simply stared at him.
“What? Really?” Amara asked, leaning forward to look down the table at Jeremiah. “Isn’t blueberry crumble your favorite?”
“You’re the same guy who once fought me over the last slice of blueberry crumble pie,” Percy said, laughing in disbelief.
“That happened when I was sixteen and you were nineteen,” Jeremiah said, sighing.
“Have you stopped eating sweets now?” Celeste asked, brows raised.
It was like they’d just found out that Jeremiah had decided to stop brushing his teeth or drinking water. Essential things. But then again, maybe being a fan of sweets kind of was an essential thing in this family.
“Nah,” Jeremiah said. “I’m just full. I’ll have some pie for breakfast tomorrow.”
Under the table, he gently squeezed Noelle’s hand. She realized that he probably did want pie, but he wasn’t going to eat it in front of her while knowing that she wouldn’t have any herself. He was abstaining in solidarity. It was silly and unnecessary, but she felt touched all the same.
“Okay, the first slice goes to Amara since she’s the birthday girl tomorrow,” Celeste said. Amara gratefully accepted her plate of pie.
“You know what I was thinking,” Amara said, changing the subject as Celeste sliced pie for everyone else. “We should do a horror movie night in the backyard with the projector. We haven’t done that since the summer before last.”
“You and these scary movies.” Celeste shook her head as she sat down and scooped pie onto her fork. To Noelle, she explained, “My dad was a horror film buff. He got the kids into it too.”
“That’s where my love for horror started,” Amara said. “I used to watch all kinds of scary movies with Pop when I was younger. I think I liked feeling scared, but I felt protected too because I knew if Pop was there, I’d be okay.”
“I don’t love horror,” Celeste said. “Pop and Jeremiah used to play the worst tricks on me.”
Jeremiah smiled and shifted to face Noelle. “This one time we watched Scream with Pop. I didn’t think it was that scary, more so gory—”
“All that fake blood,” Celeste said. She closed her eyes and shivered.
“That summer, Mom took yoga classes at eight p.m.,” Jeremiah continued. “So, one night while she was gone, Pop and I bought Ghostface masks from the costume store. And when she came home, we turned off the lights and jumped out and scared her.”
“I almost leapt out of my skin!” Celeste said, even though she was laughing.
Noelle smiled and rested her chin in her hand as she listened. “How old you were you then?”
“I think I was fourteen,” Jeremiah said.
“No, you were thirteen,” Amara said. “Because I was eleven, and that was the same summer that Pop taught me how to water ski.”
“He sounds like he was a lot of fun,” Noelle said.
“He was,” Jeremiah agreed. He fell quiet and stared at his empty plate.
“Celeste, I forgot to tell you that I saw Mercy Webster at the grocery store this morning,” Robin said. “She asked if she could bring a plus-one to Amara’s party tomorrow. I think she has a new boyfriend.”
“Really?” Celeste asked. “What happened to the last guy?”
As the family moved on to another subject, Noelle noticed that Jeremiah didn’t join in. He kept his eyes averted, focused on the table. His brows pulled together as he rubbed his forehead. Then he stood abruptly. Everyone looked at him.
“Is anybody else hot?” he asked. “I’m kinda hot. I’m gonna get some air.”
“Oh.” Noelle began to slide her chair back.
“It’s okay,” he told her quickly, his expression strained. “I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”
He left the dining room. Unsure of what to do, Noelle looked around the table at his family. The adults exchanged quiet glances.
“Sometimes talking about my father can be difficult for Jeremiah,” Celeste explained quietly to Noelle. Her smile was soft. “Grief manifests itself differently for everyone. Don’t worry. He just needs a few minutes.”
“Okay,” Noelle said, folding her hands in her lap.
She decided that she’d wait ten minutes, exactly. Then she’d go and check on her fake boyfriend.