Chapter Ten
Jeremiah sat in a chair by the pool, his head in his hands.
Inside the dining room, he’d started to feel suffocated.
There were so many conversations with Pop that he wished he could have.
Things he wished he could do over. He wished he could deal with Pop’s death normally like the rest of his family.
He wished that he didn’t carry so much guilt about how his last conversation with Pop had been so fraught.
He didn’t know how long he sat outside alone before he heard the sound of someone else’s footsteps. He glanced up, and Noelle was walking across the backyard, maneuvering between the party tables and chairs. Wordlessly, she sat down in the pool chair beside him.
“I’m really sorry,” he said quickly. “I shouldn’t have left you in there alone. I just needed a minute.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I understand that you’re sad about your grandfather.” She paused. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He inhaled a deep breath and let it go. He wanted to open up to someone.
Maybe Noelle would be the perfect someone because he most likely wouldn’t see her again after this weekend, and he could speak without fearing her judgment.
But he didn’t want to burden her with his problems. That wasn’t why she was here.
“Nah, I’m good. Thank you, though.”
She nodded. Silently, they stared at the glowing pool water.
“I’m not sure if you could tell how much it pained me to turn down that pie,” she said eventually, “but I really do want to sneak a slice upstairs tonight to eat before bed, FYI.”
Jeremiah chuckled softly. “I’ll get you a slice. And some salted caramel chocolate chip cookies too. I know we have a box around here somewhere. They’re your favorite, right?”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling. “Thank you.”
They sat by the pool for another few minutes before they went back inside. Amara, Robin, and the twins were settled on the living room couch. It was L-shaped and big enough to fit the entire family.
“Noelle, come sit with us,” Amara said, patting the empty seat beside her. “We’re about to find a movie to watch.”
“Oh,” Noelle said. She hesitated and glanced at Jeremiah. Then she bit her lip before turning back to his sister. “I’d better go to bed. I’m pretty tired.”
He figured she said this for the sake of keeping her distance.
Amara nodded and smiled. “No worries.”
They exchanged good-nights. As Noelle started up the steps, Jeremiah told her he’d meet her in his room after he grabbed the sweets he’d promised her.
He was surprised when he walked into the kitchen and saw Celeste and Percy hovering over Percy’s laptop at the island.
They were speaking in low tones, most likely discussing the missing shipments that Percy had been worried about earlier.
They glanced up when they noticed Jeremiah.
“Sorry, just grabbing some pie,” he said. “Decided to eat some tonight after all.”
“Help yourself, honey,” Celeste said.
He grabbed a half-full box of salted caramel chocolate chip cookies from the cabinet and made quick work of slicing the pie.
“Good night,” he said to Celeste and Percy.
Percy nodded, and Celeste smiled, looking a little tired. “Good night, sweetheart. See you in the morning.”
When he walked into his room, Noelle had already changed into her pajamas.
An oversize yellow T-shirt that said I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie and a pair of old tennis shorts.
She sat at the top of the bed by the pillows, a thick paperback novel open in her lap.
When she saw the cookies and pie in his hands, her eyes lit up.
“Thank you so, so, so, so much,” she said. She immediately dug into the pie, balancing the plate on her thighs. With her free hand, she opened her book again.
Jeremiah sat at the edge of the bed and leaned back, resting on his elbows.
He peered at the cover of Noelle’s book.
A woman and a man were caught in a passionate embrace.
The man was shirtless, and the woman’s breasts were pushed up, displaying her cleavage.
The title read Pirate Daughter in Disguise by Clara Crawford.
He glanced at Noelle again. She’d looked radiant tonight in her dress, but she looked beautiful now too, relaxed and comfortable in her pajamas with a scarf tied around her braids.
When they’d kissed earlier, he’d felt it deep in his bones.
Her lips were soft and plush, and he wanted to kiss her again.
He wanted to lie down next to her, just to be physically closer.
And…he absolutely should not be thinking about her that way because he was her client.
“What’s your book about?” he asked.
Noelle finished chewing and placed her pie to the side.
“A woman named Anne grew up on a pirate ship because her dad was a pirate captain, but she’s always hated life at sea, so she seeks passage to France and lies about her identity because being a pirate is a crime.
When she gets to Paris, she meets an inventor named Timothy and they fall in love, but she’s afraid to tell Timothy the truth about who she really is because his parents were killed by pirates, and he despises them. ”
“Damn, that’s wild.”
“Right? But the real plot twist is that his parents weren’t killed by pirates. They were killed by a shady businessman who wanted to steal the patent of one of their inventions. He’s the villain in book one. This is book four in the series.”
“Wait, wait,” Jeremiah said. “Can you start from the beginning, please? What happens in book one?”
Noelle eagerly put her bookmark between the pages, holding her place. “Okay, so in book one…”
Jeremiah eased back fully onto the bed and listened as Noelle talked about pirates and drama and sweeping romance.
He asked for clarification on certain things, like why one hero wanted revenge on his father, and why one heroine was seeking a treasure map.
Noelle answered each question with patient enthusiasm.
After she was done catching him up on the series, she asked if he wanted to borrow the books.
“Yeah,” he said, genuinely intrigued. “But I wanna be where you are in the story now.”
She looked at him and smirked a little. “Do you want me to read out loud to you?”
He nodded, smiling. “If that’s cool.”
Noelle began to read. Anne was finally admitting her true identity to Timothy.
Noelle had an incredibly soothing voice.
Jeremiah felt his eyes drift closed as she lulled him into relaxation.
It had been a long day. Physically, mentally.
He should change into his pajamas. But his limbs felt so heavy.
“Jeremiah…are you listening?” Noelle asked.
“Yes.” He forced his eyes open. “Timothy just asked Anne to leave, but then he immediately regretted it. Keep going, please.”
Noelle laughed quietly and shook her head. “You’re falling asleep.”
“I promise I’m not.”
After a moment, she continued reading. He listened to her honey-dipped voice, and soon his eyes drooped closed again against his will.
Later, distantly, he felt a blanket being draped over him. The bedroom light cut off, shrouding him in darkness. He was lying at the foot of the bed, perpendicular to Noelle, and her feet gently brushed against his side as she got comfortable.
I should get up and go to the nook, he thought to himself.
But instead, he rolled over and fell into a deeper sleep.