“Dad’s still playing golf, then?” Lucas let a smile pull at his lips. Strange how he’d smiled more in the past few days than he had in the weeks prior.
“Yes, thank God. I’m so sick of him being under my feet. Did you know he even tried to interfere in the business?” Deenie asked him. “Said that I’d be much more efficient if I let him put a new inventory system in.” Her face softened as she talked about Lucas’ dad. “He was so disappointed when I told him I already had one put in last year.”
“Thank God for the golf course.”
“Amen to that.”
After working as a research scientist for more than half his life, Wallace Russell had retired earlier that year. Like so many of Angel Sands population, he’d been employed by Newton Pharmaceuticals on the outskirts of town. With its prestigious research facility and pristine factory, Newton Pharmaceuticals was one of the reasons Angel Sands was as prosperous as it was.
“You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize how alike you and your father are,” Deenie continued. “Neither of you can stand to sit around for a minute. It’s like you were both born with ants stitched into your pants. When you were a child, the only time you were still was when you were asleep.” Her smile widened. “And even then it didn’t last for long.”
Yeah, well tonight that restlessness had reached a whole new level. It itched at his skin like a rash. He looked over her shoulder again, then back at his mom. “You need some help with those crates?” he asked, not ready to go home despite having run for more than an hour.
What was there to go home for anyway?
She looked at him for a moment, her eyes full of questions. But then she stepped back and ushered him inside, pointing him at the crate closest to them. “Okay, you can start with that one.”
10
“That sounds too awkward for words.” Brooke grimaced as Ember told them the story of the committee meeting, and finally speaking with Janice Martin after all these months. “You poor thing, no wonder you were so stressed.”
“Did she mention Will at all?” Ally asked, turning on her side and propping her chin up with her hand. “Has he contracted some kind of disgusting disease yet?”
It was a rare Sunday when Ally didn’t have to work, and they’d decided to take their brunch onto the beach itself. The three of them – four if you included Nicholas – had set their towels and umbrella up a few yards away from the shoreline, close enough so they could keep an eye on Brooke’s son as he paddled and kicked in the shallow surf.
“Neither of us mentioned Will.” Ember flopped back on her towel, closing her eyes against the bright morning sun. “He was the great big elephant in the room that nobody wanted to mention.”
“Maybe she’s disowned him.” Ally sounded grimly satisfied with that thought. Ember couldn’t help but smile at her bear-like protectiveness.
“I don’t think so, you know how close knit they are. She was probably being kind.”
“Hmm.” Ally didn’t sound convinced.
It had been a good thing that Will had left town a few days after he’d ended his engagement with Ember, not that she’d felt it at the time. It had come as such a shock to learn that not only did he not want to be with her, but he’d spent the previous few weeks surreptitiously arranging a job transfer so he didn’t have to live in the same town as her.
It was as though everything she thought she knew had come tumbling down around her, she’d lost her fiancé and her future. It would have been a blow to anybody.
“I wonder if he’ll come back for Angel Day,” Brooke murmured. She was sitting up, her over-large sunglasses shading her eyes as she watched Nicholas jumping over the foaming waves.
“God, I hope not.” Ember sighed. “He was never really into the fair anyway, not like us.”
“That’s because he’s not awesome like we are.” There was a smile in Ally’s voice, and Ember wondered if she was remembering the fairs from when they were younger. When they’d dress in short shorts and tie their shirts up around their midriffs. Flirt with boys, and stuff themselves stupid with cotton candy and funnel cakes. The first year they’d been allowed to go to the fair without parental supervision, they’d managed to spend all their money within a couple of hours. They’d spent the rest of the afternoon and evening scrabbling around for coins on the ground and flirting innocently with boys from school in the hope they’d buy them tickets for the fairground rides.
They’d been so young. So naïve. So happy.
“Did Janice say if they’re still having their party this year?” Ally asked. When Ember and Will were together, her friends were always on the guest list.
“Yeah. She invited me yester
day and said she’d mail my invitation.” It was hard to tell if her mouth was dry because of the heat from the sun, or the thought of the party. She grabbed the bottle of water she’d buried in the sand to keep it cool, twisting the lid and lifting it to her lips.
Ally’s brow wrinkled. “Will you go?”
“I don’t know,” Ember answered honestly. “I think the invitation was genuine, and I don’t want Janice and Richard to think I’m ungrateful. But the thought of going makes me feel strange, like everybody will be talking about me.” She sighed. “Maybe one of you can come with me.”
“No thanks. If I saw any photos of Will, I’d have to smash all the glass.” Ally sounded riled again. Funny how her temper flashed then disappeared in an instant. In a way, it made things easier for Ember. Ally got mad so she didn’t have to.
“Do you think he’ll come home for it?” Brooke asked. There was no love lost between her and Will either.