Seaside Secrets

by Melissa Foster

  Tony breathed deeply. “Maybe. Probably. The truth is, I’m not sure I want to revisit it.”

  “Too painful?” she asked.

  Guilt poured from his lips before he could stop it. “If we hadn’t gotten together, you wouldn’t have spent fourteen years not allowing yourself to get close to another man. You would have fallen in love and been loved the way you deserve. My father, as shitty as he was sometimes, probably would have been right.”

  Amy dropped her eyes, and he lifted her chin so he could face his own demons.

  “I am so deeply sorry for everything you went through, but I’ll never be sorry for loving you. I’m sorry about what it did to you, but not for loving you.”

  “Tony, it wasn’t just what happened that kept me from falling for some other guy. Even if I’d never gotten pregnant, I was in love with you. That never changed. Not for one second over those years. It was that love that pulled me through that hard time as much as it was that love that caused it.”

  “But you missed out on so much.”

  “Did I?” Her green eyes were serious, her brows knitted together. “How many women made you feel loved over the years? How many of the women you slept with did you want to have a future with?” She held up her hands, silencing his answer. “It’s a rhetorical question. What I mean is that I’ve watched Bella and Jenna, Leanna, and Jessica all fall in love, and the one thing that seemed to be consistent is that when they really fell for their men, when they gave up the fear of falling in love, they never questioned it. They felt like the other guys were, well, not exactly meaningless, but definitely not meaningful.”

  Amy inched closer, so their lips were almost touching, and she stared into Tony’s eyes. “I have never questioned my love for you. Not once. I could have slept with plenty of men over the years, and if I hadn’t gotten pregnant and lost the baby, who knows what might have happened between us. Maybe we would have told everyone eventually and stayed together, but maybe we would have broken up. Maybe we needed those years apart so that you could sow your oats—and please don’t tell me you had no oats to sow, because we both know that would be a lie.”

  Tony wished he could laugh at that, but he knew Amy was right. When his surfing career had first taken off, there were women throwing themselves at him day and night. It was commonplace to have young girls tossing their bikini tops in his direction at parties after a big win, and he was only human. He’d like to believe he never would have hurt her or cheated on her, but the pressures were so great. How could he be sure?

  “But you didn’t get to sow yours.” He hadn’t realized how guilty he felt about Amy never sleeping with another man until right now.

  Amy shook her head, smiled. “You do know who you are talking to, right? Letting you see me naked is about as wild as I get. That’s never going to change. The only thing I missed out on was being in your arms, so don’t you ever let yourself feel guilty for something I never wanted.”

  “How did I get lucky enough to deserve you?” Tony pressed his lips to hers, feeling like tonight had opened several more doors to their future, and he intended to walk through them—even if the path was covered in glass.

  Chapter Fourteen

  THE NEXT DAY Tony took Evan surfing, and Amy spent the afternoon down by the pool with Jenna. Leanna and Kurt had gone back to their house on the bay, because Leanna had received a big order for her new flavor, Sweet Heat, and she needed to work all day to fill it. Jenna was lying on a lounge chair beside Amy, baking in the hot sun.

  “Did I see Theresa’s car this morning?” Amy asked.

  “Yeah. She got here early.” Jenna stretched. “I think she went into Orleans to the grocery store.”

  “I haven’t seen much of her this summer. It’ll be nice to see her.” Amy waved to Bella as she came through the pool gate. Her hair was secured at the base of her neck with an elastic band, and she had on a pair of enormous plastic sunglasses.

  “Did you get your stuff done?” Amy asked.

  “I can’t imagine what could be more important than lying here with us,” Jenna said.

  Bella wiggled her eyebrows.

  “What was that look for? Oh God. What do you have planned?” Amy leaned up on her elbow and shaded her eyes. Bella was the community prankster, and she had a glint of mischief in her eyes.

  “Planned? Nothing.” Bella tossed her towel on a chair and sauntered over to the pool.

  Amy and Jenna exchanged a disbelieving eye roll and followed her in.

  “Theresa should be back from the grocery store soon.” Amy watched Bella’s smile grow. “Oh, no. Bella. Tell me you didn’t do something to Theresa. Remember how well Thong Thursday went over last summer? I think she’s so far on to you that you can’t do anything to surprise her anymore.” The previous summer Bella had hung a sign up by the pool announcing Thong Thursday. Jessica, who had been a new renter that summer, had taken it seriously, when, in fact, thongs were forbidden according to the Homeowner Association documents, which Theresa not only adhered to, but strictly enforced for the community. Theresa had gotten the best of Bella last year by wearing a thong down to the pool herself.

  “Yeah, well, this year will be better. Trust me.” Bella tossed a raft to Jenna and a foam noodle to Amy, and they soaked up the rays.

  “How did Tony like the slide show last night?” Jenna asked. “I was so tempted to beg you to let us stay. I wanted to watch it on the dunes.”

  “Well, I’m glad we were alone. It was tough to watch, because of his dad and all that’s happened. But I think it helped us to deal with everything. One thing we did notice is the way we looked at each other that summer. I can’t believe no one recognized it for what it was.”

  “You guys have always looked at each other like you were more than friends,” Bella said. “I don’t remember it being any different back then.”

  “But that never made you wonder?” Amy asked.

  Jenna and Bella exchanged a glance that Amy knew meant they had a secret of their own.

  “Okay, spill it.” Amy narrowed her eyes and ran them between the two of them.

  “Well, we did wonder sometimes,” Jenna admitted.

  “But you were always so proper, and he was old enough that he knew how to play it cool.” Bella rolled off her raft and into the water. “Besides, we had no reason to think you’d get together with him and not tell us.”

  “Ouch.” Amy had almost slipped out from beneath the guilt of keeping the truth from her friends. Bella’s reminder brought it right back.

  “Why does it matter?” Bella asked.

  “It doesn’t, really. Although I’m sorry, Bella. I know I’ve jeopardized your trust, and I am really, truly sorry.”

  Bella exhaled loudly. “No. It’s not you, Amy. It’s me. I got my feelings hurt and my bitchiness got the better of me. I understand why you kept it from us. It just slipped out, that’s all. You know I love you.”

  She couldn’t blame Bella for having lingering hurt feelings. If anyone knew there were no overnight fixes, it was Amy.

  “Thanks, Bella. I know it’ll take time for all of this to get better, and I really don’t blame you for being hurt or for letting me know it. I deserve far worse than that.”

  “No, you don’t.” Bella swam over and hung on to Amy’s noodle beside her. “I shouldn’t be so sensitive. I just wish you’d trusted me back then so you weren’t alone through it all.”

  “I did. But that’s part of what I’m trying to sort through. I’ve been blaming Tony’s dad and my dad, you know? Telling myself that we were protecting ourselves from them and that I was protecting Tony by shutting him out of my life. But…”

  “But?” Jenna jumped off her raft and hung on to the other side of the noodle, facing Amy and Bella.

  “But I’m not sure I wasn’t just protecting myself. I was embarrassed to tell you guys that I was sleeping with Tony.”

  “What? Why were you embarrassed to tell us? Amy, we weren’t exactly virginal princesses.” Jenna l
aughed.

  “No, you weren’t, but you thought I was.”

  “Amy, we wouldn’t have judged you,” Bella assured her.

  “Maybe not. I don’t even know if that’s it, but I think there were lots of things going on in my head back then, and after all this time I can only take a stab at what they really meant.” Amy saw Theresa’s car pull into the community, and she was relieved to change the subject. “Theresa’s back.”

  Bella swam for the stairs. “Oh, good.”

  “Wait.” Jenna grabbed Amy’s arm and pulled her toward the steps. “What’s the plan? Do you have a prank planned?”

  “No plan.” Bella wrapped a towel around herself and grabbed her sunglasses. “I’m going to get a drink of water.”

  Amy and Jenna’s eyes widened as they gathered their things and hurried after Bella.

  “Water. Right.” Jenna pulled her sundress over her head.

  “Bella, clue us in,” Amy urged. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing. Gosh, you guys. I don’t always pull pranks.” Bella took one determined step after another and kept her eyes trained on the ground.

  Amy knew she was up to something. They followed her into her cottage, where she went directly for her cell phone and began texting.

  “Spill it, girlfriend.” Jenna put her hand on her hip and glared at Bella.

  “Okay, fine. So maybe there’s a little something brewing. Come on. Let’s get a drink and go out on the deck.” Bella opened the fridge and handed them each a bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

  They settled into the chairs on Bella’s deck and watched Theresa carry her groceries inside. Anticipation had them all leaning forward in their chairs like they were watching an action flick.

  “What did you do?” Amy whispered.

  “How about we just focus on you and Tony,” Bella suggested. “Then if anything goes down, you won’t get in trouble.”

  “Oh no. Anything goes down?” Jenna sucked down her drink. “Bella Abbascia, what did you do?”

  Bella rolled her eyes.

  Theresa waved when she came back outside to retrieve more groceries from the car. Jenna and Amy waved back.

  “Maybe we should go help her,” Amy suggested.

  “I don’t think so.” Bella took a sip of her drink and eyed Jenna.

  “Anywho…” Amy took the opportunity to continue their conversation. “As I was saying, we also never realized how differently we saw things back then.”

  Bella shrugged. “We all did. We were kids. But that was then and this is now, and it’s time to put it behind you and move forward.”

  “Yeah, I agree.” Jenna took a sip of her drink. “Although I don’t think it would be that easy to move on after what you went through. I’m just not sure taking it apart this many years later is going to help.”

  “See? That’s why I need you guys around. I could drive myself crazy wanting to know exactly why I acted the way I did.” Amy breathed a little easier. Maybe they were right. She should focus on the future, not the past.

  “Let’s think about happier things, shall we?” Bella waved a hand in the air. “Like, are we going to have a quadruple wedding?”

  “I think you are jumping the gun—don’t you? We still have a few things to sort out.” Amy could barely say it with a straight face when she really wanted to jump up and down like a fool and say, I hope so!

  “Like…moving to Australia?” Bella leaned back in her chair. “I told you not to take the job with Duke. Now what’s your plan?”

  “I don’t have one, beyond knowing that I can’t very well move to Australia if I hope to have a relationship with Tony.”

  “Hope to? You have one already, chicky. But, yeah, he travels all the time,” Jenna reminded her. “At least with your consulting business, you can travel with Tony and coordinate your schedule around his.”

  “Yeah, but I’d give anything to work with Duke. I love my freedom, but Duke’s got so many great properties. And he’s got huge ideas and the budget to match. I could do so much more than I can do for my current clients. Not to mention that he’s a great guy to work with.”

  “And hot,” Jenna added.

  Amy rolled her eyes. “Hello? I have Tony, remember?” Wow, it felt good to say that.

  “Hey, just pointing out the obvious.” Jenna set down her drink.

  “It really is an honor to have been offered the job. I mean, Duke doesn’t hire just anyone, and if I renege on my commitment, what will he think of me? He’s a friend, not just an employer I’ll never see again. Besides, I’m not sure I want to turn it down.” Amy closed her eyes and groaned. “But I definitely want a relationship with Tony.” She set down her drink as a police car pulled into the development. “Um, is that one of Caden’s friends?”

  The side of Bella’s mouth quirked up. “Let the fun begin.”

  The policeman parked in Theresa’s driveway, then stepped from his car as Theresa came outside.

  “Come on.” Bella hurried across the street with the girls on her heels.

  “Ma’am?” The officer looked to be in his late twenties with dirty-blond hair, ice-blue eyes, and a forced smile.

  Theresa furrowed her brow. Her wide mouth was clenched in a tight line, and her eyes were narrow and serious. Theresa exuded practicality, from her closely cropped and layered brown hair to her polo shirt and long shorts. She dressed for efficiency rather than fashion, and the way she assessed the policeman was equally as efficient. Amy could see her mind working over the possibilities of why he was standing in her driveway.

  “Good afternoon, Officer. What can I do for you?” She settled her hands on her hips and glanced at Bella and the girls with a pensive look.

  “We’ve had a complaint about the cyber stalking of Bradley Cooper, and the e-mails have been linked to your IP address.” He pointed to her house. “Would you mind if I take a look inside?”

  “Cyber stalking? I haven’t even been here for the past few days.” Theresa looked back at her house, then turned worried eyes to Bella. “Have you seen anyone hanging around my house?”

  “No, of course not,” Bella answered. “We wouldn’t let anyone near your house.”

  “I’m sure it’s a mistake,” Jenna said.

  Amy couldn’t say a word, because despite her one big fourteen-year lie, she really wasn’t good at hiding the truth, and she was sure that if something inside was awry, it had everything to do with a certain mouthy blonde whom she adored.

  They followed Theresa into her modestly furnished and tidy house. Theresa lived in the full-sized house that had belonged to the original owner of all of Seaside before the land was subdivided and the cottages were built. They followed the officer into the living room. The room was a good size, with a brown couch, white coffee table, and a peach-colored armchair. Off to the right was a small dining room with a round table and six wooden chairs. The walls were painted beige, except in the kitchen, which was just beyond the living room and fully outfitted in white. The officer picked up a framed photograph and studied it. He cleared his throat and walked across the room to another framed photo, which he also picked up and studied.

  “Oh my God,” Jenna mumbled and reached for Amy’s hand. She squeezed so hard Amy had to stifle a yelp.

  Amy looked at Bella, who had a wide grin on her lips, and was staring at a framed picture of Bradley Cooper hanging above the end table. Amy snapped her jaw closed to stifle a gasp. Holy cow.

  “Ma’am?” The officer turned the two frames toward Theresa, who apparently hadn’t noticed anything out of place. Both frames held pictures of Bradley Cooper with hearts drawn on them in red ink. “Would you care to explain these?”

  Theresa shot a heated stare at Bella.

  “Theresa, I never knew you were such a fan,” Bella said with a straight face.

  “I’m not.” Theresa took the frames from him and glared at Bella. “I don’t have any idea how these got in here.”

  The cop arched a brow and raised his eyes to th
e photograph of the celebrity hanging on the wall. “And that one?”

  “Tsk! What is this? I did not…Bella?”

  Bella held her hands up. “Wow. This is kind of creepy.”

  “These are not my photographs,” Theresa insisted.

  The cop flashed a barely there smile to Bella that Amy would have missed had she not been watching everyone so closely.

  The officer walked over to Theresa’s desk, where her laptop lay closed. “May I open this?”

  “Yes, of course. You’ll see that this is some kind of a mistake,” Theresa huffed.

  The officer lifted the lid of her laptop and Bradley Cooper’s picture appeared as the screen saver.

  “Ma’am, I’m afraid this evidence speaks for itself. I’m going to issue you a warning, but if you don’t refrain from contacting Mr. Cooper, we’ll be forced to take further action.”

  “But I didn’t do this.” Theresa let out an exasperated breath.

  “The evidence proves otherwise,” the officer said.

  Theresa’s eyes narrowed. If looks could maim, Bella would be laid flat.

  “I…I have to run.” Amy headed for the door with Jenna right behind her.

  They held hands as they ran across the quad to Amy’s cottage.

  “Whoa!” Jenna collapsed into a deck chair. “Bella went above and beyond her normal prankster game this time. Theresa is going to get her back so bad!”

  Bella joined them a few minutes later with a satisfied smirk. “That was to get her back for ruining my Thong Thursday prank.”

  Amy covered her face with her hands. “All I wanted to do was talk about what to do about Tony and the job with Duke, and now I’m an accessory to a prank that she’ll probably get you arrested for. Forget Australia. We’ll all end up cuffed in the Wellfleet Police Barracks.”

  “Tony will bail you out.”

  Amy banged her forehead on the table. “Australia’s looking pretty good right now.”

  “HEY, THAT WAS cool of you to set that stuff up for us last night. Thanks, man.” Tony gave Evan a friendly pat on the back. They’d surfed for several hours, then hung out on the beach for the afternoon, shooting the shit. Now they were back at Seaside, getting their gear out of Tony’s car.