Beach Lane Collection

by Melissa de la Cruz

  “Where are you going?” Mara asked.

  “Jeremy always gets up early to go running in Montauk. I’m going to try to find him.”

  “Good,” Mara said, squeezing Eliza’s arm. “I’m going to go find Ryan.”

  “Go get him, sista.” Eliza smiled.

  Jacqui impulsively put her arm around both of them, which was actually rather hard to do, considering Eliza was still in the car. “You guys are the best.”

  Eliza drove off and Jacqui and Mara walked to the back of the house to the stone pathway.

  “I’m going to go get some sleep,” Jacqui said to no one in particular as she climbed the rickety attic stairs.

  But only after a long, hot shower so she could start with a fresh, clean slate.

  mara finally makes her move

  THE MAIN HOUSE WAS EMPTY WHEN MARA SNUCK inside; not even the kitchen staff were awake yet. She walked up the back stairs to Ryan’s room and opened the door.

  “Ryan?” she whispered. “Are you up?”

  Now that she had decided she knew exactly what she wanted—him—she couldn’t wait to break the news. And if he didn’t want her, she could live with that—what she wouldn’t be able to live with was if she never told him.

  She creaked open the door and walked inside his room. On his desk rested the pack of playing cards from the other night, a few twigs they’d picked up from the beach as potential marshmallow sticks, and the book she’d lent him to read—Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He’d said he’d never read it and she had chastised him for his lack of literary education.

  His surfboards and skateboards were lined up against the wall.

  But his bed was still made. The blue comforter was turned down perfectly.

  Her heart sank. He probably never even came home last night. If it wasn’t Camille, it was someone else. There was always someone else—it wasn’t as if he was going to wait around for her the whole summer, was he? Mara remembered all the girls at the many parties they attended this summer who had made their interest clear.

  She closed the door behind her. By this time he’d probably found someone to keep him company, maybe one of those Bush nieces or Hearst heiresses who hung on his every word. Or maybe even one of the cute Irish girls who worked at every café, bar, and kayak rental shop in the Hamptons.

  “Good morning, miss,” Stevens, the butler, greeted as he passed her on his way to opening the curtains in the master den.

  She nodded to him shyly.

  The pool sparkled in the morning light and she told herself she was still really, really happy she’d spent the summer in the middle of such gorgeous beauty. The knife edge of the pool blended with the blue horizon of the ocean. It was a sight Mara would never get tired of.

  She absentmindedly picked up strewn children’s toys as she walked back to the au pairs’ cottage. Zoë’s Disco Elmo, William’s missing Gameboy, Cody’s blankie, Madison’s dueling Britney and Christina dolls.

  As she turned the corner, she caught her breath.

  There, in the hammock behind the au pairs’ cottage, was Ryan, asleep.

  She kissed him softly on the lips to wake him up. Her sleeping prince. His nostrils flared slightly with every breath. She felt an amazing wave of tenderness and affection.

  His eyelids fluttered, and when he saw her, he smiled. “What was that for?”

  “I just felt like it.” She smiled back.

  “I was looking for you all night. Where’d you go?” he asked.

  “Nowhere. I was looking for you, too.”

  “Fancy that.”

  She leaned down to the hammock, and he pulled her down to cuddle with him. It swung underneath their combined weight and threw them closer together.

  “What about Jim?” he asked, gently grazing her bare arm with the back of his hand.

  “We broke up,” she said.

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  “I should have done it a long, long time ago.”

  “Good,” he said sleepily, and closed his eyes.

  Mara nestled into the crook of his armpit, savoring his strong arms around her. She never wanted to let go.

  The hammock swayed in the breeze, and they fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves on the shore.

  eliza goes to montauk for the first time all summer

  PLEASE, PLEASE, LET HIM BE THERE, ELIZA PRAYED. Please, please, please.

  She parked the car in the lot and walked down to the beach. A few brave swimmers were doing laps in the early tide, but otherwise the beach was empty. Then she saw him. He was wearing a dirty anorak and his running shorts.

  “Jeremy! Jeremy!” she called.

  He turned back, saw her, and kept running. Faster.

  Eliza tossed away her high-heeled platforms and ran to keep up with him.

  “Jeremy, please!” she begged. “Please wait.”

  But he kept running.

  “I LOVE YOU!” she cried.

  Finally, halfway down the beach, he stopped and took off his earphones. “What did you say?”

  She ran down, not caring if little broken pieces of seashells were piercing the soft soles of her feet. She stopped right in front of him. His face was shiny with sweat, and his hair had kinked in the humidity. But she thought he was even more handsome than she remembered.

  “I’m so sorry about that night. I don’t know what I was doing—no, I did know, and I’m so embarrassed. I love you. I’ve never felt this way before, and you have to know that.” Eliza looked for a trace of feeling on Jeremy’s face. Nothing. “Why did you quit the Perrys’?”

  “You think I could work there—seeing you—knowing what you really think of me?” he asked.

  Eliza could see how much she’d hurt him. “Please forgive me. Can we start over again? Please?” She held her breath.

  He had to say yes, he just had to. She told him she loved him. She’d never said those words aloud to anyone—ever.

  “I don’t know,” he said, looking at the sand. “I think we’re too different.” He shook his head. “It’s not that easy.”

  “Can’t we just try?” She tried grabbing for his hand, but he pulled away.

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to kiss her right now and say everything was forgiven and forgotten. But his face was grim.

  “It’s not a faucet I can just turn on and off,” he said. “I’m . . . I’m going to have to think about it. You have to give me time.”

  He put his earphones back on and began to jog away.

  Eliza watched him, not sure how to react. It was the most vulnerable she’d ever been with another person, and she had been rejected.

  He’d asked for time. But it was almost Labor Day. She didn’t have any more time. She was going back to Buffalo in a week.

  mara finds happiness in a hammock

  “MARA AND RYAN SITTING IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I . . .,” Madison and Zoë chorused, waking up their big brother and the au pair in his arms.

  “MARA AND RYAN ARE IN LOVE!” William snickered and made loud sloppy kissing noises.

  “Shush,” Ryan said, batting at his smaller siblings.

  “Wake up! Wake up, sleepyheads! We wanna go swimming!”

  Mara blinked and smiled. “You guys go and get changed and we’ll meet you in the pool.”

  Instead the girls climbed into the hammock with them, so that William, who never liked being left out, scrambled in, too. “Oof! You’re heavy!” Ryan said, hugging his younger brother.

  Mara laughed as the kids began wildly swinging the hammock. “We’re all going to fall off! Okay, if no one’s going to get out, I will!” she threatened, trying to grab hold of one side of the hammock so she could climb off safely.

  “No, you don’t, you’re staying right here,” Ryan said, reaching over to pull her back against him.

  The two little girls whispered to each other on the far end of the hammock, cupping their mouths with tiny hands.

  “Zoë and I decided,
” Madison said, in a very serious tone, “that you are a LOT prettier than Ryan’s old girlfriend.”

  “Oh, thanks.” Mara winked at Ryan. “So I’m prettier than Camille, am I?”

  Madison and Zoë looked confused. “Camille?”

  “Um, Ryan’s old girlfriend?” Mara asked.

  “You mean Sophie?” Madison asked.

  “Or Annette?” Zoë chimed in.

  “There’s more than one?” Mara asked.

  “Maddy! Zo! Don’t answer that!” Ryan said in a half-jestful manner.

  “There are tons,” Madison assured Mara.

  “Lots.” Zoë nodded.

  Mara raised an eyebrow at Ryan. “Lots, eh? How many were there?”

  “Do we have to get into this now?” Ryan laughed. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? I mean, we’re together now.” He noticed Mara looking downcast. “My sisters don’t know what they’re talking about.”

  He cupped Mara’s chin and kissed her again. “You’re the only one I want. Okay?”

  “Okay.” As long as they were clear on that.

  The little girls sighed happily. It was just so romantic.

  * * *

  A few minutes later Jacqui appeared, wearing sunglasses and shorts and carrying a croissant and a coffee cup from the Hampton Coffee Company. She held several newspapers and magazines underneath her free arm.

  “Who are you?” William asked on his way to the pool.

  “I’m Jacqui—I’ve been taking care of you all summer!” Jacqui joked.

  He looked puzzled.

  She smiled when she saw Mara and Ryan together.

  “Look what I found,” Jacqui said, holding aloft copies of New York magazine, Hamptons magazine, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and the New York Times. There were photos of Mara everywhere, with photo credits from her friend Lucky Yap.

  “The summer’s latest IT girl—and she didn’t have to run over the back wall of a club or tape a sex video to do it!” blared the always-restrained Page Six.

  “Hey, you’re more famous than me,” Ryan said, noticing that the latest round didn’t even mention the “Perry heir.”

  Mara paged through the magazines and newspapers with a thoughtful smile on her face. She felt confident and blissfully happy—not because she’d achieved in one season what most Hamptonites crave their whole lifetimes, but because she was with the guy she loved.

  jacqui is a miracle worker

  JACQUI ROUNDED UP THE KIDS AND TOOK THEM TO the pool. She pumped up Cody’s water wings and tugged them on his chubby arms.

  “Let’s go!” She whooped, jumping into the deep end.

  Amazingly, he followed her in, splashing and kicking like a duck.

  “Good boy! Good boy!” Jacqui said, laughing.

  She didn’t even realize how miraculous this was—Mara and Eliza had been trying to get him in the water all summer, but as far as ever-absent Jacqui knew, Cody was a born-swimmer. William jumped in the pool too, almost knocking out his brother.

  “Be careful!” Jacqui chided.

  The little boy stuck his tongue out. “DUNK!” He said, and pushed Cody’s head under water.

  “WILLIAM!” Really, that one was such a monster.

  Chortling, William let his brother go and swam to the other end of the pool.

  Cody kicked and splashed happily.

  “Not bad,” Kevin Perry said, kneeling down. “Hey, Jacqui, right? You want to hit the steam bath later? We just put in a new showerhead. It’s amazing.”

  Jacqui swam to the edge of the pool. She was sick of being watched, being slobbered over, and after the night at the orgy party she’d had it with older men.

  “I don’t think your wife would appreciate you talking to me that way,” she said evenly.

  He looked confused. A lot more confused than he should have. “Sure. I’ll, uh, see you around,” Kevin said.

  Jacqui nodded. She felt relieved. After years of kowtowing and bowing and scraping and flirting with men for a tip or a ride or another drink or an invitation to a party, she had finally stood up for herself.

  It felt fantastic.

  the second-best thing anna ever said

  ONCE AGAIN ANNA WAS SITTING AT THE HEAD OF THE TABLE when the au pairs trooped in for the weekly progress report. Did miracles never cease?

  The three au pairs took their seats across the table.

  “Where’s Kevin?” Eliza whispered.

  Jacqui shrugged.

  Now that Jacqui had made it clear she wasn’t going to tolerate his advances, Kevin had found better things to do with his time.

  The girls were all a little tense. They were supposed to get their final payment at the meeting—that is, if they didn’t get fired first. They still had no idea why the first batch of au pairs was let go—and Super Saturday was not their best moment.

  But Anna was positively glowing at them.

  “Well, I hope you had a wonderful summer,” she said. “I certainly did.” She had been asked to donate her tennis court for the annual Cartier tournament, putting her right up there with the Swids, Kravises, and Davises of the town. It sort of made up for the Super Saturday debacle. Sorta.

  The girls nodded.

  “I just can’t be more pleased with your obvious devotion to the kids,” Anna said. “In particular, Cody swimming this morning was amazing!” Anna held a hand to her chest. “To see him conquer his greatest fear—a mother couldn’t be more proud!”

  Mara and Eliza nodded, trying to figure how the hell Jacqui had done it.

  “And that Portuguese book you’re teaching Zoë, Jacqui! We were just hoping we could get her to read in English, but to have her bilingual to boot, it’s spectacular. Her admissions counselor thinks this will put her over the hump for next year. She said Zoë is Dalton material for sure.”

  Again Eliza and Mara exchanged confused glances. When exactly did this happen?

  “Better yet, Madison’s lost ten pounds!” Anna cheered.

  The kid had been eating them out of house and home all summer, and the weight loss was just from shedding baby fat, but none of the girls would tell Anna that.

  “Of course, William’s still a bit twitchy. But nothing’s perfect. At least he’s stopped biting people,” Anna continued. “It’s just so easy to get off track in the Hamptons. The social life here is just frenetic, what with the parties and nightclubs and all.”

  The girls looked a little guilty at that.

  “I never told you guys this, but we had to let our first au pairs go for that very reason! They were out every night!”

  The girls all exchanged sidelong glances.

  “So we just want to congratulate you on a job well done. Here’s the last of your payment, with a little bonus inside.” Anna winked.

  Eliza sighed with relief. Those Visa bills had been piling up. She was going to make a dent on them this time instead of adding to the total. Seriously. As soon as she got her hand on the gorgeous tweed coat she saw at Scoop the other day. Hey, it was almost fall, and a girl needed back-to-school clothes.

  Mara hugged herself. She had made almost ten thousand dollars this summer. Woo-hoo! College and a ten-year-old Camry. Life didn’t get better than this! Sure, she’d gotten a bit more fabulous this summer, but underneath it all, she was the same small-town girl she’d always been.

  Jacqui put her envelope away. When she got home, she was going to buy her grandmother the biggest statue of the Virgin Mary the old lady had ever seen—it was the one gift that would tell her how much Jacqui loved her, and that’s exactly what she wanted to say.

  But Anna wasn’t done.

  “By the way, we’d love to have you girls with us this Christmas. We always do two weeks in Palm Beach, and our regular nanny goes to England at that time, so we’re strapped. Do you think you’d be interested? We’ll pay five thousand dollars. We can all meet in New York and we’ll go by our private jet.”

  Palm Beach? Christmas? Five grand? A jet? Where did they si
gn?

  p. diddy knows how to throw a party

  IT WAS TIME FOR P. DIDDY’S ANNUAL LABOR DAY WHITE Party, the last big bash before the summer was over. Eliza had worked the phones for three days straight, trying to make sure they all got invitations. Kit had come through again, and Lucky Yap had sent over a couple, so they were all covered.

  Mara hung out in Ryan’s room, watching him change into a white linen suit. He buttoned up his shirt in the mirror and caught her eye.

  “What are you looking at?”

  “My gorgeous boyfriend,” she answered, then caught herself. Did she just say THAT WORD? How could she do that? She didn’t even know what he thought they were doing. Maybe they were just fooling around. Certainly she didn’t want to label their relationship so early.

  Seeing the distress on her face and knowing what put it there, Ryan turned and climbed up on the bed, then crawled up to kiss her on the cheek.

  “I’d rather look at my gorgeous girlfriend,” he whispered.

  Mara leaned back, pulling him closer, tugging on the rawhide necklace he always wore around his neck. The pillows were still warm from their earlier activities.

  Ryan kissed her closed eyelids, her nose, her cheeks. “Maybe we shouldn’t get dressed yet,” he murmured.

  “Maybe not,” she agreed.

  * * *

  Eliza looked at her closet askance. How could this be? Everything white that she owned was dirty, or yellowed, or stained. She had absolutely nothing to wear to the biggest party of the season.

  Or did she . . .

  She walked furtively to the main house. The diaphanous white Versace dress Sugar had asked her to send to the cleaners earlier that week was still hanging in her walk-in closet, waiting to be worn. But Sugar wasn’t going to get back from her bikini wax for a while yet.

  Sugar would just look washed out in it, Eliza thought. Really, I’m doing her a favor.

  Eliza grabbed the dress. It was her last night in town. And didn’t she deserve to wear it? She was the one who had taken such good care of it all summer.