by Carrie Elks
“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 yesterday 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.
Ember shrugged. “No idea. Maybe not. He hasn’t come back since he left me.”
“That’s because he’s a lily-livered slime ball.”
“You know, Ally, you should say what you really mean.” Ember grinned at her.
“I’m serious, he knows he treated you badly. He wants to keep far away from the heat. If he comes back he’s crazy.”
“Well, he’ll have to come back some time. His family is here,” Brooke said.
“You know, you should take a guy as your plus one to the party.” Ally pulled down her sunglasses and peered over the top of them at Ember. “That would show them all how little you still care about him.” She paused for a second, then blinked, as though an idea had come into her head. “Hey, how are you getting on with that dating app? Have you matched up with any hot guys yet?” Ally wrinkled her nose. “I haven’t had much luck. I keep seeing the same guys I’ve already dated. It’s disconcerting.”
“Um, I haven’t used it.” Ember’s eyes shifted guiltily to her phone that was lying on top of her beach bag. The Sizzle app that they’d both downloaded the previous Sunday hadn’t been opened once. It had only been taking up space on her phone screen.
“Ugh. Do I have to do everything?” Following Ember’s gaze, Ally reached across and took Ember’s phone from her bag. Resting it on her palm she tapped in the unlock code. “You really should change this,” Ally told her. “You’ve had the same one for about ten years.”
“But then I’d never remember it,” Ember pointed out. There weren’t many people she’d let have full access of her phone. Only two of them to be exact and they were both here. “What are you doing anyway?”
“I’m going to show you how to make a profile. Now smile.”
“Why?” Ember frowned right as Ally pressed on the phone, making the camera click. “Hey, did you just take a photo of me?”
“You need a good picture for your profile.” Ally held the phone in front of her, scrutinizing the result. “Though this is definitely not good. Why are your eyes bulging?”
“Give that to me.” Ember grabbed the phone from her friend’s hands. The screen was still displaying her photo in all its glory. It was terrible. Her hair was pointing in all directions from where she’d been laying on it, her breasts were practically pouring out of the bikini she was wearing, but worst of all was the expression on her face. She wouldn’t have looked out of place in the House of Horrors at the fair.
Ember quickly hit the delete button.
“If I have to have a photo, there’s one I had taken at school. She ran her thumb along the gallery on her phone. “Look, that’s much better, see?”
Ally looked at it and scrunched her nose. “It’s terrible. Your shirt is buttoned right up to your neck, and you’re not even smiling. Trust me, you need a photo that shows a guy everything you’ve got. You have amazing boobs, they need to be on your profile.”
“Just her boobs?” Brooke sounded amused. “Or should she have her face on there as well?”
“Careful, or I’ll make you a profile, too.” Ally grinned at their friend.
Brooke raised her hands up. “Hey, leave me out of this. Single mom, remember?” She inclined her head at Nicholas. “I don’t want him finding any risqué photos of me on the Internet.”
“I don’t want risqué photos either,” Ember protested. “I’m a teacher, imagine if one of my students found them. Or their parents.” She shuddered. “Here, I’ll take a selfie. Neck up. That’s the most I’m willing to bare.”
Ally sighed. “Okay.”
Once Ember had taken the photo, and they’d all agreed it was a good one, Ally uploaded it to the app, then filled in the details it requested. Within minutes, the phone buzzed with a notification that her profile was viewable and the app was ready to use.
“Ooh, you’re live.” Ally grinned as she held the phone out to show Ember. “Now you can search through your potential matches, make contact, and message them.” If she hadn’t been holding the phone in her palm, Ember swore her friend would be rubbing her hands together in glee. “Not that one, I’ve dated him.” She swiped her finger across the screen. “Not that one either. Ah, this guy looks good. Let’s right swipe him.” She slid her finger across the screen. “This one, too. Oh this is so much fun.” She swiped again. “What do you think of guys with tats?” she asked, tipping her head to the side. “And beards – do you like them? I think they’re hot.”
No, she didn’t think that guys with beards were hot. She liked them clean-shaven. In fact, she liked guys with closely cropped dark hair and eyes that seemed to see inside you.
There she went again. Stop it, Ember.
She hastily reached for the phone, wanting to take it from Ally’s grasp before her friend had any more of a chance to do damage. Shaking her head, she put the phone back in her bag, resolving to look at it again later.
Maybe she’d humor Ally for a while. It was better than getting stuck on a real-life guy, wasn’t it?
“Lucas, I can’t get this damn thing to work.” His mom called from the kitchen table, as she pushed wildly at the buttons on her laptop as if it was a piano keyboard.
His dad glanced up from his newspaper and then hastily looked back down again. He knew better than to interfere between his wife and technology, the two mixed together like oil and water.
Lucas closed the dishwasher and dried his hands, walking over to where his mom was sitting. He pulled the chair out next to her and slid into it. “What are you trying to do?” he asked her.
“To call Caitie on the videophone. I told her you’d be here, she wants to say hi.”
He glanced at his watch. Though it was morning here in Angel Sands, it would already be early afternoon in New York where his sister lived. “You just need to open up the webcam.” He slid his finger across the mouse pad and clicked on the lens icon. “Then pull up your address book.”
“My address book is in the drawer over there.”
He scrutinized his mom for a moment. He’d long since suspected she said things like that solely to g
et a rise out of him. She was an intelligent woman who ran a successful business, he was pretty sure she knew what he was talking about.
Sighing, he reached across again and clicked on her addresses. Then he highlighted Caitie’s email address. “Now, press connect and you’re good to go.”
Deenie beamed at him. “What would I do without you?”
“Ask Dad?” Lucas suggested, inclining his head at his father who refused to look up.
“This is why I like you being back in Angel Sands, you’re my on-call tech guy.” She gave Lucas a beaming smile. “I need you here with me.”
“I just clicked on a button, Mom. It’s not exactly rocket science.”
“I’ve had my fill of scientists. They’re no help at all.”
“Hey, I’m a retired scientist,” his father said, still not looking up from the article he was reading. “And Sundays are a day of rest. Strictly speaking we shouldn’t be using that laptop at all.”
Ignoring him, she pressed the connect button, and the camera clicked on. Lucas could see him and his mom on the screen, along with a black box beside it. A few seconds later, the call was answered and his sister appeared in the box.
“Hey.” Caitie was all smiles. Her long dark hair was pulled back off her face, and she had reading glasses perched at the end of her nose. Lucas couldn’t help but grin at how grown she looked. Whatever happened to that freckled little sister who followed him around everywhere?
Hard work and success, that’s what had happened. Like their mom, Caitie had turned out to be quite the entrepreneur.
“Hi, honey,” his mom said, leaning closer to the laptop. “We’re all here. Even Lucas stopped working to come over and talk with you. How are you doing? You look tired, have you been sleeping?”
Caitie’s grin broadened. “Lucas?” she said, looking straight at the camera. “I’m honored. What’s happened? Are there no emergencies in the whole of Southern California or something?”
“I heard you were gracing us with your presence and I couldn’t bear to miss it.” Lucas was deadpan. He hadn’t spoken with his sister in a couple of weeks. It was strange the way you grew up seeing somebody every day, and then suddenly you were adults and went weeks without speaking at all.
Of course, when they were kids she’d driven him crazy. She was two years younger than him, and as a child and a teenager that had felt like a lot. He’d hated the way she’d followed him and his friends around, always wanting to be part of whatever escapade they were planning.
As she grew older she’d withdrawn into herself a bit. He hadn’t noticed at the time, but now, looking back, he wanted to kick himself for the way he hadn’t taken care of her; he’d been too busy surfing with his friends to pay her any attention. She’d preferred sitting in the house, reading books, and working on her art projects. Her aversion to being out at the beach had earned her the nickname of Vampira among his friends.
Yeah, they really were assholes back then.
“Did he tell you he’s on the Fair committee?” his mom asked. There was a note of pride in her voice that made him want to wince. If only she could read his mind, she’d know exactly how much he wished he wasn’t involved at all.
“No, he didn’t tell me that.” Caitie looked bemused as she turned her gaze on Lucas. “I thought you hated Angel Day. When we were kids I remember you surfing all day just to avoid it.”
“Yeah, well Frank Megassey talked me into it, and anyway it’s not so bad. Just a couple of meetings and the day itself. It’ll be over before I know it.”
“How’s the renovation going?” Caitie asked him. As part owner of the cottage she’d insisted on paying for half of the things he’d bought. He’d drawn the line at her paying for his labor though.
“Pretty good. I’m plumbing the bathroom in this week, finished the tiling last night. And then it’s onto the kitchen. After that, it’s just cosmetic work really. All the hard stuff has been done.” An electrician recommended by Frank had re-wired the place. It was amazing how much work he could get done once he put his mind to it.
Or once he was trying not to think too much.
“I’m so happy you’re finally doing something with the place,” Deenie said, putting her hand on his arm. “Gramps and Grandma would be happy.”
“Have you decided what you’re doing with it afterward?” his father asked.
Lucas swallowed. “I don’t know.” He looked at Caitie, but her expression was unreadable. “I think I might want to keep it, but I guess it depends on Caitie.”
She was chewing on her lip. “If you want to keep it that’s fine by me. I’m not going to be able to help with it, though. Not when I’m living out here.”
Deenie was smiling widely. “But you can visit, can’t you? And maybe one day you’ll want to use it for vacations.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Caitie didn’t sound so sure.
“Anyway, I need to finish making it habitable first. In between committee meetings of course.” He gritted his teeth at the thought.
“Who else is on the committee?” his mom asked. “Anybody I know?”
“Apart from Frank? There’s his wife, of course. And a lady called Janice Martin co-chairs it.”
“Janice Martin? I know her.” Deenie nodded. “Weren’t you at school with her son, Caitie? Bill or somebody?”
“Will,” Caitie corrected. “Though I didn’t know him much. Last I heard he was engaged to Ember Kennedy. She was in my year, too. Remember her from band?”
Lucas felt his throat get tight. Itchy, too. He cleared it but it gave him no relief.
“I do remember her. Lovely girl, but couldn’t play the clarinet to save her life.” Deenie laughed. “Not that you were much better on the flute.”
“Gee, thanks, Mom.” Caitie rolled her eyes, then turned to grin at Lucas. “And we wonder why we turned out so screwed up.”
“Yeah.” He only half heard her. He was still trying to take in the news that Ember Kennedy was engaged. It felt like a slap in the face. She hadn’t mentioned a fiancé – or husband. But then why would she? They’d only spoken a couple of times, why would she reveal her marital status?
“You look so pale,” Deenie was saying to Caitie, the conversation having thankfully moved on from Ember. “Does New York not have any sun?”
“I was pale when I lived in California,” Caitie pointed out. “I just blend in better here.”
Seriously, though, if Ember had a fiancé or husband, why the hell was she trying to lift that propane tank at the store? Shouldn’t the guy have helped? Or was Lucas being too sexist? He wasn’t sure.
“It’s a shame you can’t be here for Angel Day.” His mom gave Caitie a sad smile. “We used to have so much fun there.”
“I wish I could too.” There was a strange note in Caitie’s voice that he couldn’t quite place. On the screen he saw her swallow hard. “But things are crazy here. I don’t want to turn down the work. Maybe you guys can come visit me soon.”
Maybe he should just ask Ember about this guy. But what the hell conversation would that be? ‘Hey, how’s school? Oh and by the way, I heard you were engaged. Is that true? Why am I asking? Well because…’
Because…
“We should definitely come out, shouldn’t we, Wallace?” his mom said, sounding excited. His father lifted his gaze from his paper, nodded, then looked down again.
Why should it matter to him that Ember Kennedy was engaged? He wasn’t sure.
All he knew was that he didn’t like the thought of her being with somebody else.
11
It was a glorious Friday evening. The air was warm and still, the sound of the surf soothing to her ears as Ember parked her car and joined the rest of the committee at the Fair site.
The annual Angel Day Fair was held in the same place every year. In the large green expanse at the end of the boardwalk, right before you reached Paxton’s Pier. For the rest of the year it was a park, used mostly by tourists as a spill-over picnic site when
the beach became too busy. But for one day a year it was a magical place, filled with vendors and rides and – most importantly – people, all delighted to celebrate the town’s foundation day.
Her phone started to buzz in her pocket as she reached the edge of the grass. She pulled it out and immediately rolled her eyes. Though the screen was locked, it was displaying ten alerts, all from the Sizzle app. They’d been arriving thick and fast all week, and some of them were completely crazy. Guys wanting to know if she was into bondage, others asking if she’d let them dress up like babies and pretend to be their mother.
Luckily there were one or two nice guys on there. Ones who were interested in chatting with her, asking her questions about her job and her hobbies. More importantly, they took her mind off her embarrassing encounters with Lucas Russell.
She swallowed hard, remembering how his hands had felt as he caught her on that playhouse. Warm, strong, and completely overwhelming. Her reaction to him was so over the top.
Maybe that’s why she’d tentatively agreed to go on a date with one of her matches. Adam Michaelson seemed friendly enough, and there really wasn’t anything to lose. And there was the added bonus that Ally would be delighted she was finally going out with a guy. It was a win-win situation.
Wasn’t it?
“Ember, over here.”
She looked up to see Janice Martin waving at her, summoning her to join everyone. There were fifteen or so people standing around the fountain in the middle of the park. Her lips twitched as she looked up at the statue emerging out of the ocean. An angel, of course, with her arm raised and her finger pointing inland.
Her phone buzzed again, just as she’d reached the rest of the committee. Sighing, she quickly flicked it to silent and shoved it into her pocket.
That’s when she realized Lucas Russell was standing right next to her. His eyes were staring at her pocket, where her left hand was still pushing down the phone. God, she hoped he hadn’t seen the Sizzle app come up on her screen, the thought of it was mortifying. Slowly he brought his eyes up until he was staring at her face. She felt a warm rush of blood heat her skin.