Okay, the red or the green?” I heard Amber ask, holding up the two tops with the tags still hanging on them. Obviously Mother felt Amber needed options. “I think the green brings out the flecks of green in my eyes, don’t you?” Paige would have agreed, but no one was sure what Amber’s real eye color was.
Paige came scampering to the door when she saw me pass by. “Ooh, Savannah, come in here. What do you think Amber should wear tonight to dinner with Joshua?”
I gave her a look. The look.
Amber struck a pose in my direction.“Savannah? The red or the green?”
“The red, definitely the red,” I said, eyeing Paige again.
“Ladies, you just continually confuse me. Oh, well, I’ll just eenie, meenie, minie, moe them.”
We squinted in tandem.
“Well, ladies, Miss Victoria is taking me today to get my nails done. I would love for you to join us if you have some free time,” Amber said, leaning into her closet to hang up her tops.
Paige scanned Amber’s fingernails. Her perfectly manicured nails.“But your nails look fine.”
“Your point?” Amber asked.
“Obviously I have no point,” Paige said, shaking her head. “But I’m sorry, I can’t join you today.”
I stuck my chipped horrors behind my back and made a mental note to take care of those myself before this evening. “Oh, me either. I’m headed right now to write my story and turn it in. Busy, busy. But you and Mother have a wonderful time.”
She offered us one last chance.“You’re sure? We would have a wonderful time.”
“No, we’re sure. I’ve got to finish reading my book anyway,” Paige said, turning to give me a sideways glance. I rolled my eyes.
“And I’m having lunch with Lucy and Manuel.”
“Well, okay,” she said picking up her multicolored Louis Vuitton, which was a perfect complement to her red tube top. “But you’ll miss all the fun.”
“We know.” Paige assured her.“We have a way of doing that.”
“Toodledoo, girls.”
“Toodledoo,” we offered in unison, watching her bouncy locks disappear down the stairs.
Paige threw herself down on the bed. I followed.“You stink,” she said.
“It’s called sweat, and that’s what happens when you exercise.”
“Who needs to exercise this body? Look at this stomach.” She patted her pooch.
“Everything looks smaller lying down. It spreads out, genius.”
“Spreads out nicely, I might add.”
“So, you want to go to lunch with us?”
“No, no fifth wheel today.”
“You’re never a fifth wheel.”
“I have officially become one.” She rolled over to look at me. “Don’t get too close.You really do smell like fish.”
I slapped her.“You are never a fifth wheel in my life. I hope you will always know that.”
“I do. But Thomas, who’s still avoiding your mother at all costs, has a group of people going out on a friend’s boat today. He invited me.”
“Thomas? Invited you?”
“Yes. I am a rather exciting person to have around. Plus, he knows you’re totally up to something. So he’s looking out for me.”
“He’s trying to get information, isn’t he?” The other reason why he was continually having her hang out with him made me too nervous to consider.
“Probably. And he is a royal pain, but he can be nice too. How are you?”
“You sure you don’t want to come?” I asked, getting up and taking her hands to give her a tug. She wouldn’t budge.“Serious, you need to exercise.”
“I’m sure I don’t want to come. And I’m even more certain I don’t want to exercise. I mean, Jennifer Lopez is famous for a bum like this,” she said, giving hers a firm slap.“Why ruin a good thing?”
“Of course, how silly of me.”
“Yes, how silly of you.”
Lucy and Manuel were already at the Hurricane Oyster Bar when we arrived. I had finished my story. Then I had happened upon Joshua. And he had happened to be available. So we happened their way. He had already been on the beach when I found him,wearing an irritating (okay, charming) look of satisfaction when he saw me.
The salty breeze that wafted up through the small Obe shopping-and-eating district made the thought of seafood all the more appropriate.
“Lucy and Manuel, I’d like you to meet Joshua North.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Joshua,” Manuel said, extending his hand.
Lucy looked breathtaking as usual, her deep, rich Spanish features illuminated by the sun. Her thick accent hovered over her words.“Joshua, what a wonderful treat to meet you. We’ve caught a few sightings of you this week.”
“Oh, you have, huh?” He turned his face to me.
“Let’s sit,” Manuel said, motioning to the chairs.
“I love oysters,” Joshua said, all but licking his lips.
“I hate oysters,” I replied.
“You hate oysters? You live in Savannah, love seafood, and hate oysters,” Joshua summarized.
I looked into his dark eyes and wanted to brush that loose curl off his forehead, but it felt inappropriate somehow. Too intimate. “Yes, you don’t know everything about me, you know. I absolutely hate oysters. But I love peel-and-eat shrimp.”
“Ooh, me too,” Lucy offered.
For the next hour and a half we talked of our lives, Manuel’s retirement from Southeastern Freight Lines, the hurricane that changed their lives, and the mother who continually changes mine. We watched their gestures and their thoughtfulness and their love.And I had to listen to the sound of oysters being sucked the entire time. Oh well, all things have their price.
We left completely full and completely satisfied.
“I’ll look forward to seeing you at dinner,” Joshua said as Manuel and Lucy left to stroll the beach.
“Well, I won’t be hard to find. I’ll be the uncomfortable one.”
He leaned over and kissed me in that perfect way of his. “No, you’ll be the beautiful one sitting right next to me.”
“This is going to be completely disastrous. Can’t you play sick or dead or something?”
“Lie?”
“Lie? I would never suggest lying,” I said with my hand across my chest in shock.
“What, a half truth then? Don’t you know half truth is no truth at all?”
“Oh my stars. That is exactly what my father says.You scare me.”
“You scare me more. No lying. I will come to dinner. I will try to prevent your mother from hating me more. I will try to convince Amber I’m worth hating. And I’ll try to convince you that you are only steps away from finally falling in love with me.”
I studied him for a moment. His faint smell of cologne. His rich dark eyes. His tanned arms. For a moment I wasn’t even sure what I was about to do myself. Then I reached for his hand and took it in my own, bringing it firmly to my heart. “I’m not so certain, Mr. North, that I have very far to fall.”
I walked away, kicking myself for the second lame remark in a span of a couple days. He was still smiling.