Eight
So yeah. Jack in a bathing suit.
By the time we arrive at Nick’s parents’ house in the Hamptons—beachside, obviously—we’re all hot and cranky, so we change into our suits, grab a few beers, and head directly to the pool. Because why not have a pool overlooking the ocean? Rich-people logic.
But not even the intensely spectacular view can pull my attention from this other, much more interesting view. Jack may have stepped up his fashion game in recent weeks, but this is my first time getting a real peek at what’s been hiding underneath those mostly baggy clothes. And it’s, uh . . . not what I would’ve expected.
He’s long and lean and cut like a swimmer. Even though I’ve never once seen him don workout attire, or, you know, work out, there are faint ridges of abs lining his stomach. A smattering of dark hair grazes his chest, trailing down into a thin line leading right into the edge of his waistband. His arms are sculpted without being beefy. To sum up, he’s hot. Certifiably hot. And I’m definitely not the only one who notices.
“I was mostly joking in that text thread, but damn.” Gemma looks him up and down from her perch on a poolside lounge chair.
“Sadie, did you know all that was under there?” Harley tilts her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose to get a better view.
I push my own sunglasses farther up on my nose, hoping to block my eyes so no one can tell how hard I’m staring. I make my shoulders move up and down in some kind of motion slightly resembling a shrug. “It’s—he’s—I—it’s—what?”
Gemma and Harley exchange a look before bursting into laughter.
“I hate you both.” Rising from my own lounger, I yank my cover-up over my head and toss it on the chair before diving into the pool.
The cool water rushes over me, and I relish the chill, though it does little to dampen the heat of my skin. Heat that is purely a result of sitting in the sun, of course.
Because Jack is nothing more than a friend. A good friend, and a supportive roommate, and really, what does it matter how good he looks in a bathing suit? It means nothing.
Even though it’s really good.
I push through the turquoise surface of the pool, gliding into an easy breaststroke, hoping a couple of laps will help clear my head. By the time I’ve swum the length of the pool a few times and I make it back to the shallow end, the rest of the group has planted themselves in my path. Nick splashes me, which he knows I hate, so I jump on his back and attempt to force him under the water.
But the man outweighs me by a hundred pounds, so my efforts are futile. Until Harley and Gemma jump on too. The three of us manage to shove his head under for a few seconds at least, and he comes up sputtering.
Jack watches our roughhousing from his perch, leaning against the side wall of the pool, away from the fray. His lips are quirked up in his bemused smile, but when his eyes meet mine, the smile drops and his eyes darken. He swallows a couple of times.
I start to wade my way over to him, but as soon as he sees me coming, he jumps out of the pool.
“Drink time?” Jack calls over his shoulder as he heads to the cooler we brought outside with us.
Gemma catches my eyes and gives me a sympathetic smile. I shrug it off, dunking back under the water so I have an excuse to block out everyone around me. Because that rebuff actually hurt. But it shouldn’t. It’s not like seeing Jack in a bathing suit is so earth-shattering it changes my totally platonic feelings for him. And these feelings are only platonic. Jack is totally wrong for me. More important, I’m totally wrong for him.
After our long drive, dinner with Nick’s parents, and a night swim, everyone is wiped out. We all say good night at the bottom of the stairs and head off to our respective rooms. Nick and Jack are sharing, and so are Harley and Gemma, which leaves me on my own. I should be grateful to not have to share, but I’m kind of longing for my own sleepover buddy. I need a distraction. I could crash in Harley and Gemma’s room, but it’s only equipped with two twin beds and I don’t want to sleep on the floor.
As soon as my head hits the pillow, instead of drifting off into a peaceful and dreamless slumber, as one should, my brain decides to replay the highlights from this afternoon like a super-annoying sportsball show.
Jack rising out of the pool like some nineties perfume-ad model, tossing back his wet hair, water droplets creating a perfect trail down his cut stomach.
Jack’s eyes visibly heating as he takes me in in my fabulous and definitely sexy bikini.
Jack turning and sprinting from the pool, doing anything and everything to get away from me as quickly as humanly possible.
Thirty minutes of that super-fun torture reel is enough to push me out of bed and send me tiptoeing down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Enough moonlight trickles in from the eight million windows of this fancy-ass house that I don’t need to turn any lights on. I pull gently on the fridge, looking for a water pitcher.
“Sadie!”
“What the fuck?” I jump about a foot, my voice at top volume.
“Shhhh.” Harley comes around the gigantic kitchen island, shushing me and closing the fridge.
“Don’t shush me, you scared the shit out of me,” I whisper. Fiercely.
“Sorry.” She hands me a glass of water.
I gesture to the padded bar stools surrounding the marble-topped island. “What are you doing up?”
“Same thing as you I suppose. Couldn’t sleep.”
I take a sip of water, and my heart rate finally returns to normal. “Does your non-sleeping have anything to do with a certain man just down the hall?”
She arches one eyebrow. “Does yours?”
“I asked you first.” I give her a wicked grin.
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. And she doesn’t answer my question.
“It’s not exactly a secret, you know. You and Nick. Gem and I have known for a while. And we’d never judge you for wanting to be together. We want you guys to be happy. Hopefully you know that.”
“I know.” She twists her seat, angling it away from mine.
I take a deep breath because I know there’s only one thing to do in this particular situation with Harley. I need to sit in the silence and let her talk when she’s ready. I literally have to bite my tongue to keep from filling the quiet with my blather, but I do it, because I know it’s what she needs.
Finally, she takes a sip of her own water, shifting ever so slightly back in my direction. “Nick wants to make it official, take things public, so to speak.”
Pursing my lips tightly, I just barely keep in a squeal of joy. “That’s a good thing, right? I mean, you do also want to be official?”
“I do.” She looks over at me and her eyes are shining. Not with tears, but with something akin to sheer joy. “I love him, Sadie. I think I’ve loved him for a really long time.”
I reach over and grab her hand. “I think you have too. And I’m so, so happy for you. And for him. Probably more for him, since he’s really scoring big-time here.”
She rolls her eyes but pairs it with a smile. When her fingers grasp mine so tightly it starts to hurt, I realize there’s more to it.
“I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to our group. You and Gemma are my sisters and I’m terrified this is going to screw it up.” Harley rushes out the words in one single breath.
Tugging on our joined hands, I pull her closer to me. “Hey. None of that. Nothing is going to screw it up, okay? Even if things ended badly with the two of you—which they won’t, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve already envisioned your wedding day—nothing is going to split the four of us up.” I knock my shoulder into hers. “You guys are basically the only family I have at this point—I’m not going to let anything happen to us.”
She gives me a tiny smile. “Promise?”
“Promise. Is that the only thing holding you back? Wondering what might happen to the group in a worst-case scenario?” I take a sip of my water, giving her time to fill the silence if she wants to. Because I can tell she wants to.
We sit for another quiet minute.
Finally, she draws in a deep breath. “I need you to listen for a minute and not say anything. Okay?”
I mime zipping my lips shut and throwing away the key.
She takes in a long breath and lets it out slowly. “I’m worried about how Nick’s parents are going to react to him dating a Black woman.”
I tighten my grip on her hand but keep my promise to just listen.
“I know his parents are liberal and donated to Obama, and on paper, they do and say all the right things. But there’s a big difference between being woke on paper and accepting your son is dating a Black woman. And I’m scared, Sade. Because I don’t know how I’ll handle it if they react badly. And I don’t know how Nick will handle it either. And so in this big happy shiny relationship moment, I don’t really know how to feel, you know?” Her voice cracks at the end, and I know she’s holding back tears.
I pull Harley into my arms, wrapping her up tight. I’m tempted to tell her it’ll be okay, that of course Nick’s parents would never not accept her, but I don’t, because I don’t know if that’s true and the last thing I want to do is lie to her.
I wait for her to disengage from the hug before picking her hand back up in mine and squeezing tightly. “I love you. And I’m here. Always.”
She gives me a faint smile. “Love you back.” She gulps down the rest of her water and rises to place her empty glass in the sink. “You coming up?”
“In a minute.”
Harley stops at the edge of the island. “I like Jack. He’s a good one.”
“And here I was thinking you were a smitten kitten. You already got eyes on someone else?”
She doesn’t bother to acknowledge my asinine statement because she’s a smart woman and has learned well over the years. “When you’re ready to talk about him, you know where to find me.” She blows me a kiss and heads up the stairs.
I sit in the darkness on my own for several minutes before I can finally admit it, if only to the yellow roses on the counter. “I think I like him too.”