Surfside Sisters(32)

As she was stripping off her dirty shorts and T-shirt, her phone buzzed.

“Keely.”

“Tommy.”

“I bet Isabelle has called you.”

    “No, but she messaged me. It sounds like she’s not happy with you.”

“She’s not. She told me we’re done. So I think I can take you to dinner, if you’ll still go with me, and I won’t feel guilty and neither will you.”

Her heart did a somersault. She was just about to step off a cliff and she didn’t know how far down she would fall. She didn’t care.

“I’m free tonight,” Keely said.



* * *



—

He took her to Le Languedoc, one of the best restaurants on the island. He parked on Broad Street and as they walked, he reached out and took her hand. Shops were still open in the evening. People—summer people and year-rounders—still strolled the streets. Keely knew Tommy was sending a message to anyone who knew them. She guessed she was sending a message, too.

They had a table in the corner, perfect for intimate conversation. Tommy ordered a good bottle of red wine to share.

“You’ll never save up money for a boat spending that kind of money for wine,” Keely teased.

“Some things are more important than boats,” Tommy told her.

The way he gazed into her eyes made her shiver. Defensive, she asked, “What would Isabelle think of us right now?”

He didn’t sound angry or even mildly concerned. But he didn’t seem to take her question lightly. “I don’t care what Isabelle thinks. Let’s talk about something else.”

He was so intense. She couldn’t speak.

Tommy said, “Okay, ask me ten things you need to know about me.”

“Um, favorite food?”

“Clam chowder. The way I make it.”

Keely nodded. “Favorite music?”

“Everything.”

    Keely smiled. “Um, birth date?”

“June tenth.” Tommy took her hand and rubbed his thumb lightly over her palm.

“I can’t think when you’re doing that to my hand,” she told him.

“Do you want me to stop?”

Keely smiled, shaking her head. “You really are terrible.”

Tommy did a lazy-sleepy-sexy thing with his eyes. “I can be really good.”

The waiter arrived. Keely pulled her hand away.

“So did you like college at all?” She was serious.

“It depends on what criteria you’re using to judge,” Tommy said.

“Criteria. Get you with your big word.”

Tommy laughed. “I managed to learn a few things.”

“I’ll bet you did.”

With a shrug, he turned serious. “I admit it. I basically coasted. My grades were awful. My dad’s furious. But I didn’t end up drunk in a trunk or in jail for assault, so he can’t really complain.”

“And women?”

Tommy smiled, his white teeth flashing. “I was with Isabelle. Mostly.” He shrugged. “I thought, if I can’t have fun in college, I’ll never be able to have it.”

“Oh, Tommy, I think you’ll always have fun,” Keely told him, and as she spoke, she felt very affectionate toward him, and not jealous at all of the women he’d slept with, probably a number mounting into the dozens, and mounting was the appropriate word.

“What about you? You dropped out in your junior year.”

“Because I wanted to help my mother.”

“So do you miss college?”

“More than I can say,” Keely answered truthfully.

“Why?”

“I loved my studies. I made all A’s, not that I’m bragging. I loved it there, walking from the dorm to a class. I was high on the atmosphere, the smell of the textbooks, the sound of a pen on paper or someone tapping away on her computer…” She stopped talking, took a sip of wine, and lost herself for a moment in reverie. She had to change course now, or she’d get maudlin.

    “You’re weird,” Tommy said.

Keely shrugged. “Probably.” As she ate oysters and pan roasted lobster, she steered the conversation away from anything serious. She asked Tommy about his family, his friends. His new dog. Tommy was funny, charming, magnetic. She relaxed in his spell. The buzz of the wine, the pleasure of this gorgeous, attentive male was a tonic for her wounded spirit. Her entire body flushed every time Tommy looked at her or touched her knee with his beneath the table.

When they left the restaurant, light was fading from the sky.

“Let’s walk down to Easy Street,” Tommy said.

“Sure.”

He took her hand. His hand was so much larger than hers. Easy Street was the short street between the harbor and the Dreamland Theater. Several benches were set along the brick sidewalk so people could watch the ferries come and go. Tonight as they rounded the corner from the theater building, Keely saw that the benches were empty, and Tommy must have, too, because he said her name in a husky voice and put both hands on her waist. He moved her so that her back was against the building. He pressed himself against her.

His kiss was sweet and rough with need. It was lovely to be kissed like this.