Surfside Sisters(46)

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Friends came over one evening, and they sat around drinking champagne, which was rapidly becoming Keely’s favorite drink, and talked and laughed until midnight.

“Where’s Tommy?” Janine asked.

“Oh, he’s out in the Berkshires helping Isabelle pack,” Keely said casually, as if she weren’t nervous about this sudden helpfulness of Tommy.

She managed to fall asleep that night. She woke up ready to write.

Around noon, her phone buzzed and she saw Tommy’s name pop up on her screen.

    “Tommy! I’m so glad you called!”

Tommy’s voice was somber. “I need to talk to you, Keely.”

“You do? Are you all right? What’s going on?”

“Keely—I’m with Isabelle.”

“What?”

“Yesterday Isabelle and I talked. We, um, reconnected. I’m bringing her home. And we’re getting engaged. We’re going to choose the ring together.”

Keely laughed in surprise and disbelief. “Come on.”

“It’s true, Keely.” The next words came all in a rush. “I’m sorry.”

Keely couldn’t stop smiling. “You’re joking.”

“Not joking. Isabelle knew I was miserable because you wouldn’t commit. She, well, I suppose she comforted me. And Isabelle was miserable because Gordon dumped her. We realized we love each other, always have, so…”

“Tommy. Promise me you’re not kidding, not trying some kind of sick joke. Because I can’t believe this.”

“I’m sorry, Keely. We never wanted to hurt you. But it’s done and it’s…right.”

“Why? I don’t understand. Help me understand.”

Tommy was silent for a while. “You know I’m not good with words like you. But, it’s like you and I are on two completely different life paths. You want to write and rush off to New York. I want to live on the island and work for Dad and fish. Maybe even, someday, have my own charter fishing business.”

“But what about Isabelle? What does she want?”

Tommy was silent for a long moment. But his voice was strong when he said, “Isabelle only wants me.”

Keely knew, deep in her heart, that was true. Quietly, she said, “And now she has you.”

“And now she has me.”

Keely pushed back her chair and paced her room.

“What do Isabelle’s parents think? When are you getting married? How are you two going to live, how are you going to afford ever to have a house on the island, what about Isabelle’s writing?”

    “She was afraid you’d get hysterical.”

“I’m not hysterical!”

Tommy coughed, always a sign to Keely that he was about to admit something embarrassing. “We’ve already spoken with her parents. They gave us the apartment above the garage, until we can get financially solvent.”

Keely nodded to herself. This one detail made it all true. “You won’t have to pay rent.”

Tommy was offended. “Not that it’s any business of yours, but no, we won’t be paying rent. Isabelle’s going to work at her father’s office. I’ll work for my dad. We’ll save.”

“Very tidy.”

“Be honest. You care about your writing way more than you care about me.”

“That’s absurd,” Keely snapped, although secretly she knew he was right.

Tommy continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Isabelle has always loved me. You want to be a writer more than you want anything else. But Isabelle wants me more than anything.”

Before Keely could reply, she heard a woman’s voice in the background. “Let me speak to her.”

“Isabelle is with you?” Why did this seem like even more of a treachery, an invasion? “Damn, am I on speakerphone?” Keely bristled at the intrusion—Isabelle overhearing Keely’s words.

Isabelle began to speak. Her voice was shaking. “Listen, Keely. Remember how we used to call ourselves Surfside Sisters? We were the ones who leapt into the ocean. No matter how cold, how stormy. Remember? Well, Tommy wanted to marry you, and you didn’t choose him. You didn’t leap. Or rather, you ran. You leapt toward New York. But I leapt to Tommy. He is more important to me than any ‘work’ I might do.”

“Wow. You sound—smug.”

“I am smug, Keely.” Her voice changed, became warmer, kinder. “Keely. Keely, come on. I know everything about you. We both know you’re truly in love with Sebastian. Tommy was only ever second best.”

    “Sebastian,” Keely said and his name in her mouth conjured his beautiful face and his humor and his kindness and his body, his body that his Swedish sweetheart was probably kissing right now. She would never have Sebastian. “Sebastian has always been just a dream.” All at once Keely was dragged down with exhaustion, as if she’d been lifting bags of sand. That family, that fortunate Maxwell family! Isabelle wanted Tommy—and she got him. Anger and jealousy burned inside her, a toxic mixture that flamed so high it extinguished her rational thoughts. She wasn’t angry about losing Tommy. She was angry—she was furious—that Isabelle had him.