Surfside Sisters(98)

Now Isabelle and Keely returned to the kitchen to double-check on the turkey. The windows were steamed over, and the aroma of onion and chestnut stuffing was irresistible.

“It needs another hour,” Isabelle said.

“Let’s drive out to Surfside for a quick walk,” Keely suggested. “Everything’s set here. I need a walk.”

“Good idea.” Isabelle untied her apron and lifted it off. “Let’s see if anyone else wants to go.”

Tommy, Sebastian, Al, and Brittany were in the family room, watching a football game. Brittany was asleep on Tommy’s lap.

“We’re going for a quick walk at Surfside,” Keely announced.

“Have fun,” Sebastian called without taking his eyes off the screen.

Keely and Isabelle pulled on sweaters and wool caps. The wind was picking up. The temperature was falling. They climbed into Isabelle’s old Jeep. The town was quiet—everyone else was probably watching the Patriots, too. Most of the trees had lost their leaves, but bushes everywhere blazed with scarlet and orange leaves. Isabelle parked in the empty lot at the top of the bluff.

“Nobody else is here,” she said.

    “I’m not surprised. It feels like it’s going to rain any moment.” Keely eyed the sky doubtfully.

Isabelle lightly slugged Keely’s arm. “Don’t be a wuss. Come on, let’s have a quick stroll. That way we’ll be really hungry for dinner.”

Keely ran behind Isabelle down the hardened sand path to the beach and the water. Today the ocean was a great rumbling indigo creature, flinging its waves up on the shore.

With the instinct gained from years of walking on the beach, Keely and Isabelle started their stroll facing into the wind, so it would be behind them on the return.

“So!” Isabelle said. Reaching out, she took Keely’s hand.

“So?” Something was up, Keely could tell.

“So New Frontiers Press has bought The Island. And they want a young adult series.”

Keely slammed to a halt in the sand. “Get out of town! Really? Isabelle, that’s fabulous!”

“I’m going to sign a contract with an agent, and I’m going up to Boston—New Frontiers is in Boston—to meet my editor.” Isabelle’s face lit up like the sun. “My editor!”

“Isabelle, I just knew you’d get that wonderful book published!” Keely said.

“Keely.” Isabelle was glowing. “We’re both writers, just like we’d hoped.”

“I know! Wait till we tell the writers’ group!”

“I’ll tell them, thank you very much!”

“Mrs. Atwater will explode!”

“They don’t even know I’ve been working on a young adult novel.”

“You’re good at keeping secrets.”

“We both are.”

“That’s true.” Keely grinned. “Because I’ve got news, too.”

Isabelle took Keely by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. “You’re not!”

    Keely nodded, smiling and tearful at the same time. “I am!”

“Does Sebastian know?”

“I haven’t told him yet. I haven’t told anyone but you.”

“This is wonderful!” Isabelle pulled Keely into a hug.

“I know.” Keely’s skin was covered with goose bumps—from the wind? From pure amazing life. “We are so creative!”

“In more ways than one!”

“The sand’s blowing into my teeth!”

“Mine, too. Let’s go back.”

They spun around.

“Have you started throwing up yet?”

“Only once. I wake up feeling kind of green.”

“Keep saltines on your bedside table.”

“I will—after I tell Sebastian.”

“I have lots of pregnancy books and maternity clothes you can use.”

“Fab! Hey, I’m hungry! I want turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes and…”

“Pumpkin pie with whipped cream!”

They dug their feet into the sand as they climbed the long rise from the beach. Keely reached out to take Isabelle’s hand. “I just had an idea! Let’s write a book for children!”

“Yes!” Isabelle cried. “No! Let’s write a series of books for children!”

“What should we call it?”

“The Young and the Hungry,” Isabelle joked, and they laughed all the way to the car.