A Summer to Remember(13)
“I am so sorry I’m late. I had this impossibly wealthy client who needed to be outfitted for her upcoming cruise to Spain and it was a god-awful mess!” she greeted before we embraced one another.
I held her at arms’ length and looked her up and down. “You look beautiful and I have missed you so much. Don’t you think it is a bit ridiculous we live in the same city and never see one another?”
Savannah, always the pragmatic one, shrugged her shoulders. “Not really. We both own businesses and if we want them to flourish then the first few years are the most important. I already hear so much about your gallery and I need to catch up. Yes, I have a small, wealthy clientele but it is barely enough for me to afford the whole ‘Manhattan’ lifestyle. I need to do better and that means working my ever loving ass off.”
Her right fingers tilted my chin before she smiled. “We all couldn’t be born with golden spoons and rich brother’s who know how to play the stock market. Not that I grew up poor or anything but my parents certainly didn’t leave me with a trust fund either. One of us had to start from scratch and it just happened to be me.”
I helped her with the few bags she brought and showed her to the suite that would be hers for as long as she wanted it. “It’s clean but if it smells like a man that is simply because Paul got too drunk last night and stayed here at the house.”
She set her bags down before she turned toward me and slipped her sunglasses from her face “You still carrying a torch for him after all this time? You only mentioned him and your face went beet red.”
I slid several stray strands of hair behind my left ear. “That isn’t true. I don’t do relationships anymore, remember?”
Savannah studied me with cool blue eyes. “We both know that is a lie and you know it. You don’t have a relationship with Kevin any longer, and that is certainly a good thing. Are you seriously going to tell me you have cut yourself off from all men in general and you would never do another relationship ever again?”
I glared at one of my best friends. “I didn’t say forever…but not right now. The pain is still too fresh.”
Jude suddenly interrupted our conversation as he strolled into the suite and handed Savannah a Heineken. She smiled shyly before she thanked my brother. “I didn’t realize you remembered.”
“What? One of my sister’s best friends’ favorite drink?”
Her happy expression fell slightly. “Of course you would. Thanks, Jude.”
“Any time,” he replied before he began to walk away but it didn’t stop him from turning and checking out Savannah again.
“Well, someone is red as fire but it sure as hell isn’t me,” I murmured before I swigged from my Belvedere and Perrier.
She pulled her strappy sandals off and sat down on the bed before she swigged from her lager. “Please. Talia and Autumn are much more gorgeous than I am…Jude isn’t looking at me like that. He’s too hot and he can have any woman he wants. Why would he settle for a hamburger when he can have the finest slice of filet mignon?”
I rolled my eyes. “Jude has never been that vain and he has dated some very interesting women in his time.” I set my drink down and laid down next to Savannah. “Remember Greta, the German exchange student?”
We both laughed out loud. “Oh wow…I almost forgot about that. She was a very sweet young woman but she was just—
“—so plain, you looked like a superstar next to her. Jude isn’t nearly as shallow as he comes off. He’s a very complex human being. I should know…we grew up in the same household together.”
Savannah looked down at her iPhone. “So, what is on the agenda tonight? A party on the beach?”
“Nah. Paul suggested the Beach Bar so that is where we’re going. He’s driving since he’s the most sober of us all and we’ll all just pile into my dad’s Hummer.”
She checked her phone again out of nervousness. “I don’t know if I brought any party clothes per se—”
“It’s a bar, Savannah, not the freakin’ hottest club in Manhattan. If you really are that hard up, you can borrow something from me. Come on, let’s go up t0 my room and see what we can find.”
We both stood at the same time and walked to my suite together. I couldn’t help but wear a huge smile because all my friends and I were under the same roof again and I knew we would have a great time if nothing else and plenty of memories to take us through the rest of our twenties.