Reunion Beach by Elin Hilderbrand (best ebook reader under 100 .TXT) 📗

S’mores but Kirby shot that idea down. They were strictly adhering to the theme.

Well, there were no kegs of Schlitz in northern Africa, Jessie thinks, and yet that’s what they’re drinking at this oasis. The keg is in the back of Mr. Crimmins’s pickup, which he’s letting them borrow, though Mr. Crimmins isn’t coming to the bonfire.

“You young people have fun,” he said. “And tomorrow, come over to the house. Your grandmother left a list of things she wanted you to have.”

Things she wanted you to have: Exalta’s considerable collection of whirligigs and whimmy-diddles will be divided up between the four grandchildren. Exalta’s jewelry—the rings she kept in exquisite porcelain boxes, and bracelets and necklaces that lived in a locked case—will be passed to Kate, Jessie, Blair, Kirby, and Magee. Even one-quarter or one-sixth of these possessions will be worth quite a lot, Jessie knows, but only if she sells them. She may, in fact, sell some of the jewelry to ease her third year of law school—maybe buy a new desk lamp or an interview suit—but the whirligigs and whimmy-diddles are so inexorably Exalta that Jessie could never let them go. She will be their steward until she dies and every time she sets eyes on them, she will think of her grandmother.

PEOPLE START ARRIVING THE second it gets dark. Blair has left the twins back at the house; she hitches a ride to the beach with Tiger and Magee. The Dunscombe twins show up with their new husbands. Joey Whalen pulls up in his Porsche and Larry Winter is driving his grandmother’s ancient Jeep Cherokee. There are a bunch of friends of Kirby’s from her Madequecham days, as well as people that Blair, Kirby, and Tiger knew from sailing at the Field & Oar.

Kirby has a boombox and Tiger brought serious speakers. As soon as the fire is lit, there’s music: Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” sets the mood, followed by Earth, Wind & Fire, the Doobie Brothers, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart. Jessie stands at the food table and tries an olive, though she isn’t hungry. She’s not sure who to hang out with. Kirby is surrounded by her old friends, smoking clove cigarettes. Tiger and Magee are talking to the Dunscombe twins about whatever it is that’s important to married people—mortgages? casseroles?—and Blair is the bologna in a Larry-Winter-and-Joey-Whalen sandwich.

Blair tries to lasso Jessie. “You remember Larry Winter, don’t you, Jessie? He lives in Florida now.”

Blair obviously wants to do the sorority bump-and-roll, passing off Larry to Jessie, but nope, sorry, Jessie isn’t that desperate for company. Larry Winter is a hundred years old, or thirty-five, and he has a mustache like Rollie Fingers.

“Hitting the keg,” Jessie says.

She does hit the keg, filling two plastic cups with cold Schlitz, then she strolls past the fire pit to the water’s edge. She feels like a stranger in her own family, but there’s nothing new about that. She fingers the gold knot at her neck and runs it along the chain. The necklace was originally a gift to Exalta from Jessie’s grandfather on the occasion of their first wedding anniversary. It’s priceless, and Exalta chose to give it to Jessie.

Jessie guzzles down one beer, feels a little better, tries to remind herself that, as soon as she wants to, she can rejoin the party and talk to Heather and Helen Dunscombe. They went through the predictable trajectory of being friends, then hating each other, then being friends again after it turned out that both Jessie and Helen Dunscombe had been molested by their tennis instructor, Garrison. But Jessie’s afraid they’ll have nothing in common now. Jessie is in law school and lives in Greenwich Village. She’s single. The twins are married and live in the suburbs. Jessie takes the subway; the twins drive station wagons. This time next year, Jessie will be studying for the bar exam. This time next year, one or both of the Dunscombe twins will be pregnant.

Will Jessie still be single this time next year? She can’t believe it’s 1979 and the first thing a person wants to know about a woman is if she has managed to catch a man. The song changes to Donna Summer, “Heaven Knows.” Heaven knows, it’s not the way it should be! Do people care if Donna Summer is married or single? They do not; she is fabulous either way. So there’s hope.

Jessie has nearly finished her second beer when someone plops in the sand next to her.

“Jessie Levin,” a voice says. “Surprise.”

Jessie turns. Male person, her age, or maybe a little older. Shorn head, so what Jessie first thinks is that Tiger saw her sitting by herself, felt sorry for her, and sent over one of his army buddies.

“Surprise?” she says.

“It’s me,” he says. “Pick.”

6

Paradise by the Dashboard Light

Blair is desperate to get rid of Larry Winters. How had she entertained even for a second that there might still be something between them? He came to the church in a tan leisure suit with a wide-collared paisley shirt underneath, and although he was kind and solicitous with his mother, Blair had to close her eyes against the sight of him. Then, at the reception, he’d been stuck to her like flypaper. She was unable to talk to anyone else—meaning she couldn’t have a proper, private conversation with Joey Whalen.

Well, that’s not exactly true, is it? There were the stolen moments the night before.

After the twins went to the guest cottage to watch Mork & Mindy before bed, Blair slipped out to Joey’s Porsche under the auspices of saying good night.

“I can’t believe you came,” Blair said.

“Family,” Joey said.

“Yes, well,” Blair said, meaning: your brother didn’t think it was worth flying up from Houston for. But Angus must have called Joey—because how else would he have heard about Exalta? Maybe Angus suggested Joey appear on Nantucket in his place. Maybe—is Blair reaching here?—Angus realizes that long ago, he thwarted the romance between Blair and Joey. Because Blair and