Moon Shell Beach: A Novel (12 page)

“I’m glad Jewel didn’t hear that,” Clare told Lexi. “She’s had a tough time with the divorce. She adores her father.”

“She seems like an unusual child,” Lexi mused. “I like her.”

“Of course you do.” Clare elbowed Lexi in the side. “She’s going to set you up with your first crush. And you haven’t seen Tris all grown up, Lexi. He is
fine
.”

“I have no time for romantic fantasies,” Lexi said firmly. “I’ve got a business to run.”

SIXTEEN

C
lare returned the tray of chocolates to the refrigerator. She had two refrigerators here at home, one for normal household use and one only for her chocolates. She liked being able to wander into the kitchen whenever inspiration hit. Often she’d wake up in the middle of the night thinking of a new kind of chocolate and she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep until she’d tiptoed downstairs and spent a few hours experimenting. She usually worked in the shop kitchen, especially once she had the recipe perfected. There was much more room.

Now she untied her apron. It was early afternoon. The windows bloomed with light. She opened the back door, and leaned against it, breathing in the fresh spring air. She’d work on the truffle later. After the long gray winter, this bright blue-sky day was too irresistible to resist. Maybe she’d go for a bike ride. The thought of whizzing along beneath the spring sun made her smile.

Her father was in the den, his eyes glassy as he stared at the television. It was after eleven in the morning, and he was still in his robe and slippers.

“Hey, Dad.” Clare kissed the top of his balding head. “What’s up?”

“Hello, sweetheart.” He shifted around in his chair, obviously making an attempt to prove he wasn’t in another one of his grief-inspired comas. “Um, is Jesse coming over?”

“Tonight. He’s coming for dinner. Actually, he’s bringing dinner. He’s got some kind of fish he caught up in Maine.” When had her father last dressed, she wondered. “Hey, Dad, want to go for a walk? It’s a nice day.” If she could get him to dress for a walk, she could run his robe and pajamas through the wash.

Her father shook his head. “I don’t think so, honey. I think I’ll just watch this program.”

The TV was tuned to ESPN, which was some kind of relief—Clare had seen her father sit through jewelry channel shows—but the program was about bowling, something they never did since there was no bowling alley on the island.

“Dad…”

“Maybe later.” He waved his hand, as if swatting away a pesky fly.

“All righty then.” Sometimes he seemed
determined
to be miserable. Often it was hard not to take his lethargy personally. She couldn’t bring his wife back from the dead, but
she
was here, wasn’t she? They’d never been close, but she was trying so hard, couldn’t he try just a little, too? She was his daughter, after all.

Exasperated now, she tugged a wool hat on over her head, slipped into a down vest, and pulled on leather gloves. Her bike was in the garage. She wheeled it out through the side door, straddled it, and began to pedal.

As she zipped along the quiet streets, she decided she was being impatient with her father. She was in a more positive place these days, and she knew why, even though she didn’t trust the reason. Lexi was back. And Lexi was just as much fun as she’d always been, and twice as fabulous. When they had walked into the concert, Clare had felt that old thrill from her high school days, to be seen in the company of such a dazzling creature. It was like showing up with a giraffe at her side, a really bewitching giraffe who could communicate only to Clare.

How could a friendship be explained? It was as mysterious as falling in love. Life seemed brighter, more fun, with Lexi back on the island. Clare couldn’t wait to see the kinds of clothes she’d be selling. And Clare liked that something broken could be mended, especially something as mysterious and ineffable as a friendship. It made her feel optimistic—and all at once, as she spun past a yard where a man was throwing a Frisbee to his golden Lab, Clare thought:
I know what! I’ll get Dad a dog!

Recently, the
MSPCA had been transformed by avid fundraisers from a storybook Hansel-and-Gretel cottage tucked away in the woods into a lavish multiroom palace with a huge parking lot and a reception area that rivaled the deck of the Starship
Enterprise.
Clare had only been out here a few times in her life. Her father had always wanted a dog or cat, but her mother had been allergic, so Clare’s trips had been as a companion to a friend taking a pet in for a checkup. She wondered whether Lexi had seen the new building yet. She wished she’d thought to phone Lexi to ask her to come with her. But no, Lexi’s brother was the head vet out here; probably he’d already brought her out.

She was glad to see a familiar face. Helen Coffin, one of her mother’s buddies, was seated behind the high curved counter, tapping away at a computer. Over her floral pantsuit, she wore a blue lab coat with
Helen
embroidered on the pocket.

“Clare! What brings you out here?”

“I’m thinking of adopting a dog for my father.”

“What a good idea! Well, Jenny is our adoption officer, and she’s gone to Jamaica for three weeks, but we do have some very cute little animals here, so let me get myself organized and I’ll take you back myself. Paula’s home sick with this cold that everyone’s got, but fortunately we’ve got a quiet day.” She clicked away at the computer, turning the screen into a series of starburst patterns, pushed back her chair, and took off her glasses, letting them fall to her impressive chest, where they dangled on a multicolored string of beads.

“I like your glasses chain,” Clare told Helen as she led the way through the shining white halls to the adoption area.

“Why, thank you, so do I. I swear, by this time of year I’m so tired of all the gray and bleakness I pile on as much color as I can. Orvis is just grateful I haven’t dyed my hair purple.”

Laughing over her shoulder, Helen opened the door into a bright room full of clean, spacious cells inhabited by a number of sleeping dogs. At their entrance, the animals sprang to their feet and hurtled to the front of their cages, wagging their tails and barking.

“Oh, the poor things! I wish I could adopt them all.” Clare walked from cage to cage, smiling and cooing and feeling like a fiend when she deserted one dog to look at another. Soon all the dogs were hurling themselves around their cages, barking, wagging their tails, wriggling all over with hope.

“Now this one is my favorite.” Helen opened the door and lifted out a tiny bundle of white fur. “She doesn’t have papers but I swear she’s all shih tzu. Oh, give mama some love,” Helen squealed as the little dog licked her face.

“Clare.” A door swung open and Lexi’s brother strode in, a white lab coat over his street clothes. “I thought I saw you come in.”

“Adam!” Clare felt herself blush as he walked toward her. He was still handsome at six-foot-two, broad-shouldered, and much more serious-looking—he was a real man now. She couldn’t stop smiling at him. “I saw the article in the paper about you. Welcome back.”

“Thanks. I’m glad to be here. I really missed the island.”

He smiled at her as if he found pleasure in just looking at her. Memories of her childhood crush flooded through her. She struggled for composure. “I, uh, I’m thinking of getting a dog for my father.”

“I thought this little bundle of love might be just the ticket.” Helen lifted the little dog and nuzzled its curly white head.

“I think
you’re
the one who wants her, Helen.” He smiled at Clare. “My opinion? Your father would be happier with a bigger dog.”

Clare stopped at the last cage, where a medium-sized scrawny black-and-white long-haired mongrel with blue eyes and lopsided ears sat with her head cocked winsomely. “
She
looks pretty sweet.”

Adam came to stand next to Clare. “She’s very sweet. Just arrived. Want to meet her?”

“Well…okay.”

“Oh, you’re the cutest thing, but I already have a dog.” Reluctantly Helen put the faux shih tzu back in its cage. “Is that the phone? I guess I’d better get back to the desk. It’s nice seeing you, Clare.”

Adam unlatched the cage door. Instead of dashing for freedom, the dog sat still, watching Adam carefully, her whole body quivering. All around them, envious dogs bayed and whined.

“Hello, girl.” Adam entered the cage. He squatted down and held out his hand for the dog to sniff. “Aren’t you a good girl.” Very gently he stroked her head and back. “Come meet her,” he said to Clare.

Clare felt like her very heart was breaking open as she knelt next to the dog. “We’ve never had a pet before,” she told Adam. “My mother was allergic.” She held out her hand. The dog sniffed it, then looked up at Clare with her odd blue eyes, and then, carefully, she licked Clare’s hand. Then she scanned Clare’s face for signs of approval. Clare rearranged herself into a sitting position. “Oh, aren’t you pretty.” She looked helplessly at Adam, who was seated now, too, leaning against the wall. “I want a dog for my father, not for me.” But she petted the dog, all down her back. “Her fur feels like silk.”

“You and your father could share,” Adam suggested quietly.

In the other cages, most of the dogs were calming down, curling up to return to sleep.

“Well…” She couldn’t take her hands off the dog, and the dog took a few cautious paces toward Clare, and then a few more, watching Clare’s face carefully the whole time.

“Mutts make good pets,” Adam told her. He put his arms around his knees so his big feet in their leather loafers stuck out and Clare saw that his socks didn’t match. “They’re not as high-strung as purebreds.”

“How old is she?” Clare stroked the dog’s big furry ears. One ear stuck straight up, the other flopped down over one eye. “Is this some kind of cute trick, this thing with your ears?” she asked the animal.

In reply, the animal inched closer to Clare. Her quivering had stopped, but her eyes were questioning.

“She’s young, not more than eight months. She’s had all her shots, she’s been spayed, she’s in good health.”

“Do you think my father would like her?” Clare asked.

“Well, she’s not so teeny-weeny he’d be embarrassed to take her for a walk, and she’s not so big she’d be impossible for him to handle, and as you can see, she’s a very amiable animal, so yes, I’d think your father would like her. Perhaps you should bring him out to see all the others first.”

The dog was watching Clare as if her life depended on Clare’s smile. “Oh, my,” Clare sighed. “I think I’m in love.”

The dog wagged her shaggy tail, and as if she understood Clare’s words, she delicately stepped into Clare’s lap, turned around twice, and lay down, nestling her chin on Clare’s knee.

Clare looked over at Adam. He was as handsome a man as his sister was a beautiful woman, but his blond hair had darkened to brown, and unlike Lexi, he’d bulked up. He wasn’t in the slightest bit fat, but he was…substantial. He looked so strong, and so gentle, so
right there
with her.

All at once Clare wanted to lean over the bundle of dog in her lap and kiss Adam.

Adam looked back at her, not smiling now, very serious, so serious it made Clare shiver. What if she did lean forward and kiss him? What if she reached out and touched his hand?

The door flew open. Helen stuck her head in, beaded glasses swinging. “Dr. Laney, your eleven-thirty appointment is here.”

Adam tore his gaze away. “Right. Thanks, Helen.” He looked back at Clare. “What do you think?”

Clare could hardly breathe. “About what?”

Adam reached out his hand, and Clare’s body zinged with so much desire she was surprised the current didn’t frizz her hair, and the dog’s, too. Adam stroked the dog’s head, slowly, and the dog made a little happy moan. Somehow Adam managed to touch the dog in Clare’s lap without touching her legs or her torso, but the nearness of his hand made Clare breathless.

“About the dog,” Adam said. “Do you want to bring your father out here to see her?”

“No. I’ll take her.” She patted the dog’s rump—a safe eight inches away from Adam’s hand on the dog’s head. As she did, the light caught her engagement ring.

Adam stood up. “Helen can help you with the paperwork. I’d better go see my eleven-thirty. You’ve made a good choice, Clare, I think that’s a really nice dog.” He walked away, stopping at the door to say over his shoulder, “Let me know how she works out.”

He was giving her a reason to get in touch with him!
“I will,” she promised.

“And tell Jesse hello,” Adam said, and left the room.

SEVENTEEN

D
uring the month of May, the island slowly woke. The sun shone brighter, igniting the sea into a flashy, spangling blue, and the air was milder, enticing everyone outside, away from their dark sheltered lives. People tied back their curtains, washed windows, swept their porch corners free of the last of the pine needles fallen from Christmas wreaths, and hung baskets of faux flowers on their front doors. In town, the shopkeepers set out real pansies, daffodils, and crocuses in their window boxes, and the DPW street-sweeping machines, like humming robot housewives, went up and down the main streets, whisking away all the sand spread over the once-icy roads, making each cobblestone shine like a polished gem.

It was the beginning of the magnificent party that was summer on Nantucket. Summer people arrived to open and air out their homes. Tourists came to stay in the inns and walk on the beach and dream of all they would do with their lives. Lexi’s parents had always loved seeing their summer regulars return to shop in their store and to catch up on gossip—for Myrna and Fred it was almost as if their hundreds of children were home from college. The island was caught up in the excitement of something—everything—beginning anew.

It was all so poignant to Lexi, so idyllic and hopeful, especially because she was back home. And she
was
back home. Every day she felt how people accepted her. Behind the post office counter, Martha Smith, who had dated Adam in high school, greeted her with a smile. At the grocery store, several people with familiar faces nodded and smiled at her as they steered their carts down the aisles, and Fred Carney, who now ran the meat department, actually stopped her to tell her that if she ever needed a special cut to ring the bell and ask for him. At the Main Street Pharmacy, Watson Lomax, who had begun his interest in drugs early in his teens, was now, amusingly, a pharmacist, who helped Lexi decide on which over-the-counter allergy medication to use. And Patricia Moody phoned to ask Lexi if she’d like to join the community chorus. Lexi thanked her for the invitation but declined, admitting she couldn’t carry a tune.

Box by box, her merchandise arrived, trundled over the cobblestones by the UPS man and his dolly. The clothing was on the second floor, safely shrouded in dust-proof plastic, still in boxes, waiting to be ironed and hung on her padded silk hangers once the sawing, hammering, and painting were done. The racks were draped in protective plastic; the mirrors she’d ordered leaned against the walls in their cardboard boxes. The display cases for her jewelry and accessories had come, too, and sat in the middle of the shop floor covered with sheets. The walls were painted just as Lexi had dreamed they would be. She had done the work herself and she’d done a really amazing job. Her concept was clever, and she’d always been good at art, but this, well, this surprised her, how good it looked, just like her dreams. She had sheets of brown paper taped over the large front window so no one could see in until everything was perfect, and it couldn’t be perfect until the cubicles were built.

Jesse hadn’t come to build the dressing cubicles. Clare had promised he would, but he hadn’t shown up, and she supposed it was no surprise. Why would he do her any favors?

She’d pored over the phone book, calling other carpenters, but all she’d gotten were answering machines. May was crazy busy on the island, Lexi knew that. Caretakers were running around turning on water and taking down shutters and repairing any damage the weather had done over the winter. Next door, Clare and her assistant Marlene were concocting and packaging chocolates from morning to night, so Clare was too busy to spend time with Lexi, and Lexi would be too busy, too, if she only had a couple of dressing rooms! But she had
no
dressing rooms!

What else could she do? Lexi looked around, her hands on her hips. Leaning against the wall were a group of photographs blown up to three feet by five and showcased in ornate frames. Each shot was of a tall, slender blonde walking on a stretch of beach. They were pictures from her travels, but she didn’t want these photos to be about her. She wanted them to be about the mystery and romance of walking on the sand by the water’s edge. She wanted them to be mesmerizing, exotic, and dreamy. After hours of careful study she’d chosen six perfect shots with her back to the camera, then had them cropped so that she was to one side, in the shadow, or in the distance.

She couldn’t hang them herself; they were too heavy. She would have to call her parents. They had invited her for Sunday dinner last week, and slowly the ice between them was thawing. Myrna was frankly curious about Lexi’s merchandise and her father had offered his help with heavy lifting.

Just as she flipped open her cell phone, someone knocked on the door.

She pulled the door open. “Jesse!”

The sight of him knocked her breath right out of her lungs.

“Clare said you needed some work done.”

Jesse wore work clothes—jeans and a blue denim shirt. His blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and a small gold hoop shone from one earlobe. He was slender and fit, his face already tanned, his eyebrows and lashes almost white. She’d always thought of him as the most laid-back boy she’d ever known, easy with his smile, lounging in his bones, always looking like he was about to start whistling. A sexual Huck Finn.

But right now—something about him sent her pulse racing. Suddenly her entire body seemed to
wake up
—she was uncomfortable and exhilarated at the same time, like a bird cracking open its shell. This was crazy. Lexi tore her gaze away from Jesse—that helped, to not look at him—and waved her hands around the room as she babbled.

“Oh, yes, Jesse, thank heavens you’re here! I’m so grateful! Come in!”

Jesse came inside, looking around the room, and Lexi couldn’t help it—she looked at Jesse. As if her gaze fell like heat on his skin, a flush spread up his neck. She wanted to seem natural. What would she say if Jesse was just another normal man? It wouldn’t be so unusual to study a person you hadn’t seen for years.

“You haven’t changed one single bit,” she told him truthfully.

“You have,” he said, flashing her a sideways glance. “You’re thinner, and honestly, I think you’re taller.”

“Ouch!”
she responded, with a laugh, because this was Jesse, who never had a mean bone in him. “The main thing is, I think I’m smarter. At least I hope so.”

He shot her another sideways glance. Their gazes connected and something flashed between them like an electric shock. Jesse walked to the other end of the room. Lexi stayed where she was, her heart fluttering, thinking,
What was that?

“So what do you need?” Jesse asked. His voice was hoarse and as he heard his words, his blush deepened.

Oh, wow,
Lexi thought, and knew she was blushing, too. When she spoke, her voice came out in a breathless mouse-squeak. “Two cubicles.” She cleared her throat. “Two dressing rooms. I thought here, at the back. Just about six feet wide and deep, and I’ll need these two mirrors mounted on the walls. I made sketches of what I want.” Leaning against the display case where her various work papers were piled, she pulled out the drawings.

Jesse came to stand next to her. He picked up the papers. On his right wrist he wore a sterling-silver bracelet with a turquoise stone. How very Jesse. The turquoise was the same color as his eyes. He had a cut on one of his knuckles, and a long scar on his right palm. His hands and fingers were thick from working, the ends of his fingers callused from playing guitar. Did that mean his fingertips weren’t sensitive to the touch?

“…kind of wood?” Jesse asked.

Lexi’s throat was dry. “It doesn’t matter, just plywood, I’m going to paint it.” Good grief, Jesse had always been a chick magnet in high school, but
she
’d never been susceptible to his power of attraction, perhaps because back then it took all her concentration simply to walk down the halls without tripping over her own big feet. But now! She felt like a raft at the edge of a whirpool. This wasn’t good.

Ripping her body away from the counter, she lurched back to where the cubicles would be. “And I thought curtains on rods, rather than doors. I mean, doors look more elegant, but they’d take longer to hang. I want to open as soon as possible.”

Jesse put the papers down, carefully aligning them into neat piles. “You’d better get yourself another carpenter, then. I’m on Steve Sergeant’s crew and we’re stretched thin as it is.”

“Oh, Jesse, I’ve tried to get someone else.”
Oh great,
she thought,
insult the man.
Embarrassment washed over her. “Not that I didn’t want you, I do want you!” Now Lexi knew she’d gone as red as a cooked lobster. “I mean, Clare,
Clare,
” yes, Clare was her life preserver here, “Clare said she’d ask you, and so I waited, and then you didn’t come, so I thought I’d try someone else, but I can’t get anyone else.” She looked hopelessly at Jesse and felt her cheeks flame. The very sight of him did strange things to her belly.

“Watch out.” Jesse’s voice was low and warning.

“What?”

“You’re about to knock over the paint.”

Lexi clutched her head. “Oh, man, I’m such a
stork
!”

“Hey.” Jesse stopped, attention caught by a picture learning against the wall. “Nice pix. Is that you?”

She focused. “That’s me. That sarong I’m wearing? It’s one that I designed myself.”

But Jesse was looking at the beach. “Where is this?”

“Bali.”

“Really? What’s it like?”

“Oh, it’s spectacular, Jesse. Enchanting, really. There’s such a sense of peace and everything’s
together,
animals, people, trees, the sand. It’s like Heaven.”

“Can I look at the others?”

“Sure.” Lexi watched as Jesse knelt to sort through the pictures. The man was just drop-dead gorgeous. The years had added muscle and depth to him. He looked more adult. More powerful. She gave herself a mental slap and ordered her mind back to the pictures. “That’s Maui. That’s Nice. Rio, obviously.”

Jesse gazed at the pictures with such an intensity Lexi knew he wanted to fade right through the glass, like Alice, and into that world. Her heart went out to him, spiraling back to memories of her own teenage days, when she’d yearned to travel, to leave this familiar place and see the world, the vast, romantic, mysterious world.

“I loved traveling,” she said quietly. “It’s the oddest thing, how seeing new places can open up vistas in yourself, places you never before even dreamed existed.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said, nodded. “I’ve been to the Caribbean a few times. But I’d like to go to Rio. Maui, too, someday. I’m not so sure about Nice; that might be too chi-chi for me.”

“So go,” Lexi told him.

Jesse snorted.

“Oh, come on, Jesse, carpenters make a killing on this island. You could afford a nice trip every so often.”

Very gently, Jesse relinquished his hold on the picture of Maui, carefully leaning it against the wall. “Yeah, I suppose. I guess I’ve just been trying to save money to buy a house.”

“But you’ll have Clare’s house, right?”

Jesse rose. “Clare’s father’s house. I can’t plan to live my life out in another man’s house.”

“I can understand that,” Lexi told him, but Jesse was heading toward the door, his back to her.

He turned, abruptly. “Look,” Jesse said, his voice calm, but also angry, “I’ll build your cubicles. I’ll have to do it in the evenings. It won’t take too long.”

“Oh, Jesse! Thank you!” Impulsively, Lexi moved toward him, but stopped a few feet away, paralyzed. She felt like an adolescent in the presence of a rock idol. She hugged herself, simply to do something with her hands.

“Don’t thank me,” Jesse said hoarsely. “Thank Clare, I’m doing it because Clare asked me to.”

“Yes, of course, I know that,” Lexi babbled.

Jesse gave Lexi a look full of…she couldn’t read it. Was it
disgust
? He looked so serious, not like Jesse at all. “I’ll be here tomorrow about five-thirty,” he told her, and strode away, out the door without a backward glance.

“Well,” Lexi said out loud after he left, “that went well.”