Evercrossed Read Free

girls here to feed and cuddle you." She turned to Will. "Don't get any ideas. You've got your own place."
    Will laughed good naturedly. "And that's where I'm headed."
    "Okay, does anyone need anything else?" Aunt Cindy asked. "Nope," Kelsey replied.
    "Then I'll see you all at six thirty tomorrow in the kitchen. You've done a great job this week, but tomorrow, when the weekenders come, you'll get your first experience of having a full inn. Get some sleep."
    Will sent Ivy a look that was a sweet, long distance kiss, then flicked his eyes to Beth, as if checking on her one more time, and followed Aunt Cindy into the rain.

    "KELSEY TOLD AUNT CINDY WHAT?" IVY EXCLAIMED the following evening, as she, Beth, and Will nabbed a table at Olivia's, an ice cream shop in the village of Orleans.
    "That she and Dhanya were meeting us here. I told her, if questions were asked, I wasn't covering for them."
    "These guys from Chatham," Will said, "how does Kelsey know them?"
    "She doesn't," Beth replied. "That's Kelsey for you. Believe me, there's no stopping her—I learned that the hard way during our summers together in middle school."
    "Well, she had better come ready to work tomorrow," Will said as they scraped their chairs back on the plank floor. "I'm not picking up the It had been a long day for them, cleaning up from the storm and keeping pace with the constant stream of incoming guests and their assortment of requests. Kelsey had claimed she wasn't feeling well and had returned to the cottage early, miraculously recovering in time for dinner. Both Beth and Dhanya had headaches, but got through on aspirin and tea.
    Ivy had skipped tea for some of Aunt Cindy's very potent coffee—the pot kept in the kitchen, not the more guest friendly brew served to visitors. She couldn't remember the dreams that had kept her tossing and turning the night before, except that Tristan was in them.
    Once seated at the ice cream shop, Will opened a spiral pad and began to sketch.
    'Your friend's late."
    "No, we're early," Ivy reassured Beth, who had suddenly gotten nervous about her date and asked Will and Ivy to come along. "You look so pretty." Beth smoothed her hair self consciously. Liking print fabrics of all kinds, Beth sometimes looked as though she was dressed in mismatched wallpaper. But tonight, under the guidance of Dhanya, Beth had kept it simple. Her amethyst pendant, which Ivy and Will had given to her last birthday, accented the violet hue of her blue eyes.
    "So when was the last time you saw this guy?" "Middle school. His family has a vacation house here. I didn't recognize him Tuesday, when Mom stopped for gas on the way here, I don't think he recognized me either—just Mom—she always looks the same.
    "I don't know how he got so tall," Beth went on, "or so gorgeous. It's like one of my characters came to life!"
    "So what does he look like?" Ivy asked, scanning the crowd. "He has dark curly hair—lots of it. A strong jaw. Did I mention he's gorgeous?"
    "Several times in the last three days," answered Will.
    "Somehow he grew shoulders. I mean, a real chest and shoulders," Beth said, gesturing with her hands. Ivy smiled. "Sounds as if he could be on the cover of a romance novel."
    "Along with the shoulders and chest, does he have a brain?" Will asked.
    "Yes. He's going to Tufts University."
    "So I don't see why you need us here." Will sounded grumpy.
    "Well, it's just that I might not be able to think of anything to say."
    Will raised his pencil from the paper and stared at her. "Beth, you've been writing romantic dialogue for years!"
    "So what does that have to do with talking to a real guy?" she asked.
    "You talk to me all the time. Aren't I a real guy?"
    Ivy laughed. "Ignore him, Beth. He doesn't get it." Will glanced from Ivy to Beth, then laughed along with Ivy. "I guess I don't," he admitted, and flipped to the back of his sketch pad, where he and Beth tried out new ideas. They were creating a graphic novel—Beth writing the story,