Sweet Salt Air Read Free Page B

running. Throwing her arms around Nicole, she cried, “You are the best sight ever! You look amazing!”
    “And you, ” Nicole cried back, clinging tightly. Her body shook. She was crying.
    Charlotte might have cried, too, her throat was that tight. Ten years and such different lives, yet Nicole was as excited as she was. Grasping at everything that had been so right about their summers together, she just held on, swaying for another few seconds until Nicole laughed through her tears and drew back. Running her fingers under her eyes, she explored Charlotte’s face. “You have not changed a bit,” she declared in the voice Charlotte remembered—high, not quite childlike but close. “And I still love your hair.”
    “It’s the same old mess, but I love yours. You cut it.”
    “Just last month, finally. I mean, I may still sound like I did when I was ten, but I wanted to look like an adult at least.” Blond and straight, her hair had always fallen to midback. Cut now in a wedge, it was shaped neatly around her face in a way that gave focus to the green of her eyes, which were luminous with lingering tears and suddenly anxious. “Was the trip okay?”
    “It was fine—”
    “But it was long, and you’re not used to driving—”
    “Which was why I wanted to do it, and it was good, it really was—and for the record, Nicki, you always looked gorgeous, but this cut is very, very cool.” By comparison, Charlotte might have felt unsophisticated, if she hadn’t known that women paid big bucks for hair like hers, and as for her voice, which was neither high nor distinct, it got her where she needed to be.
    Nicole was eyeing her shoes. “ Love those. Paris?”
    Charlotte grinned. “Absolutely.”
    “And your sweater? Not Paris, but fabulous. So authentic .” Her voice grew urgent. “Where did you get it? I need one.”
    “Sorry, sweetie. It’s a hand-me-down from a woman in Ireland.”
    “ So perfect for this place. It’s been a dismal, cloudy June. I should have warned you, but I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
    “I’ve survived dismal and cloudy before.” She glanced up the hill. “The island looks just the same.” Past the Chowder House were the general store left and the post office right, both buildings long and low so as not to tempt the wind. “Like nothing’s changed.”
    “Little has. But we do have Wi-Fi at the house. Got it set up last week.”
    “For just us two?” she asked to be sure. Nicole had initially told her that Julian would be up with her the week before, but was planning to leave before Charlotte arrived. If he had decided to stay on, it would change the tenor of her visit, putting the fragility of her relationship with Nicole front and center.
    But Nicole was all cool confidence. “Hey. We deserve it. Besides, if I don’t keep blogging, people will lose interest and wander away, and then there won’t be as many to hear me when I start pitching our book—which I feel a hundred percent better doing now that you’ve agreed to help. Thank you, Charlotte,” she said earnestly. “I know you have more important things to do.”
    Charlotte might have insisted that this was as important a project as she’d done in a while, if a gruff call hadn’t cut off the thought.
    “Hellooo.” The ferry captain shot a thumb at her Jeep. “Gonna get it off?”
    “Oh.” She laughed. “Sorry.” Releasing Nicole, she ran back onto the ferry and slid behind the wheel. By the time she revved the engine, Nicole was in the passenger’s seat, sliding a hand over the timeworn dashboard. “I am paying you for this.”
    Charlotte shot her a startled look and inched forward. “For this car? You are not.”
    “You wouldn’t have bought it if it weren’t for my book, and you won’t take money for that.”
    “Because it’s your book. I’m just along for the ride.” She laughed at her own words. “Can you believe, this is the first car I’ve ever owned?” She eased it onto the dock.