The Beach House Read Free Page B

laughed.
She saw Paul smile, a secret inner smile, and it sent a shiver
through her.
    “I think they forgot to buy anything for my
birthday,” Paul said, “so they’ve got to go into town and find
something quick.”
    “You won’t be quick if you’re looking for a
present in town,” Jenni said. “Or maybe you will, because there’s
not much!”
    “We have something we need to do,” Tim said,
his face pleasant but closed.
    “Let’s go humiliate you then,” Jenni said.
“Again.”
    Paul grinned and stood up, stretching his
muscles. Jenni went round the back and stripped her denims and tank
top off and walked back to the bottom of the porch.
    “Why don’t you let me give you one of my old
suits, Jen?” Kate asked. “I don’t use them now, and I’m sure they
would fit you.”
    Jenni shook her head, long tresses brushing
her shoulders. “This is my lucky outfit, Kate. If I change it now
Paul might beat me.”
    “We can’t have that,” Kate said.
    They walked down to the line of surf.
Families, kids, teenagers and old folks dotted the sand, sun
loungers arrayed, each one an unspoken but understood and accepted
distance for the others. Balls bounced, kids yelled, romances
sparked. Jenni glimpsed the sixteen year old girls from the Bradley
house talking with two boys their own age. Jenni guessed Paul had
missed his chance, despite his protests he wasn’t interested. The
girls were cute in tiny bathing suits, white zinc on their pretty
noses.
    When their swim was over and they returned
from the water the sun said midday, Paul laughing because Jenni had
beaten him again, but only by twenty yards.
    “I’ll get you after lunch,” he said. “You’re
staying for my birthday lunch, aren’t you?”
    “I’m not sure I should, Paul. You ought to
be spending your birthday with family.”
    “I am. But I’d like if you stayed as well.”
He slowed and when Jenni turned her head it was to see him staring
hard at her, staring into her eyes as they met his, and the flutter
started up in her belly and she wondered if Paul noticed her
nipples suddenly peak against her top.
    “I’ll think about it,” she said, knowing the
argument, if one ever existed, was already lost.
    She showered and changed, pulling clean
underwear over her still damp body and when she knocked on the door
and went in the table was laid with fish, mango salsa, fruit,
bottles of wine beaded with moisture, and a small chocolate
birthday cake decorated with eighteen unlit candles. As soon as
they finished eating Tim put a match against each candle and placed
the cake in the center of the table.
    “All at once,” he said. “Then you get to
make a wish.”
    Paul leaned over the table and blew. He blew
long and hard until every candle was extinguished. He closed his
eyes and kept them shut for half a minute.
    “Some wish!” Tim said.
    Paul opened his eyes, blushing, glanced
shyly at Jenni. “Might as well make it worthwhile. I’m only going
to be eighteen once, even if this is my second party.”
    “Ah, youth,” Tim sighed.
    “Okay,” Kate said. “Let’s clear up then we
really have to scoot.”
    “We’ll do this, Grams.” Paul glanced at
Jenni. “If that’s okay with you?”
    “Do you mind, Jen?” Kate asked. “It doesn’t
seem right asking you to a party and then letting you and the
birthday boy clean up, but we could use the extra time in
town.”
    “Sure, no problem.” Something had loosened
inside Jenni over lunch. Perhaps two glasses of wine had something
to do with it, perhaps something else, but her skin tingled with
anticipation. She was, she reminded herself, only seven years older
than this young man. Okay, maybe eight years; but eight years was
nothing.
    As his grandparents drove away Jenni helped
Paul stack dishes in the machine, knowing she could not prevent
herself instigating the next step. What happened after that was up
to Paul.

Chapter 3
    Through the kitchen window the beach was quiet.
While they had eaten