“Have you told your mom you might be moving yet?” Amy asked.
Jenna’s pulse kicked up a notch. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that her mother was figuring out her own life, and that she wasn’t losing her mind. Relief came quickly as she recalled her mother’s confession. “Not yet. But I will. He just brought it up last night, and we didn’t make any final decisions. He just asked if I would consider it. If, or when, I move, my mom and I will still live close enough to see each other often.”
“If? I would stick with when.” Amy smiled and eyed a handsome guy in bike shorts flipping through a box of books. “It’s not like you have any obstacles. You rent your house, and you’re an art teacher, so you can work anywhere. Or maybe you can start painting again.” Amy raised her brows.
“That would be like two dreams come true. Me and Pete and painting on the Cape. Gosh, Amy, who would have guessed that our lives would turn out like this?”
“Oh no. I just realized that if you move here, I’ll be the only one of us not living here.” Amy’s eyes filled with worry. “If you guys are always together and I’m the only one who’s not, I’ll start to feel like a fourth wheel.”
Jenna draped an arm around her shoulder. “Ames, you already are our fourth wheel, and I’m our third. We need all four wheels to make the girlfriend bus go. That will never change. Besides, I can’t just quit work this close to the beginning of the school year. That would be irresponsible. Who knows when I can really move here?” The pieces of her life suddenly began swimming before her. She couldn’t leave the school without an art teacher, and she’d have to give her landlord notice. Neither was an insurmountable obstacle, and when she compared them to Pete’s declaration this morning, that it was time to put a stop to his father’s drinking, they paled in comparison.
Amy rolled her eyes and lowered her voice as she rose to help a customer. “You’ll make it happen, or I’ll make it happen for you.”
Jenna didn’t want to breach Pete’s confidence and tell Amy about Pete’s father, but she was having trouble holding it in, and Amy was one of her most trusted friends. She’d never kept secrets from Amy or their other friends before, and as she thought about sharing what Pete was going through, she realized how her priorities had shifted. How her heart had shifted. She hadn’t thought she could ever love anyone more than Amy, Bella, and Leanna, but as she ferreted away Pete’s secret, she realized that he’d moved to the head of the line. She waited for guilt to pump her to share the secret that was weighing heavily on her, and when it didn’t come, she knew she was making the right decision.
She turned her attention to a woman holding a stack of books and helped her set them on the table. “Wow, that’s an armful. I’m glad you found some you liked.”
“I always do.” The petite, gray-haired woman pulled a leather wallet from her purse. “I time my vacation around the annual sale, believe it or not. Pathetic, I know.” She shrugged with a smile.
“Not pathetic at all. Thrifty and smart.” Jenna bagged the books as the woman paid Amy. “Enjoy your vacation.”
“I’m in Wellfleet. How could I not?” The woman waved as she walked toward the parking lot.
“See? Everyone knows Wellfleet is the place to be. I still can’t believe I’ve gone all summer without seeing the man I wait all year to see. That shows me how little I mean to Tony.”
Although Amy hadn’t said much to Jenna about Tony not being there this summer, Jenna knew how upset she was. If the tables were turned, and she hadn’t seen Pete all summer, her heart would have been broken, too.
“He’s been texting you, and I think that tells you what he thinks of you more than his stupid work schedule,” Jenna offered, but she knew it wasn’t enough, not when Amy wore her love for Tony on her sleeve.
“I know, and it’s not his fault, but being stuck in the friend zone was a little easier when you were there with me.”
Jenna put her arm around Amy again. “I’ll always be there with you. That, you can count on. It sucks that you haven’t seen him, and I’m really sorry. I wish I could fix it for you.”
“You have your own life to figure out.” Amy sighed loudly, her brow wrinkled. “Besides, everyone says absence makes the heart grow fonder, so my fingers are crossed.” She crossed her fingers and held them up.
Jenna crossed her legs, toes, and fingers. “I’d cross my eyes, too, with the hope that absence really does make the heart grow fonder—especially since Pete and I will also be separated for a while. I’ll have to go back home for some period of time to work things out there.”
Amy crossed her eyes. “There. Now we’re both covered.”
PETE RAN HIS thumb over the rehabilitation and treatment counselor’s card for the millionth time in the past few weeks. He’d done it so often that the card stock was beginning to fray. Calling his brothers had been difficult, and listening to Grayson tell him it was about time had touched a nerve, but he knew Grayson was right, and Grayson’s anger had also confirmed that talking to his father alone this time in an effort to get him to seek help was the right way to handle the situation. Even though his siblings weren’t dealing with the effects of their father’s drinking on a near-daily basis, like Pete was, it had taken a toll on all of them, and it had definitely driven a wedge between them, even if everyone but Grayson pussyfooted around the topic. If they were going to heal as a family, it had to begin with his father’s recovery.
Pete considered calling Sky, but he’d protected her this long, what was another couple of weeks? He’d tell her everything once their father was on the road to recovery.
His cell phone vibrated with a text from Jenna. He wondered how long he would have let his father’s drinking ride if they hadn’t finally come together. Like most uncomfortable thoughts, he shoved it away, thankful that Jenna hadn’t turned tail and run when she found out.
The book sale is crazy busy and I miss you tons. How are you holding up? Talk to your family? I found a few books on surviving recovery written for the families of alcoholics. Want me to pick them up?
He never realized how much he could love a person, but he lived and breathed for Jenna. She’d not only supported his decision to take a firm stance with his father, but she’d also offered to skip the book sale to be there with him. And now she is spending the time she should be focusing on customers finding books for me. It was time for him to deal with this head-on. Jenna deserved a life free from his father’s disease, and he would do everything he could to ensure that she had it. Heck, he deserved a normal life, too, and he wanted that life with Jenna.