Love Me for Me(37)

“I need to get Charlotte out of the M&Ms anyway,” Ryan said.

“So!” Helen grabbed Libby’s hands and held them out, “What have you been up to besides runway shows?”

“Sorry?”

“You look like a million bucks,” she grinned. Helen’s face was endlessly youthful despite her long hours in the sun living along the coast. She had a milky complexion and her face seemed to be incapable of a frown. Her dark auburn hair fell loosely down to her shoulders, and it didn’t matter which way the wind blew it, it always ended up looking great. “How’s your mama?”

“She’s well. She’s glad I’m home, I think—although I haven’t seen her as much as I should.” She thought about her mother’s expression when she was pleased—the way she’d almost glowed whenever Libby had done something well—and she wished she could show her that there were other ways to be happy. She wished Celia could find her own way instead of relying so much on Libby.

“Call her over if you’d like. We’ll be here all day.”

“Thanks. I might do that.” She wondered what her mother would think of the fact that she was at the Bennetts’ party. While her mother had told her once that she had nothing against them, Libby could sense a sort of tension whenever she mentioned being with the Bennetts. She speculated that her mother worried Pete would distract her—and she had raised Libby to stay focused.

Ryan returned with two bubbling flutes and an unfamiliar woman. She had on a sundress, a thin cardigan, and heels that sunk into the soft ground as she walked. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a curly bunch, with little tendrils falling around her friendly face. Libby knew immediately who she was because she looked almost exactly like Ryan’s little girl.

“This is Emily, my wife,” Pete introduced them and handed Libby her glass. “This is Libby Potter.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Libby said.

“Likewise,” she beamed. “It’s great to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

What does she mean by that? Libby wondered. Had people been talking about her? Was she the laughing stock of the town? Libby wanted to ask about what Emily had been told, but Helen herded them all together for a picture. She straightened her face out, put on a smile and waited for the snap. As Helen turned the camera around to show them the image on her little screen, Ryan grabbed her arm and Emily’s and quickly whisked them away, claiming that he wanted to show them something down by the water.

When the shoreline came into view, Libby’s breath caught at the sight of what was in front of her. Silver buckets with deeply set burning candles lit a path along the edge of the sea grass down to the sand. Just before the shore, on the grass, there were tables and chairs set up under a large tent. The white tablecloths, which were tied to the table legs with sea-foam-blue ribbons, fought against the wind. Each table had a large, glass bowl centerpiece filled to the brim with seashells and a crowd of people chatting around it. On the other side of the tables, a man with tan trousers, a white cotton shirt, and bare feet tuned a guitar while perched on a stool, a microphone stand and a lone speaker set up beside him. The gentle lapping of the bay water kept time while he strummed and tuned. Standing next to the man was Pete.

“This is gorgeous,” she said, glancing from table to table to take in the scenery.

The musician began to play his guitar. Ryan led them onto the beach as a few others farther down the beach started dancing. Pete noticed them and walked over. When he did, Ryan and his wife left, joining the growing crowd, and began to dance to the soft guitar that was playing over the breeze.

“Hey,” Pete said, his brows pulled together slightly. “What are you doing here?”

“Jeanie brought me,” she said, suddenly feeling extremely nervous. She gave a shiver, pretending her shaking was from a chill, when really it was from looking at him with the wind in his hair. It brought her memories of when they were younger. “I helped her bring food.”

There it was. His smile. She felt dizzy at the sight of it. “I didn’t need Jeanie to bring food,” he chuckled, “but you know how she is. You can’t tell her anything.”

After the humor about Jeanie had passed, it got quiet between them. Pete became solemn and looked out over the water. They were standing side by side with all those people around them, but it felt like just the two of them on that beach right then.

“This is amazing,” she said, trying to remove the obvious heaviness that penetrated every conversation they had.