Seaside Embrace(14)

The power of babies seemed to have grown exponentially overnight.

“You’re right on time,” Bella said, pulling her into a gentle hug. “The guys just took off for a run, and Leanna brought her newest jam creation for us to try. Oh my gosh, you should see Sloan! He looks just like Leanna now. It’s amazing how much babies can change in a few weeks, and Dustin? A Jamie mini-me with Jessica’s eyes. Crazy cute, I’m telling you.”

Jana couldn’t get a word in edgewise, but she didn’t care. She was in heaven with Summer pulling on her hair and giggling as she tickled her pudgy belly. They walked across the quad, which is what they called the grassy area between the cottages where they had bonfires and cookouts.

It was a sunny, breezy morning. Crows cawed in the pitch pine trees, and their girlfriends’ chatting and giggling made Jana smile.

“Jana!” Leanna was the first to greet her. They hadn’t seen each other in weeks, and Leanna looked as happy as always. Her dark hair was tousled, and when she drew back from the hug, she slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh my goodness. I got Strawberry Spice jam all over you. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m on it.” Jenna pulled Leanna away and began wiping down Jana’s shirt with a wet washcloth. “With babies around, I’m always prepared. I should have had a baby years ago. I could have saved lots of stains from Leanna’s hugs.”

“Thanks, Jenna, but it’s really okay.” Jana set Summer in her high chair and went around the table to kiss the others. “Hannah banana looks just like you, Amy.” She kissed Hannah’s cheek and Hannah held up a fistful of cut-up peaches. “No, thank you, sweet girl. You eat it.”

Hannah shoved the food in her mouth with a giggle.

“Oh my goodness, look at you.” Jana squeezed Jessica’s shoulder. “Can I hold Dustin? Please?”

“Absolutely.” Jessica lifted Dustin into Jana’s arms.

“He’s like a lump of doughy cuteness,” Jana said as she touched her nose to his cheek. “And he smells so…babyish.” She looked from Jessica to Dustin and back. “I hate to say this, Jess, but this baby is all Jamie, from his jet-black hair to that stubborn little chin. He has your eyes, but wow. I’m surprised you didn’t name him Jamie II.”

Jessica laughed. “Jamie is way too modest to ever do that. Besides, we wanted to honor his parents. Dustin Ray Reed. Thank goodness his mother’s name was Rachel.”

Jana kissed baby Bea’s head. “You guys must be in heaven. There’s so much baby love around this table I can barely stand it.”

“Here, sit down.” Jessica pulled out a chair for Jana. “You look so natural holding him.”

Jana rolled her eyes. “I can barely hold my own chaotic life together. The last thing I need is someone else relying on me.”

Bella poured a cup of coffee and set it in front of Jana; then Amy added cream and sugar.

“Thanks, you guys,” Jana said. “Hey, where’s Sky? She usually beats me here.”

“She called a few minutes ago. She said she and Sawyer were up late.” Jenna raised her brows in quick succession. “She’s not going to make it. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! Lizzie called her late last night from New York! Apparently she got this big offer to sell the rights to her Naked Baker program. She and Blue left yesterday to meet with the network and sign the deal.” Blue and Lizzie were two of Sky’s closest friends. They’d started dating last summer. Lizzie owned the florist shop beside Sky’s tattoo shop in Provincetown, and she also put on a monetized webcast called the Naked Baker, where she disguised herself with a wig and dark glasses and baked wearing only an apron and high heels.

“That’s incredible,” Jessica said. “I actually love her show. I get all sorts of ideas and test them out on Jamie.”

“I bet you do.” Bella smirked. “Please don’t share the details. I’ve known Jamie since we were babies. The last thing I need is to think about you guys and whipped cream.”

Jessica laughed. “Icing, too. Lizzie brought a whole new level of enjoyment to baking. Here, Jana, let me feed Dustin and you can fill us in on your life. It’ll be nice to hear about someone else’s chaos for a change.” Jessica lifted Dustin out of Jana’s arms and kissed his cheek. Then she set him in the high chair beside her.

“Yes, do tell.” Leanna leaned forward. “You know I adore chaos!”

“You are the definition of chaos, Leanna,” Bella teased.

“And proud of it, thank you very much.” Leanna smiled at Jana. “Maybe we can help you calm yours, though?”

Jana looked around the table at their eager, empathetic faces. They always made it easy to air out her thoughts. “It’s nothing new. You guys know I love teaching dance, and you know my stupid boss has taken off to Plymouth and basically left me holding down the fort.”

“Yeah, the bastard,” Bella said. “I don’t know what makes him think he can treat you that way.”

“Because he can,” Jana answered. “I’m tired of being so crazed all the time. I run from boxing, to dance, to Undercover whenever I help out Colton. I love everything I’m doing, but I wish I could figure out a way to manage it better. And I miss doing theater so much.” She hadn’t realized she felt so frazzled until the words left her mouth.

“So, you want help figuring out how to manage it?” Amy asked.

Jana shrugged. “Honestly? I’m not sure what I want. I miss theater, and until Marco left to open the other studio, I was able to manage my life just fine. But now…I don’t know. Maybe I need some kind of change.”

“What are the three or four things you like doing the most?” Leanna asked. “I mean, I had eight jobs in four years before I settled on my jam business. You can’t be half as crazed as I was.”

“What do I like to do? That’s easy. Dance, act, box, and…” She wrinkled her nose, knowing the girls would laugh, and said, “Have sex.”

Jenna and Bella threw their heads back in laughter, earning a loud wail from Bea. Amy and Jessica covered their mouths and giggled as Jenna tried to soothe Bea.

Leanna’s eyes went serious. “Well, we can’t let you become a boxing, pole-dancing call girl, now, can we?” Which only made the girls laugh harder.

Amy reached out and touched Jana’s hand. “You are not going to pole dance or be a call girl. Jana, if you don’t want your boss to keep taking advantage of you, then don’t let him. Can’t you teach dance somewhere else?”

“Not on the Cape. There are only a few studios, and they each only offer certain types of dance. I don’t want to give up teaching different styles. I don’t want to settle and miss out on teaching the classes I enjoy, so I’m staying, but what I really want…one day…” She focused on a spot on the table, trying to gather the courage to voice what she’d been thinking about recently.

“What?” Jenna pushed.

“What I really want is to open my own dance studio, but I can’t seem to make the numbers, or the time, work.” She nibbled her lower lip, waiting for them to tell her she was right. There was no way she could do it.

“Oh my God. You totally should do it,” Leanna said with wide eyes. She kissed Sloan’s forehead and said, “Why not do it?”

“What’s involved? Why don’t you have the time?” Amy asked. “We’re really good at figuring things like this out. We helped Bella with her work-study program at the high school, and—”

“We were right there in the thick of it getting Leanna’s business started,” Bella said. “Well, we didn’t know Jessica then, but Jess is incredibly organized. She rivals Jenna, so I know she can help, too.”

“Help? Wait…” Jana saw the gears churning in their minds as they began talking among themselves.

“We can totally do this,” Jenna said. “Ames, get your notebook and let’s figure this out.”

Amy dug around in her baby bag and pulled out a notebook and pen.

“Wait, you guys.” Jana looked around the table in shock. “You don’t even know the situation yet. I only have a few thousand tucked away, maybe four or five. And my time? Well that’s a whole other story. I’m not a big boxer or anything, but Brock is training me, and I love it, and I help Colton when I can for extra money, and I have all this responsibility at Marco’s studio. Time is one thing I don’t have.”

Amy waved a dismissive hand. “Goodness, sweetie. We’ve heard it all before. You want your own dance studio? We can make it happen. A little grassroots marketing goes a long way.”

“You just gave me an idea. What about using the community center for the classes?” Jessica suggested.

Bella’s eyes widened. “Yes! Perfect! But we’ll need Theresa’s approval.” She turned to Jana and explained. “Blue renovated the laundry building over the winter, so now we have the laundry area separate from the storage, which was really like a big empty barn since we hardly store anything now that we all live down here and have other houses. He made the storage area smaller, and now we have a recreation area for the community. It’s gorgeous, of course, because Blue made it with hardwood floors and everything.”