Brothers of Paradise Series

She runs a finger over the rough edge of the cardboard. “Why didn’t you ask Lily to help you with all this? She’s artsy too.”

“She is,” I say. “But she also has a young son and is diving headfirst back into the high art scene. I overheard her having a conversation a week ago about the history of blue with an artist friend from New York.”

“The history of blue,” Jamie repeats.

“Yes. Yves Klein was mentioned, I believe, which I only know because she once wrote an entire paper in college about him and forced me to proofread it.”

She chuckles. “I’d almost forgotten you went to college together, too.”

“All of us did, except Rhys,” I say. I don’t know what happened to Jamie after Paradise, really. I don’t think she and Lily kept in touch much. She’d visited Lily in New Haven once, and I’d seen her at a college party… and that had been it. The last time.

Jamie looks down at her hands. “I’m meeting her today.”

“Lily?”

“Yes. We’re taking a walk and talking.”

“Ah.” I lean back, bracing my hands against the floor. “Scared?”

She doesn’t bite back, or pretend to be offended at my question. Never, Marchand. That would be the old Jamie.

But the new Jamie gives me honesty. “Yes.”

“Don’t be,” I say. “She’s missed you.”

“Yes, and I’ve missed her, but I’ll have to talk about things I don’t want to.” She rolls her neck, like she’s steeling herself for a fight. “With anyone, not her specifically, you know?”

Curiosity rises inside me like a wave. She’s been a closed box since she returned, under lock and key, and choosy about when she lifts the lid.

Does she talk to anyone the way she does with me? A part of me, an ungenerous one, hopes the answer is no. Wants her for myself like this, with whispered confidences and that rare smile on display.

Dinner in her kitchen and kisses in the rain.

“You can handle the conversation,” I tell her. “Not to mention you don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to. Lily will understand.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

She nods. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“I’m going sailing with Hayden later tomorrow, but if you need to sweat it out in the morning… you know where to find me.”

“Thank you. I might take you up on that.” She rises gracefully from the floor and gives me a look that’s all old-Jamie, teasing and confident. “You know, one day I’ll bench more than you.”

My eyebrows rise. “Oh, you will?”

“I’m determined, Marchand. Watch out.”

“I consider myself warned,” I say.

She smiles again and disappears out of my office, her steps echoing in the hall back toward the dining room. I stay on the floor next to the box with prototypes and, for a long few moments, let myself linger on the feeling of her lips on mine and her body beneath my hands, there in the rain.

And she wants me to forget it? I couldn’t even if I wanted to…

…and I don’t.

JAMIE

My feet feel heavier with every step I take toward the boardwalk. I’d considered biking, to feel the wind in my hair, but I’d decided the minutes of silent preparation was a smarter move. Give me time to gather my courage.

But it still feels very ungathered when I reach the spot we’d agreed to meet. Lily is already there, sitting on a bench facing the ocean. I spot her before she spots me.

Her fiery hair is pulled into a high ponytail and I watch the curve of her neck for a solid minute, taking deep breaths, before I close the distance between us.

Mommy, who are you meeting? Emma had asked me earlier. The captain?

That had made me laugh, and then immediately afterwards, get nervous. She’s getting attached to this city, to these people.

I stop next to Lily’s bench. “Hi,” I say. “You’re early too?”

She smiles, standing. “Yes. Things have sure changed since we were kids, haven’t they?”

“So much,” I say. “I actually exercise now.”

Lily chuckles. “God, so do I, with yoga. I have one of those sunrise alarm clocks, you know, that wakes you up with light?”

“Don’t tell me you regularly talk to a therapist and practice healthy sleep hygiene.”

“I do both,” she says, grinning. “Have we grown up, Jamie?”

“I’m afraid we might have.” I tug at my blouse, half-smiling. “When did I stop wearing all-black?”

“A great question. I barely recognized you.” Her eyes narrow, but she’s still smiling. “The nose ring’s gone too?”

“I took it out a few years ago,” I say. “Turns out it was a phase, just like my grandad always said it was.”

She laughs. “Hated proving him right?”

“Yes,” I say, but my smile falters. I hadn’t been here for his funeral. My mother had called, and I’d apologized and said I couldn’t, not with Emma so small and Lee starting a new business.

Now I wonder how I couldn’t have insisted on going.

Lily gestures to where the boardwalk winds its way toward Paradise Point. “Should we walk?”

“Yes,” I say. “We have to get our steps in for the day.”

She laughs again. “We’ve become such adults.”

“Oh, I know. Filing taxes and shopping in bulk.”

“Mothers, even,” Lily says. Her voice softens. “Emma is lovely.”