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She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. Be brave, Jess.
So she was.
Jess was buzzing as she turned the corner onto the sandy road and parked her car behind Calvin’s truck. She hopped out and tripped over herself as she made her way toward the roaring bonfire on Sandy Cove Beach.
“MOM’S FINALLY HERE!”
The Scoopers cheered at Jay’s announcement. Jess rolled her eyes as she approached the circle. She scanned each of them and noticed one familiar face was missing. “Where’s Kevin?”
“He took Honey for a walk,” Calvin answered. Melanie sat between his legs, her head leaning against his chest, his hands playing with her wavy hair. “How’d it go today?”
She scrunched her face. “It was…fine.”
“What was today?” Rory butted in.
Jess was on the verge of telling her to buzz off, but the look on the girl’s face made her pause. Rory looked happy, a smile curled on her lips, color in her cheeks. She was wrapped up in Tyler’s arms, his fingers tracing her right arm lazily. The look of them together and happy after all the drama this past year made her soften her attack.
Instead, she shrugged and took a seat next to Calvin and Mel. “I went to my sister’s baby shower.”
No one said anything at that, which made perfect sense to Jess. I wouldn’t know how to respond either, she thought. I’ve never spoken to them about my family.
Melanie coughed. “And it went…fine.”
Jess nodded once. “Yep. Fine.”
Silence again.
She looked over at Calvin, giving him a Please make this stop look.
He seemed to catch her drift and cleared his throat. “We were just discussing the next summer season.”
“It’s going to be so different,” Blake cried. Zach was beside him, an arm slung around his shoulder.
“Aww, Blakey boy, you gonna miss me?” Jay teased.
Blake frowned. “Do you really have to move to Japan?”
It’d been a shock to all of the Scoopers when Jay revealed his big plans of studying abroad in Japan, but for the first time in probably ever, Jess noticed how happy Jay truly was. He wasn’t pushing so hard for the attention of others anymore. Except for the girl with the velvet cat ears who always left him flustered when she stopped by the ice cream shop.
“And Tyler will barely be around,” Blake whined. “He has to go off and be a famous football player.”
Rory frowned as well and looked at her boyfriend. Everyone watched as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, then whispered something softly that had her smiling again.
Jay shoved Blake playfully. “At least you and Mel won’t be the newbies anymore. Army boy will have to hire two people.”
“Actually,” Jess started. “Make that three.”
Blake gawked at her, and Jay’s mouth opened in shock.
“Are you…leaving town?” Rory sputtered.
“No,” she rushed to explain. “But I think I’ll be too busy to help out anymore.”
“Too…busy?”
Jess jumped to her feet at the sound of that voice behind her. Kevin clutched the leash in his hand as Honey jumped up and down at the sight of her. She reached down to pet her pup, eyeing Kevin’s disheveled hair and the dark circles under his eyes.
She scooped up Honey and stood. “Yes. I need to talk to you and Calvin for a minute.”
