The Art of Appreciation (17 page)

“He’ll survive,” Sarah muttered. She started to shift chairs around violently.

Abby sighed. Though she was initially glad Sarah and David had started to communicate with each other rather than through her, she was starting to worry that they’d never admit they cared about each other. “When are you guys going to stop texting and start talking?”

“Tried this morning. No answer.” Sarah turned with a bright smile, a sign that the subject was definitely closed. “Good thing I told people to bring beach chairs if they had them, right? I’m going to check if we have all the s’more stuff.” She swept up the stairs and into the house, leaving Abby to start the grills and greet the first guests as they came around the side of the cottage.

The next couple of hours passed in a blur of cooking, eating, and drinking, punctuated by greetings of newcomers. The gathering became more boisterous as the beer coolers and wine tubs emptied. Sarah had set dinnertime for seven, and by the time that rolled around, her normal good nature had returned. She circulated amongst her guests, greeting the faces that she’d known vaguely since adolescent visits to her aunt with the same bonhomie as she offered to those she’d met weeks earlier.

Abby moved around the group, greeting people and getting anxious about Matt. She’d awakened him to say goodbye before she left early that morning, and as soon as he’d opened his eyes a crack and smiled, she’d longed to crawl back between the sheets. As the evening sky darkened and Sarah started the beach fire, though, Matt had yet to make an appearance or to call.

She was hesitating, phone in hand, when Sarah hissed from behind her, “Lordy, lordy…look who showed up. If looks could freeze, you’d be Antarctica.”

Abby caught Jason’s eye as he came around the corner of the house, towing a hesitant Zoe. Claire and Charles were at his heels.

“Glad you could come, guys,” Sarah said cheerfully.

Abby took in the younger woman’s tense posture and suspected Zoe had guessed Jason was using her for spite. “Zoe, you put us all to shame. You’re gorgeous. Thanks for coming.”

Visibly relaxing, Zoe smiled. “Thanks. Is there anything we can do to help?”

Before Abby could answer, Jason broke in to the conversation. “Zoe wanted to come. That’s the only reason I’m here.” He looked around. “You wear out our ex-boss?” he asked belligerently, snapping his gum. Abby tried to think of an answer both cutting and clean enough for the elderly neighbors who were listening to the exchange with great interest. Jason tugged Zoe’s hand. “Never mind. Let’s dance.” Zoe looked back with a mixture of apology and laughter in her eyes.

Claire kissed Abby’s cheek. “Darling girl, tell Charles where he can put his load down before he has a hernia and I miss out on my little bit of somethin’ somethin’ tonight.”

Charles grinned, face red and arms straining from the case of wine he held along with the mesh bags full of goodies that hung from his elbows. “God forbid the little woman go without when I’m home,” he said breathlessly as he flicked his hair out of his eyes. “Nice to see you again, Abby. Welcome to my sex life.” Abby laughed and pecked him on the cheek.

A general cheer went up when the local benefactor was recognized, and eager hands relieved Charles of his burdens while another contingent went back to his car for another load. He grabbed his wife’s hand and a beer at the same time before heading toward a boisterous group near the fire. Sarah pumped her fist in the air. “Yes!” she hissed. “I was getting worried about the noise, but now that Santa Charles is here…” She laughed and walked down the beach, dropping her load of chairs before joining the dancers.

A pair of warm arms wrapped around Abby’s middle, and she turned to see Matt. “I was getting worried about you. Thought maybe you’d changed your mind.”

“Nah. I just got caught up in the clay again. I didn’t even realize what time it was until I heard Claire shrieking that she was tired of waiting around for me.”

Abby kissed his mouth hard. “What was so absorbing?”

“This curve right here.” Matt traced the small of Abby’s back and over the slight rise of her bum. She shivered, and he laughed. “But before that, I finished the first Jason statue.” He nodded at his subject, dancing on the sand, and got a shrug and a frown from him in return.

“One down and two more to go before September.”

Abby’s stomach plummeted when she thought about the end of summer, but she kept her bright smile. “That’s wonderful! I guess we know what you’ll be doing for the rest of the summer, right? Can’t lose the momentum now.”

Matt smoothed Abby’s hair with one hand. “Not the only thing I’ll be doing.” He paused for a minute. “Wow. I did not mean that how it came out.” They chuckled together. “I plan on spending time with you, is what I meant. Fuck momentum. If I can’t manage my time and efforts by my age, I’m screwed anyway.” Not leaving any time for a response, he kissed her urgently. He didn’t release her until a wild catcall from the beach drew their attention to Sarah, who was giving Abby a big thumbs-up.

“I don’t care how much she drinks tonight; you are not taking care of Pukerella again.” Matt smiled and waved at Sarah. He tucked Abby’s hand in the crook of his arm. “What is there to drink around here?”

Grabbing a bottle of zinfandel and a couple of plastic cups, they walked toward the laughing group seated near the fire. Plopping into couple of chairs, they caught the end of Charles’s story about dodging a particularly determined bar girl in the Philippines by jumping out the men’s room window.

“Last time I act like a gentleman and buy a lady a drink,” Charles said to general laughter.

“At least, the last time you forget to look for an Adam’s apple.” Claire nipped Charles’s bottle from his hand and took a swallow before setting it down beside her chair. Charles laughed right along with the gathered partygoers.

As the time for fireworks neared, people started to drift away from the fire, spreading out along the beach to get the best view of the show. Matt nabbed a blanket off the sand. “Coming down to the water?” he asked Charles.

Charles snuggled down in his chair, pulling Claire onto his lap. “Nope. I plan on taking advantage of the lack of wild partiers up here to listen to Otis Redding and feel up my wife.” He flapped his hand in a shooing motion as Claire laughed. “Carry on. Fireworks don’t last long enough these days.”

Matt draped the sandy blanket over his shoulder and took Abby’s hand. They headed down the beach, away from the revelers who were busily setting up chairs and laying down blankets. They walked until the person furthest from the house disappeared into the darkness. Taking advantage of a sheltering clump of tough beach grass, Matt laid the blanket down and sat, spreading his feet on the blanket.

When Abby was settled between Matt’s legs, her knees up and feet aligned with his, he wrapped his arms around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder as the first brilliant flash exploded over the water.

They watched the fireworks for a while, and Abby almost drifted off while counting the beats of his heart against her back. The boom of a particularly loud firework jerked her back to reality, and she sat upright, watching the huge explosion disintegrate into a million tiny stars. “Beautiful,” she breathed.

Cool fingers brushed her hair off her neck an instant before warm lips descended. “Beautiful,” Matt agreed.

Abby tilted her head to give him better access. “I thought we were watching fireworks.” Humor balanced with need in her voice. Matt glanced at the brightly illuminated sky before returning to his explorations.

“Fireworks lost their appeal copared to girls by the time I was ten,” he murmured. His right hand skated over her stomach and upward.

“Ten?” she asked. “Are you sure about that?”

“Early bloomer,” he whispered. The combination of his warm breath and the soft hair that brushed her skin made her gasp.

Matt’s fingers were no longer cool as he slid his hand under the waistband of Abby’s gauzy pants. He traced her hipbone, swirling his fingertips in the hollow to the inside. “You know, I wanted to touch this exact spot that day you had the wreck.” He stroked her freshly healed skin gently before finding the soft hollow once again. “I was supposed to be checking out your injury, and I was restraining myself from this. Is it wrong to be glad you’re biking-challenged, for a variety of reasons?”

Abby laughed.

“I need to taste this spot,” he murmured, pushing her tank-top strap down and kissing a path to her shoulder.

She whimpered and shifted around. The grit of sand beneath her hips made her realize where they were. She cupped Matt’s cheek with one hand as she smoothed her shirt down with the other.

“This isn’t a good place,” she said.

“Why?” His voice was muffled against her skin. “It’s dark. There’s a blanket.”

“And sand.”

“There’s a blanket,” he repeated, chuckling into Abby’s ear.

Abby caught his hands and tucked her chin down until he sighed and lay next to her. He rested his mussed head on one palm and raised his eyebrows. Abby smiled at his obvious impatience. “As much as I’m enjoying the whole
From Here to Eternity
vibe, sand in the naughty bits is not fun.”

“It’s just a little sand,” Matt coaxed, sliding his hand over Abby’s stomach again.

She slapped it. “One grain is too much. Voice of experience.” She rolled to her feet and extended a hand to him. “Besides, fireworks are over.”

Matt let himself be tugged to his feet. He pushed Abby’s hair away from her ear and kissed the hollow beneath. “The fireworks are over
for now.
” He scooped up the blanket and Abby’s sandals.

“See? There’s that cocky thing again,” Abby teased. They walked along the sand, their joined hands swinging between them. Sarah’s wicked laugh rang out above the music as they approached the party. They exchanged smiles that turned to twin frowns when the laugh became an angry shout.

Abby could see Sarah in the light of the fading bonfire, surrounded by Tyler and his boys as the last party guests looked on in confusion. She dropped Matt’s hand and took off down the beach, shouting, “Hey! Stop that!”

Before she got near enough for any of the jeering boys to grab her, Matt stopped her and pointed to the figure moving swiftly toward the loose group, closely followed by a uniformed officer.

Tyler grabbed Sarah’s arm, and she shook his hand off roughly. “I said go home, Tyler. You’re drunk, underage, and repulsive.”

“That’s not what you said before,” he said. His friends laughed.

“The lady told you to go home, kid,” a voice said. Tyler turned to sneer at the rumpled man behind him.

“Who are you?” Tyler asked belligerently. “This is none of your business, little man.”

David slid between Tyler and Sarah and shook his head. “See, that’s another reason not to like you. You speak like a comic book thug. Go home, kid.”

“If you’re the boyfriend, you’ve been had, man.”

David rubbed the back of his neck. “Kid, I’m telling you right now. Get out of here.”

“Why the hell do you keep calling me kid?” Tyler asked. “I’m old enough for
her
to mess around with.” He jerked his head at Sarah. “I’m eighteen.”

“Good. I’m not going to jail then,” David said calmly, then in two compact moves drew his fist back and popped Tyler in the face.

Tyler looked at David in astonishment, bringing his hand up to touch his nose right before he plopped on the sand. The police officer moved forward, wearing a grin, his hand on the butt of his gun as he silently warned the other boys off. He crouched before Tyler and started to examine his gushing nostrils.

“David.” Sarah threw herself into his arms. “I thought he was going to kill you.”

David chuckled, rubbing her back. “Age and experience count in a fight.” He thought for a minute. “It didn’t hurt that he was surprised and drunk, either.” He kissed her mouth passionately, then stepped back to look at her. “Why do you look so shocked? I said I’d talk to you again in a few days.”

She took his hand and held it tightly. “But…”

David pushed his hair off his forehead. “I’ve wanted to come out here since the first time you called, but it took time to find someone to cover for me, and there was a mess with City Council that I had to track down, and a last-minute direct flight from Boston to San Francisco was impossible to find, and…” He sighed. “Life. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about this tonight. I want to go back to my hotel and sleep for several hours. Then I want to talk about all this and about how I don’t want you as a friend anymore.” Sarah’s eyes filled with tears, and David wrapped his arm around her waist. “Come with me.”

Her smile was gigantic.

David noticed Abby then and walked over to hug her. “Good to see you. I’d love to talk, but I’m crashing. Tomorrow?” His eyes flicked to Matt, who was waiting nearby. David put his hand out and the men shook as Abby made the introductions. Soon the mouse roar of Sarah’s Hyundai broke the stillness, and she and David were gone.

Abby and Matt walked toward the house, hand in hand, smiling at each other as they noticed Charles and Claire still curled together in one chair, watching the goings-on with interest.

The couples looked at each other in silence for a moment, and then Charles spoke. “You Yankees know how to throw a hell of a party. Drama, romance, jealousy, fights, sex…” He pointedly looked at Matt’s open shirt and wind-tunnel hair.

Abby snorted, and within seconds, they were all laughing. “It was like a wreck…sort of horrifying, but you can’t look away.”

Claire heaved herself out of Charles’s lap. “Next time I complain my life is boring, darling, refer me to this night.” She hugged Abby and kissed her on the cheek before doing the same to Matt. “Come to dinner later this week, my loves. I can’t promise a show like this one, but the dinner will be fabulous and the company even better.”

After Charles had his turn at hugs, he swept Claire into his arms and strode around the corner of the house, her laughter trailing behind them.

Matt and Abby looked at each other in the sudden silence. “I suppose I should get going too…” Matt made a weak effort to pull his hand from Abby’s.