Jen was already punching in Mimi’s number. Instead of answering, she waved a hand in Ginger’s face. “Mims, I’m at Angie’s. Did your dinner party go okay? You know what, I don’t really care, all I want to know is, are you free, and can you bring some bagels, coffee cake, and OJ, and meet us here? Bring your swimsuit. I fancy a midnight dip in the pool. FYI, I don’t have a suit, so I’ll be bathing au naturel.”
When Ginger started to protest, Jen held up a flat hand in front of her face. “Don’t judge. What, Mimi? Yes, of course it’s a sleepover.”
Was it? That was news to Angela. But she was glad her friends would be there for the night. Everywhere she looked inside her house, all she saw was Brice. She was desperate to make the beach house her own. Making new memories with her best friends would help. And if that meant she had to sacrifice sleep, so be it. Plus, she’d been thinking about getting rid of Brice’s stamp on her life. For so many years, she’d been his sidekick. It was time to begin forging her own way. As she stared out the kitchen’s French doors that led to the lanai, she began to get an inkling of one thing she could do. It was crazy. And she’d need her friends to help her. They made her strong. She needed some strength in her life right now. What she didn’t need was that horrible hammock Brice had insisted on putting on the lanai a few years back. In fact, she had a whole beach house full of Brice crap she no longer had use for.
“Let’s swim for a while, ladies. Then, we’ve got work to do.” Angela grinned and dove headfirst into the pool.
Angela’s friends dotted the front yard when she knocked on Jesse’s cottage door. She wouldn’t have bothered him at such an hour, but she noticed his lights were on. He’d been gone for the evening—apparently to his Mama Grace’s house for a fish fry, but his Jeep was in the drive.
Jesse opened the door and pulled a set of readers off his nose. “Angie? Is everything all right? Are you feeling okay?” Concern creased his finely lined features, more so when he cast a glance behind her and saw the collection of furniture on her front lawn and the parade of her friends carrying various pieces.
“I’m feeling great Uncle Jesse.” She made a display of raising her hands and spinning in a circle. “I’m feeling free.”
He scratched his chin. “I realized earlier you were having an all-night shindig with your friends, but I never imagined you ladies arranging the yard to look like a living room.”
She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “What, this? I’m done living my life by Brice’s rules.”
“Is that a fact?” The smallest of smiles grew on his face. He approved. That much was evident.
Angela’s cheeks were flushed, she could feel the warmth even in the cool night wind. “I’m sorry for bothering you.” She looked around him deeper into the cottage—he hadn’t invited her in. Of course, he still looked mystified by what she and her besties were doing.
There was an awkward silence as he watched Jenny and Mimi carry out another end table.
Angela pointed into his house to a reading nook where a thick law book sat with a yellow legal pad bookmarking the center. “A little light reading?” she asked.
Jesse nodded, but didn’t look where she had pointed. “I’ll admit it. I’m a diehard reader through and through. I could be entertained by a phonebook or the dictionary.”
“Oooooh, the dictionary,” she said with wide innocent eyes. “Wait until you get to the M’s. It’s all mystery, murder, and mayhem.”
Now it was Jesse’s turn to point. “Is that—are they carrying your couch?”
“Uh,” Angela uttered and turned just in time to watch Ginger, Jenny, and Mimi drop the couch in the yard. “They sure are.”
“Has the furniture done something to offend you? I’m sure we could talk this through.”
“That’s just it, Jesse. The furniture offends me.”
He nodded. Cleared his throat. Looked a bit like someone talking down a person in the midst of a nervous breakdown. “I heard a few screams and hollers followed by splashes when I got home from Mama Grace’s house earlier. Figured you all were spending the entire evening in the pool. I also figured your friends for hot tub sitters, not pool swimmers with their fancy hairdos and all. One ought not make assumptions,” he said.
“Very true, Uncle Jesse. Now, as to the reason for my late-night visit. I need the keys to the tool shed.”
“Good gracious, girl. You’re not after the chain saw, are you? I draw the line at mutilating perfectly good furniture.”
Angela laughed. “No. Nothing like that. I just have to take that horrible eyesore of a hammock apart to get it through the lanai screen door.”
“So, you really are tossing out all your furniture?” He slowly stepped onto his porch. In front of the couch, a trail of pieces decorated the lawn leading all the way to the road where they’d propped open the wrought-iron gate.
“I really am. I’ll be shopping for new pieces. Hey, you could come with me if you want.” She didn’t know why she said that, but there it was.
“You don’t need anything in the tool shed for that hammock. I’ll come over and help you maneuver it through the door.”
“Oh, I don’t want to impose.” She placed a hand to her heart. Of course he would offer to help. She should have known that and left the hammock for tomorrow. But it felt so good, so empowering to haul that furniture right out her front door. Once they’d started, she didn’t want to stop.
“It’s no imposition at all. If you’re erasing bad memories here and creating new good ones, well, I’d love to be part of it. Let me slip on some shoes and I’ll be right over.” He started to turn but stopped. “But are you sure you need to throw away the furniture?”
“I’m sure. In the morning I’m calling the island thrift store to pick it up.”
He nodded, slowly.
“I promise I’m not crazy. Jesse, everything at this beach house was chosen by Brice … or his mother. How can I start fresh when everything I look at, use, or sit down on belonged to him, was hand chosen by him, and adored by him?”
Jesse pressed his lips together. “I reckon you can’t. I’ll tell you what. If you really want to get rid of all this stuff, I think I can get it out of your way tonight.” He looked up at the star-studded sky. “We’re going to get a shower later. That can’t do these things any good. I know someone who will come pick them up and get them to the right people.”
“Great!” Angela said.
Jesse held up a finger. “Now, you make sure you’re not going to change your mind?” It sounded like a question.
“I won’t be changing my mind.” Angie shook her head, solid in her resolve. “All that’s left to move is the hammock and Brice’s heavy chair.”
Jesse clapped his hands together. “I guess we’re in business, then. I’ll be right over.”
Angela waited for Jesse to meet them at to the back of the house where wet beach towels and half empty drinks littered the lanai. Throwing out Brice’s furniture was liberating beyond her wildest dreams. She felt alive. Reckless. Primal.