Island Girls by Nancy Thayer Read Free Book Online Page B

reminded me to turn on my headlights. We were very law abiding and respectful, okay?”
    “But then,” Arden added, “we had to watch him pedal away over the cobblestones. It’s extremely hard to appear dignified and tough when your butt’s bouncing on a bike.”
    “So did you make some contacts?” Meg asked Arden.
    Arden waggled her eyebrows. “I’ll say.”
    “Arden, I’m warning you, don’t trust that guy,” Jenny reminded her.
    “
What
guy?” Meg demanded.
    Arden smiled smugly. “His name is Tim Robinson,” she told Meg. “He’s a computer techie and a dreamboat.”
    “He’s an idiot,” Jenny snorted.
    “I’ve got a date with him next Saturday,” Arden told Meg. “Wait till you check him out.”
    “You’d be much better off going out with Palmer White,” Jenny told Arden. “I thought you went to the party to make contacts, not to hit on good-looking morons.”
    In a flash, Arden flicked from lighthearted to cranky. “Well, you know what, Jenny? If I’d been able to spend some time here every summer when I was a teenager instead of your mother imposing The Exile, I could have had my fill of good-looking morons. But I missed out then and I’m all in now.”
    “Arden, stop it,” Jenny said, her voice soft. “It’s not my fault my mother kicked you two out. That’s unfair.”
    “I don’t think so,” Arden responded. She stormed out of the room and up the stairs. Her bedroom door slammed.
    “We have got to talk about this,” Jenny said. “Or it will fester.”
    “I know,” Meg agreed. She sat down at the table, thinking Jenny would join her.
    “We have to do it with the three of us together,” Jenny said. “Maybe tomorrow.” She left the kitchen, saying over her shoulder, “Turn off the lights when you’re done, okay?”
    After a moment, Meg turned off the lights and went upstairs to her room.
    The next morning, Jenny returned from her early-morning run to find Arden and Meg sitting at the kitchen table.
    “Hey!” Jenny let the screen door slam and stood panting awaywith a big smile on her face. Running shot good endorphins through her. “What are you two doing here on this excellent day, still in your PJ’s?”
    Arden gave Jenny a sullen glare. “Jenny. It. Is. Eight. O’clock.”
    Meg added, “On a Saturday morning. But you know, I guess that since Arden and I have been working our butts off for the past few months to pay the rent instead of lounging around in our father’s house working whenever we feel like it, Arden and I deserve a little Saturday laziness.”
    “You guys.” Jenny threw herself into a kitchen chair, folded her arms on the table, and scowled, her happy mood vanished. “Give me a break here. The past is over and done. We all want a slice of the sale of this house. The only way we’re going to get it is to do what our father stipulated. We’ve got to be here for three months, together. No way out. Why can’t we three act like civilized adults and behave with a little courtesy toward each other?”
    “Easy for you to say,” Arden grumbled. “You are the winner and still champion of our father’s affections, even though you aren’t even his blood.”
    “Thanks for reminding me,” Jenny replied.
    Her voice quiet but firm, Meg asked, “Do you expect us to forget that you got us kicked out of this house?”
    Jenny shook her head in frustration. “But
I
didn’t. It was my mother who made you two leave because one of you stole her emerald necklace.”
    Arden shoved back her chair and stood up, all one hundred ten pounds quivering. “I did
not
steal your mother’s damned necklace!”
    Meg shook her head stubbornly. “I didn’t, either.”
    Jenny shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her endorphins were fading, but she still felt the results of a great run on a sunnyday by the ocean. “Let’s start again, please. Let’s agree that none of us stole it, okay? Let’s forget about that.”
    “Forget about it?” Meg’s fighting spirit