Wishing Beach - Heather Burch Page 0,46

Jesse should be off work now. She picked up the receiver on the extension phone in her room and dialed his work number. It was short notice, but she knew Jesse would agree to whatever she wanted concerning the ball. He picked up on the second ring. “Jesse, I’m glad I caught you. There’s been a change of plans. I have to go to the ball with Travis. Before you say anything, I want you to know, Travis and I are just friends.”

There was a long pause. “Will I still get you after the ball, Cinderella?”

“After the ball and for the rest of our lives.” That had been enough for him.

She had already reset the plan with Travis to pick her up and escort her, though she planned to leave a couple hours into the party to sneak away with Jesse. Travis had laughed but understood. He knew her mother. And her predicament. Travis had wholeheartedly agreed to do whatever was needed to help Olivia and Jesse pull off their special evening. She’d been his excuse a time or two during their growing up years. He was happy to return the favor.

It was seven on the dot when Travis arrived at her house. Punctuality, a learned and practiced trait that would serve him well as a statesman, which of course was his future. He was a Perry. When she first saw him at the front door, she did a double take, she couldn’t help but notice he did the same to her, much to her mother’s glee. He was good-looking, no doubt, even better than the last time she had seen him. He had been away to college, and then off with his friends most of the summer, so she’d seen him very little in the past year. He was tall, broad shouldered, with piercing blue eyes that set off a conventionally handsome face crowned by pitch black hair—but he carried a new maturity in his outward appearance. He had the Perry looks—beautiful and perhaps a bit dangerous. She pitied the girl who fell for him. She’d be a hopeless mess. Who could enter that Perry family world and not be swallowed up by it, by the egos, by the pretentiousness? Her thoughts sounded harsh toward the family, but she wasn’t. Not at all. The Perrys were like the Kennedys. They swallowed souls. They couldn’t help it.

The Wishing Ball was held at the Perry Mansion each year. It was the grandest of the five mansions on the cove and sat in the center of the cul-de-sac like a majestic king holding court. It was the kind of beach house her father had always wanted to own. Olivia’s family was well-off but not generationally rich.

They entered the Perry house—a hive of activity. “Come on, the ball is out back.” They hurried through the lavish beach house. Energy and expectation crackled in the air around them.

“I really miss hanging out with you,” Travis said, giving her food for thought. He seemed different now that they were actually together. On the phone, when she was asking him for help, he seemed like the “brother” she knew and loved. Now that they were together again, she sensed something far different. A year ago, back home, they’d chatted on the phone about how fun it would be to spend the summer on the island—a place Travis knew so well and a place she’d never been. He’d told her he’d show her around, and she’d sworn not to be afraid of everything. But that was a year ago. Since then there has been college and friends for Travis. And Jesse, for her. Both their lives had taken different paths, perhaps if that had not happened, they would be on their way to a different future. But it had happened. They had both grown.

They passed waiters and caterers as they headed out to the back patio. The entire Perry yard, including every banyan tree and palm was decorated with tiny white lights. The space had an ethereal glow that ran from the giant marble patio to the shimmering Atlantic beyond. Off in the distance, she could barely make out Wishing Beach. She wished she’d stopped there and offered up a wish. Magic and summer nights. What could be more perfect?

Travis touched her shoulders until she turned. Her breath caught when she saw the bandstand. Perched in the naked branches of a giant banyan tree, a wooden platform held the orchestra. It was a marvel. Olivia couldn’t stop