Summer Love at the Beach (Summer Instalove)

spoken to a completely gorgeous man, and didn’t fall apart. Kate would definitely say that

was a step in the right direction.

Drying off my feet and heading to the kitchen, I poured myself a lemonade. Julie came

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; darting into the room at the sound of the fridge opening. “Did I see you out there talking to Mitch Baker?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“He just said hello.” I didn’t understand why she was staring at me so strangely.

“And? What else?” She seemed weirdly eager.

“That’s it, really. Why?”

Julie plopped into a chair, gesturing for me to join her.

“Mitch is the most eligible bachelor in the entire area,” she gushed. “I know that some of the older women have been trying to fix him up with a nice girl since he was apparently dating a

completely …” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “batshit crazy bitch a few years ago.”

That seemed very strange. “Why would a hot, presumably nice guy do that? ”

“He’s unbelievably sweet,” Julie said, “so he could probably get any girl he wanted. Who

knows, maybe the sex was amazing.”

“But why do these other women think it’s any of their business?” I asked. “Shouldn’t people

just leave each other alone?”

Julie nodded. “Normally, yes. But he’s super nice. He helped the Johnsons install their patio, and always picks up groceries for Mrs. Woodmount if he’s around. We don’t want to see

him being taken advantage of.”

“How could anyone take advantage of him?” I asked, laughing. “He’s the size of a truck. He

doesn’t have to put up with anything from anyone, I would think.”

Julie shook her head. “We noticed that he was suddenly surrounded by nasty women a few

years ago. Brendan looked into it, and it turns out that Mitch is a computer programmer

who made a really popular app or something. He’s suddenly rich, and that’s when the

women came flocking to him.”

Taking a sip of my lemonade, I realized this entire conversation was making me

uncomfortable. “This is honestly nobody’s business,” I said. “Maybe everybody should leave

him alone and let him figure out his own life.”

“You might be right,” Julie shrugged. “But there’s not a lot of drama out here. Once you get

married, everyone else’s love life becomes your soap opera to watch.”

As I stared out the window to the beach, I had to wonder if that was the case with all