Adam
Adam woke thinking of Lana and then Amanda. They were both beautiful and sexy, but while Amanda knew it, he didn't think Lana had any clue. Amanda's boldness made her adventurous in bed. Just thinking about her was enough to make him hard. Meanwhile Lana, he envisioned as a loving, passionate girl. He suspected it would take more than one dinner to bed Lana.
What the hell are you thinking? You've got a girl.
The problem was Amanda made it clear she didn't want to be serious. Adam had convinced himself Amanda was probably giving some lucky son of a bitch a blow job, while he was talking on the beach to Lana. So if he wanted to get to know Lana better, where was the harm?
He was lounging around with coffee and the Globe, when he received a text from Amanda. He opened it to reveal a picture of her in a skimpy bikini. Was she trying to torture him? It wasn't even seventy degrees and overcast in Maine, but one glance at the weather page told him it was eighty and sunny on The Cape and the islands. Adam's next thought was of all the men who would see her in the bikini. Hell, if he was on a beach and saw her, he'd want her. She would definitely screw some guy, so he wouldn't feel guilty about getting to know Lana.
He replied to her text. I'd like to take it off you.
She followed up with a picture of her without the top. He had texted with a lot of women, but he had never been sent a nude.
She texted. Are you hard? With the eggplant emoji 🍆.
Yeah!
Prove it!
Christ, he thought. He replied. No, I'll show you in person. When will you be home?
Idk Monday
He smiled and texted, I'll be at your place at 8
Adam was smiling thinking of his date when she sent another text. She replied with another eggplant!
Ryan who must have been observing. "Good news?"
"Amanda's texting me." Adam didn't sharing the content of the text.
"So are you and the jail bait serious?"
"Far from it. She's interested in being indecent. Hell, I'm going for the ride as long as she's offering a ticket."
"You sound like me at twenty-two."
"Come on, man are you telling me you'd turn it down?"
"I've had enough women trouble to fill a lifetime. I'm not asking for any more."
"What did you ball some guy's wife?" Adam was unable to imagine what kind of trouble would make him turn down a sexy chick.
"Nah, that's one place I've never gone. You... I wouldn't put it past you."
Adam laughed, but the truth was he had a few years back. It was freaking exciting, almost as exciting as a sex-crazed vixen fourteen years his junior.
He went to visit Jack before the party. His head was spinning as if he stepped into a tornado. Maddie was busy in the kitchen cooking. Emma was spewing toys everywhere when she wasn't trying to hold her brother. Jack and Rory were having a cold war over what he later learned was Rory wanting to take driver's ed and Jack refusing.
At one point Rory broke the silence by yelling. "I let you be a psycho before the baby, but you can't keep me from driving my whole life. You drive me and them. Maddie too!"
"Rory!" Jack's voice was stern.
"Adam, don't you think he should let me at least let me ride with my boyfriend?" She pleaded.
He looked from Jack to Rory who was always a good kid. "Sorry my friend, you've got to deal with your dad."
Even Maddie was staying out of it. Poor Jack had to deal with teenage issues and babies.
Rory sighed. "I'm going to see Gran. She'll be on my side."
Once she left, Adam turned back to Jack. "You know you're going to lose."
Maddie joined the conversation. "She's growing up and you can't stop her. It's only a matter of time before both her grandmothers are calling you. Knowing Rory she'll plead her case to my mom too."
"I thought you were on my side." Jack pouted to Maddie.
"I'll support you even when I don't agree."
Adam smiled he could tell Jack wasn't happy. He tried to lighten the mood. "She'll probably try to get Uncle Ryan on her side."
Jack laughed. "Not a chance my brother doesn't remember her name."
Adam changed the subject. "Isn't there a party to go to?"
Ryan
It impressed Ryan when he saw the street blocked off. The Point knew how to celebrate Memorial Day. He counted four or five grills and various tables and beach chairs. He overheard someone. "It doesn't matter it's not a beach day, Plover Way is the place to be."
He found it hard to recognize people as it had been so long since he visited in the summer. Scanning the crowd, he saw the one who cleaned his house, Lana, talking to a girl about the same age. He waved at Maddie, who was carrying a tray of food. He shook his head when he saw his brother with a contraption attached to the front of him with a lump that could only be his nephew. His brother was more whipped than even Ryan realized. Still, he looked unfazed by his emasculated status as he drank a beer and talked to Adam. Ryan had seen little of his house guest all weekend.
Two beautiful women caught his eye and apparently he caught theirs because they walked right toward him. A gorgeous blond who had a baby on her hip spoke first.
"Why if it isn't Ryan Harris?"
The other equally beautiful with auburn hair smiled. "Remember, we spent hours debating which of the two brothers was better looking."
The blond laughed. "I always chose Jack because he wasn't a male slut."
Suddenly Ryan worried he may have had sex with one or both of them, especially when he saw a guy who looked like he could pummel Ryan looking on frowning. Truthfully, it only took him a second to recognize the sharp-tongued blond.
"If it isn't little Jenny and her sidekick." He looked at both grown woman. Just then, Peter came up and put his arm around Megan. "Oh my God, it's the three of you. You were always behind the counter together. Man, I didn't realize it was you and you're still together?"
For the briefest of moments Peter and Megan gave each other a very private look. Peter said, "Yup, together with three kids."
The other guy who could squash him stepped forward and took the baby from Jen. "Alex honey, this is Jack's brother, Ryan."
Jack appeared. "Don't worry Alex, Ryan doesn't like wives."
Ryan looked at his brother unsure if his dig was because of his feelings for Nicole or because he had no intention of ever having a wife of his own.
Jen's husband smiled and reached out his hand. "Alex Goodwin, nice to meet you."
Jack said, "Alex built our house."
Ryan knew next to nothing about building, but the transformation of their family cottage to a two-story home was remarkable. Peter and, as he discovered, Megan's house looked similar as did the one across the street.
"Impressive..." Ryan started.
Alex said, "Your friend, Cameron, already tried the hard sell. I need my capital liquid. I constantly buy and sell properties."
"I'm not working today, but I always have short-term ideas. Only if you're interested, of course."
Ryan knew a favor could yield a future client. Cam had mentioned potential clients, but he wasn't going around asking for anyone's net worth.
Peter said, "Don't look at me. Kids are expensive."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Adam talking to Lana. It intrigued him she was friends with Heidi and now it looked like she was friendly with Adam. Ryan weaved his way over and approached them.
Adam nodded to him. "Have you met Ryan?"
"I have."
Her response was neutral and Ryan felt guilty for his treatment of her employee. Upon closer observation, Adam and Lana seemed a bit too friendly. Perhaps they met at the bar, but Adam was home when Ryan returned from his parent's condo the night before. Earlier he had been teasing Adam, as he texted with the girl he took to the Sox game. He wouldn't be interested in Lana when he had the jailbait. Ryan may have had more than his fair share of women trouble, but he'd never dated two women at once. Adam leaned over and whispered in Lana's ear, apparently his friend didn't abide by the same standard.
As the afternoon wore on he experienced something unusual. His mother was bragging about her son, 'Ryan who was here visiting'. She gushed about the baby and him equally. It was strange because Ryan always felt second to poor, perfect Jack. When Kelly and her friends surrounded him, he felt uncomfortable.
"Mom, if you keep talking Jack might get jealous."
Kelly pulled him aside. "Darling, I'm proud of both my boys equally. You're so different you've kept my life interesting. I'm a mother, so I love you and worry about you the same. Right now I'm worried about the real reason you're here. I wish it were to bond with your brother, but I'm not..."
"Mom, Jack and I are different. He embraces a life I don't understand."
"You hurt him when you didn't understand his loss."
"There you go supporting Jack again."
"I'm not judging. I'm just explaining his side just as I have explained your side to him."
"What's my side, please tell me?"
Ryan felt angry with his mother the only woman he ever truly loved. Twice in his life, he thought he might have been in love only to find out he was wrong. With Isobel, he was still paying the price for falling under her spell.
"Ryan dear, this isn't the place. I know you couldn't live up to Jack because he followed every rule. Then you went to college and had your heart broken."
"Really Mom! That was years ago." It shocked Ryan like she even remembered Christina.
"Yes, but you closed your heart, and that's why you never understood the loss your brother felt. You weren't malicious, just misguided."
"Well thank you, Dr. Freud." Ryan walked away. He didn't want to admit even to himself, just how right his mother was.
He eyed a cooler and reached in for a beer at the same time as a guy about his age. He looked him up and down trying to see if he should know him. "Did you grow up here?"
"Nah, I'm just visiting my brother. I'm Tom Goodwin, Alex's brother."
"Right, Jen's husband. I'm Ryan Harris, my brother and parents live here."
"Jack? I've played poker with Jack. We fly up for weekends occasionally."
"Where from?"
"New York City. My wife was Jen's roommate years ago before their careers took off."
"Jen went away to New York, but she came back."
"Alex lured her back. They want us to move. I'm a lawyer, so I could find work, but Avery's in mergers and acquisitions. There aren't many of those in Portland."
Ryan knew they were his caliber of client and debated a soft sell. He laughed. "Probably not. I'm in the DC area, but I grew up in Boston."
"Are you in computers too?"
"No, I'm a partner in a wealth management firm." He told him the investment company they represented. It was well known and advertised nationally. Where Fidelity was for the average investor, they were for investors with an abundance of investment dollars.
"Really? Avery and I are always complaining we are too busy making it, to manage it."
"Most of my customers are the same, well except the one who calls me every day. We talk baseball and I pretend to like the Nats."
Tom smiled. "But you're from Boston. Try living in New York surrounded by Yankee fans. Thank goodness my wife has enough sense to be a Mets fan."
"I think being a Yankees fan might be a deal breaker." Ryan agreed. He liked the guy and figured if Tom liked him, he could ask Jack for Ryan's number.