Beach Lane Read Online Free

piously.
    Susie rolled her eyes, then turned to Jake. “And you? Have you taken some oath of confidentiality, as well?”
    Jake simply held up his hands. “No comment.”
    She glowered at the pair of them. “This is ridiculous. I haven’t been able to reach him for two days now. It’s not like Mack to vanish without a word. Can you at least assure me he’s alive?”
    “Of course he is,” Jake said. “I’m sure he’ll give you a call soon.” Though he sounded certain, his expression showed unmistakable skepticism.
    “Of course he will,” Will added. Unfortunately, his upbeat tone sounded forced, as well.
    “Has he started seeing someone else?” Susie asked, laying her worst fear right out there. These men might be Mack’s friends, but they were hers, too. It wasn’t as if they didn’t know how she felt about Mack. Maybe asking for reassurance made her sound pitiful, but she needed to know the truth. If it was time to move on, she’d rather hear it from them than from someone else.
    “Absolutely not,” Will said with satisfying conviction. “Don’t let your imagination run away with you, Susie. Mack just needs a little time.”
    “Time for what?” she wanted to know. It wasn’t as if Mack were prone to long periods of introspection. To the contrary, he generally talked everything to death, then moved forward or put it behind him. He wasn’t all that complicated, except when it came to figuring out how he felt about her. That seemed to elude him completely.
    “Susie, just give him a little space,” Jake advised.
    She frowned. “Time? Space? From me?”
    “No,” Will said. “This has nothing to do with you.”
    “It does if he’s shutting me out,” she said, then shook her head. Talking to these two was pointless. They’d apparently sworn some oath of silence, which they were unlikely to break no matter how many ways she asked all the questions they’d stirred up. “Never mind. I suppose he’ll fill me in whenever it’s convenient for him. I guess it was too much to hope that he’d consider me the kind of friend who’d want to support him if he’s in some kind of trouble.”
    She stood up.
    Will regarded her with alarm. “Susie, please, don’t get the wrong idea here. You know how Mack feels about you.”
    She met Will’s concerned gaze. “No,” she said softly. “Actually, I don’t, and that’s precisely the problem.”
    She walked away before either man could see the tears that were building in her eyes. Crying in front of them would be just too darned humiliating to bear.

    “They were lying to me,” Susie told Shanna after she’d left Sally’s and walked to the bookstore down the block for moral support. “Right to my face.”
    “I don’t think they were lying,” Shanna said reasonably. “I think they were following Mack’s wishes, as misguided as those might be. You put them on the spot, sweetie. What were they supposed to do? Betray their friend?”
    “I’m their friend, too.”
    “Of course you are, but they’re guys. There’s some kind of loyalty oath they all take when they’re, like, eight. We don’t stand a chance.” She set a cup of coffee, heavily laced with cream and sugar, in front of Susie. “What are you really worried about?”
    “That Mack has made a decision finally to cut me out of his life,” she said. “What if he’s just working up the courage to tell me?”
    “Has there been even the tiniest indication lately that he’s tired of spending time with you? Last I heard you were still inseparable, which has caused no end of confusion for the rest of us.”
    “Not really,” Susie admitted. “But come on, Shanna, this can’t be normal. We’re supposed to be friends. It’s the one thing I’ve been able to count on all this time.”
    Shanna shook her head. “Now, that’s the part that’s not normal. How the two of you have gone this long deluding yourselves that you’re nothing more than friends is beyond me. It’s beyond all