Twenty-Four
For weeks, Jessica and Ethan had been talking about throwing a dinner party at the Sweet Harbor Bakery, but everyone had been so busy with the summer season that it kept getting canceled. Now, finally, a date had been set and so far it hadn’t gotten called off.
Ruthie and Alastair were both invited, which called for an extended debate about how to handle it. Although Alastair didn’t mind people knowing they were involved, Ruthie kept saying she’d had enough of being talked about. “People think we’re friends, or maybe friends with kissing benefits. Let’s just stick with that. Stay under the radar. Also, I get very uncomfortable at dinner parties,” Ruthie added. “I’ll skip it and you can go.”
“No,” he insisted. “What if Old Crow is there? It would be the perfect opportunity to
