Living with her parents at thirty-seven was hard - truthfully it was embarrassing. If it wasn't for her desire to live on The Point, she would have moved into her own place years ago. Her parents liked having her watch over the house while they were enjoying the sunshine all winter.

She had words with her mother over the Steve fiasco. Reluctantly, Judy Evans agreed to let it go. Her mother moved her energy to Lynn and her romance with Billy. Maddie had kept up with Lynn, but once the excitement of the early romance died down, she found herself envious. She wasn't jealous of Billy but of their relationship. Maddie knew what she wanted was a fantasy.

She was at her friend Laura's filling her in on the dinner with Steve. "I could tell he was jealous of Jack."

"Why? You are just friends."

"But Steve assumed it was more," Maddie wished there was more between them.

"Oh, my God! You like him, don't you?"

Maddie tried to deny it, but Laura wasn't buying it. Finally, she said, "Alright, but it doesn't matter. He hasn't moved on and when he does it won't be for me."

"Why not? You look great!"

"Jack could attract any woman he wanted."

"I want to meet this guy!"

"You will when you come to the beach this summer." Maddie assured her.

By mid-June, the weather was unseasonably warm and Maddie had plans to see her friend, Austin. He was a librarian at the elementary school in town and worked closely with Maddie on joint projects. He was younger, just thirty, but a nice-looking guy. They walked down to the Beach House, the restaurant and bar right on the beach. Megan and Peter were with Alex and Jen celebrating the start of Megan's summer vacation. Maddie greeted them, and Megan spoke to Austin. He worked at the twins' school. He commented he could always tell when kids were influenced by Maddie to love books. Maddie blushed, because she was not a fan of attention or praise.

She and Megan spoke briefly about how Rory was flourishing. Maddie hadn't heard of Rory having a tough time since her birthday which pleased her. She told Austin about her young friend.

"She's lucky to have you."

In the morning, she had to knock on Jack's door for their run. He was always waiting for her. Jack was in a bad mood and she didn't know why.

Rory was glad school was over. She and Cassie planned to hang out on the beach all day and lots of their friends from town would come too. Apparently, it was cool to have parking on The Point because the town lot filled up fast.

Gran and Gramps moved into their new condo. Gran had taken her living room furniture, so they were without furniture for the summer. Jack said they couldn't get their furniture out of storage until Alex finished their house. Rory was excited about having a real house, but she wasn't excited about sitting on beach chairs for movie night. Thankfully, Jack bought two huge bean bag chairs. Maybe he wasn't thrilled about beach chairs either.

Cassie and Cole still didn't know she and Sam were kissing. She felt awkward lying to her friend.

"Do you want to tell them?" Sam asked.

"What would we say?"

"I would say I really like you and we're going out."

They were sitting side by side, but not touching because it was afternoon and there were others milling about. Even if Rory didn't know anyone, they knew who she was, because everyone did. She thought about telling Cassie and then about telling Jack. Would he be angry?

Jack was never angry, even before she never remembered Jack getting angry. Sometimes mom would because he worked too much, but Jack never argued. Why would he argue because he worked too much? He usually suggested mom go shopping and spend some money. She liked to shop, which was weird because Rory hated it. Maybe she was more like Jack even though they weren't really father and daughter, but still, she took after him. They spent so much time together he rubbed off on her.

Jack hated to shop so much he handed Maddie his credit card and asked her to buy new clothes for Emma. Maddie was excited, and Rory couldn't figure out why. Jack made a good choice because the clothes Maddie came back with were so much cuter than anything Jack would have picked out. Emma really needed a mother.

Thinking about Cassie again, she agreed and then as if reading her mind, Sam asked, "What about your dad and my dad?"

"Does Cole's mom know about him and Cassie?"

Sam laughed. "The whole Point knows about those two."

"I don't think my dad does." Jack would have said something to her. "Do they care? Cole's mom and your dad?"

"Nah, but my dad took him aside and gave him a lecture about appropriate behavior."

"Do you think Cole listened?"

"Nah, because he doesn't like my dad."

"Why not?"

"You know the whole step-father thing. He has his own father and doesn't need another one."

"But you like his mother, right?"

"Yeah, she was nice to me from the beginning, especially since Cole wasn't. I didn't want to move here, and we almost didn't. When my father brought me here to meet them, Cole was horrible, and I hated it. My dad almost gave up Alison for me. I felt awful, so we moved. Now I'm really glad. I've never had a friend who understood me like you do."

"I'm glad I moved too."

"My dad is a great guy, so I'll listen if he ever talks to me about you. I already know what's appropriate."

Rory felt herself blush. They had only kissed, and she was fine with that, especially since Jack would kill her just for kissing. She had only turned fifteen and was not ready for more.

In the end, they agreed to tell Cole and Cassie. They met on the beach on Friday night. Sam took her hand in front of them and Cassie freaked out.

"Are you two? What's going on?"

"Rory is my girlfriend," Sam said proudly.

"Listen, Cass." Rory said, "My dad doesn't know so..."

"When? Why didn't you tell me?" Cassie asked.

"I don't know. It was new for us, so we kept it to ourselves. You and Cole were always too busy to notice. While you were off doing what you do, we've been talking."

"Talking! Just talking?"

"Yeah, mostly talking," Sam said as he squeezed her hand.

Rory really, really liked him. She knew before, but he was so nice and maybe Jack would like him too.

When they walked down the beach and sat down, Sam kissed her and Cassie saw from where she was sitting with Cole.

"Just talking, huh!" Cassie said.

That night their kisses were even better. Sam put her first the way he made sure their friends knew their relationship was more than just kissing. She liked talking to him as much as she enjoyed kissing him. He helped her feel better about being happy. He made her happy, and that was something few others had done.

On Saturday night, Rory didn't hang out with Sam on the beach, because she babysat for Megan. After she put the twins to bed, she texted Sam most of the night.

When she came home, Jack was in a bad mood. She wasn't sure why and wasn't about to ask. She thought he found out about Sam, but he would have said something. It was almost Emma's birthday, which was reason enough for Jack to be upset. She quickly went to bed to let him stew with his beer.

It was a nice night, and Jack took Emma for a walk. He hadn't seen Maddie since the morning and assumed she was out with a friend. She had a life that included more than him. Unfortunately, she was more prominent in his life than he was in hers. He relied on her more and more and she was the reason he had made it through these past months.

When she offered to shop for Emma, he could have kissed her. Truthfully there were other times when he wanted to kiss her. The Jack that watched Maddie choose Drew without a word was lurking within him. He was jealous of Drew those summers, but he pushed the green-eyed monster aside.

Once he started at MIT, he rarely went to Maine and when he did Drew was in California. He'd try to see Maddie, but she was not around. Then she had a serious boyfriend, and soon after he met Nicole. Years went by when he didn't even think about Maddie. Before he moved back, the last time he saw her was when he, Nicole and Rory were walking to The Landing. He remembered waving and saying something lame like, hey. He had moved on from his high school crush and when Nicole asked who she was, he answered truthfully, an old friend.

Maddie was no longer an old friend, but his best friend. When he saw her walking with a guy toward The Beach House, he didn't like it. Why would she keep her date a secret from him? He told himself he was bothered because she didn't tell him. He felt jealous she was spending time with someone else. He was angry with himself because he wanted to monopolize her time, but he had nothing to offer her. He was a miserable, and pathetic man stuck in his own grief.

When Rory came home from babysitting, he was drinking beer and feeling sorry for himself. She was smart to stay clear of him. In the morning, he suddenly worried that Maddie wouldn't be running. What if she was still with her date? He was being irrational for a number of reasons not to mention Maddie lived with her parents and she wasn't like that. He had a headache and dragged his feet getting ready. She could knock on his door. He acted as if he was Rory's age, not a grown man.

Maddie knocked on his door looking fresh and happy. She was beautiful. Although he hardly remembered what she looked like in March, she looked good now - too good for a lonely man like him.

"Are you coming, lazybones?"

"Yeah, just slow this morning."

She scrutinized him. "Are you okay, Jack?"

"Yeah, fine. Let's go." He mustered his best smile.

Their new routine at low tide was to run on the beach side by side. Jack wondered if strangers assumed they were a couple. Eventually, Maddie slowed to a walk, and he joined her.

"Aren't you going to finish your run?"

"Nah. I have a headache."

"Are you alright? We can talk," she said, as they walked.

He took a deep breath. "So Mads, who was the guy? Did you decide to try dating again?" He tried to pretend his concern was due to his need to protect her after the last time she dated. He wasn't fooling himself or Maddie.

"Jack if I didn't know better, I would think you were jealous. Just so you know, he's a friend. He's the librarian at the grammar. We've been friends for years and he likes to come down to the beach. Why am I explaining myself to you?" Maddie was definitely annoyed with him.

"I just want to make sure you don't get into another mess, Mads."

"Seems to me you do a lot of worrying about me. You should worry about yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Instead of focusing on my sex life, maybe you need to get some for yourself."

"Maddie, you know I haven't been with anyone since Nicole."

"Exactly, so the first time is bound to be awkward. Grab some money and I recommend a condom and go to The Beach House. There will be girls up for the weekend, buy one a drink and tell her you're visiting too. Oh, take off your ring..." Jack stared at his left hand. "Or you could just tell them your wife died, girls think that's hot or you might find one who will think you're married and won't care. You buy her a drink, act handsome and carry on a conversation with a possible empty head. Then when she asks you to walk her to where she's staying or just down the beach, you agree. Get a bit wasted yourself if you think it will be easier. Then you'll do it and not worry about seeing her again so if you do something embarrassing like cry it won't matter."

"Jesus Maddie, have you really thought this through?" Jack stared at her disbelief. He wasn't sure he'd do that even when he was single before he met Nicole. That was his brother's style.

"Jack, everyone around here knows how easy it is to hook up in the summer. I helped you out with your first kiss, but..."

"But you've given up meaningless sex," he said.

"Jack, nothing with you is meaningless, but I personally prefer only two people in the bedroom."

"Two people?"

"Jack, can you honestly tell me you could have sex without Nicole being the third wheel?"

God, sometimes she infuriated him because she knew him so well. He felt hurt she wasn't offering even though he had no right to expect it. He was the one who liked her when they were kids, but she liked Drew. He knew she had sex with Drew - everyone knew she slept with Drew.

"I don't know Mads. How can I know?" It upset him, but he wasn't sure why.

"Listen, Jack, I would volunteer, but I'm afraid it would ruin our friendship. That kiss was one thing since we've kissed before. Sleeping with you, I couldn't handle doing that as an experiment. It would be hard to go back to being friends."

"If you knew I was ready to move on would it be different?" He wondered what it would be like to lie in bed and talk to Maddie. She was sexy in a very curvy way that differed from Nicole. Maddie was right every thought led back to Nicole.

Maddie took his face in her hands, and she kissed him. It was a kiss full of passion and Jack felt his body respond and then he tensed because he felt guilty.

Pulling away, she said, "Jack, the minute, you're ready to... to not forget Nicole and not stop loving her, but live without carrying her around with you, come to me. I can't chance getting hurt by you, because you are one of the best friends I've ever had. It wouldn't be fair to your kids or ... I have to go!"

Jack watched her go. He just stood there with his mouth open. For a smart man, he could be so dense. He wondered when Maddie started loving him? He loved her, but wasn't sure what kind of love it was. Was he in love with her? He didn't know how to find out. He knew he loved her kiss, because his lips were still tingling.