“Right. I… love the water but get sick on a boat.”
The picture with Vivian on the sailboat came to mind. He had looked a little green around his nose. That one was true.
“Number two, I don’t smoke. Never understood the appeal.”
I squinted up at him. He was rubbing his chest as he said it. I knew, as an ex-smoker—okay, occasional smoker, when one glass of wine turned into three—how it felt. A scratch inside your chest. An ache you can’t stop from spreading. That you wanted to burn away with a hot cloud of smoke.
“Number three….” He rubbed his chin for a while, thinking. “I once got arrested because I wanted to declare my love for my first girlfriend. But I had had a few too many courage sips from my father’s whiskey beforehand.” He laughed to himself as if he was replaying the memory in his mind. “So when I climbed up the trellis outside her bedroom, I realized too late that I was at the wrong house.”
Elaine gasped. I had totally forgotten we weren’t alone. How long had I been staring at him? But then people did look at others when they spoke, right? Why did I suddenly second-guess everything I was doing?
He looked back down at me. I wished I was wearing sunglasses myself so I could let myself watch how the water droplets ran down his torso. Now I had to enjoy them from my peripheral vision while my gaze was focused on the rim of the glass I was circling. John was still awful, of course—big dick energy and zero redeemable qualities—but maybe Otis had a point. What’s the harm in looking?
“What happened next?”
“The owners called the cops. I fell into a rosebush.” He chuckled. Bowie, help me, his teeth were white. “The neighbors, a.k.a. my girlfriend's parents, stood on their porch watching me getting handcuffed. Her father forbade her to ever speak to me again.” He grinned.
“Fair enough,” May said. But John wasn’t looking at her. It was as if he was telling me this story alone. It should have felt…uncomfortable.
“So you’re a romantic? John Kater? Hard to believe.”
He smirked. “I can be. She was the love of my life,” John said, finally pulling his gaze off me, restoring time to its normal speed.
“So I’m guessing you’re not motion sick? I’ve seen pictures of you sailing. It suits you,” Elaine said, still twiddling with her blonde curls.
“Thanks.”
I readjusted my seating position to see the others better, brushing John’s thigh with mine, then narrowed my eyes. “Isn’t Vivian the love of your life?”
I could swear John froze. Then he shifted, his knee pressing into my thigh. “Of course. That one was the lie. I made it up.” Hesaid it with a laugh, but by now, I felt I could distinguish between a genuine John-laugh and a press-laugh.
I didn’t believe him one bit.
“I can tie a cherry stem with my—” Elaine started at the same time as Jeremy spoke.
“So how about you, Nora?” He asked. “What are your two truths and a lie?”
I bit my lip. “My favorite weather is a thunderstorm after a hot summer day. My favorite smell is fresh-baked German chocolate cake.”
“Boring. Give us something juicy.” Okay, May had too much to drink.
I rolled my eyes. “I once had a threesome and ended up stealing that guy's girlfriend.”
John choked on his drink. Or air, I wasn’t sure.
May cackled.
Jeremy had turned red.
And Elaine… had left at some point?
At exactly that moment, footsteps crunched behind us.
“Guys, we have a problem.” Charlene’s hair looked disheveled, a phone in her hand. “We gotta change the timeline.”
I sat up straight, realizing how tipsy I was. Maybe I could sober up by jumping headfirst into a snowdrift. “Why?”
She waved at us. “Better discuss inside.”
