She’d better. If not, Tess would haul her own ass to Boston and drag the story out of her friend by any means necessary.
“Yes, yes. I promise.”Belle flapped a hand in the direction of the closet. “Now please let mepack, woman.”
So Tess did, sitting on the bed and watching as Belle threw everything into her suitcases and carry-on bag with much less care than usual. Together, they rolled the luggage out into the hallway. Then Belle gave her a quick but tight hug as Tess blinked away tears.
“Love you,” Tess whispered again. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you, at least to the ferry?”
“I’m good.” Belle gave her another near-painful squeeze. “Love you too, babe.”
Then the door was closing behind Tess’s best friend, leaving her alone in the rumpled, half-empty hotel room. Other than the air conditioner’s steady roar, there was no sound. Other than the flick of her hair, stray strands sent aloft by the blast of chilled air, there was no movement. Other than her thoughts, there was no company.
Before this trip, she and Belle hadn’t seen each other for months. Not since last New Year’s Eve, if she remembered correctly. And unless one of them visited the other over the winter holidays this year too, they might have to wait until next summer to meet again.
Still, her ostensible best friend had discarded another week together. Without discussing it beforehand. Without even telling Tesswhy.
Tess had fucked up somehow. If she hadn’t, Belle would have explained the situation before leaving, or Tess would have known it already. If she hadn’t, Belle would have stayed another week, instead of fleeing the island.
For all of Belle’s denials, maybe she’d resented Tess’s decision to work over the vacation. Maybe, despite her initial support of a fling with Lucas, she hadn’t expected Tess to spend quite so much of her non-planning time with someone else. Maybe she’d been lonely, too lonely to handle staying in the same place any longer.
Or maybe the two of them had been growing apart since the move to Boston, and Tess hadn’t noticed. Just as she hadn’t noticed when Jeremy stopped loving h—
She swallowed back a raw sound, her cheeks wet and cold.
No. Belle was honest and direct, always. If she said her departure had nothing to do with Tess, she meant it.
Tess had to believe that. Shewouldbelieve that.
With her thumbnail, she traced the stitching on the edge of the duvet. She breathed steadily, again and again, until her chest stopped hitching.
Her best friend had already left. In another week, Lucas would be gone from her daily life too. She’d spend virtually all her days and nights focused on work, without interruption. This year. Next year. Maybe all the years to come.
Somehow, the prospect sounded a lot less appealing than it had only a week ago.
Twenty-Two
Over a late dinner that night,Tess tried her best to stay cheery. She asked Lucas about his day. Laughed at the shenanigans of the kids in his children’s lesson. Rolled her eyes at his shameless flirtation and innuendo. Told her own stories about how she’d spent the afternoon.
As he played with her fingers from across the diner booth, she forced a grin. “So then I tried to mount the floatagain, and it flipped over on meagain, and an elderly woman nearby looked at me with pity and offered to get me water wings.”
His head tilted in silent inquiry.
“You know, those inflatable armbands? I thought they were just for toddlers, but evidently not.”
He snickered at that.
Ducking her head, she watched the tendons in the back of his hand shift with every stroke of his thumb across her knuckles, every brush of their fingertips.
He lifted her hand, cupping it against the nascent bristles of his cheek and nuzzling into her palm. Then he simply looked at her for a moment.
“You seem tired tonight, älskling,” he finally said. “Are you ready to leave?”
Shefelttired. Tired and old. “Sure.”
After giving her hand one last squeeze, he let it go and slid out of the booth. “Let’s go to my apartment.”
Minutes ago, he’d settled their bill and tucked a generous tip for their server beneath the salt shaker, so there was nothing keeping them in the diner. They walked out together, his arm over her shoulders drawing her close to his side.
The humidity hit her like a sweaty-palmed slap. “Ugh.”
