“You coming?” Sienna called.
“Be down in a minute,” Emily replied. She went back into the bedroom and opened the doors to her private balcony. A chair sat at the edge with an endless view of the water. Putting her hands in the pockets of her shorts, she leaned over and admired the stripes of light turquoise that blended into a deep teal, then a dark blue. The waves lapped calmly on the secluded white-sand beach.
She might actually forget the world here. At least, she hoped so.
With her hair loose,her pink bikini on, and her white mesh cover-up draped over, Emily took the stairs down to the pool to join Blair and Sienna. Blair was already on one of the loungers, taking in the remaining sun of the day, and Sienna was in the water, swimming to the edge that overlooked the beach.
“It’s incredible here,” Sienna said after spinning around to face Emily, her arms making ripples through the water.
“It really is.” Emily dipped her toe in the cold pool, a shiver climbing her leg.
Sienna’s phone pinged and she swam over to check it. With a dripping hand, she turned the sound off. “Always work,” she said. “But I can’t sell any houses from this pool right now, so I’ll get it later.”
A seagull squawked overhead, and the sound, coupled with the shush of the surf, was better than any tonic. A breeze rustledthrough the palm trees at the edge of the patio and the sunlight wrapped Emily in a cocoon of warmth. She closed her eyes, the backs of her eyelids orange with the brightness of the day. She and Will had been so busy planning a life for themselves that they hadn’t taken time for little moments like this. Had that been their demise? Similar questions had plagued her over the last few days. Should they have taken more walks together, made more time for each other? Was that what he was doing with his new girlfriend? She opened her eyes and took a purposeful step into the water to try to shock the thoughts out of her brain. She couldn’t fix things—they were too far gone. So she’d better get on with moving through it.
Blair sat up and took off her sunglasses. “I need to admit something.”
Sienna and Emily turned.
“I keep thinking how perfect a place this would be to post about on socials, but I haven’t posted anything since…” She took in a tight breath.
Emily left the step and went over to sit at the end of the lounger.
Blair’s plump lips turned downward. “My private messages are overflowing, and emails have piled up. I’ve got at least seven hundred already. The subject lines are asking if I’m okay, wondering if something happened to me.”
Emily rubbed her back. “Your fans are worried about you, that’s all.”
“I know. I just can’t face them. Do you know how many times I’ll have to relive what happened?”
Emily nodded, unsure of the best thing to say in that moment.
“And I lost my sponsors.” She waved her hands in the air. “A couple are threatening legal action.” She looked away quickly,blinking. “I’m sorry! Look at me, letting reality seep in already. I’ll just be quiet.”
Sienna swam over to their side of the pool and got out.
“I did wonder what happened,” Emily said, fiddling with the edge of the striped towel under Blair. “I wasn’t sure if you were explaining yourself behind the scenes or avoiding the issue of telling people altogether.”
“I just stopped cold—that’swhat happened. I didn’t hold up my end of the contracts, and all those businesses pulled their sponsorships and ads.” She set her sunglasses onto the towel and looked Emily in the eye. “I didn’t want to document it because then I’d have to re-experience the pain every time I opened my social media, when I want the memory of losing the baby to disappear just like I did.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I had my dream job, but now I can’t bear to do it. I feel lost… I’m sorry to dump it on you two.”
“I worry about my job as well,” Sienna said. She wrapped herself in a towel and stood next to them, water dripping onto the white concrete. “I adore real estate. And I’ve gotten used to my lifestyle. What if, when the baby comes, I can’t rush out on a client’s whim? Then what? Even if Tyson doesn’t freak out, I don’t know what my future will look like, and it terrifies me.”
Emily swallowed the lump in her throat. “None of us know.”
“We were supposed to be healing and relaxing here,” Blair said. “We’ve not even been at the beach an hour and look at us. How can we get on with life when we’re all still dealing with our problems? They’re not going to go away.”
“What did you call us the other day, Sienna?” Emily asked. “The Broken Hearts Beach Club? That’s definitely us.”
“Indeed,” Sienna said with a sniffle.
The three of them were a sight to behold.
“I’ll pour us all a glass of lemonade.” Sienna dried off and threw on the delicate black cover-up that was draped on thechair under the umbrella. “Then we’ll make a toast to The Broken Hearts Beach Club.”
FOUR
Before they could toast to their sad little club, chimes rang inside the mansion.
Blair’s brows pulled together. “Is that the doorbell?”
