“Ashley,” I said, “I didn’t just accidentally get locked in a lighthouse back on Bishop’s Cay.”
“What does that mean?”
“I got menaced,” I said, “by a drunk dude. And I had to rack him and run to hide in the lighthouse. And then he locked me in.”
Ashley took that in.
“And I called Cooper and begged for help—while this guy was beating on the door, trying to get in,” I said, “and Cooper didn’t come.”
“That doesn’t sound like Cooper.”
I nodded. “I think he might be really done with me.”
“Maybe he couldn’t find a ride,” Ashley said, brainstorming. “Maybe he got lost. There’s absolutely no way that Cooper justleft you there.”
“But there’s one other thing,” I said.
And I was just about to spill all the beans about the Sock Girl situation to Ashley when I looked up and saw the Sock Girl herself, with our brother, Pete, strolling toward us.
As I watched her approach, I relived the way my heart had collapsed in on itself when I saw that sock on Cooper’s cabin doorknob, and I found myself deciding that just because shehad a namedidn’t mean I had to use it. She’d always just be Bridesmaid Two to me.
Of course, her first question was about Cooper.
“How could he possibly miss the boat?” she asked us all, shaking her head.
How, indeed. “I hope you’re not too upset,” I said to her, not meaning it at all.
“Me?” Bridesmaid Two asked, frowning.
“Yeah,” I said, likeOf course. “You two had such a very nice night together—and then the next day he was just gone.”
Pete looked down at Bridesmaid Two. “Did you have a ‘very nice night’ with Cooper?”
“No,” Bridesmaid Two said.
“You don’t remember spending the night in Cooper’s cabin?” I asked, calling her bluff.
Once again, Pete: “You spent the night in Cooper’s cabin?”
“No!” Bridesmaid Two protested again.
“Two nights ago?” I prompted, likeYou can’t remember two nights ago?
“Two nights ago,” Bridesmaid Two said, leveling her gaze at Pete, “I spent the night inyourcabin.”
“Ah,” Pete said, looking up in reverie like a flood of heavenly memories was pouring into his brain. “That’s right. Yes, you did.”
“False,” I said, allgotcha, pointing at Pete. “You’re rooming with Dad.”
But Pete shook his head. “Dad moved in with Mom.”
Well, that was a development.
Now it was Ashley’s turn to point at Pete. “You were supposed tostay away from the bridesmaids,” she said then, like everybody had misbehaved. “That’s the whole reason we put Dad in there with you to start with.”
“Look,” Pete said. “This doesn’t have to be a thing. No bridesmaids were harmed.”
“So the person you liked,” I said to Bridesmaid Two, “was Pete? All along?”
