“Well, thank you, Sybil.”
I laugh. “Thankyoufor letting me hide down there.”
“No problem,” she says. Then she raises a studded eyebrow. “So, ex-fiancé, huh?”
“Yep,” I say, wincing. “And if you can believe it, he’s not my first.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m oh-for-three on engagements turning into actual marriages. My friend Finn jokes that I’m allergic to the altar.”
Dani gives a low whistle. “Wow, that’s gotta be some kind of a record.”
“I never do anything halfway,” I say with a shrug and a half grin.
“So why did you leave this one?”
I’m momentarily taken aback by her frankness, but at the same time, I appreciate it. Even my best friends have been wary over the past year of asking too many questions about the failed wedding. I’m sure they think they’re just giving me space, and I appreciate the intention. But sometimes, it also feels like they’re not asking because they already know the answer.Sybil Rain is a bolter. That’s just who she is.
“Jamie is actually the one who called it off,” I say to Dani. “I did something stupid over our wedding weekend, and he couldn’t forgive me for it. So he cut me loose.”
“Something stupid?” Dani asks, and I can see wariness in her expression. Her lips have gone tight, and her eyes narrow. “As in… cheating?”
“No!” I say quickly. “Not like that at all. Maybe stupid is the wrong word. More, just… I handled myself all wrong.” Of all my many transgressions, at least I can say infidelity has never been one of them. I sigh and look up toward the beautiful blue-tiled ceiling, wondering how much of my baggage I want to spill to this bartender. “Essentially, I started not feeling well, and I guess I just got major cold feet and skipped town for a few days. I mean, it’s a little more complicated than that, butthat’s the gist. I came back in time for the wedding, but at that point, the damage was done.”
Dani gives me a sympathetic nod. “I’m sorry.”
I wave off her sympathy. “It’s fine. Anyway, what’s in the past is in the past. I just wish it wouldstaythere.”
“I still can’t believe you’re both here,” Dani says, shaking her head. “Truly, what are the chances?”
“Well,” I tell her, “it’s not that much of a coincidence since we both had airline vouchers that were about to expire. We were supposed to come here on our honeymoon last year.”
Dani looks like she wants to ask me another question, but a customer comes up to the bar, and she turns to start fixing them their drink.
“Sorry, I’ll get out of your hair,” I tell her, coming out from behind the bar. “Now I just need to find a new hiding spot. Is there anywhere at this resort where I can be sure not to run into him?”
Dani smiles as she pours rum into a cocktail shaker. “Listen, if you really want to avoid this guy, I can think of one place to go. Out to sea.”
I look at her to see if she’s joking.
“There’s a snorkel boat,” she explains. “I think the last trip heads out at 4:30 and it’s… 4:15 now. Want me to call down and have them hold you a spot?”
“That’s perfect.” I startle her by giving her a swift hug. “You’re a saint!” Then I race out of the bar toward the docks.
It isn’t until I’m hurrying across the white-sugar sand to the snorkeling shack that I wonder if I’ve been overhasty. Maybe instead of avoiding Jamie like the plague, I should just grin and bear it. We’re both adults. There’s no reason why wecan’t be cordial to each other. Talk, even, like Nikki suggested. But Jamie’s face from this morning—cold and distant—flashes through my mind, and I shut down any thoughts of cordiality with him. The past should stay in the past. That ship sailed and sank. There’s no point trying to salvage anything from the wreckage.
5
THE GUY MANNING THE SNORKEL SHACK IS STRAIGHT OUT OF AQUIKSILVERsurfing catalog. He’s all bronzed skin and windswept dark brown hair, and he looks like he’s about to lock the doors of the shed behind him.
“Sorry I’m late! Is there still room on the excursion?”
He returns my smile. “No worries. We were about to pull anchor, but Dani called down to let me know you were coming. I’m Mason, and I’ll be taking you out.”
“Dinner and dancing?” I say, but Mason just wrinkles his brow, clearly not picking up on my dumb joke. “Sorry, never mind. Um, so do I need equipment of some kind?”
I accept an armful of flippers and goggles from Mason and make my way toward the boat, a small, sleek catamaran bobbing in the low surf. Mason hops onto the boat deck after me, and I whip off the silk dress and roll it into a ball in my bag,then put on the gear and take the bench seat next to two older men holding hands. Across from us is a mom with her two teenage daughters. I smile at them, wondering what it’s like to actually get along with your mom at that age. I have a good relationship with my parents now, but as a teen, I was a nightmare, a square peg in a round hole. I couldn’t do anything right in their eyes, and we all knew it. Maybe if I’d had a sister, like these girls, it would have been better. Someone to throw them off the scent of disaster.
