“See? I’m even a sucky fake girlfriend.”
Mack sat up and reached for her bag, but Kayla wasn’t going to let her storm off and believe that nonsense. She put on the same voice she used when she had to scold the dogs. “Hey, stop that. Let’s not forget that you’re here, being my fake girlfriend because I was such a sucky girlfriend that the love of my life left me without a backward glance.”
Mack gave her a crooked smile that only made her look more like a neglected Golden Retriever. Did she have to be so cute when she brooded? “You’re sweet, LaLa, but there’s only room for one at this pity party. At least you have the love of your life. Meanwhile, here I am, thirty-seven years old with nothing but a string of half-hearted disaster relationships behind me and zero prospects in front of me.”
Kayla’s hand went numb where it held on to Mack’s arm, and her stomach sank. Mack was by far the best human being she had ever known. Sure, she threw herself into work, but ambition was sexy, and Kayla had never had any trouble getting Mack’s time or attention when she needed it. These women were just needy and didn’t know what they had. Now, if only she could get Mack to see that.
Kayla said, “You know what? We’re both being ridiculous. Here we are, sitting at this gorgeous pool overlooking a pristine beach and the most beautifully clear ocean I’ve ever seen, but we aren’t even enjoying it because we’re feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Mack shrugged. “Yeah. We are.”
“Well, that’s dumb.”
“Okay, well, how do we shake this?”
A dollop of mischievousness coursed through Kayla, and she hopped to her feet. Holding out her hand, she said, “For starters, we’re going over to the swim-up bar, and we’re both getting the signature drink of the day.”
Mack grimaced. “It has bananas in it.”
“Gross. Okay. New plan. We’re going to the swim up bar and we’re getting two margaritas with so much tequila it should be classified as a weapon of mass destruction.”
Mack hesitated for a moment. Was she going to give in to the sadness? If she did, this would be a long afternoon, and Kayla couldn’t stand the thought of her being down for so long. Then Mack smiled widely, like the goofy teenager who had gotten into all sorts of trouble with her. She slid her hand into Kayla’s and allowed herself to be pulled up and over to the water’s edge.
Chapter Thirteen
Kayla leaned heavily onher elbow, the sun like a warm blanket on her back, while her lower half was pleasantly chilled by the pool lapping at her stomach. The surface of the bar was poured concrete, worn smooth by hundreds of former guests leaning on it just like Kayla was today. Somehow, that thought soothed her. She was a tipsy speck in the vast cosmos that was resort life.
More important than Kayla’s relaxation, and the cause of her extreme contentment at the moment, was Mack’s relaxation. Mack spent so much of her life as a coiled spring, holding everyone else together and constantly at work. She tracked easily from boardrooms to client meetings to workouts. Her body carried a constant low-level tension. Kayla was pretty sure that she treated sleep most nights as a task to accomplish as efficiently as possible rather than a chance to rest her body and mind.
But that Mack and this Mack were as far apart as could be. Her shoulders rode low, and her smile was easy and wide. Her eyes sparkled with a joy for life that the corporate world tried to dim. She looked like the best friend Kayla remembered from her youth, and it warmed her more effectively than the tropical sun to see that girl within this woman. It was enough that right here, right now, spreadsheets and seduction plans could be forgotten, and they could just have fun.
Mack raised her plastic cup in salute. “Excellent margarita, my friend. Thank you.”
Their bartender, an older Black man with kind eyes and skin chiseled like aged wood, accepted her praise with a warm smile before moving on to the next guest. Mack leaned back against the concrete bar and let her legs float in the water in front of her. She took a sip, then leaned her head back so far that her straw fedora nearly tumbled onto the bar.
Apparently, Mack could feel eyes on her, because she opened one eye a fraction and squinted Kayla’s way. “What?”
Kayla waved a finger up and down, indicating Mack’s body slightly adrift in the lazily moving water. “This looks good on you.”
“Huh?”
“You look happy.”
Even as the words left Kayla’s mouth, they sent a pulse of bittersweetness through her veins. Seeing Mack happy made her happy. It was the one thing in her life that had always been guaranteed to lift her spirits. The bitterness came from the rarity of that sight these days. Was Mack happy less often, or was she just not around to see it much?
Mack’s voice was soft, and she looked directly into Kayla’s eyes. “I am happy.”
The intensity of their stare blurred the rest of the world out for a moment. Kayla looked down at her empty cup to centerherself. Stupid tequila always made her wistful and weepy. But Mack would laugh at her for being so emotional over her happy best friend, so she played it off.
Instead, Kayla set down her cup, letting the slight current from someone cannonballing into the far end of the pool float her toward her best friend. “Let’s keep it that way. Today is all about Mack. What do you want to do with it? I’ll go anywhere you say.”
Lifting Mack’s cup out of her hand, Kayla used it to indicate their surroundings before taking a sip. Mack gave her a disgruntled look and gently lifted her drink back out of Kayla’s hand. “Today is all about me, huh? What about the Plan of Seduction?”
Kayla cringed internally, but made sure it didn’t show on her face. “Skye is nowhere to be seen, and you haven’t been this chill since senior year when you threw your back out and the doctor gave you that muscle relaxer. I’ll take advantage of the favorable wind for now.”
“I would argue, but I think you’re right. There is something about St. Lucia that makes me lazy enough to lounge by the pool.”
She gave Kayla a wink and stood up from her stool, stretching in the sun like a contented cat. It warmed Kayla’s heart to see. At least one of her missions for the week was going perfectly.
