Anxiety bubbled up in Kayla’s chest, making it hard to breathe. A ringing started in her ears. “It’s raining!”
“They said it would. What’s her name told us the day we got here.”
Kayla whipped around. Mack was still lying in bed, propped up on one elbow. Her hair was tousled, and her eyelids still drooped. It was obvious she wanted nothing more than to curl up back under the covers and sleep. She was adorable and more than a little sexy, but Kayla didn’t have space for that to sink in, just yet.
Kayla said, “No, they made it sound like it was going to drizzle. Does this look like a drizzle to you?”
She waved her arm at the wall of glass behind her. Huge raindrops bounced off every flat surface, spraying mini showers of their own in every direction. There was a massive standing puddle near the outdoor soaking tub and a positive torrent bouncing down the string of bronze cups under the gutter. The gray sky was so dark it could be black, and the storm clouds stretched far out into the ocean. This was a storm that would not end any time soon.
“I don’t think they said anything about a drizzle. She said they weren’t booking weddings. I took that to mean it would be real rain.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?”
Mack scratched her head, tousling her hair even further. “Um, because you heard it, too. What’s going on, LaLa?”
“What’s going on?” Kayla’s heart rate went through the roof, and she started pacing, hoping to burn off some of the panic surging through her. When that didn’t work, she ran her hands through her hair obsessively. Pulling out every strand seemed like a reasonable course of action. “What’s going on is rain. Buckets and buckets of it.”
“Yeah, I think we’ve established that.”
“And I can’t work the Plan of Seduction during a freaking hurricane.”
“I hardly think hurricane—”
Kayla cut her off. “I was getting so close. Yesterday was like a breakthrough. I had her right where I wanted her and then, bam, I wake up this morning to this.”
Mack finally recognized how upset she was and jumped out of bed, padding over to Kayla and putting a hand on her shoulder. Kayla almost melted into her, but then she opened her big mouth. “Hey, look, everything is going to be fine.”
Kayla’s snapped words came out in a rush and all blended together. “It will not be fine.”
“Whoa. Let’s take a deep breath, okay?”
Kayla closed her eyes and did as she was told. To her utter annoyance, it actually helped. A little. “Dr. Wife Stealer splurged on a villa, Mack.”
“Amy.”
“Don’t correct me.” Kayla sighed and explained, “The villas have a dining room. That means they can take their meals inside and don’t even have to leave their room.”
Even as she spoke, Kayla heard the rattling engine of one of the many golf carts that butlers used to shuttle guests and food. She whipped around and saw, as she suspected, a butler in a raincoat pulling up outside a villa loaded down with trays of foodprotected from the weather by cloches. Kayla felt rather than heard the sob escape her body.
Mack grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, leaning down so they were eye to eye. “Okay, listen to me. Remember when you were sixteen, and you went to your first tournament with the Youth National Team?”
“Yeah, of course. The one in Oklahoma. Why are we talking about this now?”
“Right. It was a Youth World Cup qualifying tournament, so it was really important.”
Kayla knew all of this. Why was Mack talking to her about stuff from decades ago when her world was falling apart now? “So what?”
“You had a really hard group. You said there was no way you’d win the tournament.”
Kayla sighed. “Well, yeah. We were in a group with Brazil, Costa Rica, and Colombia. We were totally screwed.”
“Exactly. You were freaking out about it for weeks ahead of the tournament. Do you remember what I told you then?”
“You told me to take a chill pill, but in your defense, it was 2005, and people actually said that then.”
Mack laughed, and the sound loosened some of the knots in Kayla’s chest. Mack was really cute when she laughed. She almost managed a smile. Mack said, “And did you take a chill pill?”
“Of course not. Opening match, I got into a battle near the goal for the ball, got elbowed in the head, and ended up with a concussion.”
