“It’s not an excuse,” his voice softens. “I really think I just panicked. The way her friends were looking at me started making me feel self-conscious. I know me being here is going to make people talk, and for a second, I started wondering if that’s how everyone saw me. The bitter ex. The guy who’s still single because he never got over her. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it got in my head.”
My expression softens despite myself. “I totally get that. Trust me, I do. I know what it’s like being on the receiving end of things like this, but you could have asked me first before you volunteered me for the role of your girlfriend.”
“I didn’t have time. It’s not like I walked into this with a plan. It happened so fast.”
“I know, I was there,” I reply sarcastically.
“I’m going to fix this,” Othello promises. “I’ll take the embarrassment and whatever comes with it. Just don’t write me off. The cold shoulder you’re giving me is brutal. I don’t think I can take any more of that.”
I nod by default, my head still humming and my stomach uneasy in a way that has nothing to do with the alcohol. I don’t know how to respond when a man takes accountability and apologizes. It isn’t something I’m used to.
“I won’t write you off. But you’re definitely on probation.”
To this, he laughs.
“And I appreciate your apology. But how exactly do you plan on fixing this? This isn’t a good look. Especially with you trying to reconnect with your cousin. Now you’ll have to tell him you lied to Carina about having a girlfriend.”
He pauses. “I’ll figure it out. I’ll just tell them work has you busy and you can’t slip away.”
Work?
Ah, yes, of course. Work. My team. The story.The one Lo and the rest of the magazine insisted we should feature.
A chuckle of disbelief slips out of me. Because of course it would bethiswedding. I should have known. Every crazy thing that could happen on this vacation has happened so far. Too perfectly chaotic to be a coincidence. And now this. The infamous wedding. And somehow I’ve walked straight into it. But that didn’t mean I’d be granted access either.
“The wheels in your head are in overdrive,” Othello says, looking at me.
He’s right. The wheels are turning fast, and the fact that he knows I’m in overthinking mode makes me feel exposed but seen. Like he knows me or something.
“I’m just trying to process the last hour,” I tell him. “This vacation is off to a very strange start.”
Beneath the shock and confusion, I can’t help thinking of what an exclusive like this would do forMod.
“I agree, it’s been a crazy day. More for you than me,” he says. “Hopefully everything on your vacation agenda will go a lot smoother.”
“My vacation agenda?” I narrow my eyes at him. “I mean, if that’s what you want to call it. And you can make fun of it all you want, but I didn’t come to Maui for drama.”
“I’m already knowin’. And that’s on me. I’m embarrassed by all this, for real.Reallyembarrassed.”
“Don’t be.”
“I can’t help it.” He exhales, slow and heavy. “Things between us have been so good today. And then I fuck it up with that lie. Now I have you back on the fence again. I don’t want you keeping your distance from me.”
“Kinda hard to keep my distance when we’re shacked up in a room together.”
“You’re being funny. But I’m being for real. I don’t want us to lose that vibe.”
A warmth flickers in my chest, because yes, I’d felt whatever that was, too. But exactly what was that?
A moment?
A spark?
Or a possibility I shouldn’t be entertaining?
14
early bird
