Page 8 of Tequila Lime and Sunshine

“Not something you should be proud of.” I stand at the open balcony door, staring out at the beach. The sounds of the waves crashing calms me. I’ve always loved being at the beach. The family trips to the beach when I was younger are some of my favorite memories. Sometimes we went with the Wilsons, but most of the time, it was just my parents and me. We never stayed in super fancy hotels or bought tons of souvenirs, but I never needed anything like that. I just enjoyed being at the beach—building sand castles, jumping waves with my boogie board, and finding sea shells to take home. These memories prompted me to always add budget-friendly suggestions to every post on my blog. I want people to know that just because you don’t have a large travel budget doesn’t mean you can’t have a great vacation.

“Have you seen Holden recently?” Hawke’s voice interrupts my thoughts.

“Um. I think it’s been a while. We talk now and then, but not regularly. Have you?” I’d assume he sees his own brother more than I would, but I’m surprised when he simply shrugs.

“Not really. I couldn’t make it home for Christmas this year, so it’s been over a year since I’ve seen him.” He pauses. “Is it going to be weird seeing him with his new girlfriend?”

He sounds hesitant to ask me. And a little like the old Hawke. The one I looked up to and wanted to spend all my free time with. My friend.

I don’t know what comes over me, but I answer him honestly. “Maybe a little. But not because there are any lingering feelings or anything. Sometimes he feels like a stranger. Someone I used to know. Both of you feel like that.”

I take a sip of my drink, and before he can say anything else, I step outside and shut the sliding door behind me.

CHAPTER 5

Hawke

“You look surprisingly put together.” Coming from Summer, I’m going to take that as a compliment.

I’ve just stepped out of the bathroom, honoring rule number two of no nudity in the bedroom. I’ve seen a pissed-off Summer before, and I’d rather not deal with that on the first night.

We have a family dinner scheduled tonight. Holden and his girlfriend, Carly, are here and all checked in now, according to the text from my mom. So, we’re all meeting at the resort’s on-site Mexican restaurant for dinner as one big happy family. Just like the old days. Except it’ll be way more awkward.

Thankfully, the two weeks in Cancun aren’t completely booked with family activities. The parents want to do things on their own, which leaves the kids to do our own things too. It feels weird referring to myself as a kid when I’m twenty-seven years old, but I guess that’s what I am here.

“Thank you, Sunshine. You don’t look so bad yourself.” I wink at her, but she looks fucking stunning. She picked a yellow sundress for this evening, and her curls cascade over her shoulders. I’ve always loved her curly hair. Cute freckles are already visible along her nose from just a few hours on the balcony this afternoon. She looks like she belongs at the beach.

When we were younger, I always pictured her living at the beach. She loved being outside. She loved swimming. Our combined family trips are some of my favorite memories. I was more than a little confused when I found out she lived in the concrete jungle of New York.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” she sighs, grabbing her purse. I can’t blame her for not being excited about this.

We make our way down to the lobby in silence. She keeps her eyes straight ahead, but I can’t stop myself from stealing glances at her. I religiously follow her Instagram page, so it’s not like I haven’t seen her recently. But seeing her in person is a whole other level. Her dress hugs every single curve she has. It makes me wonder if she picked this to make Holden a little jealous. I know he was the one who initiated their breakup all those years ago. He confided in me how terrible he felt about hurting her, but he felt like they both wanted different things. I suspected Holden wanted to settle down with a steady career, get married, and have a house. She wanted to travel the world and be a nomad. For the life of me, I never understood why he would give up the most beautiful girl in the world and an opportunity to see the world all to work a boring nine-to-five desk job. But to each their own, I guess.

It looks like we’re the last to arrive at the restaurant, our families already gathered and chatting. Holden spots me first, and we immediately go in for the bro hug. I’ve missed the hell out of my little brother, especially since we used to be best friends. I’d still consider him my best friend, but we don’t talk as much as we used to. We text during the week and usually have one catch-up phone call a month, but it never feels like enough.

We pull away, and his eyes immediately move to Summer at my side. His smile grows even wider as he goes to hug her. A tiny spark of jealousy I felt all those years ago flares up again, but I quickly brush it off. It’s just a hug. Holden has moved on with the cute blonde standing awkwardly behind him while he hugs his ex-girlfriend. Feeling bad for the girl, I step around Holden and Summer and introduce myself.

“You must be Carly. I’m Hawke. I’ve heard a lot about you.” She shakes my hand and smiles politely even though I know she wants to keep her eyes on Holden, who still hasn’t let go of Summer yet. I can only assume that Holden warned her his ex-girlfriend would be here.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

I step back and elbow Holden in the ribs to get him to let go of Summer and focus on his girlfriend. He seems to understand as he brings Carly to his side.

“Summer, this is Carly. Carly, Summer.” They exchange niceties, but I can tell Carly is sizing Summer up to see if she’s competition. In my eyes, no one can compete with Summer, but I won’t tell that to this poor girl. So I let her make her judgments while Summer looks completely oblivious. She’s looking over Holden’s shoulder into the restaurant, clearly ready to move the night along.

“Are we ready for margaritas or what?” she asks.

Our parents laugh, and we move into the restaurant. Without thinking about it, my hand falls to Summer’s lower back as I walk next to her. To my complete surprise, she doesn’t tell me to back the fuck off. In fact, she seems to willingly stand a little closer to me. I’m not sure if it’s from seeing Holden with his new girlfriend or what, but I’ll take whatever attention I can get from Summer, as pathetic as that sounds.

We gather around a long table in the corner of the dimmed restaurant. The last two open seats left are side by side at the end of the table.

She looks at me with those beautiful blue eyes, and I just smile and shrug. I didn’t plan on sitting next to her, but I’m not mad it’s happening.

Holden pulls out the chair next to him and looks at Summer. The gesture might be simple and nothing outlandish, but that good ol’ jealousy from earlier comes crawling back up. Summer hesitates for a moment before taking the seat, and I sit next to her. We’ve had many meals with Summer sitting between us like this, but it feels different now. First of all, we’re adults, and second, the history between Holden and Summer hovers in the air.

Or maybe I’m the only one feeling it. No one else seems to pay attention. On the other side of Holden, Carly is talking to my mom. Holden talks about something financial with Dad; I never got into stocks and all that, so I have nothing to contribute to that discussion. Denise and Rob have their heads buried in their menus, and Summer is perusing the cocktail menu. It seems like we’re all going with the ignore-the-elephant-in-the-room plan. Fine by me.

I let my shoulders relax and pick up my menu as conversations continue around the table.