Page 34 of The Other Plan

I caught the scolding look she shot to Evan before she moved it to me.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call you the pet name your boyfriend calls you. What’s the story behind that one? Don’t think I’ve heard sugar bottom before. Tell me, Jenna, what made him call you that?”

“I don’t think you want to hear about Evan and me,” she said softly.

“No, please! I know it was awkward at first, but you’ve got yourself one hell of a guy here, Jenna.” I reached up and pressed a hand to his shoulder. “Come on, I want to know more about you two. How you met, the first time you kissed... oh! Any wedding bells ringing for you soon?”

“Ring-ring!” Evan chimed and waggled his eyebrows at a panicked-looking Jenna. “You never know, right, schmoopiekins?”

She chuckled nervously. “Uh, yeah. Right. You never know.”

Jo looked positively devilish while she failed at hiding her mischievous smile.

For the next hour and a half, I enjoyed taking every pot shot I could at Jenna and her “boyfriend.” Evan fed into every snarky comment I made, and Jenna’s face erupted in a carousel of colors as she slunk lower and lower into her bar stool. It took everything I had in me not to blurt out that I knew Evan wasn’t her boyfriend, but I bit my tongue, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make my move.

After we finished the last round of bar dice, Valentina looked down at her empty drink. “Eric and I are crashing on the yacht tonight, so we don’t have to walk all the way back to the house in the dark. Who wants to come back and join us for a nightcap? We just got a forty-year-old bottle of Macallan as a wedding gift.”

Eric’s eyes widened, and he leaned over and whispered, “It’s like a twenty-thousand-dollar bottle of booze.”

“Holy shit. Count me in.” I glanced over to Jenna. “You guys coming?”

She shook her head and shot a staying look to Evan. “No. We can’t. Evan has to get up early, so it’s time we—”

“Pass up a trip to a yacht to sip on a bottle of whiskey that costs more than my car?” He blew out a puff of air. “Uh, yeah. We’re going, Pookie bear.”

“I really don’t think we should,” she said through gritted teeth. “You have that thing in the morning.”

“Ah, you only live once. Lead the way, Valentina.”

I caught Evan’s wink to me as we all closed out our bar tabs. Jo and Matt wanted to get back to their Family Guy marathon, so they bid us goodbye. When they left, Jo reached up and gave me a hug, whispering “good luck” into my ear before releasing me.

With the buzz from their booze adding a little pep to their step, Valentina and Eric led the way out the back door of the Bayside toward the docks just down the little alley street.

I walked beside Jenna and Evan, noting how they didn’t hold hands like a couple would—like I wanted to do with her. Instead, she crossed her arms tight across her chest and walked between us as we made our way down the docks to where the yacht rocked on the soft waves.

“Come aboard!” Eric gestured to us to follow him as Valentina went below deck.

We followed him to the lounge area on the stern, and all took our seats. Shortly after we sat, Valentina appeared with a tray full of small, stemmed whiskey glasses.

After we all had our glasses, she sat on Eric’s lap and led us in a toast. “To true love!”

My gaze flicked to Jenna, and I caught her look in exchange. We clinked our glasses together and took our sips, spending the next half hour swapping stories under the starry sky while drinking the best damn whiskey I’d ever had.

When our glasses were near empty, our conversation quieted as Valentina and Eric made out like high schoolers. This entire week they’d been all over each other, and it only made it more awkward sitting next to the girl I wished I could be kissing like that.

I cleared my throat, causing them to break apart their sloppy kiss.

Eric laughed as Valentina sucked the air through her teeth.

“Sorry,” she said as she wiped her lips. “We’re just really excited about getting married.”

“No need to apologize.” Jenna smiled. “This is one of the most special times in your life. Enjoy every second of it and of each other.”

“We’re being terrible hosts,” Eric said. “Let us go get you some more whiskey.”

When he said it, I saw the mischief light up in Valentina’s eyes. “Yeah. We’ll go get it together. We’ll be right back.”

She giggled as she jumped off his lap and pulled him up by his hand. They kissed their way across the deck and disappeared inside the yacht.