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“What up, sis?” she said with a big smile as her face appeared on my screen. “How are the Paradise Isles? Is it amazing? Gah! I’m so jealous. I’ve always wanted to go there. Which isle are you on again? Palm Isle? Or is it Turtle Isle? There’s like, sixteen, right?”
As she fired off questions, my lower lip began to quiver. A tear I hadn’t even noticed forming burned a fiery trail down my cheek.
“Whoa,” she said quickly, her face filling up the entire screen as she leaned closer. Her green eyes, the same color as mine, filled with worry. “What’s going on?”
“He ... he’s married, Iris,” I finally managed to squeak out.
“What? Who’s married?” The towel holding her hair on her head slipped, and she pushed it back up.
“Jimmy. Jimmy is married.”
Her mouth formed an “O” as she froze on my screen. For a second, I thought I had loading problems, but finally, she spat out, “Holy shitballs. No freaking way! He’smarried?Likemarriedmarried? What? How? I—I don’t—married?”
I nodded along, another tear chasing the trail of the last one. “Yep. Married. His wife just showed up here at the bar and busted him out.”
“No!” Her mouth stayed in that perfect “O” again.
“Yep. Right here at this bar just a few minutes ago she appeared, reamed him out, and he raced off after her.”
“Holy shit,” she breathed. “Wait. He left after her? He just left you there at the bar? Alone? Oh my God, Ivy! I’m so sorry, honey!”
Memories of the interaction crashed back into my mind, and I wanted to curl up into a ball under the bar. “I don’t even know what to do right now. I’m just frozen here trying to process this. I’m so freaking confused.”
“I bet! Like, I can’t even imagine! Wait ... you’re still at the bar?” She looked around on the screen, and I nodded. “Oh! Hold me up.”
“What?” I furrowed my brow.
“Hold me up! And turn me around.”
I did as she said and spun my phone around. A second later, I heard her yelling, “Bartender! Hey! Bartender!”
He started walking over and tipped his head as he looked at my phone.
“Hey! I’m Iris, Ivy’s sister.”
He looked at me, then the phone. “Ivy and Iris?”
She laughed. “I know. Our mom loved to garden. Just glad she didn’t call me Petunia, as she originally wanted to.” She pulled a face. “Yuck. Anyway, what’s your name?”
He lifted his hand and waved. “I’m Alec. Nice to meet you, Iris.”
“Oh, you’re cute!” she said as he got closer.
“Iris!” I scolded, quickly spinning my phone around.
“What? He is.” She shrugged, her plush bathrobe falling off her shoulder with the movement.
I looked up at the inarguably handsome bartender with the pretty blue eyes and chiseled jaw and grimaced. “Sorry, she just says whatever pops into her head.”
He smiled widely. “No apologies needed. I appreciate the compliment.”
“Turn me around again,” she demanded, spinning her finger in the air to motion me to do as she asked.
With a sigh, I obliged.
“Okay, Alec, my big sister is going through some serious shit right now.”
“Yeah. I kinda saw.” He sucked the air through his teeth.
