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‘Okay, I guess you’re right.’ He pulled his smartphone from the pocket of the dark linen trousers he’d donned for the occasion and checked the time. ‘The ceremony’s in thirty minutes. Josie will murder me if I’m late.’
He escorted her down the steps to the beach, as if he were handling an unexploded bomb. But as they passed his beach hut, then walked together the mile along the sand towards The Rum Runner, retracing the steps they’d taken on their first night together, he threaded his fingers through hers.
Fairy lights strung through the palm trees twinkled in the distance as the strains of music and merriment drifted towards them on the breeze. Her heart lifted at the romantic sight.
No wonder she’d fallen for Coop so fast. He was such a good man, in so many ways. Easygoing, affable, charming, energetic and always striving to do his best. Unlike Randall. But she knew he also had a host of insecurities, which he worked hard to keep hidden. Maybe his attempts to keep things casual didn’t come from a lack of feeling? Perhaps he just needed a little more time? She could stay a few more days before booking her flight home.
After all, she hadn’t even told him yet that her feelings had deepened, intensified. Maybe if she did...?
‘I’ve been dreading this damn wedding ever since Josie told me about it four months ago,’ he murmured, interrupting her thoughts.
‘Why?’ she asked, sensing his nervousness, and able at last to let go of her own. Surely meeting his friends didn’t have to be bad.
‘At first, I thought it was because she’s still just a kid,’ he said, his gaze fixed on the wedding party in the distance. ‘But now I think it’s the thought of promising to be with someone for the rest of your life. It spooked me. Why would anyone want to do that?’
She followed the direction of his gaze to see the beautiful young woman she’d met at his hut four months ago in the middle of the crowd of people on the beach. Her long-limbed frame was displayed to perfection in a short ivory satin gown, and her face glowed with love and excitement.
‘Because they love each other? And they want to be together?’ she heard herself say, willing him to believe it. ‘It’s not hard to make a promise to love someone if they love you in return.’
‘Do you really believe that?’ He glanced down at her, the look on his face remote in the fading light. ‘After the number that Randall guy did on you?’
She flinched at the statement. She could have said that she had never truly loved Randall, that what she’d felt for him had been infatuation, a pale imitation of what she already felt for Coop. But the cynicism in his voice was like a body blow and she hesitated.
‘Come on.’ He squeezed her hand, and began to walk. ‘Let’s get this over with, then we can go home and do something much more interesting.’
But as he drew her towards the party the red glow of dusk and the twinkle of fairy lights didn’t seem quite so romantic any more.
* * *
‘So she came back?’
Coop looked up from the plate he’d been piling high with Henry’s famous goat curry, to find Josie, her face radiant with love, grinning at him.
‘Hey, kid. Congratulations.’ He scooped her up with his free arm as she giggled and kissed his cheek. ‘You look amazing,’ he said as he put her down again, and she did him a twirl.
‘Old enough to be getting hitched?’
‘All right, you’ve got me there,’ he admitted.
The ceremony had been several hours ago, and somehow watching her and Taylor standing together before the minister, with Ella gripping his hand to stop his fingers shaking, hadn’t been as bad as he’d thought. In fact, it had been kind of touching.
Or it would have been, if listening to the wedding vows hadn’t made him feel like such a jerk, for taking out his frustration on Ell
a when they’d been walking along the beach. He didn’t know what the hell had got into him, mentioning that guy she’d dated, especially after that dumb argument they’d had back at the house.
He shouldn’t have tried to jump her like that, but the truth was he’d been feeling edgy and tense for days now, ever since she’d started talking about booking a flight home, and the only time that feeling went away now was when they were making love.
‘So where’s Mr Josie?’ he asked Josie, stifling his impatience to get back to Ella.
He needed to chill out about her. He’d left her with Sonny and Rhona less then twenty minutes ago; she’d be good with them for a while. Sure, she’d been more subdued than usual tonight, but she was probably just tired—the kid had been restless last night and she hadn’t been able to get comfortable. Once he’d got her something to eat he’d take her home and make slow, lazy love to her. And everything would be okay again.
‘Taylor’s over with his buddies,’ Josie said wryly. ‘Boasting about the swordfish he landed last week.’
‘Damn, you already sound like an old married couple.’ Coop chuckled.
‘That’s the general idea.’ She smiled. ‘Talking of couples, why didn’t you tell anyone Ella was visiting?’ Josie observed, wiping the easy smile off his face.
He turned back to the buffet, the direct question unsettling him. ‘Maybe I didn’t want anyone bothering us,’ he said, trying to inject some humour into his tone, but not quite pulling it off.
