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"Don't wait too long. I waited too long for somebody once, and I lost him. Don't be me." She laughs a little, but I can sense the sadness behind her words.
"Tell me about you. What are you doing out here all by yourself?"
"Oh, Lord, how much time do you have?" Lucy laughs. "Here's the thing. My nickname is Lucky because I win things."
“What do you mean you win things? Like the lottery?"
“I don't tend to buy lottery tickets, but yeah, sometimes I win small amounts in the lottery. No, it's like when I enter a contest, the odds are high that I'll win like I won this vacation here."
"You what?" I look at her in surprise.
"I won this couple's vacation. And like you, I had a boyfriend, but he dumped me a few months ago, and I couldn't reschedule the ticket. And this contest was supposed to be a couple's vacation, so they expected two people to show up. My best friend couldn’t get the time off work, so I ended up bringing her brother, who I kind of low-level hate."
I chuckle as I listen to Lucky tell me all this. It’s similar to my situation because we're both here with people we didn't expect to share this experience with. It's funny in a cosmic way.
"It is funny, isn't it? It feels very ‘be careful what you wish for,"Lucy grins.
"What are you going to do?"
“I don't know. It's weird. We've got this suite with two beds, so at least we don't have to sleep together."
"Consider yourself lucky. Unlike you, Henry and I are in the same room, and we only have one bed."
"Oh, girl, that's going to get dangerous."
I nod, thinking it's already dangerous.
"We've mostly avoided each other, but we eat dinner together. I'm not sure what he's done these first couple of days. It's strange because I don't feel like I'm on vacation. I'm in this beautiful place with an aggravating guy, and I can’t fully relax. I'm starting to wonder if I should’ve canceled it and given up this prize, but I needed a vacation. So here I am."
"We'll have to compare notes when our vacations are over," I say, feeling a kinship with Lucy.
"Hey, Edie, there you are."
I turn to see Henry coming toward us.
“Is that him? Hubba hubba!”Lucy whispers.
“Yeah.” My heart lurches as I wave at Henry. Despite everything, I’m happy to see him. I know I need to talk to him, but I have no idea how I’m going to handle this. I guess I’ll figure it out as I go.
"You go on. We'll catch up another time. Give me your number, and I’ll text you mine. Let’s keep in touch – I want to hear how it goes with your hunk."
I grin as we swap info, and Lucy hugs me before she continues on the walk I interrupted.
"Who was that?" Henry asks as we walk back to the resort.
"Just someone I met and started chatting to. She's pretty cool. I had a wardrobe malfunction, and she saved me from embarrassing myself.”
“That’s cool. Everything okay? I expected to find you with Annie and the others, but Annie said you were in a mood and went off on your own. That’s not like you.”
“I’m...” I pause. I know I need to talk to him, but my nerves take over, and I chicken out. I’ve never been good at having the hard conversations, and this has me scared. I can’t tell Henry I think I’m in love with him because what if I’ve misread everything and he doesn’t feel the same way? Wouldn’t he have asked me out ages ago if he was interested in me like that?
I’m not just scared of losing Henry, I’m scared of how deeply I feel for him. Through everything with my breakup, Henry has just been there for me. It’s not like he hasn’t been in the past, but it’s different this time. It’s like the lights suddenly turning on. I want someone like Henry. No, not like him.
I want Henry.
My heart has been tugging me to take a chance on him because he’s always flirted with me, but I’m scared to lose our friendship. Waking up with him this morning was a glimpse of what it would be like if he was my partner.
“DUDE! We need you back! Sorry, sweetheart, but I gotta take Henry.”
A hulking guy, who I vaguely remember seeing last night at the bar, doesn’t wait for a response and pulls Henry with enough force he starts running, too.
“Sorry!” Henry yells. His mouth moves as he yells something else, but it’s lost in the wind.
