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“Snowbirds,” Gem said, folding a piece of paper with the resort’s logo that she took from the bedside table.
“It’s a compromise,” Bronte said. “You and Mike could do that too. Find a solution that makes you both happy.”
Sam plopped down in a chair, propping her feet on the bed. “I hate when you’re so logical.”
“I know,” Laney whined. “So annoying when your friends help you solve a problem. We’re the worst.”
“The absolute worst,” Gem agreed, revealing the paper crane she had made. “And now for our next act, we’ll play a game. Fuck, marry, kill. The bride is first. Chris Pine, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Cunningham. Go.”
They all oohed and aahed and laughed and drank for a few hours, first playing games and then talking about memories from college. When the boys finally arrived, breaking up their fun, Sam was still smiling as she leaned into Mike, holding on to his arm.
“You had a good time tonight,” he said, keeping her walking in a straight line.
“We always have a good time. Did you?”
“You were right. Chris wiped the floor with all of us.”
“He’s a cheat,” she said, and with her ear against his side, Sam felt rather than heard his laugh. “I told you. I don’t trust him.”
“He’s a good guy.”
She peered up at him through loose pieces of her hair, and he brushed them away. “He is a very good guy. So are you.”
“Yeah? I get the seal of approval from the girls?”
“Yep. Although I can’t tell you what they said. On pain of death.”
Mike opened the door to their room, leading her inside and straight to the bathroom, where he handed her a water and a couple Tylenol. “I don’t doubt it. I wouldn’t put it past Gem to murder anyone.”
Sam swallowed down the pills then grabbed her toothpaste and toothbrush. “She wouldn’t do the actual murder. She’d be the distraction. Laney would do the murdering. Bronte would be the cover story.”
“You guys have it all figured out already?”
She nodded, her mouth filled with foam.
“What about you? What would you do in this crime scenario?”
She spat into the sink. “Get rid of the body.”
He leaned on the counter, a hint of a smile curling his top lip. “How’d you figure that out? Draw straws or what?”
“Nope,” she said, before finishing up with brushing her teeth. “Even though Gem’s good for a verbal beating, she wouldn’t have it in her to really take anybody out, but she has no problem getting and keeping attention.” She swished some water around in her mouth then squirted face wash into her hands. “Bronte is the only one who could keep our story straight, and she’s so sweet, no one would believe she’s lying.” She proceeded to wash her face and dry it before meeting Mike’s charmed grin. “That leaves Laney and me for the dirty work, and since she looks the way she does, we figure she would be able to take the man by surprise. She could shove the knife into his side while he’s distracted by her beauty.”
“Why not you?” he asked, curving his hand over her shoulder. “You have been quite a distraction to me all summer.”
“You’re saying you think I’d be able to take you out.”
He spun her around and gently pushed her to the bed, where he stripped off her sundress. She hadn’t worn a bra underneath, and his eyes dropped below her face for barely a second before he picked up one of his T-shirts to put on her. Then he yanked the covers back on the bed and gestured for her to get in. When he had the sheets tucked all around her, he sat down next to her.
“You’ve already taken me out,” he said, gliding his knuckles down her cheek and across her jaw. “You killed me that first day at the picnic. When you hit me with those eyes of yours as you rambled nervously. And you dig the knife in a little deeper every time you take my hand and tell me a secret. Because even though you wear your emotions on your sleeve, you don’t speak your words out loud very often.”
Even in her rum-soaked brain, his words got through to her loud and clear, and while she desperately wanted to reply, confess everything she’d been feeling, she couldn’t. It all got stuck somewhere between her heart and her mouth, settling like pebbles in her throat, and she coughed.
“Hold on,” he said and got up from the bed to return with water.
She took it gratefully, yet she still couldn’t talk. At least not about everything inside her. “How come you manage to be so quiet and still say the most beautiful things?”
He kissed her cheek then stood up again. “I never thought about it before my brother pointed it out the other day.” He lifted his arms at his sides in awhat can you do?motion. “He said I only talk about the things that are most important to me. I didn’t realize that was true until recently.”
