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I glanced up when Swan approached with our cocktails. Smiling, I reached up and took the drink she’d held out.
“Thanks. What’s this one called?” We’d been trying different ones each night.
“Manhattan.” She sat on the lounge chair next to me at the pool’s edge.
We both took a sip. My nose screwed up, and I peered at Swan to see she’d had the same reaction. We laughed.
“Not my favourite,” Swan said.
“Mine neither.” Yet we wouldn’t waste it. It wasn’t the first drink we’d manage to finish when we didn’t like it. “I know I’ve said it before, but thank you for allowing me to tag along on your time away.”
“Maya, no offense to my family, but I’d rather have your company than theirs on a trip. There’s also the fact that the thought of going alone was overwhelming. If anything, you’re doing me a favour by coming. You know I love spending time with you.”
“Same.” Even with the three-year age difference, Swan and I had always gotten along. My phone chimed and I glanced down at my lap, seeing there was a new message from Texas.
See, he messaged you.
Swan hummed. “Just pointing it out, but you smile every time he texts.”
I scoffed. “I do not.”
“You do. It’s sweet and good to see you two finally talking.”
“Honestly, I wished I’d never let my crush get in the way. We’d have been friends from the start if I hadn’t.” At least I hoped so. I also wished Cody had gotten one of his other friends to be my first kiss. Then maybe I wouldn’t have turned into an obsessed fool who thought love could come from a first kiss. I wouldn’t have become annoyed and frustrated with Texas when he didn’t see me as anything but his friend’s sister.
“Do you still like him?” Swan asked.
Yeswas my instant thought. How could I not? The more I got to know him, the more there was to like.
I glanced off over the pool. “Yeah, but now I know my feelings aren’t, and never will be, reciprocated, and I’m… well, most of the time I’m okay with that. I like the friendship we’ve built.”
Looking back at Swan, I saw that her lips had thinned.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Swan, I know you, and you’re holding back about something. Is all this talk making you think of Lockland?” She’d been heartbroken when her best friend, who was now a singing superstar, had left town to further his career. However, he left before she even realised how deep her feelings went for him. How much she’d loved him. When she’d worked out what Lockland meant to her, she still said nothing, even when in the first couple of years they kept in contact. Not that she’d admit it, but she stayed silent because she didn’t want to be the person who could come between him and stardom. I expected she was afraid of being rejected.
She picked at some lint on her shorts. “No, it’s not that.”
“Then what?”
She bit her bottom lip, glanced at me, and then away. “I’m not sure if I should say anything.”
Sitting up, I planted my feet on the ground and placed my drink down. “Oh, now you have to tell me.”
She copied my position, and my stomach dipped when she took my hands in hers. “Does Texas mean a lot to you?”
Another dip to my belly, like it was on its own trip over a bumpy road.
Did Texas mean a lot to me?
Wait, why was she asking in the first place?
Her hands tightened around mine. “Maya?”
Right, Texas.
