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“Wait for me, Sarah! I’ll come with you.” I try to extricate myself gracefully from my innertube, but wind up inelegantly capsizing. When I come back up, Sarah is cracking up.
“The Colombiana judge gives you a ten out of ten,” she quips when I reach her on the steps of the lazy river.
“It takes a lifetime of training to be able to do that,” I retort.
Laughing together, we head to a nearby restroom and then to a bar by the main pool for another fruity drink, which is when we notice Josh’s personal assistant, Theresa Rodriguez—T-Rod—sunbathing alone on a lounge chair.
“Hey, Tessa,” Sarah says as we approach her. Sarah gestures to two loungers next to T-Rod’s. “Are these open?” T-Rod says they are, and we make ourselves comfortable. Sarah says, “We were taking a bathroom break from floating around the lazy river and saw you lying here all alone.”
“Oh, I’m just hanging out, watching the dolphin show.” Theresa motions to the large swimming pool in front of us, where all four of Kat’s hunky brothers, plus their good friend, Zander, a muscular Black man with an infectious smile, are presently splashing around with a cute little girl. We watch the group for a moment and laugh when their game becomes clear: the little girl is a dolphin trainer and the Morgan brothers, plus Zander, are her pod of eager—and hot as fuck—dolphins performing tricks at her adorable command.
“Who’s the little girl?” Sarah asks.
“Coco,” Theresa says. “One of the Morgan cousins just married her dad.”
“Aw,” I say. “Those boys are so sweet to make Coco feel so included.”
“The Morgan boys are all really sweet like that,” Sarah says, and Theresa nods her agreement.
“Their momma must have taught them well,” I say. I’m thinking about Henn’s sweet mother, Carol, and how well she’s taught her son to be kind and gentle and thoughtful. Surely, if Henn had a cute little step-cousin-in-law who’d recently joined his family, he’d treat her with the same kindness these Morgans are showing Coco.
For several minutes, the three of us watch the dolphin show, commenting and laughing about this or that “trick,” as well as Coco’s infectious squeak of a voice. But when godlike Ryan Morgan places Coco on the ledge of the pool and coaxes her to jump into his opened, muscular, tattooed arms, we all simultaneously stop talking and gasp at the swoony sight.
“Oh my God, that was hot,” I blurt. “Muscles and tattoos and pierced nipples and a leaping, laughing little girl? Jesus God, I suddenly want to grab Henn and drag him to our room.”
Sarah snickers. “I used to have the biggest crush on Ryan.”
I flash Sarah a Scooby Doo “Bah-woo?” face, and she chuckles and shrugs. “Ryan’s gorgeous.”
No lie detected there. I return my gaze to the pool, where the hunky Morgan brothers are now throwing their tiny dolphin trainer to and fro like a beach ball, and ask, “How the heck did you pick just one Morgan brother to have a crush on? They’re all freaks of nature, just like Kat. Freaks, freaks, freaks. It’s not fair how much hotness is contained within one family. I feel like I’m watching that volleyball scene from Top Gun, only way better.” After the other two women agree with my assessment, I ask Sarah, “Does Ryan know about your old crush on him?”
“Hellz no,” Sarah replies. “I never said a word. I did tell Kat about it at the time and asked her to find out if maybe he was interested in taking me out, but she refused.”
“Why?” I ask, astonished. It’s not the reaction I’d expect from Kat, considering how much she loves both Sarah and matchmaking.
Sarah rolls her eyes. “Kat said Ryan would break my heart and then it would be weird at birthday parties and stuff.” She explains in further detail, concluding with, “Imagine how weird it’d be now if we had gone out.”
“Plus, think about the butterfly effect,” I reply. “What if dating Ryan back then would have somehow kept you from meeting Jonas when you did.”
“I shudder to think about it,” Sarah says. “Nowadays, Ryan feels like a brother to me—the same as Josh or Henn. He’s objectively gorgeous, of course—I mean, just look at him—but the minute I met Jonas, I instantly knew the difference between having a crush on a guy, even a massive one, and meeting the true love of my life. Once you’ve finally experienced true love, there’s just no comparison.”
At Sarah’s words, my heart floods with love for Henn—with certainty that he’s the love of my life. My soulmate. In fact, I’m suddenly realizing I’m ready for Henn to ask me to marry him when we get home. We wouldn’t have to have a whirlwind engagement like Jonas and Sarah and Kat and Josh did, and we don’t need to live together to be engaged. So, why wait?
