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“It didn’t cross your mind? It was all I could think about,” Margot declared.
“And boy was I glad for that,” Simon added, a smugness in his tone.
“Same here with Thea,” Colt announced. “I actually can’t wait for it to happen.”
My head shifted back and forth, my attention moving between my friends and my wife. “Can someone fill me in?”
“I didn’t bring it up, because I figured there was time,” Kiera explained. “I didn’t know everyone was going to be discussing it last night.”
“Discussing what?” I pressed, growing more and more impatient.
“Next year’s trip,” Gage revealed.
“Trip?”
“The girls were discussing it yesterday while we were out fishing,” Simon explained. “They came up with a great idea for us to all do this again next year. It doesn’t have to be here, but they want to take a yearly couples’ trip together.”
Any of the confusion I felt instantly evaporated. I knew precisely the reason why Kiera hadn’t said anything. She knew we wouldn’t be together at this time next year, so there was no point in even mentioning it to me.
Damn.
I’d fucked up so badly.
A yearly trip with our friends would have been the least of the things I should have been doing with Kiera. Working the way the both of us had for years, money wasn’t a concern. We should have already been taking two or three trips a year. Even if we hadn’t done anything extravagant, the bottom line is that I should have been making the time to do things with her. At least if I had done that, I might not have been oblivious walking into this conversation today, and Kiera and I could have both been excited about where we’d go next year and all the fun we’d have with one another.
“That’s a great idea,” I said.
“Isn’t it?” Talia bubbled. “Zac and I are going to make it part of our anniversary gift to each other every year. We’ll have fun with everyone as a group, and we’ll still all be able to go off and do our own things as individual couples, too. We just have to decide where we want to go.”
Zac let out a laugh. “How about we get through the wedding this weekend and our honeymoon first? Once we’re back, we can start discussing locations and dates,” he advised.
“That works for us,” Saylor said.
“Yeah. Totally,” Thea added. “Let’s just enjoy the wedding festivities this weekend.”
“Are you two ready? There’s just two days left before you join the ranks of married couples,” Colt said.
Just like that, the conversation shifted to Zac and Talia’s wedding, and the pressure was off of Kiera and me. I didn’t immediately do it, because I didn’t want anyone to catch on to it, but I eventually glanced over at Kiera.
The look on her face broke my heart.
Nobody else would have noticed it, but I did. Because I’d had years of learning and memorizing her expressions. And while this wasn’t one I’d often seen, I still knew what it meant. She was devastated, hurt, and battling with her emotions.
I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. So, I reached my hand out toward her and settled it on top of her hand. I gave her a reassuring squeeze, wanting her to know that somehow, one way or another, we’d find a way to get through this.
My gesture didn’t help. Kiera had to turn her face away from our friends as a tear rolled down her cheek. She didn’t need comfort now. She needed a distraction.
With that, before anyone noticed the turmoil she was in, I stood, ran toward the edge of the pool, doing it while I shouted, “Who’s ready to get wet?”
Since we were the only ones at the pool, I jumped in, creating the biggest splash I could muster up, and got everyone wet. At least if everyone was wet, nobody would know that there were tears on Kiera’s face.
As the girls yelled out because they’d gotten wet, the guys followed suit and did the same as me.
Except for Gage. He lifted Saylor in his arms and carried her with him as he ran and jumped into the pool with her.
The rest of the guys didn’t hesitate to do the same.
Crisis averted.
