"The last you told me, the wedding was canceled. What happened there?"

  "Yeah. Brittney canceled the wedding... but Eric went on the trip anyway."

  Beth's eyes got wide and a grin spread across her face. "Well, well, well. Get you out of Hickory Hollow and all sorts of exciting things happen, huh?"

  "Stop. It's not like that ."

  "Okay, so what's it like?"

  Her mind conjured up an endless parade of images of Eric contradicting her insistence that it wasn't like that. "Well... I did end up spending most of the trip with Eric. They had all these non-refundable excursions booked, and I hadn't booked any, so we went together. Not together together."

  "Mmm. Okay. Sounds fun. What kind of excursions?"

  "We did a dolphin encounter and rode horses in the ocean and went to see some Mayan ruins, and some other stuff."

  "I can't wait to see the pictures. So... nothing romantic went on?"

  Butterflies roared to life in Megan's belly, just thinking about Eric's kiss before he left the ship. "Well. I mean, um..."

  Beth was grinning. "Did you kiss him?"

  "No." Technically, he kissed her. "Okay. Sort of. Once. It was right when he was getting off the ship and we hugged and then he kissed me. I feel horrible."

  "Why? Was it bad? All tongue and slobber? Ick."

  Megan had to laugh. "No! The kiss was perfect. I feel bad because he was hours away from marrying my cousin."

  "So? Once she dumped him, he was fair game."

  "Tell it to my family," she grumbled.

  "Wait. How did they find out anything other than the two of you being on the same boat? I thought you weren't able to text or call from the ship?"

  "I was able to, it's just so expensive once you're out of the country. My mother called me – one of a million calls – and told me I wasn't allowed to speak to Eric. When I changed the subject, I was stupid enough to tell her about this lady I met, and I used her name, so Mom did some Facebook stalking and saw a perfectly innocent picture of me and Eric sitting together in the dining hall."

  "Uh-oh."

  "So she called me and said I was a liar and told me how I was an embarrassment, you know, the usual."

  "She's horrible. What did you do?"

  "Well, when we were leaving Jamaica, she called and told me I was a disgrace to Danny's memory, and I kinda threw my phone overboard."

  "She said what? Wait, you what?" Beth covered her open mouth.

  "I couldn't take it anymore, so we were on a balcony and I didn't even think. I couldn't listen to one more word, so I pitched the phone out into the ocean."

  Her surprised laughter filled the van. "Oh, my goodness. Did you try to jump in after it?"

  Megan laughed. "No, but I did panic a little bit. I got a new phone in Key West two days later."

  "How many times did she call you?"

  "I had at least five hundred calls, voicemails, text messages, Facebook messages, Skype calls... you name it, I had it."

  "You're exaggerating."

  "You know I'm not. I'm terrified of what my phone bill is going to be. There were warnings all over the ship about keeping your phone in airplane mode, but I knew she'd freak out even worse if I didn't get her messages and respond."

  "Ridiculous. She should pay it."

  "And then there's the bit about leaving me stranded at the airport, which is freaking awesome."

  "I can't believe they left you there."

  "I can believe she did, but I can't believe Dad didn't come get me."

  "Yeah, that's a little fishy. I'd guess he had no idea when you were getting back."

  "He needs his own cell phone."

  Beth put on her turn signal and took the exit the GPS instructed. "Did you meet anyone? Other than Eric?"

  "The omelet chef was hot. Like smoking, panty dropping hot. He tried to hook up with me, but I couldn't go through with it."

  "Wait. You mean actually hook up as in no-strings vacation sex?"

  Megan giggled. "Yes."

  "Wow. Who are you?" Beth teased. "Details, please."

  "His name was Marco, he was from Portugal, tall, brown eyes, sexy accent, broad shoulders, the whole nine yards. And the image you have in your head right now? He's even hotter."

  Beth sighed. "Sounds dreamy."

  "He took me into this empty room where they do yoga and dance lessons, and he gave me a salsa lesson, which was like a twelve on a hotness scale of one to ten. Then kissed me, which was about a seventeen. I thought my head was going to literally explode." She tapped her fingers to her temples and flung them outward, miming her exploding head.

  "I need to take a cruise." She glanced at Megan. "With Zach, of course."

  "Of course."

  "How on earth did you resist Marco? Even his freaking name is hot. Mmmarco..."

  "I'm not an idiot. I'm sure he hooks up with new passengers on every cruise. Probably several. Who knows what kind of critters he's picked up."

  "That's what condoms are for."

  Megan gasped and laughed, shocked at Beth's comment. "Says the woman who's only been with one guy in her whole life. Who, by the way, is Hottie McHottie himself."

  "It's called living vicariously. You don't pick up Hottie McHottie's nasty socks, which never seem to hit the hamper," she grumbled good naturedly. "And romance novels only go so far. Now back to you and Eric."

  Megan turned to look out the window at the darkening landscape before answering. "I like him. We had a lot of fun together. He and his brother, Stewart, are opening a coffee shop on Market Square. So after the excursions on each island, we'd find little local un-touristy coffee shops and buy beans to have specials for the shop. We went to this out of the way coffee plantation and they gave him twenty pounds of coffee beans."

  "I bet those were fun to fit into a suitcase."

  "He was so sweet and we had such a good time. We talked about everything under the sun."

  "Including your cousin, I assume?"

  "Of course."

  "And he had some good reason for it to be over?"

  "She called it off. I think that's a pretty good reason."

  "Was he cheating or something?"

  Megan debated how much to tell, then settled on the whole truth. "No... she was. With his former business partner."

  "Wow. That would explain why he didn't stay home and try to win her back. Do you think he was being honest? I mean, it would have been easy enough to make something up."

  There was no doubt in her mind. "I do. There wouldn't have been much point to lying when I'd have found out the truth as soon as I got home anyway."

  "Do you want to see him again?"

  The question was a punch to the gut. "It's not going to happen. Everybody would have a cow if I started dating Brittney's ex-fiancé."

  "So?" Beth rolled her eyes.

  "Maybe he's not even interested. It was a nice vacation, we had a nice time, and now it's over. No big deal."

  "No big deal?" Beth glanced away from the road to look at Megan. "Then why are you trying not to cry?"

  A tear slipped and ran down her cheek. She brushed it away. "A lot of reasons. I'm exhausted and angry at my mother and just want to go home." With a sigh, she continued. "Yes, I like Eric. A lot. I'm disappointed we won't see each other here at home. I loved traveling and being away. I felt free for the first time in my whole life, especially after I threw my phone in the ocean. I still can't believe I did that."

  "I can't, either." Beth changed lanes and reached over to turn the heat up. "What else?"

  "He was a perfect gentleman. Nothing happened. I mean, we spent most of our time together, and we did hold hands a lot, which was so nice, but we talked about it and both of us decided there wasn't going to be anything between us after we got back because it's just too much drama. And now I'm glad to be back home, but I have so much dread it's like a black pit in my stomach because I absolutely have to deal with my family issues. I'm not sure what to do with all these emotions."

  Taking one hand off the wheel, Beth patted her arm and said, "You don't do anything with them tonight. Get some rest. You've been traveling a lot, and today was exhausting. Go home and go to bed. If you can't sleep, take a hot bath and have a glass of wine."

  "Good advice."

  "Now tell me more about the dolphins. How awesome were they?"

  Megan told Beth the details of the excursions until they pulled into her driveway.

  "Thank you so much for coming to get me." Megan gave her a big hug. "I love you."

  "Love you, too. I'll wait until you get inside." Beth pulled the suitcase out of the van and set it on the sidewalk.

  Megan grabbed the handle and wrestled it up the staircase leading to her second-floor apartment, then pulled it along the upper sidewalk to her door. She unlocked the door and pushed it open, then turned to give Beth a wave.

  Beth waved back and pulled out.

  Megan locked the door behind her and wheeled the suitcase straight to her bedroom, changed into sweats, tied her hair up and went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. On her way back to the bedroom, she turned off all the lights, then flopped down on the edge of her bed to plug her phone into the charger. When it lit up, she saw a message.

  Checking to make sure you got home okay. It was from Eric, half an hour earlier.

  She texted him back. Just walked in the door. Exhausted.

  Sweet dreams. With a smiley face.

  Megan smiled at the message. You, too. She stretched and climbed under the covers.

  Chapter 29

  First thing in the morning, Eric unpacked the coffee beans and took them to the kitchen, organizing them from his least to most favorite. He put a scoop of the Jamaican Blue Mountain beans into his grinder and brewed two big mugs. One for him and one for Stewart, who was coming with breakfast.

  Stewart arrived with a bag of doughnuts just as the coffee finished dripping into the second mug. "Something smells amazing."

  Eric handed him a mug. "Wait 'til you taste it. It's phenomenal."

  Stewart sat at the table and sipped. "Wow."

  "I shouldn't have started with the best one. It's my favorite."

  "I can see why. Can we order it? This should be a permanent fixture on the menu."

  "I'm working on it."

  Leaning forward, Stewart picked up another bag of coffee and casually said, "So tell me about your trip. Did you spend the whole time holed up in your cabin, avoiding the other passengers at all costs, only slinking out to procure coffee?"

  "Not exactly."

  Stewart raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you actually went out around people." He narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "Or were you coaxed out of your solitary existence by someone in particular?"

  Eric cleared his throat. "I want to show you the coffee I brought home. The bags are all marked with where I got them, and any information I had. I think most of them will be great specials for the menu. We can advertise them as exclusives. Or have a rotating 'Islands Special' or something. Some of them we can figure out the blends, some of them we can order online..."

  "Your face is redder than my shirt. Who is she?"

  "I thought you had to get to the shop to supervise the display case installation."

  "Jody's there. She can handle it."

  Eric took another sip of coffee, still avoiding his brother's gaze. "This Blue Mountain is the best. I got about twenty pounds of beans. I'm going to see about ordering more."

  "You already told me that. Twice."

  "Oh."

  "Dude, you're going to tell me sooner or later, you might as well kill the suspense now. Did you meet somebody?"

  "It sounds bad. I mean, I got dumped two minutes before the cruise."

  "So you did meet someone. Please tell me she's not another Brittney." Stewart nearly choked over her name.

  Eric swirled his mug, organizing his thoughts. "Nothing happened."

  "Well, something happened. It's all over your face."

  "I mean it, Stew. Nothing happened. I spent a lot of time with someone, and we had a good trip."

  "Are you going to see her again? I mean, are you up for a long distance thing? How far away does she live?"

  "Um, not far." Eric's face flamed hotter under Stewart's intense stare.

  A few minutes passed before Stewart's incredulous question that wasn't quite a question. "The photographer cousin? Holy crap."

  Eric couldn't meet his eyes. "I told you nothing happened."

  "So it is her." Stewart blew out a hard breath and leaned back in his chair. "Man, that's complicated."

  "No. It's not. We had a nice time together. The whole point of her being there was for her to do the wedding photos, but she was also going to build her travel portfolio. So since I had all those excursions and they were non-refundable..." He lifted a shoulder.

  "You took Morgan."

  "Megan."

  "No sense letting the tickets go to waste."

  "Right. And since neither of us knew anyone else on the ship, we just happened to spend most of our time together. There was no pressure. No drama."

  "Did you kiss her?" Leave it to Stewart to go there.

  Eric shifted uncomfortably. It wouldn't do any good to lie, and evading the question would be worse than admitting it. "Once. It was only a goodbye kiss when I was leaving the ship."

  "Huh."

  "That was the only time."

  Stewart stared at him for a moment. "I believe you. But why are you just letting it go? It looks like you're really interested in her, at least from where I'm sitting."

  Eric sighed. "I almost married her cousin. No, they aren't close, but they're still family. And she has enough issues with her family as it is."

  "Such as?"

  "Do you remember way back, like almost twenty years ago, when that kid was abducted and later they found his body up at Cooper's hunting cabin?"

  "Vaguely."

  "He was Megan's brother."

  Stewart grimaced and blew out a breath. "Oh, wow. I can't imagine."

  "It gets worse. I'm not sure I would have believed it, but I heard part of it with my own ears. Her mother told her it should have been her instead of the brother."

  Stewart's jaw dropped. "What? What kind of person says something so horrible? To their kid? I can't imagine ever saying anything so hateful to any of the kids, or anybody else, no matter how angry I was."

  "It was bad. And..." he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  "And?"

  "This older couple we had dinner with took a picture of us and put it on Facebook. Megan was telling her mother about the couple, so her mother actually started Facebook stalking this woman and saw the photo of us. Oh, I forgot a part. Megan's mother had forbidden her to spend any time with me. She could be polite if we ran into each other, but no talking."

  "You've got to be kidding."

  "Nope. Then, after she saw the picture, she went ballistic. Calling Megan names, telling her she was a tramp, an embarrassment to the family and all sorts of ugly things I don't want to repeat. Stew, she called Megan at least fifty times a day, leaving messages and texts and trying to make her feel horrible because she took a vacation away from home."

  "That's seriously messed up."

  "Megan doesn't need any more drama, and if her family thinks she's involved with me, they'll make her life hell. I wouldn't ask her to put up with any of that just to spend time with me."

  "I take it she's not exactly like her cousin."

  "Polar opposite."

  "Huh."

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. You told me all along, blah blah blah. I don't need to hear it right now." Eric got up, shoving his chair back and striding across the kitchen to the sink. He rinsed his mug and set it in the dish drainer with more force than necessary.

  "I'm not saying a word right now."

  Eric rolled his eyes. "You'll save your wisdom for another time?"

  "When you're in a better mood." Stewart rose and took his cup to the sink and rinsed it out.

  "Pfft. You'll be waiting a while."

  "Who knows. Maybe it'll all work out somehow."

  Eric scowled at him. "Those are your brilliant words of wisdom?"

  "Nope, you didn't want to hear my words of wisdom."

  "Fine, get it off your chest. Let's hear it."

  "You sure?"

  "Nope."

  Stewart crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter. "None of us really 'got' the whole thing with Brittney, which is no secret. Your entire family was cheering on the inside – and maybe a little on the outside – when we found out she bailed on the wedding. My point is, you can't let your family dictate who you choose as your partner. Good or bad."

  "Easy for you to say. Jody fit in from day one."

  "All I'm saying is, maybe this girl needs to worry less about her mother and worry more about what she wants out of life. If she can't, she's not a good match for you anyway. Once you get married, the rest of the family comes second. It has to."

  Eric smacked his brother on the arm. "Someday I'll be as lucky as you."

  "Never. But you can be a close second."

  They laughed.

  Stewart checked the time. "I better go check out the display case situation. See what you can find out about ordering those beans in bulk."

  "Will do."

  Eric closed the door behind his brother. Stewart was right, but he was wrong. Neither of them could ever comprehend the tragedy Megan's family had endured, so neither of them could judge her for the way she interacted with her family.

  Chapter 30

  Megan stood at the wedged open door, keeping her foot at the corner so it couldn't be pushed open.

  "Are you going to make me stand out here?"

  "Mom, it's not a good time. I'm trying to unpack –"

  "Move." Alice shoved the door.

  Megan finally stepped back and let her walk in. Might as well get it over with.

  Alice pressed her lips together. "This place is a pigsty."

  "Thanks."

  "Well? Where is he? I know you didn't want to let me in because you're hiding him."

 

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