The Perfect Getaway, page 7
Andy paused. “Do you all feel that way?”
His question was met with silence. Finally, Brad cleared his throat. “I think she’s great, Andy. Honestly. But as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
Torn between my husband and best friend, the truth and a lie, I chose silence.
“I thought you’d all be excited that I’ve found someone I’m serious about.”
I wrinkled my nose at his words. “Are you? Is it serious between you two?”
“Yeah,” he said. “This trip was my way of showing her how serious I am. I think…” I held my breath as I waited for him to finish the sentence. “I think I’m ready to settle down. Stick it out. See what happens.”
“Does she want to do that?” Natasha asked skeptically. “I think you should talk to her before you make any big decisions.”
The life deflated from Andy at her words. “I really thought you guys would be more supportive. Aren’t you always telling me I’m too old to keep dating around?”
“Yes,” I said, giving him an assertive nod. “And if you’re serious about her, and she’s serious about you, then we’re so happy for you, Andy. We just don’t want you to get hurt.”
Andy pressed his lips together. “I won’t. You guys know me. But just wait, you’ll see. This week, you guys will get to know her better and see how great she is.”
I hoped he was right, because he truly did seem the happiest he’d ever been. When I glanced up to where she was, as she headed back to the huts, it surprised me to see that she had stopped just a few yards away and was staring back toward us again. Had she heard what we said?
Her gaze was locked on Brad, a small smile on her face. My blood ran cold.
When she noticed me staring, she lifted her hand in a small wave, then turned abruptly and walked away. I looked at Natasha and Brad, though neither of them had seen the exchange.
The only proof that it had happened were the goosebumps lining my arms.
She doesn’t like Brad.
And even if she did, Brad would never act on it. He loves me. He loves Andy.
Still, I couldn’t get the image of him staring at her completely out of my mind. I refused to look for her again, though I could swear I felt her stares burning into the back of my scalp.
Chapter Twelve
Nick
The sound of crashing waves and distant laughter pulled me from sleep, and I wondered, briefly, where I was and why the hell I was soaked in sweat. When I opened my eyes and looked around, I saw wooden walls that were not my own, white curtains blowing in the wind from the open windows, and then, the ocean. Crystal blue, vast, and utterly terrifying, yet incredibly beautiful in the most inexplicable way.
I sat up in bed, realizing Megan’s spot in our bed was empty. Where had she gone? The white sheet fell down my bare chest, and I slid one foot off the bed, the air only slightly cooler out from under the sheet. I wiped a hand across my brow as I walked across the room, pulling my sweat pants over my boxers as I tried to determine where the laughter was coming from.
As I neared the door, I could see them—Megan, Emily, and Laura—sitting in the sand, facing the ocean. They were dressed in capri yoga pants, Laura’s sensible black to match the sports bra she wore, Megan’s a floral pink and yellow that matched her T-shirt, and Emily’s black with cheetah print patterned patches and random cut outs. Her crop top matched. Fashionable, I guessed, but they looked ridiculous, if you asked me.
“Get your head out of the gutter,” Brad said, pulling me from my thoughts, which hadn’t quite entered said gutter, but were definitely nearing it as the women stood, bending straight over, arms to either side. Emily appeared to be leading them.
I laughed, accepting the plastic cup of coffee Brad held out. “What the hell are they doing?”
“Yoga, apparently,” he said, slurping his coffee.
“Don’t they know they’re supposed to be sleeping in?”
He scoffed. “I planned to sleep in until noon. Laura was up at the crack of dawn to go running.”
“Running? Why, is she stressed?” Laura only ran when she was stressed. “Doesn’t she know we’re on vacation?”
“I guess she didn’t get the memo.” He snorted, brows darting up. “Anyway, when she came back, Emily invited her to do yoga, and they’ve been out there ever since.”
“How the hell can anything that looks like that be relaxing? It looks painful.”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. They can keep it up, far as I’m concerned. I much prefer to see my wife like this than in her sweats at home.”
I didn’t laugh, because he had no idea how lucky he was to get to see her in her sweats, and I so badly wanted to tell him that. Instead, I took another sip of the scalding coffee. It was black when I’d have preferred creamer, but I wasn’t a complainer.
“I think the guys are wanting to play some basketball later. You down?”
I nodded too quickly, then backtracked. “Well, I’ll have to check with Megan before I agree. She may have something planned. We hadn’t discussed it.”
Brad waved my worry off. “Emily’s already talked them into going to the spa for the day. My guess is we won’t see them until dinner. Laura gets in the spa, and you can basically forget doing anything else.”
I nodded, my lips pressed together. “What about Natasha?” She was the only one not participating in their yoga.
“According to Jaren, she’s still snoring.”
I laughed, because of course she was. That was Natasha for you. “Now that’s my kind of vacation. We need to get her to teach our women a thing or two.” I ran a tongue over my teeth in thought, then yawned loudly before taking another sip of my coffee.
At the mention of his name, Jaren and Andy walked out of Andy’s hut together and headed our way.
“Morning,” I said as they grew nearer.
“Morning,” Jaren said.
“Did Brad tell you?” Andy asked. “About the game?”
“Yeah, sounds cool.”
“You’re in?” Andy asked.
“Yep, count me in.”
“Awesome,” Andy said, nodding to Jaren, who blinked his eyes sleepily, obviously not completely awake. I realized then he was wearing a shirt that was obviously a size too big—likely Andy’s.
“Oh, shoot, Jaren, I meant to give you clothes last night. Did you get everything taken care of, or do you still need stuff?” I jutted my thumb in the direction of my open doorway.
“Nah, it’s cool. I think I’ve got everything.” He looked back out at the girls on the beach, apparently wrapping up their session as they noticed us gathered together.
“You wouldn’t think they’d all get along, would you?” Brad said stoically.
“Do you think they do?” Jaren asked.
“Well, I know Natasha doesn’t like Emily,” Andy said, flat-toned.
“Natasha doesn’t like anybody,” Jaren said with a sniff.
“Natasha just doesn’t know her, man. None of us do,” I pointed out. “She seems nice enough.”
“She’s perfect,” Andy agreed. “You’ll see.”
“Enough about that,” Brad said finally, clearing his throat after he downed the last of his coffee and crushed the cup. “I’m going to get changed. Now that we’re all up, it’s time for breakfast and to hit the gym. I’m dying to see what a state-of-the-art gym looks like. Sound like a plan?”
“You said it,” Jaren said. “It’s gotta be better than my garage setup.”
“Yep, I’m in. I’m starving,” I said, my stomach grumbling with agreement.
“What are you boys up to?” Emily asked, approaching the group first. She pulled her hair out of the bun, letting her long, dark locks fall down around her face, the roots coated in sweat.
“Making plans for when you ladies disappear into the spa all day,” Andy told her.
“You mean you don’t want to join us for mani-pedis?” she asked with a grin and wrinkled nose.
“Not if I was held at gunpoint.” He laughed.
“Well, don’t let me hold you up,” she jeered, poking his chest playfully. “I’m dying to get to hang out with the ladies.” She leaned forward to kiss Andy, and when his hands went around her waist, he drew the kiss out, her tongue pushing forward into his mouth. I looked away, scratching the top of my head awkwardly. We were used to watching embarrassing displays of affection from Andy and the women he dated, but Emily had seemed the least receptive to it until that moment.
When the kiss ended, she turned around, her eyes locked with Brad’s, her face flushed red. She touched Brad’s arm gently, but only for a second. His gaze locked on hers, seeming lost in the moment. I don’t think anyone breathed until she spoke again. Her words came out so low, I almost had to lean in to hear them. “See you boys later.”
I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed then looked away, his neck flaming scarlet. What the hell just happened? Had I been the only one to feel the tension of the moment?
Laura was staring off toward the ocean, her jaw locked in place, and I knew I wasn’t the only one. When I looked at Andy, his lips were still red from the kiss, his eyes locked on Brad. Though he appeared lost in thought, there was something in his expression that led me to believe he was thinking the same thing I was. What the hell was that about?
Chapter Thirteen
Andy
We changed into shorts and tennis shoes and headed to breakfast, and then later to the gym within the hour. I purposefully lagged behind, trying to catch Nick’s attention, when Brad and Jaren walked onto the basketball court.
“You doing okay, man?” I asked, keeping my voice low as he knelt over the bench in the locker room, tying the lace on his tennis shoes.
He glanced up, his dark hair hanging in his eyes. “Yeah…” He paused, obviously confused. “You?”
I inhaled, running a palm over my face. “Yeah, yeah… Megan seems great.”
“She is,” he said. “Emily seems great, too. I’m sorry everyone’s bustin’ your chops about her. You know they’re just messin’ with you.”
I scratched the back of my neck. “Thanks. Listen, I wanted to check in about the whole…Laura,” I lowered my voice as I said her name, “thing. I haven’t been able to talk to you alone since you told me, and then the next thing I knew, you were engaged.”
His expression went stiff, and then one side of his mouth upturned. He exhaled through his nose and rested a hand on my shoulder. “I’m fine, man, honestly. The night I told you about Laura, we’d been drinking too much. It was stupid. I honestly don’t even remember most of what I said. Whatever I felt for her is in the past. It’s nothing to worry about.” His eyes darted toward where Jaren and Brad waited for us in the distance. “You haven’t said anything to him, have you?”
“No,” I assured him, shaking my head, “no. Of course not. I wouldn’t. I mean…if you were having an affair that would be one thing, but feelings? Especially ones that were in the past? Never.” He lifted his hand from my shoulder. “I just wanted to be sure you weren’t rushing things with Megan. I mean, I know I’m the king of not rushing things, but it’s for a reason. I mean, you’ve seen Jaren and Natasha.” I chuckled, stopping our footsteps and lowering my voice again. “I love them separately, but together, it’s a nightmare. I’d never want that for myself, and I wouldn’t for you, either.”
He looked across the room, where I could hear the thud of the basketball being dribbled in the airy gym. “Thanks, man. Honestly, I appreciate it. But you don’t have to worry about me, okay? Megan is the one. She’s perfect.” He raised a brow, laughing with an obvious intent to change the subject. “But can we talk about Emily?”
While she was my favorite subject, there was something in his expression that told me I needed to push harder. My friend was suffering… He was in love with a woman who’d never want him back, and I was torn between my loyalty to my best friend and the desire to comfort my equally good friend in his time of need. Still, there was nothing left to say. If he didn’t want to open up, I couldn’t force it.
“She’s perfect,” I said after a pause, my default response when anyone asked. “So hot. And funny. She’s super smart, too.”
“She seems great.”
“She is.” It was all I could say. Mostly because it was true, she was great, but also because, in truth, I didn’t know that much about her.
She was still very much a stranger to me.
A gorgeous stranger who was making me rethink everything I believed about dating and relationships and…life.
The kind of stranger I never wanted to let go.
Chapter Fourteen
Natasha
Emily was cool.
Honestly.
Spending the day with her, I was realizing that maybe I had it all wrong. Sure, she was self-obsessed and vain, but she was young and beautiful, and that came with the territory. She reminded me of Nolan, except that she actually seemed to have her eyes on the future, and she’d built quite a nice future for herself after all.
“Seriously, though,” she said through her laughter, “what’s the deal with you and Jaren, Natasha? You’re not old enough to hate each other yet.” We were sitting in the spa, all dressed in white robes, green mud caked on our faces and our feet soaking in something that felt strangely similar to those Pop Rocks candies Nolan had loved as a kid.
I shook my head, my lips thinning, though I couldn’t resist the smile that played at the edges of my mouth. “We don’t hate each other,” I said, and Laura’s brows drew down. “We don’t. At least, I don’t hate him. But… I don’t know. It’s just time, right? We’ve been together… God, nearly twenty-five years. We got married straight out of college, had Nolan shortly after.” I blinked, realizing how long ago that was as I said it. “We’ve been together longer than we were ever apart. And, at this point, we’ve found every way possible to get on each other’s nerves.” I took a gulp of the mojito in my hand. “I love him. He gave me my child. He has worked all his life. He is a good man…but life has beaten us up, I guess. And it was our marriage that took the brunt of the force.”
Emily looked as though she may cry, her dark eyes locked on mine. “I’m so sorry.”
“No need to be sorry,” I said. “We’re adults. We’ve made our bed. Once our son turns eighteen in a few weeks, we’re going to file for divorce and get on with our lives. Before we really do end up hating each other.”
Laura gasped at my words, and Megan put a hand over her lips, but Emily remained unmoving. “Oh, don’t go all dramatic on me, you two. It’s not like we’re the picture of wedded bliss.”
Laura cocked her head to the side, watching me closely. “Yes, but…I didn’t realize things were so bad. Bad enough to contemplate divorce.”
“We aren’t contemplating divorce, we’re getting divorced,” I said. “It’s fine. Honestly, we’re both better for it. I’m just glad it’s happening before I’m too old to enjoy myself again.”
“Well, I want you to be happy, but what will happen to our group? What will that mean? Do we have to see you separately?” Laura asked, reaching across the salon chair and putting her hand on mine. “I’m so sorry, Natasha. I wish you’d told me.”
“You won’t have to do anything different. Aside from adding an extra space at the table when I get my boy toy.” I winked, though the idea of Jaren bringing someone else sent ice through my veins that I forced myself to ignore. “It’ll be fine,” I swore, and I hoped to God it was true. “We aren’t divorcing you guys, just each other. I swear we won’t make it weird.”
She nodded, but I knew she wasn’t convinced.
“Sometimes, splitting up while things are still amicable is for the best. I think it’s really brave of you two to realize where you’re broken and look for something better. Something to bring you happiness,” Megan said.
“Thanks,” I told her, draining the last of my glass. “Where is our lady? I need another.”
“She should be back soon,” Emily said, brandishing her empty glass. “I need one, too.” She looked at Laura. “You two are the same age, right? You and Natasha?”
“Mhm,” Laura said. “She’s a few months older.”
“Why do you have to do me like that?” I asked, a hand to my chest, a growing grin on my face. “‘Yes would suffice.”
Laura wrinkled her nose at me. “Hey, when it was us getting into bars, you were proud you were older. Now is my time to shine,” she said with a dry laugh, taking a sip of her wine.
“So did you and Brad get married straight out of college, too?” Emily asked. “Or did you meet after?”
“We met in college,” Laura confirmed. “Around the same time Natasha and Jaren did, actually. But we got married a few years after college. We had a,” she smiled to herself, “long engagement. I got cold feet quite a few times, and we ended up with an impromptu wedding in his parents’ backyard.”
“She says that,” I added, “but nothing Laura does seems impromptu. It was gorgeous and looked better than I could’ve done given six months to plan it, let alone, what? Like a week?”
Laura nodded a confirmation. “Something like that.”
“And you two have been friends since college, too?”
“The four of us, yeah,” Laura said. “Brad and I, and Jaren and Natasha.”
“So where do the rest of the group members fit in? I know you and Nick work together, and obviously you’re,” she pointed to Megan, “Nick’s fiancée and Andy’s Brad’s best friend…”
Laura drank the last of her wine and set the glass down on the table beside her chair. “Yeah, Nick and I have been friends all our lives. We went to school and then college together, so we’ve always been close. We opened our dental practice right after college. Nick’s family had the space and sold it to us, so it all worked out perfectly. And he met Megan…” She looked at Megan. “A year ago?”
