“Reminiscing,” she says, stepping closer. “Why are you skulking in the dark on your own?”
“Who says I’m skulking?”
“Sat in the dark, by an empty pool, no one else around in the middle of a party?”
She has a point.
“Getting some fresh air?”
“The marquee is outside, and they’ve taken the sides off. Plenty of fresh air over there.”
The laughter and music from the DJ reaches us, and Pen raises an eyebrow.
“Fine. I admit—I’m hiding.”
Pen drops herself onto the sunbed next to mine, putting her feet up.
“Do you want me to go?”
I turn and cock my own eyebrow as she makes herself comfortable.
When her gaze meets mine, she smirks.
“Depends,” I hear myself say.
“On what?”
“Are you going to sit and offer me platitudes about my divorce or how I’ll meet someone else? I’m still young, with my whole life ahead of me?”
Pen sits back against the raised back and shrugs.
I grumble, and Pen chuckles again. The sound light against my tension.
“I wasn’t intending to,” she says. “So you’re out here hiding from the divorce sympathisers?”
“Honestly, if someone else gives methat lookor offers me their sympathies,” I say.
“They mean well, and thisisa wedding. Everyone is all aboutthe love,” Pen says, her fingers making inverted speech marks in the air. Not that she will believe it. She was never a fan of platitudes. It was one of the reasons we got on so well. She was a straight talker, said it how she saw it.
“No shit,” I say, making her laugh.
“You know what I mean.Love is in the air,” she sings badly while batting her eyelashes.
I laugh. The sound surprising me.
It’s been a long time since I sat with Pen, and we laughed. Truly laughed. She always had a way of making the world seem lighter.
Another thing my marriage took from me. My best friend.
“You do know it’s only going to get worse?” she says, leaning forward.
“What do you mean?”
“You are now the only single Frazer male left. All those social climbers your brothers have been fighting off?—”
“Will be sorely disappointed. That is one path I never intend to tread again,” I say, running a hand down my face.
The mere thought of committing myself to someone ever again, giving them that sort of power over me, makes me want to break out in a cold sweat. I turn my head sideways and groan.
