* * *
Guy knocked on our door fairly early, bringing us coffee and checking on his woman before the boys’ tee time. Kitty had been almost puke-drunk by the time us girls loaded her into my bed, setting up a sick station just in case.
There was a part of me that was grateful she was so gone. Itmeant no interrogation about Roger, or about whatever cuteness had gone down with Nick.
The rest of the girls piled into our room one by one. The only person who seemed to come out fresh as a daisy was Mel, who was a mom and used to being up early. She passed out Ibuprofen doses and electrolyte packets so we could haul ourselves down to breakfast and the pool.
“You’re getting married tomorrow!” Violet sang as she spooned Kitty in the bed.
“I can’t. Move,” Kitty groaned.
I got up and went into the bathroom to put my swimsuit on, listening to the girls try to pump Kitty up while she moaned and wollered in the bed. As I came back in the room, there was a knock at the door. I opened to a golf-attired Nick.
“Hi!” His voice was several octaves above his normal range. He cleared his throat. “Um. Wow. Yeah. I guess you guys are swimming? Later?” He pulled at the back of his neck, drawing a shallow breath.
I cocked my head at his stilted awkwardness. “Yeah. Once we get Kitty up, we’re going to breakfast, then the pool. Y’all are just golfing, right?”
“Golf? Yeah. We’re golfing. I mean, we will be. Right now I’m,” he pointed at his feet on the ground with a little chuckle, “here. Do you, uh, usually wear a necklace when you go swimming?”
His fingers reached for the thin gold chain at my neck, barely brushing the skin of my chest. I touched my hand where he’d just been. “Um. Yeah, I guess? I don’t think about it much.”
“It doesn’t . . . rust?” He tilted his head. The room behind me had gone quiet with an occasional giggle leak.
“Nick, what brings you up to this room?” I asked, cutting through whatever strangeness he’d created.
His eyes lit up. “Oh yeah! Stelle wanted me to bring this for Kitty.” He handed me a credit card. “I should get back. Gonna miss tee time. Byeee!”
Nick whipped around and was gone. I closed the door, shaking my head.
“OBI’S GOT A CRUUU-UUUUSH!” Jessie screeched.
Kitty was kicking her feet and squealing, invigorated by the encounter at the door. “You could do worse, Annie,” she teased.
“Stop. He can’t even have a sane conversation with me,” I said, tossing the card to Kitty. “Yesterday we were on the elevator together and he wouldn’t stop talking about my body.”
“Because he was flustered,” Violet said, “by your bangin’ bod.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, have a wedding weekend fling!” Kitty sat up, looking at me like she’d just birthed the idea for sliced bread.
“Nah, I was thinking I’d finally bag your brother,” I said. Kitty threw a pillow at me.
“You’ve got your stupid boyfriend anyway,” she sulked.
I don’t, butif I say that, it’ll become a whole thing.
“He’s not here, though, is he?” Tania said with a chuckle.
I had to terminate any conversation about Rog. I was half-hungover with a 40% chance of spontaneous crying. “Alright, I’m friggin’ starving. Can we go eat already?”
Chapter 4
Nick
JULY | Tarot: I. The Magician
There she was.
