I hold my breath and wait. For some reason, I feel like she’s about to invite me to stay with her tonight.
I wait.
Finally, Tessa releases my hand, closes her eyes, and nestles her cheek into her pillow. “I’ll see you at breakfast, Rum Cake. Sleep tight.”
43
Tessa
Okay, this is unexpected.
I’m on the phone with Charlotte, my half-eaten breakfast next to me as I sit on the patio attached to my room, looking out at the ocean, and my unpredictable best friend’s just floored me by saying she wholeheartedly believes every word of Ryan’s explanation, and, furthermore, that she thinks I should take Ryan up on his no-strings proposition and bang the hell out of him all week long.
“I’m thinking maybe I should quit while I’m ahead,” I say. “If I keep going with him like this all week, I might develop genuine feelings for him. And then what?”
“And then... that’d be awesome.”
“No. Even if Ryan’s not a lying cheater like I originally thought, he’s still a manwhore,andhe’s about to become Josh’s brother. And all that makes him a nonstarter, even if he’s as honest as Abe Lincoln.”
“Why, again?”
“Because if I start something with Ryan, when we eventually break up, myemployer, aka Ryan’s brother-in-law, will feel like he needs to pick sides—and whose side do you think Josh will pick? Look at what happened with Stu: Josh never talked to him again.”
“You’re really putting the cart before the horse here, honey. If you’re gonna quit the drug before you leave Maui, fine, but what’s the difference if you quit the drug after banging the guy twice or ten times? Why not have fun this entire week?”
“But what if I develop feelings and get hurt?”
“I say risk it. Live a little.”
I don’t reply.
“There’s always the chance you could develop feelings andnotget hurt,” Charlotte says.
“Not bloody likely,” I say.
“By any chance, did Ryan say anything about what he’s been up to these past couple months? I mean, like, did you two talk about how much you’ve both been thinking about each other since the night you first met?”
“Of course, not. Why would we talk about that? I’m sure Ryan didn’t give me a second thought any more than I gave him one.”
“Sweetheart, you thought about Ryan all the time after you met him. You imagined you saw him around every corner.”
“Well, yeah, but only for about six weeks. After that, I didn’t think of him hardly at all.” I scoff. “And I know for a fact Ryan didn’t think about me, even once. If he did, he would have told me so by now. To the contrary, I keep calling him a manwhore and he doesn’t say a word. Obviously, that’s a topic I don’t want to know too much about.”
Charlotte lets out a very long sigh. “Well, okay. Just keep me posted on what you decide to do. I vote you bang him all week.”
“Your vote has been duly noted in the log. Oh, hey, I almost forgot: Kat told me to invite you to Maui. She wants to meet you.”
“She does? Wow, that’s so nice. But I can’t. Remember? I’ve got that ten-day Mediterranean cruise with my parents for their anniversary starting the day before the wedding.”
“Oh yeah. Crap. Well, can you maybe come for a few days and hang out and meet everyone?”
“Ooph. That’d be a lot of travel with the cruise on the other end of the world. I don’t think I’ve got enough vacation days to do both trips. But I’ll look at my work schedule and let you know.”
“Okay, lemme know.” I look at my watch. “Ooph. I gotta run, Nut Job. The wedding brigade is taking a bus to the top of Haleakala and then riding the whole way down on bicycles today. I gotta catch the bus.”
“That sounds fun. You gonna ride with Ryan?”
“Yup. He texted this morning and made me promise to save him a seat at breakfast and then on the bus.” Out of nowhere, my stomach flutters with a flock of butterflies at the thought of seeing Ryan this morning.
