“Listen to me, Mel. I fell in love with you in Aruba.”
The words feel like a nightmare; they’re the right words but happening two and a half years and one marriage proposal too late. Still, that one part.I fell in love with you.“Bullshit,” I say, trying to compose myself. “You used me.”
“Used you forwhat?” he cries.
“I don’t know! Sex? Story ideas?”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously! If that wasn’t true, explain why you ghosted me!”
“What are youtalkingabout?”
“In Aruba!” I retort. “After the last night.”
He goes quiet.
“Well?” I huff, exasperated. His silence gives me a chance to catch my breath.
“Melody?” he asks, his voice decidedly less agitated.
“What?” My blood is pumping as if I just finished a marathon.
“Did you even read my book?”
“Some of it,” I admit.
“Do me a favor, then?”
“What?”
“Read the whole thing, and then call me.”
I scramble for a response, but the line goes dead, and I’m struck by my own revelation as I realize it’s not bad service or a power outage or some other technological force of nature. It’s not a mistake at all.
Beckett Nash just hung up on me.
Chapter 13
“You should join us for dinner,” my mom announced, handing each of us a towel. She wore a knowing smile, and I shook my head ever so slightly, silently begging her not to embarrass me.
Beckett and I had just gotten back in from our swim, and we gratefully accepted the folded, fluffy squares of terry cloth, shaking them loose and drying ourselves off.
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” he replied.
“No imposition whatsoever,” she declared. “It’s the least I can do to thank you for switching seats with me on the plane.”
He looked at me, and I shrugged. “It’s easier to just do what she says,” I advised him. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face, though. My intestines were shooting around like a live wire, sparks flying everywhere.
“Plus, then you’ll feel less weird about asking my daughter out on a date afterward,” she continued, fully nonchalant as if this was a normal thing to say in conversation after said daughter just experienced the first kiss that meant anything to her in years.
“Mom!” I seethed.
Beckett laughed. “I’d love to join you for dinner. Thank you for the gracious offer.”
“Such a gentleman,” Mom commented. “I have to eat early becausethis old body requires a good bit of sleep. Shall we say five o’clock, then?”
“Sure,” he agreed. “Would you like to meet in the hotel lobby?”
