Thankfully, Gwen gives me a little breathingroom. It’s been awhile. Long enough for us to eat our way through a frightening amount of food and kill the bottle of champagne before she asks.
“IsDean still here?”
Curled up in one of the chair, shoes kicked off with my legs tucked under me, I hesitate, just enough to get irritated with myself for being so guarded. I shake my head. “No,” I say, giving her a wobbly smile. “He was gone when I woke up.”
“Okay…” Giving me the sort of nod a therapist would give me when they felt we were making some sort of breakthrough, Gwen sits back in her seat. “So thereissomething going on between the two ofyou?”
“No.” I frown at her before I look away on a sigh. “Yes… I don’t know. I—” Looking back at her, I shake my head. “It started out like I told you,” I say, because it’ll be easier if I start at the beginning. “Dean suggested that we pretend to fu—be togetherwhile we were on the island as a way of really sticking it to Paige and Allister and after some convincing, I agreed.”
“Seriously?” Gwen looks at me like she’s struggling to understand how we’re related. “You needed convincing to agree to pretend to spend the week kissing and canoodling withDean Mercer?”
Narrowing my gaze on her face, I let out a heavy sigh. “Do you want to hear this or not?”
“Yes.” Rolling her lips between her teeth, Gwen gives me a nod while she tries not to laugh. Once she has herself under control, she pops her lips on another nod. “I’m sorry. Please continue.”
“After someconvincing, I agreed,” I say, still staring at her. “And then he suggested we practice because he didn’t think I could handle PDA without?—”
“Practice PDA. With Dean,” Gwen interrupts me with a barely suppressed grin. “Youpracticed PDAwith…” Rolling her lips between her teeth again, she nods her head, fast and tight, while giving me a hurriedgo ongesture with her hand. “Sorry—I’m listening.”
Figuring this will probably go better if I’m not looking at her, I shift myself around in the chair until I’m sitting in it like a hammock, my legs draped over one of the arms. My head resting on the other.
And then I tell her everything.
All of it.
I don’t leave anything out.
I give myold, married ladybaby sister every last, sorted, juicy detail—starting with what happened at our breakfast bythe pool and ending with coming out of the bathroom, that last day to find him gone.
“So… that’s it?”
Finally turning my head, I find Gwen sitting in her own chair, a stunned expression on her face. “He tells you he’s in love with you and you…” Brow crumpling with something that’s caught between disbelief and concern, she shakes her head. “Last night reallywasthe first time you’ve seen him since leaving the island.”
“Yes.” Looking away from her, I aim my gaze at the ceiling. “He was here, at the gala. He said that Conner Gilroy put him on the guest list but when I saw him, he was with Paige. She had her hand?—”
“I spent so much time buying into her bullshit,” Gwen interrupts me to gripe. “Gawd, I can’t stand her.”
“That wasn’t always the case.” Turning my head, I give Gwen a wry smile. “Not so long ago, you wanted to be just like her. We both did—I just wasn’t very good at it.”
“I’m sorry, Millie.” Leaning forward in her chair, Gwen gives me a miserable head shake. “I let her come between us and I shouldn’t have. I let her?—”
“It’s okay.” Even though it’s not really okay, I don’t care. What matters to me is that she’s here. That when push came to shove, my little sister chose me. “I’m just glad you’re not one of the things she managed to take from me.”
“You’re my big sister,” she says with a watery smile. “I might be a bitch but I’m not going to let some man-stealing skank come between us.”
Giving her a watery smile of my own, I swallow hard before barking out a laugh. “If getting you in the divorce is all I get, then I’m not complaining.”
“I don’t think I’m all you get, Millie…” Digging her phone out of her purse, she hurriedly sends a text. A few seconds later, myown phone chimes on the table next to me. “This is why I’m here,” she says, gesturing toward my phone. “I was scrolling TikTok this morning and…well, open it,” she says, her gestures turning impatient when I don’t automatically reach for my phone.
Picking up my phone, I open the text she sent me. It’s a TikTok link. I can see Dean and the side of Paige’s face on the screen. The caption saysDID SHE REALLY JUST DO THAT???Heart pounding in my chest, I sit up. Tossing a quick glance in Gwen’s direction, I hit play.
I see Dean, sitting at the hotel bar, obviously well on his way to a good, blackout drunk, with Paige sitting beside him. He’s not looking at her when he very clearly says,go away, Paige.
Instead of going away, Paige reaches for him. Slides a hand up his thigh. “You aren’t even a little bit curious about what it says?”
“I’m really fucking not,” he says, loud enough to draw the attention of the people around them. “And I’d appreciate it if you stopped touching me.”
Instead of stopping like he asked, Paige keeps going. Leaning in to whisper the rest of it in his ear, I can’t hear what she’s saying but it doesn’t really matter because the whole of my concentration is fixated on her hand. Where it is. Where it’s going. What it’s doing to him—and I get it. I understand why Dean talked about murdering Curt for putting his arm around me because if I’d had been there last night, I would have killed her.
