“Thank you for bringing us. It’s been an absolutely perfect day that we all really needed,” Harmony said.
Mary gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. For a moment, the lively mask she wore slipped, revealing the internal struggle she was fighting. She might be free for short stretches, but she couldn’t keep her demons down for long.
“I love that you’re here. It helps. Sometimes, being alone makes it impossible to keep my head from spinning, to stop the thoughts.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Harmony said. She lifted her glass and clinked it against Mary’s. “Maybe it’s better to embrace the demons than to fight them.”
Mary smiled more genuinely this time. “I think you might be right.”
They eventually found a table and settled down. Candles flickered, casting halos that trembled in the sea breeze. Salt clung to their skin, and rum sweat glistened on every glass. Lights blinked above, looking like lazy stars. The music drifted low, making conversation easier. A slow guitar strummed amelody that had people unconsciously leaning toward one another.
Torie tipped her head toward Harmony. “Are we all characters in your newest book? Or are we disposable?”
Harmony smiled and took another sip of her drink. Her brain was sufficiently foggy, which made her too honest. “It depends. Do you want to be a heroine or a villain?”
“Can’t I be both?” Torie asked. “Don’t men love a woman they should run from?”
Mary laughed, her eyes flaring. “They do until the woman turns and catches them.”
Tosh grinned. “Don’t listen to her. Some of us love a good chase.”
“Some of us like a good kill,” Mary said.
The table went silent a second too long before she smiled to soften the words.
Harmony’s gaze flicked toward Ciscel’s table. He wasn’t laughing with anyone; he was just watching, eyes hooded, like a man who’d heard the punchline before and was waiting to see who else caught up.
Cass laughed first. “Remind me not to playanygames with you people.”
Joe raised his beer. “To the survival of the drunkest.”
They clinked glasses and drank, their laughter easing back. Zach leaned closer to Harmony, his voice a low hum.
“Do you really put everyone you meet in those notebooks?”
“Only the interesting ones.”
“Then I’m certainly in there,” he said with confidence.
“Maybe,” she said. “Depends on how much you’re hiding.”
For a fraction of a second, something flickered in his eyes—gone too fast to name—before the easy grin snapped back into place.
She looked at him with secrets in her eyes. “You’d be surprised where people end up.”
“Promise?”
Cass flicked a peanut at him. “Careful, builder. She’s brutal.”
Zach laughed, not at all intimidated. “Then I’mabsolutelyperfect material.”
Tosh looked at Zach. “Never trust a writer on vacation. They steal your best sins for plot twists.”
Harmony smiled, but as laughter lingered, she felt something in the twitching of her lips—rehearsed, not real. The outward ease didn’t match the quiet uncertainty building inside her.
Torie’s hand slid onto Tosh’s thigh, nails grazing higher with each pass. “You still haven’t told the Vegas story,” she said. His phone lit up. Torie looked. Her smile wobbled, then steadied like she was forcing it back into place.
He groaned. “You promised to forget about that.”
