“I’ll start spreading the word,” Zack said. “Zack and Olivia are history.”
Olivia nodded. “RIP,” she said, surprised to find that her throat felt a little tight. “Thank you again. It was a lot—showing up in the middle of the night, taking your bed, breaking down in tears. I know you said not to apologize, but—”
“Olivia,” Zack cut her off, and something in his voice made her breath catch. “You don’t have to apologize for being human.”
She forced a smile. “Well, don’t worry. My human emotions will be someone else’s problem soon.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I guess I’ll see you later, then.”
“See ya.”
He headed toward the door, then paused and turned around as if about to say something else. Then he shook his head and continued out of sight.
Olivia watched him go, her heart suddenly pounding for an entirely different reason.This is what you wanted, she reminded herself.
So why did it feel wrong?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURMarigold
As soon as they landed at the private airport in Halifax, James let Marigold and Hugo out near the terminal so they could call a cab while James handled the postflight paperwork. She and Hugo arranged to meet up at a brewery in town after he dropped Marigold off at the commercial airport. Marigold could just imagine them sitting side by side at some charmingly rustic picnic table, James’s russet hair sparkling in the sun as she happily sipped one of those hoppy beers that always turned Marigold’s stomach. She knew it was unfair to feel any weirdness—she was gettingmarriedtoday, for the love of god—but there was a part of her that wished she didn’t have a visual of the woman Hugo was going to hang out with after she left, even a lovely one who’d provided a massive favor.
“What’s the best way for me to pay James?” Marigold asked as the taxi pulled away from the terminal. “Can you text her and ask for her bank details so I can transfer the money right now?”
“I’ll figure it out with her later and let you know,” Hugo said. “You just worry about getting to your wedding.”
My wedding, Marigold thought. She’d been so laser-focused on making in back to Sandpiper Island that she hadn’t really thought about what would happen after she arrived. The frantic rush to change into her dress, get her hair and makeup done (if there was even time), and then composing herself in time to walk down the aisle while hundreds of people looked on, whispering with surprise or relief that she’d finally shown up. Because no matter how skillfully Natalie covered for her, guests were certainly speculating about Marigold’s whereabouts, wondering whether the notoriously impulsive party girl had had a change of heart. The thought of all those eyes on her made her skin crawl.
“So what happened with you and James?” Marigold asked, half out of desire for distraction, half out of morbid curiosity.
“What do you mean?”
“Why’d you break up?”
“It didn’t work out.”
“Come on!” Marigold hit his arm. “I’m freaking out. I need some gossip to take my mind off things.”
“A painful period from my life counts as gossip?”
“Fine. When you put it that way…”
Hugo sighed and looked away. “She dumped me.”
“She dumpedyou?”
“Yes. Why do you sound so surprised?”
Marigold considered this. James had definitely been giving offI’m still into youvibes. She’d been borderline flirty all day, affectionately teasing Hugo when he got nervous during takeoff, and then spending the rest of the flight reminding him of funny stories from their past. But perhaps she’d simply realized she’dmade a mistake breaking up with Hugo. She wouldn’t be the first. “Who’d break up with you?” Marigold said, aware she was venturing into dangerous territory.
Hugo sniffed.
“Okay, I mean, whatnormalwoman would break up with you?”
“I did something dumb. She found out and dumped me. Pretty standard stuff.”
“What’d you do?” Marigold couldn’t imagine Hugo doing anything shady, like texting other women, let alone cheating. He was one of those impossibly, almost exhaustingly moral men, like Jonathan. It was probably what they had most in common—a strong code of personal ethics from which they never deviated.
“I didn’t… communicate as well as I should’ve.”
