“Oh,” I ask her, “is there anything you need my help with?”
“She doesn’t mean challenging in that way, Luke.” Mia shakes her head, her eyes shining.
“What does she mean?” I look over at Wendy, who is now blushing, while Juniper grins.
“I’ll explain to you as we grab a drink. Do you girls want anything?” Mia asks them as she grabs my hand.
“We’re good,” Juniper says, holding up a fruity pink cocktail in her hand. “You should get one of the pink flamingo specials now while Cal isn’t so busy.” She takes a long sip. “It is soo good.”
“Will do,” Mia says. “Come on, Luke.”
She squeezes my hand, and I look over at her in surprise.
“Who knows who could be spying on us?” she whispers. “Your brother, my brother—they could be here. Or their friends. They both know so many people in town who would happily tell them that we’re here, and they will report everything that they witness.”
“True.” I frown slightly. “By the way, what’s up with Rafe? Why is he acting so annoyed with me?”
“You mean, why is he such a jackass?” she asks, rolling her eyes.
“Well, I wouldn’t have put it in those words, but, yeah, what’s his problem?”
“I’m not really sure,” she says, though she looks down.
There’s something more there, but I’m not going to push it.
“I think he’s just taking his role as my overprotective brother too far, you know?”
“You think so? He seems overly harsh.”
“I guess maybe it has to do with something that happened two summers ago.” She nibbles on her lower lip. “But I don’t know.”
“What do you mean? What happened two summers ago?” I stiffen as I gaze at her.
She blanches and recoils for a few moments before plastering a smile on her face. There’s something there, but I’m not going to push it. Now is not the time or the place. I can’t help but feel disappointed though. Why hasn’t Mia shared that with me before? Is this something I missed because I no longer lived in Coconut Beach? Has she not told me because she forgot, or has she not told me because she doesn’t trust me enough to know? The thought makes me sad while also making me realize that even though we are still the best of friends, we’ve lost something in the long distance. Something I never realized before. But I know in the past, Mia never kept anything from me. She was more open than an open book.
“Nothing to worry about. We can talk about it later.”
“Mia? Is there something that?—”
“We’ll talk about it later, Luke.” She gives me a look, and I just nod, though now my heart is beating, and my mind is racing, and all sorts of things are crossing my mind. What could have happened two summers ago that had Rafe being so overprotective over Mia?
“Hey, guys.” Cal offers us a wide smile as we approach. His golden-tan skin is the envy of every man on the beach, along with his silky jet-black hair. “Looking like a male model still, Cal,” I joke.
“And you’re looking like a rich tourist, Luke.” He shakes his head and laughs. “Actually, I’m joking. You look rich and cool, but not like a douche, like most of the tourists who come to town.” He whips a towel over his shoulder and grabs some glasses. “I’m totally jealous that you’re making so much money.”
“You have nothing to be jealous about. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. You heard I’m getting married?” He cocks his head to the side. “Want some drinks?”
“Heard something about you and Silvie.” I nod and look over at Mia. “I’ll have a beer. What would you like, Mia?”
“Yeah, Silvie needs to get married and needs it to happen soon.” He fills a glass with beer. “And I’m the lucky bachelor who gets to make that happen.”
“You are lucky.” Mia smiles. “I’ll have a strawberry daiquiri, please.”
“Really, Mia?”
“What? I love them.”
