“I’ll come find you when I’m done,” he says.
With a nod and a goodbye, I’m alone and heading farther up. Things feel so much better than yesterday, but I can’t deny that there’s a change in the air between us. Or at least how I’m seeing things. I’m glad to know he doesn’t hate being near me, but I can feel myself wanting to take it even further.
The time away is good for me. I pull out my phone, not fully wanting to be alone.
Maisie
You free for a drink? It’s on me.
Scarlett
I have the all-inclusive package, but it’s the thought that counts. Where are you?
I tell her which deck I’m on and lounge until she arrives. It doesn’t take long before I see her making her way toward me.
“Hey,” I say.
“Are you alive after your great chase on the beach?” She winks at me.
“You saw that?”
“Anyone on the beach did.”
“Oh.” My cheeks heat. “Uh, yeah. I’m good.”
“I’m happy for you two. You make a cute couple.”
“Couple?” My voice goes up an octave, and I look around to make sure Nate isn’t done with his shower early. This isnotwhat I want him to overhear. “No. We’re still not dating.”
Scarlett frowns. “What? But I saw you two last night. And you were flirting all day when I saw you at the beach.”
“I don’t think it’s meant to be flirting. And I still don’t know?—”
“If you’re about to tell me he’s not into you, then you’re wrong. And willfully ignorant.”
I think about the way we woke up and the way he reacted to seeing me in my swimsuit. “Okay, so there are some signs.”
“Thank you.”
“But how does one go from being friends for almost two decades to more?”
“Pretty easily, depending on the connection.”
“Without ruining things,” I clarify. “What we have is ... amazing, and I don’t want to sound like a cliché, but romance doesn’t always end well.”
Scarlett gets her drink and considers it. I wonder if I finally have a good enough point where she doesn’t have an answer.
But then she turns to me.
“You sound like you spend a lot of time wondering what could go wrong. Have you considered what could happen if it wentright?”
I blink. I know I haven’t. Things going right would mean Nate and I would be together. And what would that look like?
The second I consider it, I can see it. Moments like the couch, where we’re cuddled up and there’s noquestion about if I should pull away. His hand could always be in mine, right where it belongs.
I already share so much with him.
More seems . . . right.
