I nod.
“What do you think about specifically?”
“Dani—”
“Just tell me.”
I take a deep breath. She’s not going to let me out of this. “Ithink about our fifth anniversary, when you were lying on that big bed in the hotel in Maui. You were on your stomach, propped up on your elbows, with your feet up behind you. Naked. Smiling at me. And then what you did next. That’s what I think about.”
She’s staring at me, blinking. For a moment, I think I’ve made her sad. “I think about that night too…on the lanai later.”
I nod. “Yeah, that was a good night.”
“Do you think about me when you’re with her?” she asks.
I nod. “Yes, and I think she senses it.”
“It’s too late for us, Alex.” Her voice is low and apologetic.
“I know,” I say. She’s right.
She blinks again, and then we’re startled by the sound of loud cheering coming from the reception.
“Oh, shit. It’s midnight,” she says. “It’s New Year’s.”
“We never missed one,” I tell her.
“Why start now?” she says, and then we’re kissing. I’m not sure who initiated it, but it feels so good.
People in their forties don’t take their time when they’re on the floor of large industrial hotel kitchens on New Year’s at midnight. I think it’s been all of forty seconds and we’re having sex. I have her pinned against a wall. She’s kissing me all over, and god, she feels amazing.
We hear the door swing open, and freeze. Even though most people would only catch a glimpse of Dani and me from the waist up, where we are still clothed, unfortunately it had to be Josh who caught us. Josh is six-foot-four. There’s no hiding.
He looks shocked for a second, and then he smiles. “Wow. Cool, cool. Happy New Year, guys!” he says. He holds up a fat joint. “I was just gonna smoke a doob in here. Sorry.” He startsto turn around to head out. He still looks confounded. As he’s walking out, he waves his arm absently in the air and says, “As you were.”
“Oh my god,” Dani says. “Thank god it was Josh. He’s stoned out of his mind already. He’ll think he was hallucinating.”
We continue, and when it’s over, we’re giggling and stumbling and searching for more alcohol, until everything fades away.
—
I wake up in my clothes in a double bed, alone. It’s my room and it’s early morning, I can tell by the light. I roll over and see a sleeping Kate and Tristan. She opens her eyes and looks across at me. She points to Tristan’s head and mouths, “Don’t wake him up. We need to talk.” She juts her thumb back, pointing at the balcony.
I’m not sure how much Kate knows, but I’m almost positive I’m in trouble. I’ve been horrible to her. We tiptoe out to the balcony and close the sliding door.
“It’s freezing out here,” Kate says. “Why did you come back here before midnight and just pass out without telling me? Were you that drunk?”
I’m putting the pieces together. Somehow, she thinks I was in the room the whole time.
“How late were you dancing?” I ask.
“We shut it down. I mean, Tristan fell asleep on a chair, but your sister, Dani, your mom, and a bunch of your sister’s friends were basically kicked out of there at 2a.m.,” she says with a little laugh. She holds her hand to her head. “Ow, too much alcohol. I still wish you’d have told me you were going to bed. You’re a lightweight.”
“Dani was there?”
“Yeah. She’s so much fun. She really comes to life after midnight. She started a conga line and then she started the limbo with a broomstick…and then she stood on a chair and sang ‘Love Shack.’ ”
“I’m not surprised,” I say quietly. I quickly look down and realize my belt and shoes are off. I have a one-second flashback of Dani removing them and putting me to bed last night, I’m assuming right before she made her grand reappearance on thedance floor. Some things never change. Who would want them to?
