On my way home, I pop in my AirPods and call my parents, figuring I should give them a heads-up before I leave the continent.
“Amelia,” my dad answers. “Can you switch to FaceTime? Bea wants to say hi.”
I flip to video, and my newly four-year-old niece’s chubby cheeks fill the screen.
“Hi.” Gosh, I love her mousy little voice.
“Hi, Dolly,” I say, using the nickname I gave her the day she was born. All swaddled up with a pink hat on her head, she looked just like the baby dolls I had growing up. “How are you? I miss you.”
“Miss you,” she squeaks. And with that, she drops the phone.
My mom comes into view then, wearing an indulgent smile. “She’s off. You know how active she is. Never sits still.”
“That’s okay. How is she? Are you at Asher’s?”
“Yes. Why don’t you come up?”
“I wish I could, but I’m actually leaving for Hawaii.”
“Hawaii?” My dad appears next to my mom, his brows lifted in question.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I need to get out of the city for a bit.”
In unison, my parents nod.
“You deserve a break, sweetheart,” Dad says. “We know how stressed you’ve been.”
“Who are you going with?” Mom chimes in.
“Just a friend from work.” It’s not really a lie. Thisiswork, even if I’m not getting paid for it.
If I tell them the “friend” is Ezra, they might try to talk me out of it. They know all about Sam and the fucked-up threesome (as opposed to the sexy variety).
Truthfully, if she had been genuine from the beginning and explained that she was exploringandalsodating a man, I think I would have been okay with it. And the three of us together? That could have been a really fucking hot threesome. Not that I think Ezra is anywhere close to the nonmonogamous type. He’s using me to prove to his dad that he’s a one-woman man, after all. Though, to be fair, I’m not going to Hawaii against my will. While the circumstances are wild, this trip is coming at the perfect time. Showbiz is burning me out, and I desperately need a change of scenery. I’d be nuts to turn down a free trip to a tropical island in exchange for kissing an attractive man on the cheek a few times and holding hands.
“You still there?” my dad asks. “You’re frozen.”
“Still here. Can you hear me?”
“The connect… not… ood. Okay? We’ll… late… have fun.”
“Fun,” Bea echoes in the background the instant before the call drops.
9
Ezra
“MILLIE, WHERE ARE YOU?”I whisper, praying she can hear me telepathically.
Our flight boards in half an hour, and while it’s not international, itisoff the continent, and I told her to be here two hours before our departure time. All my phone calls have gone straight to voicemail and my texts have gone unanswered.
I tug at the collar of my shirt, really wishing my deodorant wasn’t at the bottom of my bag.
Seated at the gate for our flight to Honolulu, sweating like I’m in a sauna, knee bouncing, I can only imagine how suspicious I look. Oh god, did she change her mind? Is she not coming? What the fuck am I going to do if she doesn’t show? If I arrive solo, I’ll never hear the end of it from my dad.
I’m standing in front of my chair, scanning the long hallway of the terminal, when she finally appears. She’s walking quickly, dodging families with strollers and nearly taking out a toddler with her rolling suitcase. In her other hand, she’s holding a coffee and a phone charger.
“There you are.”
