It’s a beautiful landscape of my favorite place on the island—Sunrise Beach on the lighthouse side. The bungalow is located at the end of it. The drawing has everything I wanted, including a cloudy pink sunrise, palm trees on the beach, the shadow of a whale shark and some sea turtles in the water, as well as a couple of surfers paddling out on their boards and an iguana lounging on a striped beach chair.
“The details are amazing, Jack. You captured it all.”
He grins before pulling out a sheet of sample paint colors to discuss specific colors for certain parts of the mural. After going through everything, I bid him farewell to let him get started on the stencil. It’ll be a while before he starts painting since he needs to sketch it out first.
I don’t teach yoga on Mondays, so I usually spend them running errands.
My first stop of the day is Oceanside Market for groceries, followed by a hair appointment to get a few babylights foiled in and a trim at Salt and Sand. After Sav showed me the girl who posted a picture with Dayton, I went down the rabbit hole ofstalking her profile. Her hair looked so healthy that it made me feel strangely insecure about mine. I swim in salt water multiple times a week, which dries it out. My hairstylist gives me a deep conditioning treatment and sells me an oil mask to put on it once a week to help lock in moisture.
After my hair appointment, I get my nails done and an eyebrow wax. I refuse to believe that I’m doing all this because of how extremely gorgeous Dayton’s ex/potential current girlfriend is.
I just went through a breakup. A self-care day should be expected afterward.
Today is the day Cheri and I agreed to meet up for lunch at Mario’s Island Fusion. I’m nervous to see her, not knowing if she’ll bring up Dayton or what they’ve even talked about. I’m hoping I’ll get the chance to nonchalantly quiz her about his love life.
Once I park my Land Rover on the outskirts of the Street Eats food truck circle, I start walking toward the one that’s painted bright green and advertises having chicken sandwiches.
“Summer! Wait up!” I hear from behind me.
I turn to see Cheri jogging up in her pink scrubs.
“Hello!” I call back, waving. I’m wearing yoga pants and a cropped T-shirt.
She smiles at me and pulls me in for a side hug before we continue walking. “Your hair smells amazing.”
“Thanks. I just got it done.”
She nods. “So glad we’re finally doing this! Dayton came over Saturday night and told me that he’d seen you at Marg Fest this weekend.”
“Uh, yeah, we kind of went as a group, I guess. He keeps dropping in to check on the house,so my friend invited him out.”
She laughs. “He’s stressing you out with that house renovation, isn’t he? I keep hearing about it from him too. You’re both so funny.”
I shrug. “He’s a control freak.”
She lifts both her eyebrows and nods dramatically. “That he is. Okay, if you like spicy food, you have to get the spicy chicken sandwich with slaw and pickles. They’re homemade. The house-made secret sauce will make your eyes roll back in your head.”
We both order and sit down to wait for our food. I clear my throat, deciding if I don’t find the nerve to ask now, then I might chicken out.
“Yeah, Dayton was kind of being weird this weekend, honestly. I can’t believe he’s spending so much time here when his girlfriend is in New York.” I attempt to keep my voice nonchalant.
Cheri frowns. “Girlfriend? Who?”
I shrug. “I saw some girl on social media tag him in a picture. Her name was Nelly or something?” I know damn well what her name was, but can’t let it get back to him that I was stalking her.
“Ah, you mean Noelle.” Cheri rolls her eyes.
Our names are called, so we get up to grab our food and sit back down under the covered awning with picnic tables.
“Maybe that was it. Noelle sounds right.” I take a huge bite of the sandwich. The fried chicken crunches, and the secret-sauce flavor bursts on my tongue. The sour pickles and slaw create a delicious taste and texture to accompany the chicken. “Wow, this is amazing,” I say, covering my full mouth.
She nods, swallowing her bite. “I only let myself come here with friends because if I didn’t, I’d eat it every day for lunch.” She sips on the Coke she ordered with her food. “So, Noelle and Dayton arenottogether, and they never were. To be honestwith you, I always thought she was a little self-absorbed. I’ve met her on FaceTime, but never in person. They were just hooking up. She lived in his building back in New York. He hasn’t brought her up in over a year.”
I despise the way my body physically relaxes at the news. “Oh, well, you would definitely think they were more than that based on what she posted.” I shrug, feigning indifference at my shameful digging.
Cheri laughs. “I mean, I’m pretty sure most women who meet Dayton are interested in more with him. He had a girlfriend in college for a couple of years, but he broke up with her right before he moved to New York. I knew he would never propose. Her name was Anna.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that he’s a commitment-phobe.”
