Page 98 of Ship Happens

“Jesus.” Owen squats down to pick up the bottle of ibuprofen he dropped. “Remind me to put a bell on you.”

“Abigail tried; I liked the collar ‘too much,’ apparently.” She says the words with air quotes.

Owen blinks at her. “I’m not going to ask you to elaborate.”

“Probably for the best.” Kaitlyn groans as she falls to the bed, eyeing Owen’s phone when it lights up. She can’t read the reply, thankfully, but Jacob’s name is right there on the screen. And there’s no doubt in Owen’s mind that she sees that.

“Why’d you get up?” he asks. “I was coming right back.”

“So,” she begins to say, ignoring his question, “you and Jacob are texting?”

“Yeah?” Owen’s eyes dart around the room.

“After you just got back from spending all day together?” Kaitlyn adds. “When you’re probably, what . . . ten feet away from each other.”

“I was just asking him a question.”

“Oh, come on, Owen . . . What’s going on here?”

Owen loathes the hesitation in his voice that instantly gives him away. “We met up for lunch, and then went to see his friend, and that’s it.”

“Owen . . .” Kaitlyn eyes him. “You guys beat us back to the boat, we saw you outside, holding hands, standing really close to each other.”

Shit.

“Also, you’re both terrible liars. Sleeping on the couch last night? I could hear you whispering to Jacob what to say. And what about getting stuck in the closet together? And you’re telling me he wasn’t wearing a shirt at the pool to hide the hickies on his chest? The two of you at the New Year’s party out on the deck, dancing. Putt-Putt!”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“I’m not lying,” Owen says to her, knowing that she’s right. “And it doesn’t matter anyway because we’re not back together.”

“I never said the words ‘back together.’” Kaitlyn holds a finger up, like this is some kind of gotcha moment. “For all I know the two of you could’ve just been hooking up this entire time.”

“We haven’t been hooking up,” Owen argues.

“Just sleeping in the same bed?”

“We didn’t—”

“Owen.” The look Kaitlyn gives him makes one thing clear: she doesn’t believe him for a single second.

“What’s going on?” Owen asks. “Why do you care?”

“I mean, it’s exciting, right? If you and Jacob are working things out? Do you think that you’re going to get—”

“We’re not . . .” Owen pauses, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “It’s nothing like what you think.”

“Well, what do I not think that it is?” she asks, sitting up. “Wait . . . did I word that correctly?”

“It’s not . . . anything,” he admits to her. “We’ve just been talking. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Well, yeah. But if my brother and my best friend are going to get back together, I’m going to be interested,” Kaitlyn says. “Come on, this is juicy.”

“Well, there’s nothing to be excited about,” Owen promises. “Nothing is going on.”

“So, what did we see?” Kaitlyn’s mouth is a firm line as she stares at Owen. Because she wants an answer.

“You saw him on the verge of making a mistake,” Owen tells her. “You saw . . . you saw Jacob offering to ruin his life to come back to me.”