Page 99 of Rum Sips and Salty Lips

“She’s calling off the wedding. But she’s still flying in tomorrow. Since she already has the time off scheduled.” Her voice is raw. It’s clear she’s not done crying.

“Good,” I offer. “Time off is important.” Orion gives me a look because he knows how long it’s been since I took a vacation purely for pleasure.

“She’s furious. Beckett needs to join witness protection. He’s not safe from her on the island,” Haley says. “She wants us to help her call around and cancel everything.”

I nod. “Of course.”

We spend the rest of the meal making lists of the work we’ve done and now need to undo. This feels so public. We wonder if we should have seen the signs sooner. They’ve been together for years. I see Beckett on a weekly basis. Shouldn’t I have known?

“We should do the sleepover you wanted,” Haley says to me. “We’ll invite Bristol and Autumn. Have a ‘bash exes’ night.”

Christian gives us a look. “Autumn doesn’t have any exes.”

“Not even high school?” I ask. They started dating in college but there had to be someone else.

“Nothing serious.”

“Whatever. She can still join us,” Haley says.

“Yeah, of course.” I open another list on my phone. “I’ll make sure I have plenty of rosé for everyone.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll have the parallel night at my place,” Orion tells Christian and Alex. “My speakers are louder so we can overwhelm whatever noise they make.”

It’s a taunt. So, I know where I stand. It’s with him.

“Barely,” I say without looking up.

We walk home together on the beach. The back of my hand brushes his, but he doesn’t reach to take it, just lets it rest against mine. We’ve never held hands in public and won’t start now. But I love the touch of him. I love the calm when it’s the two of us. When he’s mine and I don’t have to share him or us with the world.

I want to stay exactly like this. But I can’t.

thirty-eight

ORION

We getto Carina’s house and stand frozen in her kitchen. That scene was such a disaster. We need a few moments to decompress before we can process it.

She looks at me, her expression carefully neutral. “Wine?”

“Sure,” I say. I don’t drink wine often, but I won’t make her go out of her way now.

She pulls a bottle of white from the fridge and pours two glasses. I avoided drinking the rum Alex dispensed freely. I’m sober and in control, even as I feel the world spinning out around me.

“You okay?” I ask. She stares off into space. The window over the sink has a perfect beach view. The water is still. I won’t catch a breeze tonight. There is no escape for me.

“Yeah, why?” she says.

I’ve gotten so used to reading her face, I’m concerned that now I can’t. “You’ve known them a long time. You clearly thought Beckett was good enough for Sienna. It’s a shock to me, and I just met them.” I only met Sienna over the one weekend,but I like her. I don’t want to see her hurt, especially when she means so much to Carina.

“Right, yeah.” Carina shifts on her feet. “I mean, I always thought Beckett could try harder, but I thought he loved her.”

“Apparently, love isn’t enough,” I say. It’s not something I particularly believe in, but maybe it’s what Carina needs to hear in the moment.

She looks at me like she doesn’t understand what I’m saying, but she brushes it off. “At least she found out now and not after the wedding,” she muses.

“Small silver lining,” I agree.

“Anyway. Now that the wedding is off, we don’t have to worry about telling anyone we’re hooking up,” she says. She turns back to the horizon.

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