Page 39 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

I mean, a girl can hope, right?

It’s not that I was looking to see if he was coming down every five minutes. I knew he had work to do today. And he said he wasn’t a fan of the beach.

So I only looked every ten minutes.

In my defense, I don’t do well being alone. I grew up in a house with four siblings. I shared a room with Ainsley until I was thirteen, and even after that she was in the room right next to me. When I went to college, I lived in a quad before moving to the sorority house. After I graduated, Ainsley and I got an apartment together in Nashville, where I lived until I moved in with Duncan.

I’ve never been completely on my own. And I don’t think I thought of that when my sisters gave me the grand idea to do a solo vacation. At first it sounded freeing. Then on the plane ride I realized it was terrifying. It’s probably why I all but forced Emmett to become my vacation buddy.

Yes. We’re going to go with that. I was lonely, and that’s why I asked him to stay. Not because he’s male perfection and he made me a sundae.

“Cheers,” I say, needing to get my mind back on track. Except when I go to extend my glass, he doesn’t meet mine. “What? Did I do cheers wrong?”

He shakes his head. “Not wrong per se. I’ve just always been of the belief that if you’re going to cheers, you have to make it count for something. Otherwise it’s just two people clinkin’ glasses to say they did.”

“Never thought of it that way. That actually makes a lot of sense.”

He sends me a wink, and I choose to ignore the fact that it sends a jolt of something through my body. “So, Tiger, if you want to cheers, tell me what we’re doing it to. Small or big. Just make it count.”

I think for a second. I know he said it didn’t have to be this huge thing, yet I feel this enormous pressure to make this meaningful.

That’s when it hits me.

“To making it count.”

This earns me a smile that I swear the sun radiates off. “I like that. To making it count.”

We tap our plastic glasses and take a sip before setting them down on my makeshift table—a.k.a. the top of my cooler.

We each lay back in our chairs as a comfortable silence falls between me and Emmett. The warmth of the rays combined with the slight breeze off the Gulf is the perfect balance. The beach is loud—it’s August in Destin, and people are getting in their last trips before the school year starts—but somehow I’m able to block all that out. It’s weird. This is the first time in days my brain has almost shut itself off. Not completely. But for right now, I’ll take it.

“So this is how you beach?”

I giggle. “Did you just make a Ken reference?”

“What’s a Ken reference?”

I shoot up from my chair so fast I nearly knock my designer sunglasses off my face. “Emmett Collins, do you not know about Ken and Barbie?”

“The dolls?” His confusion is adorable.

“Well, yes, they are dolls, but the movie. TheBarbieMovie?”

He shakes his head. “Can’t say I do.”

“Well, that’s just a shame,” I say. “It’s an American classic. A true cinematic masterpiece of the patriarchy and women in society.”

Emmett turns his face to me. “Then what does the beach have to do with it?”

This makes me laugh, which only leads to a more confused Emmett face. “You’ll just have to watch and find out.”

He shakes his head and turns back to his lounging position. “No thanks, Tiger. There’s no way I, as a thirty-seven-year-old man, am going to watch a movie about dolls.”

Thirty-seven. Huh. I guess he is. I knew he was Simon’s age, but I never really thought of it until now. When he was in high school, I was still playing with Barbies. I remember because I took one to Simon’s high school graduation. I always felt the age difference between me and Simon was huge. Though that was probably aided by the fact that he’s the oldest of the siblings and I’m the youngest.

But when I’m with Emmett, I don’t feel that gap. He’s Cap. I’m Tiger. An unlikely, yet amazing, duo. He doesn’t look at me like I’m young. He doesn’t treat me like it either. Which is refreshing. For years, especially at the office, I’ve battled lawyers thinking I’m a young girl who only got the job because of her dad. And I know Emmett and I haven’t had a lot of deep conversations, but I somehow know he doesn’t think that about me. When I’m with him, I’m with a guy who’s easy to talk to and doesn’t look at me like I’m a dumb blonde who’s only goal in life is to get married and have kids.

The Barbie of it all…

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