Page 40 of The Best Wrong Move

I close my eyes and tilt my head back to the sun, feeling the heat pour through my eyelids as I inhale its warmth. The last rays of the day feel good. Really good. Cleansing.

“I can’t tell you how weird it is to watch the sunset while a guy I almost got engaged to watches it behind me with someone else.”

Dom turns to catch sight of them, stiffening his spine a bit when he turns back around.

I don’t bother looking. I already know Juju and Rex are still back there, sitting on patio chairs, overlooking the same breathtaking view, with our silhouettes pressed up against the hot pink horizon in front of them. I wonder what Rex is thinking after watching me play on the beach with Dom all evening. Or if he was too wrapped up in Juju to notice.

I’m now starting to question if I even care. There were so many moments that I forgot Rex was watching us tonight, and those were the best moments of all. Snippets of time that I could just soak up the happiness I felt without having to focus on showing interest in Dom just to make Rex jealous. Moments I didn’t want to remind myself that Dom was just putting on an act for him, too.

Every time his eyes caught mine when I stood up on my board, pure adrenaline bounced back and forth between us as the water rushed me forward.

Or when he pulled me in for a slick hug in the shallow surf, our bodies slid across each other, before breaking apart again to catch another wave.

I kept waiting for him to kiss me, which would have been our first kiss right in front of Rex. But it hadn’t come. Not yet.

“I forgot they were even there,” he says, quietly. A faint smile tugs the corners of his lips.

I dart my eyes up to his, but he’s watching the waves, lost in thought.

“You forgot they were there?” I ask, wondering how that’s possible since this whole charade is supposed to be for them.

He runs a hand through his hair, droplets of water flying off, getting lost in the heat of the sun. Then he swallows hard and turns to study my eyes for a moment, taking a deep inhale, almost like he has something important to say. I hold my breath until he lets it drain out of him, tossing a handful of sand at the water’s moving edge.

“I guess it’s easy to get swept up in the moment,” he says, smiling so faintly that it looks like it might be a joke.

“Right,” I say, my voice a bit hoarse.

We both stare out at the water, letting the sunset fill our silence.

I wish I was forward enough to ask if all these moments between us are truly just part of the charade, the game we’re playing to make Rex jealous, but I’m not sure I want to hear the answer to that question just yet. Not when I still have hope that any of this might mean a bit more to him, like it does for me.

“Can’t be easy,” Dom says, looking at my lips. “You’re pretty brave to stay here, considering what that guy put you through.” He pats my hand for a second, then slips it off again. I close my eyes briefly, wishing he’d let it linger there a little bit longer. “I hope this isn’t weird to say, but I can’t really picture the two of you together.”

My eyes pop back open. “Really? Why do you say that?” People seemed as shocked as I was when Rex said no to my proposal. Especially my parents.

“I mean, he just seems kind of . . . bro-ey to me. All bravado and surface-level shit. But you seem . . . I dunno. Different than that.”

“Not bro-ey?” I laugh, pushing against his bicep with my elbow. It feels warmer than the sun — I scoot closer to feel his body heat all the way down my bare side. Then I glance behind us where Rex is sitting. Both of us in the company of someone new. Someone who isn’t anything like who we were to each other back home. Thousands of miles away from what we were together such a short time ago.

“You seem to be filled with dreams that go much deeper than surface level,” Dom continues. His eyes stay on mine when he says it. Then he licks his lips, just a flicker of his tongue coming into view, making it impossible to complete a full thought, much less a sentence.

I look back out toward the water.

“How so?” I’m curious what he’s noticed about me in the short time we’ve known each other.

“You have this script you’re chasing the ending of, halfway across the world from home. Scratching a lifelong itch that most people might have given up on by now, and, honestly, I don’t know many women who would pack up everything they have and move to an island that they’ve never been to, completely alone for two months. You have some seriouscojones.”

“I never thought of myself as brave. I only saw this trip as a way to escape my worst moment. My ultimate failure.”

“That’s not what I see when I look at you.”

His eyes burn into mine, like he’s seeing the most secret parts of me. The ones I keep hidden from everyone — sometimes even from myself.

This part is real, I realize.

Rex can’t hear what Dom is saying from way up there.

Breaking away from his eyes, I stare out at the lazy surf reaching higher and higher across the sand in front of us. The tide must be coming in. The sun is almost gone now. Just a wedding ring of gold radiating out above the horizon, slipping away as quickly as the seconds tick by. The sliver of sunlight burns into my eyes, searing the image behind my lids each time I blink.

---