Page 68 of Now or Never

There were only ten of them: Natalie; Ethan; Max; Ethan’s parents; Ethan’s sister Amy and her wife, Jaclyn; Adam; Chelsea; and Natalie’s friend Jess from England that they’d picked up from Pearson Airport on their way.

It was going to be a great wedding.

He’d checked in with the housekeeper, caterers, band, photographer, and hair/makeup people the day before, just to make sure everything was in order. And it was. Everything was perfect.

Everything except the vibe between him and Chelsea.

That was very much off.

They’d texted back and forth about wedding details and occasionally waved at each other across the lawn, but they hadn’t actually interacted in over two weeks.

Sixteen days, to be exact.

He knew his friends were suspicious because they kept looking at him as if he were harbouring stolen jewels. He felt like a criminal. Why did he do it? Why did he think things would be normal?

Nothing was normal.

He told himself not to look at her. When that seemed impossible, he started monitoring how often. He’d give himself a goalpost, like, once they were out of the marina and into the lake, then he could look. Once they were past the halfway mark, then he could look. Once they docked at the cottage, then he could look.

It was fucking torture.

All he wanted to do was get her alone for ten minutes and clear the air that had thickened into a dense fog. But what would he say? How did one go about doing that?

He was lost.

He got out into the lake, then felt some relief and looked at her. And caught her staring at him. At least he wasn’t alone in the fog. The thought was comforting. And frustrating.

He smiled, and she stood, walking over to him at the wheel. Maybe she wanted to get back on track just as much as he did. What track, though? Did they have a track?

“Hi,” she said, squinting up at him.

“Hey,” he said in a thick voice.

He wanted to hug her. Kiss her. Take off his sunglasses and slip them on her face so the bright sun reflecting off the water wouldn’t hurt her pretty eyes.

He gripped the wheel tighter. “Everything okay?”

Chelsea nodded, looking back at the other passengers in the boat.

He followed her eyes and found them all watching him like a movie, as if they’d each paid their fifteen bucks and wanted to get their money’s worth.

He shook his head at them, and they all looked off in different directions.

“Things are weird,” she said.

Adam snorted. “That’s putting it lightly.”

He glanced back down at her, and she was smiling, on the verge of laughter. “What?”

“Before we . . .” She trailed off with a pointed look.

“Yeah . . .”

“I had myself convinced that we would be totally cool afterward.”

Adam laughed. “Same.”

“The thing is, I knew that was unlikely, even when I was thinking it. But I wanted it too bad to care.”

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