Page 56 of Sweet Summertide

Now, where was Holly? He suspected his girlfriend needed saving too.

CHAPTER 27

Holly looked backover her shoulder in time to see Teddy loosening his hair from the knot at the back of his head. She liked his hair down and hanging around his facial hair, adding to the shadow on his jawline. His easy-going style bled into his clothing choices too. He exuded a whole good-boy on Sunday, bad-boy on a dirt bike vibe, and she was here for it.

He turned around, facing the sky, and flung his hands down by his side, while his mother walked away from him.That was a short visit, Holly thought. She turned and looked at her mother as they continued moving further from Teddy. She was on a mission, whatever it was, but Holly decided to go see what had caused such distress on Teddy’s face.

Holly tugged on her mother’s wrist. “Can this wait?” she asked her mother. “I need to go back to Teddy.”

Her mother came around and put a hand in the middle of Holly’s back, pushing her along. “In a minute. But first, and don’t get mad?—”

“What are you up to?” Holly rolled her eyes. “Anytime you tell me not to be mad, you know you’re about to irritate me, but you hope you lessen the degree by warning me first.”

“You don’t know everything, Blake. But, in this case, please be nice.”

“Who am I being nice to—” she didn’t have to finish the thought because Rinaldi stood from a small table at the restaurant by the plaza and put his hands up like he was surrendering. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Mom, no. I am not in the mood for this right?—”

“Just hear him out. Will you?”

Under no circumstance did Holly want to hear anything Rinaldi had to say to her. “Here I was thinking you came here to support me tonight, and instead, you’re scheming again.” The blood in her veins felt hot and it wasn’t from the outside temperature. She was mad.

Rinaldi closed the short distance between them. “Please, baby. Give me five minutes?”

She really didn’t want to, but like the day at the club, there were way too many people around and she did not want to make a scene. It was obvious her mother was putting her thumb on the scales again. Holly wondered, as her mother urged her forward with shifting eyes, if she would ever be free of her mother’s influence. The band began to play an up-tempo song. “You have until this song is over. No more.”

“That’s all I need,” the snake said.

She wanted to swipe the grin from his face. “Don’t push your luck.”

He took her right hand in his and trapped her waist with his other, leading her backwards onto the dance floor where several other couples were already dancing.

Millie and Alfonso, engaged in their own dance, passed by. Millie made eye contact. “What is he doing here?” she mouthed.

All Holly could do was shrug. “Time’s ticking,” she urged Rinaldi.

“You look wonderful, baby,” he started but her muscles were already cringing at him calling her baby and complimenting her. “I guess I’ll just come out and say it. I want you back, and I’ll do anything to win your trust. I know I was a total cad, the worst boyfriend ever.”

“I don’t want any excuses?—”

“I won’t patronize you with some half-hearted justification, but maybe the truth as I saw it.”

She didn’t interrupt and let him continue as he pushed her around the floor. This dance, unlike the intimate one she had shared with Teddy a little while earlier, was stiff and clumsy, but she did her best to follow his erratic lead.

“When we were in Split. I panicked. I had a plan to surprise you. To proclaim my devotion to you?—”

“Cheating on me is a funny way of showing devotion.”

“I was calming my nerves?—”

“With whisky?”

“Tequila, actually,” he shot back. “I was over-served. It wasn’t my fault?—”

“You accidentally fell in bed with another girl?”

“Will you stop interrupting me?” Rinaldi said, and Holly realized she really hated being told what to do “There’s more. I won’t lie. Yes, I slept with that woman. She was hot, okay? And I was so drunk I don’t even remember how she got to our place. That’s beside the point. The reason I was so nervous was because …”

She searched his tortured face for any clue as to what he was about to reveal. Their breakup had had a clear impact on him, and he was more flustered than she had ever seen. His dark eyes were not the carefree eyes of the man she had dated last year. These orbs were full of regret and humanity. She almost felt bad for him. “The song’s almost over.”

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