Page 11 of Love, Morgan

Right before we stepped out onto the wooden walkway that led to the overwater bungalows, Cali pointed towards a hallway that led to the spa. Even just the entry felt soothing—all calm colors and clean lines. I wasn’t usually a fan of people I didn’t know touching me, but maybe I would get a massage after all. Maybe it was just the thing I needed to relax a little bit.

We stepped out and the warmth hit me again. The sensory input was just what I needed. It was late afternoon now, but the sun was still glorious and warm and dancing over the gentle waves like someone had painted it there. The sea air was sweet and salty and perfect. And, even through the sense of being out of place, I wanted to live in the moment forever.

A bar stood over to the side, attached to the main building but open onto the beach. As expected, most of the guests there were couples—more than one with people wearing white bathing suits with wedding-related adornments. But, before I could worry too much about being a single person at a honeymoon resort, my eyes caught on possibly the most interesting woman I’d ever seen.

Her hair was piled high on her head, her sunglasses were heart-shaped like a pair I was certain I’d had as a kid, and her outfit was… inexplicable. She wore it well, that was undeniable—and she looked far better in the heart-shaped sunglasses than I ever had—but she was wearing a 50s-inspired, high-waisted bikini, a loud, patterned, floaty robe that clashed entirely with the style of her bikini but somehow still looked amazing on her, and… knee-high socks. Honest to god, striped, knee-high socks. At a bar on the beach.

And she still looked incredible.

The woman defied any and all logic that had ever existed in the world. I was certain I’d never before seen a person so perfectly belong in a place, in the world, or in their own skin. She was everything I’d ever aspired to be. And she was right here too.

Watching me.

My heart and my stomach clenched as I realized she was staring back at me. I gulped, rushing to catch up with Cali as her mouth dropped open, and I was certain I’d done something terrible by staring at her.

She was probably famous, I’d failed to recognize her, stared at her, and ruined her whole vacation. Once Cali got me to my bungalow, I didn’t think I was leaving it again the whole time I was here.

Chapter 5

Morgan

“Pick up your damn phone,” I growled as I paced in front of the wall of windows that looked out over the ocean. It should have been beautiful, instead, all I felt was rage.

I’d called Ripley four times already. Why wasn’t she picking up? Couldn’t she feel how dire the situation was?

Things were so much easier when I could just charge into Petal and Pebble and demand her attention.

“Morgan, hey. What’s up?” she finally said, connecting the call right before I’d been sent to voicemail. Again.

“What’sup?” I asked, freezing in my tracks. “What’s up? You ignore my call four times and ask mewhat’s up?”

She breathed a laugh. “I wasn’t ignoring your calls. I had customers.”

“Yes, well, it’s hardly the right time for it.”

“It’s exactly the right time for it. You might have swanned off on vacation, but the rest of us are still here. Working.”

I felt like I might cry. I hated feeling like this. I’d made a promise to myself years ago that I was never going to get so overwhelmed that I fell apart. But, when I made that promise, I’d never been stuck on a far-flung island with my internet crush, so what had I known about anything?

When I didn’t speak, I could practically hear Ripley’s brain working. She knew me too well.

“Hey,” she said softly, “what’s going on?”

“She’s here,” I heard myself say, as if through a tunnel.

“Who is?”

I wished she’d catch on quicker, wished I didn’t have to say it, but apparently, I’d gone too far away for Ripley to justknowwhat was going on.

We’d need to work on that.

“Iona.” I felt like I might throw up. I wasn’t this person. I didn’t lose it over women like this. I didn’t see them and immediately shut myself in my bungalow and refuse to leave.

I was better than this.

So why was I here?

“The one from The Pretty Gift?” Ripley asked after a moment of stunned silence.

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