Page 9 of A Heart Worth Finding
Bethani smiled widely. “What did I do to deserve you?”
“You were probably a nun in a past life,” Jessica said. “Stored up all that good karma.”
Bethani pinched her arm playfully, the girls giggling as they entered their hotel room.
“I thought you were getting a drink?” Jessica’s mom asked when they walked in, flicking her wrist to check her watch. “You were only gone for ten minutes!”
“We met a couple boys,” Jessica said, purposely referring to them asboysinstead ofmento prevent her mom from asking too many questions. “They want us to go out to this club withthem tonight. Before you say no, it’s the club those spring break people are sponsoring, so we can get wristbands and take the shuttle there and back with the group. It’ll be totally safe.”
“Totally,” Bethani quipped.
Their moms—Jessica’s petite like her sister Berkley, though all three Daniels women had the same honey blonde hair; Bethani’s average height with the same curtain of straight black hair as her daughter—stood shoulder to shoulder, arms identically folded over their chests, gazes narrowed.
Jessica sucked in a breath, ready to launch into an argument about why they should let them go—her brother, Logan, was an attorney and Berkley was studying to be one; she’d picked up a few things—but her mom held up a hand.
“Don’t drink anything you didn’t order yourself and watch the bartender make,” she said. “Don’t go anywhere without each other. When you’re ready to come back, take the hotel shuttle or one of the buses. Under no circumstances are you to get into one of those cabs. Am I clear?”
Jessica nodded solemnly, Bethani’s hair swishing against her arm as she did the same.
“Do we…” Bethani trailed off. “Do we have a curfew?”
Jessica elbowed her hard, but Bethani’s mom shook her head. “We’re on vacation, and you’re adults. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“We won’t!” the girls said in unison, then rushed forward to hug their moms.
“Thank you,” Jessica said to hers.
“Be smart,” her mom said when she pulled away.
“One more thing,” Jessica said sheepishly before she and Bethani turned to leave.
Her mother heaved a sigh. “Yes?”
“Can I borrow twenty bucks?”
Twenty minutes later, Jessica and Bethani were armed with their very own neon-orange wristbands and walked hand-in-hand with Joe and Rick to the shuttle that would take them to the club.
Much to Jessica’s chagrin, Jack and his buddies were in the queue right ahead of them.
“Ugh,” Jessica groaned. Bethani turned a quizzical gaze in her direction, and Jessica nodded toward that sandy blond head bobbing several people in front of them. Jack was so tall that he stood head and shoulders above anyone else in line, save his friends. The four of them were like towering oaks in the middle of a dandelion field.
Bethani grinned wickedly. “This is going to be interesting.”
Rick and Joe remained oblivious to their conversation, talking over the girls’ heads about guns or something.
They climbed the steps onto the shuttle, and Jessica and Jack immediately locked eyes. Joe placed a hand on her shoulder to steer her forward, and Jessica swore Jack’s gaze darkened.
THEN: April 5, 2020
The instant Jessica setfoot on the bus, Jack’s mood brightened, then soured almost as quickly when a guy boarded after her, his hand settling with unnerving familiarity on the smooth, naked skin of her shoulder.
“That could be you right now,” Chad whispered. “Who knew Jack DeLuca could get rejected?”
"Fuck off,” Jack growled.
But Chad wasn’t wrong, and for the millionth time that day, Jack asked himself why he’d been such a prick to her at the pool.
Wasn’t there a saying about catching more flies with honey than vinegar?
