Page 168 of P.S. I'm Still Yours

Vince joins in. “What took you so long? Just so you know, the only acceptable answer is that you were busy having a naked pillow fight.”

His absurd fantasy makes me scoff. “Yeah, sorry about that. We were trying to figure out how much bleach to put in your drinks.”

Everyone laughs. Except for Vince, who gives me a shit-eating grin before rising to his feet to lend us a hand with the grocery bags. Cal, Scar, and Kane take the hint, making their way over to help, too.

Kane heads straight for me, his eyes never leaving mine as he takes the heavy bags I’m carrying. I crack a timid smile, which he returns.

His eyes drop to my lips for a fleeting moment, and I almost expect him to kiss me.

Until… he stops.

His gaze darts to something behind me, and I flick my head to find Scar staring at us with a furrowed brow. He and Kane make eye contact.

Then Kane turns to leave.

He doesn’t kiss me.

He doesn’t say hi.

He just walks to the cooler with the bags as though I’m a complete stranger rather than the girl falling asleep in his arms every night.

I’m reminded of what Jamie said earlier.

“You’re not officially dating until you’ve told everyone.”

Well, then I guess…

We’re not dating.

HADLEY

I’ve always known saying goodbye to Golden Cove would be tough.

I knew I’d miss our little group… but I guess I failed to realize just how sad the thought of never seeing my friends again would make me.

Tonight’s been great.

Full of laughter, music, booze, and promises to get together at least once a year.

I’d love nothing more than to believe we’ll keep that promise, but I also know better than to expect our busy schedules to align once we go our separate ways.

It’s past 2:00 a.m., but the party doesn’t look like it’s going to run out of steam anytime soon.

The guys are all drunk from playing beer pong—well, all of them except Kane, who’s been drinking water—and the girls and I have been breaking our backs playing limbo and drinking every time we fail, which is often.

It takes me another forty-five minutes to admit that I’ve reached my limit. I tell the girls to continue without me and head for one of the beach towels laid out in front of the fire.

I’d be lying if I said Kane treating me like a stranger didn’t put a damper on my mood earlier, but I had no intention of letting him ruin my night.

In a way, he did me a favor. Now I know where he stands. From this moment on, I’m done assuming we’re together. He doesn’t want to tell people about us? Fine.

But I won’t sit around waiting for him to grow a pair. As far as I’m concerned, I’m a single woman.

I guide my water bottle to my lips, taking a long sip and watching the guys try to pull off trick shots.

Oh, and remember when I said the guys were drunk?

I was wrong.