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“I wish you could, too,” Audrey sighed. “She’s honestly scary. But it seems like James handled her well this morning. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but…”
“I do.” I grinned at my friend. “You and James are going to live happily ever after. No matter what that bitch says!”
“Ha. I hope so. But speaking of happily ever after… Are things better with you and Cole?” she asked. “You two seem like you’re being veryromantic.”
She’d probably noticed that we’d been holding hands, kissing, and making goo-goo eyes at each other since our walk.
“I decided to talk to him. Like you said.” I took my sunglasses off and stuck them on my hat. I wanted my friend to see how truly happy I was.
“Being brave wasyouridea if I remember correctly,” she said.
“That’s right—because I’m so wicked smart,” I said and laughed. “He told me helovedme just now, Dre. He said he wants to move in with me when we get back.”
“That’s so awesome!” Audrey’s eyes filled with tears.
“It is pretty frickin’ awesome,” I agreed. “We can double date, and it’ll be box seats all the way, baby.”
“It’s crazy, right?” she asked. “Who’d have thought?”
“Me,” I said proudly. “This is where I get to say I told you so!”
“You did,” Audrey admitted, then sighed.
Coleand I talked that night about what happened with Celia Preston. He agreed—James’s mother was a barracuda, stealthy and dangerous. “Stay away from her for the rest of the trip,” he warned.
I wholeheartedly agreed. “You don’t have to tell me twice! Bitch scares me!”
I was so happy in my little casita later that afternoon with Cole. Now that we’d declared our feelings, we could luxuriate in being together. So we did our usual things—made love twice and ate snacks. You couldn’t beat it! I also left out little fruit tidbits for the birds and the lizards. We spent an hour sitting side by side, watching the wildlife enjoy their treats.
If there was a heaven, it just might be the Caribbean.
“We should come back here every year,” Cole mused. “All of us.”
The fact that he was talking about us in the future didn’t escape my attention. I grinned at him. “You don’t have to ask me twice,” I said. “I’m in!”
But things got a little crazy at dinner. We were all eating at the outdoor restaurant again when Audrey and James showed up. We’d had such an awesome day snorkeling, but now they both looked stressed. They sat down next to James’s parents, which I thought was odd, given Audrey’s conversation with Celia Preston the night before.
What was even more bizarre? After dinner, James and Audrey led his parents out to the foyer.
And then they…left. I didn’t see them for the rest of the night, and I didn’t get any texts from Audrey.
The next morning, Todd told us they’d left the island.
“What do you mean, theyleft?” Cole asked Todd.
Todd raked a hand through his hair. “My mother said James and Audrey had some sort of a blowout. James was bringing her back to Boston.”
“That’s crazy.” Cole scowled at him. “They were having a great time yesterday.”
“I know.” Todd shook his head. “Something doesn’t seem right. But maybe they just had a fight and wanted to be alone. It happens.”
I checked my phone all day. I didn’t hear a word from Audrey; Cole didn’t hear from James.
“I don’t know, Coley. Something about this really seems off. They’ve been on the love boat ever since the wedding. She just agreed to move to California with him. And Dre isn’t the type to have some silly fight,” I said.
“I know.” Cole looked thoughtful. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Something seems fishy,” I agreed. “I guess we’ll hear about it when we get back.”