Page 21 of Marriage is a Shore Thing (Wilks Beach #2)

twenty

Geneva

Though I’m more excited than I expected to see my regulars at my boxing class the following night, I try to keep my face impassive. Because if I walk up to Vivian and her boyfriend, Finn, and say hi like I want to, they’d probably think I’m still sick and insist I go home.

Instead, I nod at Finn and give Vivian a small smile as they wrap their hands.

Finn helps Vivian with her gloves even though she’s been coming every Monday for weeks.

It took me a few classes to figure out that she lets him because she enjoys being cared for.

It’d been a baffling realization. One I couldn’t quite comprehend until Van brushed the tangles out of my hair.

I’ve been so staunchly independent for so long that I hadn’t considered how nice it is having someone be there for you.

When Brynn walks through the open garage doors, Vivian practically squeals, bouncing on her toes before rushing to her sister’s side. “You changed your mind!”

Brynn tugs at the hem of her athletic tee. “I thought I’d try something new.”

Vivian nearly decapitates Brynn, she’s hugging her so hard.

I think I hear her whisper, “I’m so proud of you,” but I could be mistaken.

Then my brother strolls through the front door, and Brynn seizes up like a cat being held above water.

I’m certain the only thing keeping her inside my gym is Vivian’s firm grip around her shoulders.

To be fair, Noah’s gait halts momentarily as well.

But he does that every time he sees Brynn, like it’s an involuntary tic.

Normally, Noah would set a flirty smile on his lips and try to engage Brynn in conversation, but he must be having a tough day, because he drops his keys atop the open shelving for attendees’ belongings and bypasses everyone without a word on the way to the bathroom.

“Maybe I should—”

“Oh, no.” Vivian cuts Brynn off. “You’re staying.”

Brynn gives her sister a look, and then they do that weird twin thing when they talk without talking.

It’s a mix of micro facial expressions and body language that I’d first seen while we were in Vegas.

They’d both silently debated what our next activity would be on our second night without saying a word.

A huff comes out of Brynn’s mouth, but she follows her sister toward the hand wraps. When Noah comes out of the bathroom, Finn intercepts him.

“You’re with me tonight.”

Since Vivian started attending class, she usually partners with Finn.

“I figured that,” Noah grumbles.

My stomach twists for my brother. I only know the broad strokes about their past relationship since we don’t really talk about deep topics.

Everyone in town knows Noah and Brynn were high school sweethearts who made it onto their respective athletic teams—track and baseball—at the same university out of state.

It wasn’t until Noah had been called up to play for the Virginia Beach Waves that things got rocky.

Him skipping the minors and being fast-tracked to the bigs before he even graduated wasn’t something anyone saw coming. Brynn and Noah did long distance for a year as he quickly became the team’s starting first baseman and one of the most coveted players in the MLB.

But then everything disintegrated in one epic flame-out.

Noah lost his position on the team, his opportunity to return to the university, and Brynn in one fell swoop.

The only detail I know that the rest of the town doesn’t is that my scumbag of a father had a hand in it—something Joanna let slip when she’d been in the throes of their divorce.

Noah has done the work since: gotten sober, gone to therapy, re-careered, but Brynn can’t forgive whatever happened years ago.

Being the type of person who doesn’t forgive easily, I can’t blame Brynn, but I find myself feeling for Noah too. I’ll admit that he’s a great guy who deserves a second chance.

I pause to pat my brother on the shoulder on my way to turn the music up, making his forehead scrunch. My shoulders bounce in a Take it or leave it gesture, which has Noah attempting to put me in a headlock. As always, I’m quicker than him—sliding beneath his arm and nearly slamming into…

Van.

An unsteady inhale stumbles into my lungs as I straighten. “Hey.”

He looks impossibly sexy in his blue scrubs, his hair a bit wild, like he drove home from volunteering at the free care clinic with his truck windows down.

His gray eyes practically sparkle as they settle on me, and there’s the ghost of a five o’clock shadow on his strong jaw that makes my fingers twitch at my sides.

“Hey.” It bends the laws of physics, but Van’s already large smile triples.

“What—” I clear my chalky throat. “What are you doing here?”

“Thought I’d try the best workout in town.” He lifts the small duffel bag in his hand. “Just got to change first.”

My lips twitch. Prior to getting sick, I’d fantasized about having Van in my class so I could mentally and physically exhaust him into understanding that we’re completely incompatible.

Now I just want to see what he’s made of.

He’s always so annoyingly confident. It’ll be fun to take him down a few pegs.

Van’s brows raise in a flirty challenge, like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

I keep my expression even as I pick up the remote for my music.

“Get on your bags,” I command, my gaze darting around the room, daring anyone to lollygag. Then I return my focus to Van, allowing a slow, devious smile to split my face. “And if you’re sore tomorrow, you can blame the newbie.”

I see Van laughing, but Skillet’s “Monster” blaring from the speakers drowns out the sound.

Forty minutes later, Van is still smiling, and I’m…

completely ticked. Seething isn’t a strong enough adjective.

More like enraged. Incensed. If a fuming wolverine and a volatile honey badger had a baby, I’d be it after being dropped in the ocean and electrocuted for optimal aggression.

Because not only is Van taking every physical challenge I throw at him like they’re pieces of candy, he’s doing it while dimple-grinning at me.

Sure, Van is drenched with sweat, breathing hard, and the strain of his muscles has gotten distracting more than once, but he’s not even fazed.

I’d run Finn through this when he’d arrived months ago, and though he’d completed each task, he sure as heck hadn’t been smiling like a lunatic the whole time.

“Knock it off,” I grit through my teeth when Van comes up from a weighted burpee to throw air kisses at me.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he says, flawlessly continuing the rep.

When a growl escapes me, Van smiles at the ground.

I need him to be lacking in this, in something. Even earlier, when the class had been boxing, I had no notes for him. There needs to be some way I can regain the power balance. I need to have the upper hand in this because last night…last night decimated me.

Not only was the kiss we shared mind-blowing, but his reassurances wiggled their way through microscopic chinks in my well-forged armor.

I wanted everything to be true. I wanted to be the version of myself that Van saw.

He might’ve needed to pinch himself and check reality because witnessing the island’s magic messed with his mind, but I’d been structurally rearranged by the kiss itself.

Then I awoke disoriented this morning, stumbling downstairs, looking for him and not even remembering he started his volunteer position today.

The bereft hollowness ribboning between my ribs when I found Van missing had been disconcerting.

Then I’d numbly moved through my day, thinking foolish things.

I wonder what Van had for breakfast. Did his drive to the mainland go okay? Is he replaying the kiss on repeat like I am?

“I get that this is some kind of weird courtship dance for the two of you, but the rest of us need to function tomorrow,” Noah says, not even trying to come up from his weighted burpee. He ditches the dumbbells and sprawls out on the floor.

“Shut it, Noah.”

From across the room where the other half of the class is doing ab-wheel rollouts on their toes, Brynn snorts mid-plank.

Vivian seems to have taken a page from Noah’s book.

She’s lying on the mat, head turned to the side, giving me the saddest puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen.

I want to mouth an apology to her, but since pre-fever Geneva would never, I settle on a commiserating head tilt.

Vivian understands, though, her lips tilting in an exhausted grin.

“Had I known this class was ninety-percent yelling at Noah, I would have come years ago,” Brynn mutters toward the floor, her arms shaking. “So cathartic.”

“And punching things,” Vivian adds, stacking her wrapped hands beneath her head and making herself comfortable. “You forgot how nice it is to punch things.”

“And to beat Noah in a race.” Brynn’s grin is just this side of wicked.

“That was supposed to be a warm-up run,” Vivian corrects. “You two weren’t supposed to take off like cheetahs.”

“It’s not my fault he can’t keep up.”

My lips tip up, listening to their sisterly banter, but I catch myself before the rest of my class can see. Actually, I need to put an end to this altogether. Pre-fever me would never allow this much talking.

“There’s way too much chit chat,” I bark. “Should I make things harder?”

When a collective groan almost overpowers the music, I nod, satisfied.

“Three more reps, then you’re done.” I cross the room to switch to my Evanescence-heavy cool-down playlist.

Most group exercise classes skimp on proper cool-down and stretching, but I take everyone through fifteen minutes of guided movements, allowing for time for foam rolling if preferred.

I’m cleaning the dumbbells with disinfectant wipes when Vivian and Brynn walk over.

“Thanks for the unadulterated torture, as usual,” Vivian quips, her tone light.

A ghost of a smile lifts my mouth as I continue down the rack.

There’s a momentary pause before Brynn clears her throat. The unsteady sound from someone who just crushed one of my hardest workouts draws my attention.

“I was wondering if you’d like to come watch a movie with us on Saturday. We’re inviting Summer and Cade too. Vivian will make her coveted espresso brownies, and we’ll pop popcorn.”

Receiving a simple invitation shouldn’t make my heart race, but all my old doubts rush to the surface.

The more time these women spend with me, the easier it’ll be for them to pick out my faults.

Then, if they’re anything like the ‘friends’ I’ve had in the past, they’ll use them against me.

After that, Wilks Beach won’t be my haven anymore. It’ll become a battleground.

My mouth opens, but Van speaks first. “Girls’ night in? Sounds like fun.”

I turn, finding not only him but Finn behind me.

“It does sound fun.” I give Brynn a small nod. “But we have that thing? Right, poodleface?”

I should know better than to expect Van to help me out. The way his eyes glint tells me I’m already dead in open water.

“Oh, that thing?” His lips lift in a roguish smirk. “Don’t worry, darlin’. We’ve got the rest of the night for that.” Then Van pats my hip and kisses my temple before walking away to refill his water bottle.

Vivian and Finn share a knowing grin while Brynn’s eyes double in size.

“I guess I’ll be there,” I say, trying to hide how completely flustered I am.

Striding to collect used wraps for the laundry gives me just enough time to collect myself before both Noah and Brynn practically charge me.

“I thought this was fake,” Brynn says at the same time Noah asks, “Did something change between you two?”

“You know?” they ask each other simultaneously.

Then Brynn crosses her arms. “Leave. I’m talking to my friend.”

“She’s been my sister longer than she’s been your friend,” Noah scoffs, mirroring her stance.

“Quiet,” I hiss, my gaze darting around the emptying gym. “We’re not talking about this here.”

When neither of them moves, I sigh. “It’s…complicated.”

I still don’t know what last night’s kiss means for our tenuous relationship.

Technically, we’re married, but that was our first kiss.

Was it also the best kiss of my life? Undoubtedly.

But that doesn’t mean that anything significant is going to change with this arrangement.

Van is here to satisfy a commitment he made to his late sister.

Expecting him to upend his entire life—his career—to move to our tiny island long-term is a foolhardy dream.

“Gen, what else can I help you with for close-up?” Van calls from where he’s putting medicine balls back in their labeled places.

This shakes Noah and Brynn out of their standoff as the six of us finish picking up and cleaning.

I’m used to doing this by myself after my most packed class, so I’m shocked when it only takes us a few minutes.

We’re saying goodbyes, and I’m about to lock up when Van remembers he left his gym bag near the bathroom.

“Just wait one second, then I’ll drive us home.”

I almost scoff that my house is mere blocks from here, but Vivian and Finn are nearby, saying their goodbyes before she walks home with Brynn.

A happily married wife would accept a ride home from her husband.

Noah gives me a pointed This isn’t over glare before jogging in the opposite direction toward the condo tower.

Once everyone is gone, I lean against the door jamb, letting the soothing sounds of cricket song and the distant waves steady my pulse.

My chin tilts back to watch the evening stars peek between the scattering of clouds hazing the sky.

A content exhale leaves my lips as the Cheshire moon gives me a smile.

But then, Van’s voice calls from inside. “Could you come here for a minute?”