Page 34 of The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain
T HE DRIVE BACK TO THE HOTEL FROM THE FESTIVAL IS MORE LEISURELY, the lush rainforest to our left and the ocean to our right.
The wind tugs strands of my hair loose, and they flutter around my face as we round the curve that leads to the hotel entrance.
The golf cart rolls to a stop as the fountain bubbles quietly and the scent of plumeria rises up around me.
Sebastian hops out of the golf cart, then turns to wait for me.
He doesn’t hold out a hand to help me down, and I wonder why I should care.
It’s an old-fashioned gesture, something Jamie would do.
“I guess this is good night.” Something in Seb’s tone catches my attention.
He stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks at me with a half grin, and I realize he looks nervous .
Or as nervous as Seb gets. Uncertain might be a better word.
He looks uncertain . And it’s something I’ve never seen from him.
I always admired how clear-eyed he was with his future.
He stepped, sure-footed, out of his front door into the wide, wide world, with a camera slung across his chest, staring straight ahead.
He never looked back to see if I was behind him. I would either follow or I wouldn’t.
But right now, he doesn’t look so sure. I shiver at the cool breeze, and without a word, Seb takes off his button-down shirt and slips it over my shoulders. The movement seems to loosen something within, and his lips turn up in a conspiratorial smile.
“Would you want to go for a late-night boat ride with me? I know where they keep all the keys.” He loops his arms through mine, pulling me into the lobby. “We can swipe a bottle of rum from the bar. Really make a night of it.”
I laugh, but then notice Seb’s not laughing with me. “Oh wait—you’re serious? Seb, we can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Um, because it would be super dangerous?”
Something flickers across Sebastian’s face, as if he’s recalibrating his memory of me to match the person I am now.
There’s something about his expression that makes me want to throw him a bone.
If only to prove to him that I’m not, despite the way he’s looking at me, some body-snatching alien inhabiting the corporeal form of one Sybil Rain.
“Besides,” I say with a shrug, “I’m already on thin ice with the resort’s boat people. I maaaay have jumped off the side of the snorkel catamaran before we were officially instructed to do so.”
“I knew it,” Seb says with a grin. He starts walking backward, toward the east end elevator banks. “Haven’t changed a bit.”
“Still the same old me,” I reply with an eye roll.
He raises his hand in a quick salute before he turns to walk away.
As I watch him leave, I realize how much Seb still wants to see me as the old, carefree Sybil.
The person I always tried to be when I was with him.
After Liam, he was the antidote I needed.
A breath of fresh air. The perfect twin flame who never judged me for my wild ways, who encouraged every questionable impulse I had and made me feel like I just might be okay, if only I could keep the party going long enough.
I’m about to head to the west end elevators and my own room when I remember: Mason’s birthday party. If I head there now, I should be right on time to be fashionably late.
T HERE ARE PROBABLY TWO dozen people scattered along the beach and mingling around a bonfire piled high with driftwood and palm tree bark.
Dani had texted me directions to this little cove that’s separate from the resort’s main beachfront.
There’s a low one-story building, which must be the staff housing.
The sun is just setting, and the sky is a dazzling rainbow of yellows and pinks doubled in the sea’s reflection.
Ash greets me with a Solo cup filled with something fruity.
I was expecting a full-on luau, but this is giving more USC beach party energy.
I notice Ash has traded the crisp suits I’m used to seeing her wear for a vibrant yellow silk mini-dress, but she still has a flower tucked into her long brown hair.
I tilt the cup back, hoping that whatever’s inside will quiet the confusion ricocheting through my brain and bring out Fun Sybil, in all her glory.
There’s the sharp taste of rum and the sweetness of pineapple. The drink goes down easily. “This is amazing.”
“And potent. It pays to marry a bartender.” As Ash says this, Dani comes up behind her and loops an arm around her waist before dropping a kiss on her cheek.
“Hey, Sybil, so glad you made it!” Dani says. “Also—why the hell didn’t you tell me your evil ex-fiancé was the wine guy!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about this.” She hands me a shiny brochure with a familiar-looking vineyard on the cover. The heading reads: Kauffman Estates & Winery.
What in the world… I start flipping through the pages of marketing materials.
There’s a photo of Jamie, looking impossibly handsome in a crisp white shirt, his sleeves rolled up as he inspects a cluster of grapes.
Beneath it, a quote: “Our family has always believed in investing in what matters most. With Kauffman Estates & Winery, we’re investing in passion, in heritage, and in the future of fine winemaking. ”
My heart swells with a ridiculous amount of pride.
He did it. He actually did it. He defied his father, he chased his dream, and he finally expanded on the vineyard’s potential.
And suddenly, the memory of that first conversation at the pool comes flooding back.
Something about diversifying the portfolio.
I had been so blinded by the shock of seeing him that I hadn’t truly listened, hadn’t grasped the significance of what Jamie was telling me.
I’m struck by a burning impulse to find Jamie and tell him how impressed I am by all of this—and more importantly, to clear the air about Sebastian’s story about how we rekindled.
It might be too late for me and Jamie to rebuild what we lost, but I can’t let him go on thinking that I left him for Seb.
But before I can make a move, Dani grabs my arm and starts leading me toward the party. “Come meet the rest of the gang!”
I desperately want to abandon the party and go find Jamie right now , but I know it would be rude to ditch Dani when she was gracious enough to invite me.
Besides, the memory of his furious expression as he stormed off on horseback earlier today still stings.
What if he’s still angry and refuses to listen?
It’s been such a long day already, and the truth is, I’m exhausted.
Maybe tonight what I need is to let loose, have some fun, and pretend, for a few blissful hours, that my life isn’t a complete and utter disaster.
“Lead the way,” I say to Dani.
“T HE REST OF THE gang” turns out to be an international crew of young people.
A found family made up of bartenders, bellhops, servers, housekeeping staff, and grounds crew.
They rib each other and tell funny stories about past seasons at the resort.
The energy is infectious and exactly what I needed.
It feels like being with friends from college or summer camp—a feeling that only grows when someone suggests a round of Kings, followed by a drinking game called Legends that I struggle to understand the rules of, and then a girl with box braids suggests the old standby: Truth or Dare, and everyone cheers.
Which is how I end up wading out into the moonlit ocean until I’m deep enough to attempt an underwater handstand.
After, I run back to the group, shivering. When I get closer, I hear a guy named Kostas, who I’m pretty sure is the resort medic, chanting, “Sy-bil! Sy-bil!”
“I can’t believe you just did that!” Ash squeals with a slight hiccup.
“Rules are rules,” I shrug, yanking a sandy blanket out from under Dani’s butt and wrapping it around myself like a towel.
“Okay, okay, my turn,” Dani says. “I pick truth.”
“What’s one thing I do that really annoys you?” Ash asks, devilishly.
I let myself tune out a little as they playfully start arguing back and forth, and the game moves on to daring one of the housekeepers to make out sensually with a snorkel mask.
It feels good to be among a group of new friends, here in this beautiful place.
To just be Fun Sybil and not think about any of the things that have been weighing me down since I landed in Hawaii.
And yet, the minute that thought strikes me, reality starts creeping back in, and I find myself wondering where Jamie is right now, what he’s doing.
Is he alone in his hotel room? Is he with Genevieve?
The thought makes my stomach squirm. Is he—
“Sybil.” Dani nudges me. “It’s your turn.”
I swallow the lump that has unexpectedly formed in my throat. “Truth.”
“Hmmm…” Dani gives me a wicked grin. “What’s your most embarrassing moment from high school?”
It should be an easy one—I could rattle off the funny story about the time my sweatpants fell down, causing me to trip over my own legs during my ill-fated tryouts for cheerleading, or how I was so pumped about going out with my freshman year crush and possibly getting my first kiss that I drank two jumbo Diet Cokes beforehand, and the kiss was thwarted by an uncontrollable and mortifying case of violent hiccups.