Page 84 of The One

Her throat bounced as she swallowed.

“If you’re going to go into detail about what happened between you and my sister”—she paused as she drew in a shaky breath—“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Lainey—”

“And if you’re going to tell me you weren’t high when it happened, don’t bother. I already know you were.”

TWENTY-ONE

Rhett

Fifteen Years Ago

Penelope set the case of beer at the bow of the boat and turned toward me, her hands on her bare hips. “Is that the last load, lover boy?” She wore her cutoff shorts unbuttoned and rolled down so low that I wasn’t sure why she’d bothered wearing them at all, considering she only had on a string bikini on top.

Whatever her reasoning was, I was relieved she’d decided to wear them. Enough of her was showing as it was.

I set another case of beer on top of the one she’d just carried. “Yep, that’s it.”

She used her finger to count all the booze we’d piled up in the corner of the bow and looked at me with a scowl. “Five cases of beer and four handles of vodka? That’s all you got for the beach house? Tell me you have a secret stash hidden in your backseat that I just didn’t see?”

I adjusted my baseball hat lower on my face. “We’re only going for two nights.”

She smiled. “I don’t think you realize how much I can drink.”

I realized.

I’d seen her drink more times than I could count.

But I’d also witnessed her hugging the toilet when all that liquor caught up to her.

“Timothy has a fake ID,” I said. “I’m sure if we run out, which would be a miracle, then he could make a booze run.”

She rolled her eyes. “Timothy …”

“What about him?”

She stared at the edge of the marina, where a sailboat was on its way into the dock. “Been there, done that. Andsoover it.”

I cleared my throat. “It?”

“Yeah …It.”

Itwas nice enough to let us stay at his parents’ beach house. AndItfelt the same way about her, so Lainey and I had to convince him to allow Penelope to get an invite.

But I wasn’t here to argue with her. She could think whatever she wanted about Timothy. No matter what I said, it wouldn’t change her mind.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, you’re about to be spending a lot of time with Timothy during this trip and in Europe, so—I don’t know—play nice, I guess.”

She sat on the side of the bow, swinging her legs in the air. “I just wish there were some new guys coming to his beach house and not the same old crew you guys always hang out with.”

“Penelope, that crew, they’re our friends.”

“And your friends are all taken.Blaaah.”

“Why is that a problem?”

I swore she was trying to stick out her chest when she said, “Because they’re all married up and there’s no room for me to squeeze in.” There was suddenly a smile on her face. “Especially you. You’re, like, beyond taken, and that’s just annoying.”