Page 20 of Oops, I'm Having My Best Friend’s Baby!

CHAPTER 8

AMY

Kai hadn’t been kidding when he said that at this level, a lot of business was done over restaurant tables and on the decks of yachts. Since the moment breakfast had finished on day two of their vacation, Kai and Jason had been holed up at the interior dining table, looking very stern as they talked over graphs, spreadsheets and “merger agreements.” Half of it sounded like a different language. Amy had spied on them from a distance for a little bit, peeking through a window from on deck, fascinated, like watching exotic sharks swim around an aquarium. The illusion was broken, however, when one of the boat’s staff brought out coffee and pastries to fuel their business meeting.

Then it got to a point where spying on the boys went from innocent interest to kind of creepy and probably breaking some sort of business confidentiality contract, so Amy made herself walk away, down to the lower deck of the yacht. There were big waterproof sun chairs arranged out here with a jacuzzi bubbling away in the background. And there was Jess looking like a model for a shampoo commercial, which might have been a very specific description, but Amy felt it was an accurate one.

Jess was taking selfies and apparently not happy with any of them, scowling at the screen as she scrolled and scrolled and scrolled.

“Am I interrupting?” Amy asked, feeling like she was definitely interrupting.

Jess looked up in surprise. She’d been so absorbed in her own little world that Amy had managed to sneak up on her. “Sorry, what?”

“Is this… for work?” Amy asked, feeling horribly awkward trying to start up a conversation but trying, nonetheless.

“Yes.” Jess sighed. “Usually if we go on vacation, I have a bunch of posts scheduled and ready to go while we’re away, but this was so last-minute, I didn’t have time to do that.”

“Seems like I’m the only one not working on this vacation,” Amy said, jabbing a thumb back in the direction of the boys, who still hadn’t emerged.

“That’s a good thing,” Jess said with a bright smile. “Enjoy it.”

“Having trouble getting the right angle?” Amy asked, feeling herself being drawn into Jess’s cheerful gravity whether she had a say in it or not. There were definitely worse gravity spirals to be swept up in.

“Yeah.” Jess sighed again. “I kind of just threw a bunch of stuff in a bag and I ended up leaving some equipment behind, like my selfie stick. Which is fine, no big deal, but I might have to wait an hour or two and try again because the sun is just at a really weird angle on, like, every part of the yacht, and it’s not quite working with a selfie. But I need to post a selfie because I haven’t in a while, and it’s better to mix things up, you know? And it’s just a bummer because you know how sensitive algorithms are, and posting a couple of hours later than I planned is really going to mess with my analytics.”

Jess shrugged as if she was resigned to her fate, and Amy had to take a second to try and process everything she’d just said. Most of it flew straight over her head though.

“It all sounds a lot more complicated than I thought it would be,” she admitted, and Jess nodded but with a smile.

“Just technical. Gotta appease the social media gods, you know?”

“I hope you don’t have to make any sacrifices to them or anything.”

Amy cringed internally. God, why did she always have to pepper in some sort of dark joke? She braced for the conversation to end, but Jess just giggled.

“No, no sacrifices,” she said. “But maybe I should try that next time.”

“Did you want me to take a photo?” Amy offered suddenly, surprising herself. “You know, if the selfie angle isn’t working out… then you can maybe get a post up at the right time?”

“You absolutely don’t have to,” Jess said, sitting up from her relaxed pose. “It’s, like, technically work, and you’re here for a vacation, remember.”

“It’s okay,” Amy said, holding out her hand. “I’m happy to. It’ll take ten seconds.”

“Only if you’re sure,” Jess said, but Amy took the phone. It really only did take a matter of seconds, Jess posing back against the lounge chair with ease, knowing exactly what she was doing, the crystal water spreading out in the distance behind them.

“You know if this catering gig ever gets boring, you’ve got a good eye for photography,” Jess said, looking over Amy’s images with a pleased smile on her face. Amy just shrugged, but Jess was so genuine that she couldn’t help the little bit of pride that had started warming her from the inside out.

“Come here, we’ve gotta take one together. Just for us.”

Without further notice, Jess wrapped her arm around Amy and pulled her in close, taking photos of them sitting together. Amy didn’t have time to feel self-conscious, automatically smiling like she was a kid on school picture day.

“Oh my God, cute,” Jess announced, sliding her sunglasses onto the top of her head to keep her hair out of her face, turning the screen so Amy could see.

The photos were cute, both of them smiling and windswept, cheek to cheek and Jess’s arm wrapped tight around her, like they’d known each other for years.

“You’ll have to text them to me,” Amy suggested.

“Oh, my God, yes,” Jess said, thrilled and immediately thrust her phone upon Amy so that she could type in her number. And Amy did, feeling embarrassingly brave over something so simple, handing Jess’s phone back and feeling like a kid making friends at the playground with a stranger.

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