Page 21 of All Signs Point to Malibu

“Does she know you’re lying about the whole no dancing thing? I seem to remember your mom putting you in ballroom lessons.” He’d hated every minute of it, but his football-obsessed mom had heard that dancing, yoga, and Pilates could make him a better player, so she’d enrolled him in all three. With the added bonus of pissing off her ex-husband.

“Actually, those will probably pay off,” he says with a small nod. “I plan to surprise Sonia with my dancing skills at the wedding.” Liam sips his drink as though he hopes the liquid has miraculously become something else, unaware of my panic.

“Wedding?”

He glances at me with a smirk. “Typically what follows an engagement, Hails.”

“But not anytime too soon, right? I mean, you two just met.” I know that from my cyber stalking. Sonia’s relationship status changed around Christmas. I resist the urge to point out that relationships formed during the holidays are often influenced by the joy of the season—all the romantic songs and magical lights...and don’t get me started on the effect of mistletoe.

“But when you know, you know, right? We want to get married before breaking ground on her family’s new resort,” he says but there’s definitely a hint of resistance in his voice, confirming my suspicions. “We’re thinking Labor Day weekend and we’d obviously love for you to come.”

That’s a big fuck no. “Wow...” Too fast but what can I say? We’ve only just reconnected. It’s none of my business. “I’m so darn happy for you.” I gulp Warren’s whiskey and Liam looks at me with admiration.

“I’m really happy for you too. You did it, Hails.”

“You sound surprised.”

“It’s just a wild industry... But I never should have doubted you.” Liam touches my hand and I instinctively turn my palm to connect our lifelines. It’s never worked in the past but maybe with time and distance...

Liam sits at a desk, divorce papers in front of him along with an employment contract termination from Banks Resorts. He looks destroyed and heartbroken. He picks up a whiskey bottle and throws it across the room. It shatters...

And so does my glimpse.

I stumble back slightly, shocked. I’ve never been able to see Liam’s future before—not when we were in love. And the realization that the lingering attraction I have for him is more surface level than deep longing doesn’t completely surprise me. But what does alarm me is what I saw in his future. To say I’m surprised that his current relationship is doomed would be lying, but actually seeing it...

Liam looks at me in concern. “You okay?”

“Um...yeah. Great.”

I fight to calm my racing pulse as I stare across the yard at Sonia, laughing and dancing with Warren. Liam is enamored as he watches his fiancée glow in the string lights reflecting off the pool. The yard spins slightly beneath my feet as I’m spiraling in moral conflict. I should never have looked into Liam’s future, but I did.

So, what the hell do I do now?

I have to admit, I was expecting a replica of Barbie’s Dreamhouse complete with a topiaryHnear a swimming pool with a pink slide, but Hailey’s home is surprisingly tasteful. At least the exterior is. And despite my dislike of the woman, I do feel a tinge of happiness for her. I know that her life hasn’t always looked this way.

I’d always found it strange that she never had any family at school events or hosted a party as long as I’d known her. She’d kept to herself before she started dating Liam in junior year, and she wasn’t like a lot of the other girls at school—rich, popular, privileged, and prissy. She had a down-to-earth vibe that intrigued me.

One day, walking home late after football practice, I saw her boarding a bus heading to the east side of town. So I jumped on and sat as far away from her as possible, just to see where she was heading and a bit because my protective instincts took over—the east side wasn’t a place most sixteen-year-old girls liked to go alone.

When I saw her get off the bus and climb the stairs to a run-down apartment building, it confirmed my suspicion that there were things Hailey was desperate to keep hidden from her friends and school officials.

I never said a word to anyone.

I mean, do I think a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, four-thousand-square-foot home is a bit much for one single person? Absolutely. But I have to hand it to her, she does know a lot of influential people.

As I lead Sonia toward the poolside “dance floor,” I spot a local politician and his wife sitting with their feet dangling in the pool, and several actors I recognized but wouldn’t be able to name if my life depended on it were standing near the bar.

“There are so many important people here,” Sonia says, sounding almost giddy.

“TheSonia Banks is here, so I’d say so, yeah,” I say with a wink as we start to dance to the hip-hop beat. I met her an hour ago and already I think she’s fantastic. The fact that she’s intimidated to be here says a lot about her. She’s the heir to a luxury resort chain and yet she’s unpretentious and sweet. Liam is a lucky guy. This relationship definitely fits him so much better than the one with Hailey.

I look across the yard and an odd feeling strikes my gut as the two of them laugh and chat together. According to Liam they haven’t really kept in touch over the years, but they look a little too comfortable. The uneasiness is for Sonia’s sake, obviously.

I mean Hailey’s hot—especially in the knee-length, pale blue dress with a high neckline that accentuates her curves and shows off a classy, modest amount of fantastic legs, but she’s far from my type.

Sonia catches my gaze and sighs. “I have a lot to live up to, don’t I?”

Damn. Is that what she thinks? “Sonia, believe me when I say this—there’s no competition.”

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