Page 36 of The Plus-One Deal

I gripped Conrad’s arm and put the thought from my mind. What I needed to do was live in the present. Savor what we could have while we could have it. One day, and soon, we’d have to fly home, but we still had today and we might have tomorrow. We had the sun on our backs and the bustling market, and at least for right now, we had each other.

We explored the rest of the market, then the welcoming streets, and around sunset, we made our way to the beach. The sun was declining in an orange-pink blaze, setting the beach and the ocean on fire. We stood in the sand and Conrad’s hand found mine, and we leaned our heads together to watch the sunset. We watched till the last of the blaze had drowned in the ocean and a scatter of stars pricked through the sky.

I held Conrad’s hand, and I didn’t want it to end, not this sunset, this moment, not our time together.

CHAPTER 14

CONRAD

Verity and Ken wanted to go out for dinner, but when the sun went down, Claire went down with it. She sagged against me and sighed deep and heavy. When Verity proposed dinner, she shook her head.

“I hope you won’t mind if we take a raincheck. All this tropical sun, I’ve got quite the headache.” She massaged her temples and hissed through her teeth.

“I have some aspirin,” said Ken.

“No, that’s all right. I just need some water and a good night’s sleep.”

We headed up to our suite and she stretched out on the bed. I sat down next to her.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, half-smiling. “It isn’t that bad. I really just needed an excuse to skip dinner.” She stretched her feet over the edge of the bed and kicked off her shoes. “Verity’s lovely, and Ken isas well, but it’s been a long day. I want to be me for a while, no games. No pretending.

I lay down beside her, our shoulders bumping. “Yeah, it gets tiring.” I realized how that sounded and nudged her arm. “Not being with you, I mean. That isn’t tiring. But having to screen every word from my mouth — does this match our story? Would that sound weird?”

She reached for the nightstand and felt about blindly, and pulled the room service menu into her lap. “Iamhungry, though. You want something too?”

I took the other side of the menu and balanced it between us. Everything felt too complicated to think about eating, swordfish with a tangy mango reduction. Lobster-stuffed mushrooms with a creamy cheese sauce. I scanned through the appetizers, the dinners, desserts, all the way down to the kids’ section. One item jumped out at me, and I let out a chuckle.

Claire frowned. “What’s so funny?”

“They have hot dog mac and cheese.”

She stared blankly at first, then it hit. Recognition. “Like from college, that diner. What was it called?”

“Moxie’s or Roxy’s. Something with an ‘oxy.’ With the red menus, with the comfort food section.”

Claire moaned. “Their food was so good late at night in the winter.”

“After an all-nighter.”

“With a hangover.”

“Any time, really. Those burnt little hot dogs…” I swallowed. Licked my lips. “Why were theysogood?”

“I don’t know, but I’m getting some.” Claire dragged the phone over. “How about you?”

“Make that two,” I said. “And a couple of Cokes. Or, ooh. Do you think they would make us some root-beer floats?”

“Holyshit. I forgot the floats.” Claire’s eyelids fluttered. “I’m going to ask them. We can’t not have floats.”

Claire put our orders in and I kicked off my shoes. I dug through my suitcase and found my old college sweatshirt, and pulled it on over my polo. Claire laughed when she saw it.

“Why did you bring that?”

“To sleep in. Why else?”

“I sleep in mine too sometimes. When I’m feeling nostalgic.” She swung her legs off the bed and sat watching the moon rise. “Remember when your roommate got that weird, giant lizard?”

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