Page 41 of Forever Mine

Armed with the buckets, I dug my toes in the sand and turned my face up to the sun. Then, I jogged down to the water. Today was special because since arriving I’d been cooped up in a building for between eight and ten hours each working day.

I filled the buckets, delivered them to Angel and her construction buddy, thinking all the while about Vaughn and her situation. She’d moved while I was gone and now sat where I’d been. “Hey, you stole my spot.”

“Whatever.” She offered me a lazy grin. “Want a beer?”

While pushing the hair off my face, I said, “That’s supposed to make me forget you captured my seat?”

I dropped next to her on the blanket, waiting while she reached into the icebox. After removing the cap, she handed me an ice-cold bottle. “Yeah, all’s fair in love and war.”

“If you say so.” Our fingers brushed as she gave me the beer.

The fleeting contact made me long to touch her again, but I couldn't indulge myself. Not now, anyway. Squinting at the calm waves, I said, “I think there’s more to you not wanting to introduce me to Angel.”

“Like what?”

“I figure you’re being protective and don’t want her to get attached to anybody who won’t be in her life long term.”

“You’re smarter than you look.” Her indulgent smile took the sting out of her words.

I slipped the band off my wrist and tied it around my hair, chuckling while I did. “My parents would probably agree with you.”

“D’you mind me asking you something?”

I rested both arms on my knees observing the blue-green water below us, dotted with swimmers. “Ask away.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what Lucy did to you?”

My breath whooshed out faster and harder than I intended. I hoped Vaughn missed it since the wind was up. I forced myself to breathe normally as she gripped my arm, then smoothed my skin with her palm. “If you don’t want to discuss it, that’s okay. You talking to her this week was great progress.”

“Nah. I’m good. What happened was … ” I faced Vaughn, wrinkling the blanket. “It’s nothing you’ve never heard before but it’s hard for me because, well, I feel like a fool.”

She frowned, but didn’t speak.

I let out my breath again and spilled everything in one sentence. “That baby she’s having isn’t mine.”

“Wow.” Vaughn’s hand went still on my arm. “How d’you know?”

“I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and overheard a messed-up conversation between her and the man she was sleeping with.”

One side of Vaughn’s mouth kicked up in a half-smile. “That’s a lotta wrongs right there.”

“You got that right, sistah.” My ability to jest in this moment surprised me and Vaughn’s eye roll made me laugh.

She squeezed my arm, then released it. “All of it must have been hard to deal with.”

Despite the way my heart pumped and the pressure that built in my chest when I thought about Lucy, I stayed calm enough to respond as if her betrayal didn’t matter. “Yeah, but life goes on.”

With one hand, Vaughn captured the hair that had escaped from the ponytail at the back of her head. “You say that as if it means nothing.”

“No, that’s not it. I just don’t believe in dwelling on something that wasn’t meant to be.”

Her voice was soft when she spoke again. “I’m glad it hasn’t made you bitter.”

My answer was quick and sharp. “Says who?”

Her laughter eased the constriction in my chest and I dredged up a half-hearted grin.

“Says me,” she said, resting her hand on my arm. “If you were as bitter as you think you are, you never would have looked at me.”

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