Page 5 of Beached Wedding

I waited for the beep and said, “Shane, what’s going on? Call me.” I ended the call and texted, Call me.

I stared at the screen, waiting for the text to get marked ‘Read’ but it didn’t even say ‘Delivered.’ Had he turned his phone off?

The flutters in my middle grew into a swarm of angry hornets.

“Can you call someone? Gunz or Shwickie? See if he’s with them? Tell them he needs to call me.” I realized I was trembling like someone going into shock. I had to blink to read the signage as I tried to determine the shortest route to the departure level.My passport was in the safe at the hotel. I would have to get it before I could do anything. Then I would have to explain to Mom?—

He couldn’tdothis to me. He couldn’t leave me here with nowhere to go.

I touched my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.

Fox texted someone, but the lack of a responding ding and the look on his face told me he didn’t expect much to come of it.

“He’s probably surfing,” he said.

I bit my trembling lip and nodded, doing what I always did when I’d rather be screaming that my hair was fire. I kept my cool and concentrated on solutions.

“Let’s go to the hotel. I’ll check flights, pack, then go find him.”

Fox hesitated. “I don’t think that’ll help, Ash.”

“Well, he can’t call off our wedding without even talking to me! You had a car booked, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” He pushed off the wall. “Okay, sure. Let’s get the car and go to the hotel. I have to tell his parents. They’ll be worried if he doesn’t check in.”

I yanked the leis off my neck and dropped them in the first garbage can I saw.

ASHLEY

Thirty minutes later, I was stalking Shane on social media, trying to give Fox some privacy as he braced his hands on his knees and spat on the floor of the parking garage.

The guy behind the rental counter had asked if Fox was going to throw up in the car. I assured him he was fine, but had to wonder.

“That’s alcohol poisoning,” I said as he straightened and came toward me in a wobbling step. “That’s not like you.” Shane and all his friends enjoyed a good piss-up now and again, but Fox was usually the caretaker who stayed sober enough to ensure everyone got home safely. “What were you drinking?”

“Couldn’t tell you.” He swiped the back of his wrist across his mouth. “But I’m never drinking it again.”

I studied his haggard profile sheened with perspiration above his shadow of stubble. Pity stirred in me, but I wanted to grab him by the shirt front and give him a shake, too.

“Where did you go?” Whathappenedto make Shane back out on me?

“The usual crawl, but we started way too early and forgot to quit.” He hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his jeans. “I don’t know what got into me.”

The self-disgust in his expression seemed to go deeper than regret over a bender. He looked on the verge of saying something.

I instinctively braced myself, but he flicked his gaze past me.

“G231? The Audi?”

I turned to see the red convertible. Very Shane.

“I wasn’t paying attention to what it was.” I had signed the paperwork while trying to compose appropriate texts to Shane and all his friends. I hadn’t found the right words to ask if anyone had heard from him without revealing he’d dumped me.

I wasn’t ready to accept that I’d been dumped. I kept thinking that if I could just talk to him, he would still have time to get here before the ceremony. I’d planned it so we would have a few days to acclimatize and pamper before the wedding on Wednesday. Afterward, we would enjoy another day of vacation with both families before I headed into the sunset to enjoy my exciting new life with my new husband.

“Want the top down?” Fox asked.

“Sure,” I murmured and deleted what I’d started to text.

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