Page 52 of Let Me Say It Again

Whoa, rewind the tape because I wasn’t sure I heard that correctly. Where did that come from? Better yet, someone get me a shovel because we were going to need it to get ourselves out of the pile of shit she’d buried us under.

Sherrilyn sniffled. “Aw, you’re going to get me all teary-eyed.” She angled her head and stared at Jade. “And I fear even with waterproof mascara I’ll ruin my makeup. Don’t you just hate when that happens, Jadey?”

Jadey?That was a new one. Make that a large as fuck shovel.

Jade nodded. “Mmhmm.”

“Well, we won’t keep you. We don’t have much time before the welcome sail,” Mark said, reaching over and clapping my back.

“And I know what you two probably want to do before then”—she waved a hand between us—“hmm? I’d say get a room, but you just did.” Without warning, she cackled—actually cackled—and tossed her head back like it was the funniest thing in the world.

It fell flat for me, but fine, I’d go with it. Remember the strings? I laughed and pushed into Jade, giving her the subtle cue to follow my lead and laugh.

She did. “Oh, Sherrilyn, you know us too well,” she replied, her voice filled with laughter. What was the deal? Had she been an actress in a past life? “I just can’t wait to climb this one like a jungle gym. So we should probably go.” I did a double take, my head swinging her way before she grabbed my hand and led us away. “See you later,” she said over her shoulder.

“You did not just say that.”

When we were at the elevators, she turned to me and shrugged. “You know you thought it was funny.”

“Not the point.” The doors opened, and I admitted, “Okay, maybe a little.”

* * *

Jade

My life was a tragedy. I wished I’d never looked at myself in the mirror after changing because now I feared I’d need bleach for my eyes.

What did I ever do to Red to make him hate me this much?

Technically, I’d agreed to go along with this farce, so it begged a whole new question—why did I hate myself so much? I never thought I did, but I must’ve deep, deep down, otherwise I wouldn’t have put myself through this form of torture.

I was wearing—excuse me while I gagged—a light blue tweed jacket with front slip pockets that had pearls for buttons and a braided trim. Oooh, look at me go and explain things like that. Thank you, thank you, it came with the territory of being the fashion editor of a magazine.

That didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t a pearl girl. I didn’t even own a set before I’d purchased the pearl earrings in my ears, courtesy of Red.

Didn’t sound like me, did it?

Here, don’t work too hard, I’d answer for you—it wasn’t me at all.

To top it all off, I was wearing my hair down. That would have been perfectly fine, except for the fact that it was straightened with a straightening iron. And don’t even get me started on the white headband.

That was it, I was going to puke. I’d never had an overactive gag reflex before, but put me in clothes like this, and it got going.

The only good thing that came out of all of this was that the invitation had warned against wearing heels at the marina or on the boat, so white sandals it was.

Getting off the elevator to meet Red, I thought about how lucky I was that he had been out of our room by the time I’d gotten out of the shower. Something about how he had some business matters to tend to.

I’d tried this outfit on in front of him when he’d taken me shopping, but I wasn’t wearing the whole shebang. I was screaming rich woman who did shit like had a multi-day vow renewal celebration to honor the love they’d already been sharing right now.

You know what there was to celebrate? That they didn’t end the other, entangle themselves in a messy divorce, or become swingers. Certainly not love, though. By the way, I understood the whole swinger thing. Sleeping with the same man for the rest of your life? Unless said man was single-handedly the most talented man in the bedroom, then I was going to have to pass on that one. But that was just me. Meanwhile, just thinking about the whole one-man-for-the-rest-of-your-life thing was making my armpits sweat.

Could you sweat in tweed without it leaving marks? Oh, crap.

As I approached Red, he got up from his seat in the lobby, shoving his hands in the pockets of his chinos as his eyes gave me an appreciative once-over. By the time I closed the gap between us, I swore the heat radiating from his eyes could have put earth’s inner core to shame. “What’s that look for?” He honestly didn’t think I was one of those girls who gave a hoot if he looked at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the room, or even world, did he? It was worth less than counterfeit money to me.

His eyes roamed back up to my face, and he grinned. Genuinely grinned. “You look stunning.”

Oh, stunning. Just a fancier word for beautiful, so it fell into the same category for me. “Don’t say sappy shit like that,” I repeated for what felt like the nine hundredth time. I refrained from rolling my eyes, but I did cross my arms, hoping he got the message to never do it again.

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