Page 43 of Shy Girl
The bottle let out a little hiss when he popped it open, then he mirrored it with a sigh. After a long, long drink, Grady set the bottle down, leaned back and muttered, “Weddings suck.”
“It’s the planning that sucks,” Vik cried and threw a pillow at him. “The rest of it is awesome. People. Great food. Celebrations. This is a dream! Besides, we’re on a private island, you idiot. Weddings rock.”
Grady glared at him. “Just don’t tell anyone I’m here for two minutes. Two minutes where no one can talk to me.”
“Helene hounding you?” I asked.
“Nah, it’s my parents.” Grady rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Mom wants me to try on my tux again, my aunt has questions about the ceremony and where she’ll be standing even though we told her she’d be sitting, and my dad is complaining about the heat because he hates sunscreen.” Grady threw his hands up. “I don’t care about your sunscreen, Dad!”
Vikram asked Grady about the woman on the beach and her thwarted lover while I turned to Bastian. He sat with his back against the fridge, a brooding stare on his face. He glowered at his computer, then slammed it shut and set it aside. All through high school, he’d always sat on the counters.
“You good?” I asked.
He shrugged it off. I peered outside to see if I could find Dagny on the beach. She stood alone near the edge of the surf, arms at her side as she faced the ocean. What was she thinking about?
“So,” Grady drawled and interrupted my thoughts. “I hear Hernandez is dating Dagny after all. You’re the most on-again, off-again fake couple I’ve ever met.”
A note of mischief in that tone didn’t reassure me at all. I shot him a glare.
“Shut up.”
“What?” Grady spread his hands. “You said you weren’t dating on the phone, but last night she said you are. The way she looked at you over dinner . . . Let’s just say that I saw her feed you that pineapple.”
Oh, I would always remember that pineapple. Vik tried to hide a laugh behind a cough, but Grady didn’t even attempt to hide his hoot-like laughter that always reminded me of a high-pitched owl.
“Shut up, Grady.”
“He protests too much,” Vik cried.
“We’re not dating,” I snapped, and even I heard the defensiveness in the words. “She just said that for Victoria’s sake. Victoria pulled her aside and talked to her about me, so Dagny wanted to get her off my back.”
Grady whistled. “Cat fight, my dude.”
“No cat fights. I just spoke with Victoria. She’s going to back off and get over me. Which is clearly hard to do because I’m such a stud muffin.”
Vik rolled his eyes so hard he almost fell off the chair. Bastian snorted.
“Not that easy,” Vik sang. “You hurt her pride, that’s all I’m saying.”
The uncomfortable truth was that Vik had it right. While I wanted to assume Victoria would back off, she hadn’t exactlysaidas much. Most of this was wishful thinking, at best. But we were at a wedding and on an island with extremely influential people. If there was one thing Victoria would not want to risk, it was her reputation.
Or so I hoped.
“So,” Vik said to Grady. “You’re tying the friggin’ knot.”
Grady looked up and met Vik’s challenging stare. Vik always kept things light, but there was an undercurrent of disbelief in his tone he didn’t bother to hide. Grady held his gaze for a second and said, “Yeah.”
Vik hid his response behind a sip of beer. Bastian watched both of them carefully. In all our years together, there had only ever been a few fist fights between us, and those had mostly cleared the air. Grady and Vik went at it the most. They lived on opposite sides of most opinions all their life. Grady was a classic, Vik a progressive. After a few swings, they’d not talk for a week, then we’d come back together like nothing happened at all.
I found myself hoping they’d just get the beating over with already.
“You got a problem with it, Vik?” Grady asked.
“Yes!” Vik threw his hands in the air. “Finally! Can we talk about this? Why the hell are you getting married?”
Grady motioned in front of him. “Bring it out. What’s your problem with Helene?”
“Nothing. Helene is lovely.”
