Page 67 of The Best Worst Mistake
We sway for a few moments while my heart pounds in my ears.
The guitar, the dancing couples, the waves sloshing below — it’s all too much. It’s the kind of moment that makes me ecstatic just to be alive. My whole face hurts from smiling most of tonight. Laughing more than I have in well over a year.
“I want to have this memory. Dancing on a Spanish sidewalk with you. Right under the moon,” he tells me. “I know, I know, you’re probably hating this but—”
I lean back to find his eyes, then shake my head at him.
“There’s nothing to hate about this, Si.” And I mean it. “Maybe this moment was never supposed to happen, but I’m glad it is.”
Before he tucks me back into him, we grin at each other as the song transitions into a slow Spanish rendition of “Moon River.” The song is beautifully haunting and one of my favorites, but a few of the couples reluctantly meander their way off the sidewalk, moving on with their night while the melody drifts after them down the sidewalk.
Silas and I continue to sway together under the soft glow of the flickering streetlamp. Neither one of us quite ready to break the unexpected spell of the evening, or bid this exact moment farewell, because as long as we’re still living it, we don’t have to acknowledge that it’s happened.
Chapter 31
Juliet
The next morning, Silas is back in my room and I’m doing my best to ignore the tightness in my chest from just having him in here.
Something unexpected switched in my head last night. And while he didn’t end our dance on the sidewalk with a kiss, there was a moment when I certainly thought he might.
And with it came a moment in which I certainly wanted him to try.
I have no idea how.
I’m sure the drinks we’d had earlier with the crew made our decision-making capabilities a bit hazy, but I can’t say I regret any of it.
“What do you mean we’ll still sail in weather like this?” I ask. He can’t be serious. After waking up to rain pounding at the window, I thought for sure the sail we had planned this morning would be postponed until tomorrow when it’s dry and sunny again.
“I’m sure it’ll clear up by the time we get down to the water.”
Silas is standing in the sitting room of my suite with his hands on his hips. He’s in full athletic attire, including a white backward baseball hat that looks far too attractive on him in this exact moment.
His eyes are shining at me like a kid on Christmas morning.
After our moment on the sidewalk last night, Si had dropped some bills into the guitar case, then we’d raced back to the hotel, arm in arm, when the sky began pouring out of nowhere. When I opened the door to my suite, our hair dripping down our necks, I hadn’t known what to say anymore. It had suddenly felt too quiet, the space too intimate, and we’d sheepishly partedways, tucking ourselves back into our separate rooms, muttering things about hot showers and needing to get sleep before the big morning sail.
I’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to think of all the reasons other thanhe was Grant’s friendin order to stay away from him.
The list was short.
He’d kissed me on the cheek before leaving, and I’m pretty sure that if I’d had the courage to ask, he’d have probably done more.
I couldn’t actually be sure.
Did he always end the night by kissing girls on the cheek? Especially if they were just friends? Or was that the drinks at play?
Does he feel some loyalty to Grant? One that would never allow him to cross the invisible line between us? In the light of day, I don’t even know if I want him to.
I was already a ball of nerves this morning after hardly sleeping, and that was before I saw the pounding rain outside.
“Get your gear on, Jules,” he says, pulling me out of my head.
“My gear?”
“You might not be partaking in the actual work of sailing, but you’ll still need a hat, a polo, tennis shoes with good tread . . . It was all in the clothing options on that list from Katie.”
“I was thinking a sundress and thongs?”
