“He did a damn good job of it. That book is fuck-hot, and I think you should keep him on retainer.” I try to smile at that, but it’s halfhearted at best. Evie notices and takes my hand. “Juli, did you catch feelings?”
I press my lips together and nod, staring down at our hands. A heavy tear falls onto my ankle. “It’s stupid, really. It was only a few weeks.”
“Oh honey, that doesn’t matter. Is there any way you can contact him?”
“I have his number,” I admit, looking up at her.
“Then call him,” she insists gently. “I’m sure he’s smitten with you too. I mean, he’d have to be stupid not to be. You’re so gorgeous and talented.”
“And a complete nitwit who doesn’t know about upside down pineapples,” I add with a shaky laugh to lighten the mood.
“You’re the most lovable dingbat I know,” Evie says. “Will you think about calling him?”
“I can’t. We agreed to have an island fling, hot and uncomplicated. I don’t want to be that girl who calls weeks later and says, ‘Hey, guess what? I fell for you.’ No guy wants that, especially not someone who literally has women bowing at his feet.”
“What if he feels the same about you?”
I’m pretty sure he does if his face when I walked away from him in the Miami airport was any indication. Instead of saying that,I shake my head.
“A few fun weeks on vacation is fine, but I can’t let it go any farther than that. I’ll just… get over it, I guess.”
But the sharp constriction of my chest tells me that getting over Reno Swain will be easier said than done.
Chapter 32
Should I?
ThemovetoTexaswent well. Gramps was lucid and in the moment the entire time, though the trip took four days because he wanted to stop at practically every convenience store on the eight-hundred mile trip to “see what kind of beef jerky they have.”
I didn’t give a damn how long it took. It was just nice to see him having fun. We even took a short detour into Oklahoma to visit one of the casinos. I lost my ass at blackjack, but Gramps racked up almost a thousand dollars beside me, and Ma won fifty bucks on a penny slot.
My grandfather is now in his new home at Shady Pines, and he’s happier than a pig in shit. A couple old-timers from the local VA came by to visit with him the second day he was there, and he hasn’t stopped talking about it.
Ma adores her house and has been exploring the town. I’m pretty much a hermit, only coming out of my apartment to work out at the arena with Baylor and some of the other guys during the day. In the evenings, I have dinner with Ma or Gramps, sometimes both.
Tonight I’m sitting on my black leather couch in my shorts with Juliette’s shirt draped across my chest so I can smell the brambleberry that’s barely discernible now. Opening the Amazon app, I search for sachets for a few minutes before something on the television catches my attention.
Tossing my phone aside, I lean forward with my elbows on my knees and turn up the volume. My mouth drops open in utter shock at the newscaster’s report.
“Fashion heiress Evie Bouvier has returned home to New York after being missing for over seventeen years. The FBI held a press conference with the Bouvier family today to inform the public about Ms. Bouvier’s harrowing ordeal.”
The scene switches to a clip of the press conference where an agent lays out the story. “I’ll be damned,” I mutter when he wraps up by asking for privacy for the family.
My thoughts immediately turn to Juliette since Evie was her best friend and because she was fuckingthere at the resortwhere Evie was taken. I shudder to think that it could have happened to her.
I’m overcome with the need to call Juliette so I can check on her and see how she’s doing with all this. Picking up my phone, I pull up her contact info and hover my thumb over the call button.
Should I?
Her words that day in the airport come back to me.
I think a clean break would be best.
Because it’s what I need.
With a curse, I drop the phone onto the couch and lean back, digging the heels of my hands into my eye sockets. “Why is this so fucking hard?”
After sleeping on it for a night, I compromise. Instead of calling Juliette, I decide to text her. But what should I say? Congratulations doesn’t seem quite right. I mull it over and finally tap out a message.
