Page 7 of Last Second Chance

No. That wasn’t real.

I had to keep reminding myself of that. Holding onto the past was pointless. It never meant anything, even if it felt like it did at the time.

I knew what I needed to do. I had to put myself back out there. I’d been too jaded to do it before now, but it was time. I was going to start dating again when I got back to New York next week. I just couldn’t keep pining for a man that hurt me so badly. There was no future there, and I deserved a happily ever after.

I sleptlike crap that night, but I still woke up early the next morning. There was a heck of a view of the ocean from my window, so I pulled back the curtains and smiled at the sight of the bright morning sun glinting off the water. I had to admit that Ben was right about this island being a great getaway. If I could just get over being around Scott, it could be a fantastic vacation.

Heading downstairs, I went into the hotel restaurant. I didn’t recognize anyone there from the wedding party when I arrived, so I took a seat alone at a table, ordering a veggie omelet.

The walls of the restaurant were nothing but windows, meaning that I could see the beach on all sides. The sight of the waves coming and going was mesmerizing and I watched them the whole time I was eating. It was peaceful, almost making me forget about my problems.

Then, I got ready to leave and saw that Michael had come into the restaurant and was sitting alone at a table. Remembering what I saw last night in his room, I went over and pulled the chair out across from him. He looked up from his phone, where he’d been scrolling on social media.

“Hey, Poppy,” he said with a smile. “What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you,” I said, folding my hands on the table in front of me.

“What’s wrong?”

I exhaled a deep breath and said, “I saw the seating chart for the reception last night.”

Understanding flashed across his face, but then he decided to play it dumb. “Is there a problem?”

“I need to be moved. Or Scott does. I don’t care how you do it, but I can’t sit next to him for the whole reception.”

Michael sighed. “You know, he just wants to talk to you. Maybe you should hear him out.”

“What?” I said, unable to believe that yet another person was conspiring to get the two of us back together. “That has nothing to do with anything. Why isn’t Scott sitting with the rest of the wedding party, anyway? Isn’t that traditional?”

It didn’t make any sense that we’d be together.

He shrugged. “You know how it is when you’re planning a big party...decisions have to be made. We can’t make everyone happy.”

He was being cagey and not directly answering my question. That was when I realized that he used the same “hear him out” line on me that Ben did last week.

“Oh my God, you and Ben are responsible for this, aren’t you? You’re in cahoots or something.”

“Try not to be paranoid,” he replied, still not directly answering a question. He was too good at this. “You’ll have a great time at the reception.”

“Only if you move me to sit next to someone else.”

“That’s not easy to do. Everyone is already assigned a seat.”

Now I was frustrated. How hard could it be? “You’ve got to think about moving me. Come on, it can’t be that hard.”

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Michael asked with a frown.

“Yes! I don’t want to sit next to him for the whole reception.”

Ben approached us, but I didn’t even look his way. I was getting tired of his sneakiness.

Michael exhaled heavily. “I’ll look into it.”

“Fine,” I ground out between my teeth. But it really wasn’t. Getting up, I started to walk away.

“Good morning to you too, sis!” Ben called out after me, and I looked back to roll my eyes at him before I kept going.

I was in the lobby when I almost ran right into Summer, Michael’s sister. I was too upset to even notice her until we’d nearly collided.

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