Page 71 of Revenge Honeymoon

“Not dumb. No. But you were in love. And that can take up your whole life at the beginning.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She moved her green beans around her plate. “I did get pretty caught up with Tyler and forgot about you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Emily cleared her plate from the bed. “I wasn’t honest with you about my feelings toward Tyler. We both need to learn to communicate better. I don’t want to ever lose you as a friend, Rubes.”

Ruby sniffed. “Me neither.”

The two women hugged over Ruby’s half-empty plate.

When they broke apart Emily asked, “So what would you say to him if you saw him again?”

“Tyler? If I had the guts, I’d punch him in the face.”

Emily giggled imagining the shock on handsome Tyler’s face when Ruby’s fist slammed into his perfect nose or knocked out one of his super white teeth.

“I think, though, what I really would want to ask is why.”

Emily nodded. “He was a coward the way he stood you up.”

“Yeah.” Ruby set aside her plate—half the food uneaten—and rubbed her hands together. “Get dressed and let’s go grab some ice cream!”

“Now you’re talking.”

* * *

Max sat at his assigned dining table in the back corner near the kitchen. Even after the server had brought him his drink and his appetizer, he still found himself taking glimpses of the dining room hoping to see Emily and Ruby descend the stairs near the piano.

Although Emily had accepted his date invitation, that didn’t mean both women believed his explanation for the pool deck photos. Was Emily only being nice by agreeing to the date? She really didn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body. That’s what made her so appealing. She was the exact opposite of Penny, who had been calculating and manipulative. Nice to the outside world, but ruthless on the inside.

But Emily?

He smiled.

Something about her awkward, self-conscious personality endeared her to him.

But the fact she didn’t show up tonight for their seated dinner time had him concerned.

“Oh, Max!” Pink Twin, Donna, waved her fingers at him from the piano and headed his way.

Shit.

He hadn’t been able to secure a signature on the model release form, and he didn’t know if he ever would. Why couldn’t these women understand the word ‘no’ and why did he have to be the one to suffer if Ruby wouldn’t sign it?

To fortify himself for the twin onslaught, he gulped down his wine. Diana flanked her sister, leaving their new spouses in the dust. Their identical gazes were like laser beams that pinned him to his seat.

Time for the Keeling Charm—if there was such a power.

Max produced his broadest, whitest smile. He hoped the can lights above his table bounced off his recently-whitened teeth (a gift from ex-girlfriend, Penelope, who chose the exact shade of white that complimented his skin tone) and blinded the two middle-aged women.

“Ladies, what can I do for you?” Although his words came out confident enough, inside his stomach roiled like a rowboat on the open ocean during a storm.

Diana and Donna sat at his table without invitation, each twin taking a chair on either side of him.

He was trapped.

Diana folded her hands and rested them on top of the table. “Max, we somehow missed each other after the rafting trip.”

Yes, he’d made sure to choose a seat near the front of the bus with a twelve-year-old boy from Nebraska who spoke to him the entire time about his collection of beetles. Which meant when they parked near the pier, he’d been the first one off the bus and booked it back to the ship in five minutes flat.

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