Page 40 of Cream Pie

Chapter 11

Amy

Outside the window,the palm trees and street-side food stalls, and past that, the beach, blur past us. The air-conditioned Range Rover rumbles as we pull of the main road, heading down through another grove of palms to the private airfield, where we’ll be heading home from Thailand with a quick refueling stop in Hawaii.

It’s gorgeous outside, and inside, it’s all laughter and smiles, seeing as it’s just me, Hope, and Kendall in this car, gabbing about the wedding. And yet, there’s a cloud following me too, hovering overhead. Part of it has to do with walking into breakfast this morning just in time to see Javier glare at me coldly and storm out.

Yeah, not at all confusing. Not in the slightest.

But the other part of my funk is wondering what “going home” means. Leaving here and this fantasy world I’ve existed in, sneaking around with Javier, I wonder if that’s all it really was: a fantasy world. Because here, there was the thrill of the forbidden, and it being someplace new to both of us, and all of that. Back home, it’s just reality, and that reality is that there is no way Javier and I can actually be anything real. Right?

The very man I’m thinking of is about twenty feet behind us in a matching black Ranger Rover, riding with my dad and their mutual friend Max, who’s hopping a ride back to the States with us. Normal me would already be fully immersed in giving Hope a hard time for the moony eyes she’s been making at the blond Viking-in-a-tailored-suit looking man, but, I’m too engrossed in my own shit to even follow what she and Kendall are talking about.

“Amy.”

I blink, shaking my thoughts away and turning at the sound of Hope calling my name exasperatingly.

“Huh?”

She and Kendall share a look, and even if they’ve both got that “let’s tease Amy” look on their faces, and even with my funk, I grin. I like that these two are friends—my best friend from home and my best friend from college.

“I was asking Kendall if it was weird that you’re her stepdaughter now.”

I glance at Kendall, who rolls her eyes and gives me a “her words, not mine” look past Hope.

“Stepmom to Amy Bane.” Hope whistles, grinning at me. “Now that sounds like a tough job.”

“Okay, can we call it with the stepmom shit?” I mutter.

Kendall laughs. “We have an arrangement, Hope. No ‘step’ stuff, it’s way too freaking weird.”

“Not her and my dad,” I add quickly. “There’s just no way on earth I’m ever calling her my stepmother.”

The both of them laugh, and Hope shakes her head.

“Well, I mean you can’t blame a girl for falling for your total DILF of a dad.”

I groan, making a sour face. “Could we not?”

Kendall giggles again as she leans over to hug me.

“I mean, we could say stepsisters I guess?”

“And you’re sleeping in my dad’s room?”

Kendall makes an immediate “ick” face that matches mine.

“Okay, yeah, that might be worse. Forget I ever said that.”

“How about we stick with ‘best friends’?”

She grins. “Deal.”

We hug again, and Hope sighs dramatically. “Aww, nothing like some bonding over your DILF of a dad—”

“So how’s Max?” I say brightly, grinning as Hope’s face turns to bright pink. The three of us giggle and keep on gabbing as the cars pull into the airport and out onto the tarmac before coming to a stop. The driver pops the door for us, and we step out into the balmy heat just as the guys from the other car step out of their’s. My eyes meet Javier’s for a second before I turn away.

“Everyone know each other by this point?” my dad says, clapping his hands together.

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