Page 52 of Love on Deck

LAUREN

Jack was uncharacteristically quiet at dinner, but his cousin was the opposite. She commanded the room smoothly, a perfect blend of funny and exuberant without being too loud or sloppy. It hadn’t taken long for everyone to agree to karaoke tonight at her behest, and we found ourselves in a dark bar well after dinner, seated around a large table against the wall.

“You have to do a love ballad together!” Annie said. “It’s almost your wedding!”

Amelia laughed, leaning back on her bench seat against the wall. “No one wants to hear that. Trust me.”

“You can hold a tune,” I said.

She took a sip from her drink. “A normal song, maybe. Not all those oooo’s that come with long, slow love songs.”

“We can’t sing together, anyway,” Kevin said, sliding his arm around her waist to pull her closer to his side. “I signed up to do my own thing.”

Amelia’s mouth dropped open, turning her neck to try and see her fiancé over her shoulder. “What song?”

“It’s a surprise.” Kevin grinned, raising his glass in a toast to Jack and Lucas, who both just shook their heads. The guys had planned something.

Jack sat on a chair beside mine. He pulled it closer and leaned his elbows against the table, dipping his head so it rested near my ear. “Why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not.”

He gave a pointed look to where his cousin sat on my other side.

“I told you,” I whispered. “We ran into each other on the way to dinner. Her husband is sick.”

His lifted eyebrows said enough. That’s not what he’d meant. And he was totally right about me avoiding him, so I couldn’t really defend myself. Not that I could tell him the truth either: that I was scared. That his explanation about the waitress kiss had taken the wind out of my sails. That the way he looked at me made me feel like the only person on the whole ship. That he was making me feel things I’d never felt with anyone else before. That I saw potential.

“What?” he asked, probably reading my mind like the vampire from Twilight. It would explain a lot, for sure.

I shook my head, turning to face the stage, when Jack’s arm went around my shoulders. Pain shot through my skin, making me pull away and gasp.

“I hurt you?” he asked, retreating at once.

“No, it’s nothing. Just a little burned.” It was not nothing, and I was most certainly turning into a firetruck as we sat here in this dark bar.

He clearly wasn’t buying it, anyway. “That sounded like a lot more than nothing.”

“Next we have Kevin and the Groomsmen!” the announcer called from his seat at the DJ station.

Jack looked up.

“Is that your band name?” Annie called, while Cara whistled and the rest of the table clapped.

Jack held my gaze, looking like he didn’t want to move.

“Go sing!” I said, clapping along with everyone else.

He got up, following Kevin and Lucas to the stage. Kevin took the center and both groomsmen stood behind him in a V formation. The song began, and I recognized it at once.

“This one goes out to my bride,” Kevin said, looking at our table. The colored lights overhead made his blond hair look red. “I can’t wait to become your husband tomorrow, baby.”

The room erupted in cheers and whistles. I snuck a look at my sister and found her emotional eyes glued to the stage. Kevin and I might not totally mesh, but his love for Amelia was undoubtable. Even if Amelia seemed young to me, they were the real deal. I needed to let go of my frustration at how much Amelia had veered from the five-year plan I’d designed for her. She was happy, and she was totally and completely loved.

A fact that Kevin continued to shout to the whole room in an off-key rendition of I Do (Cherish You) by 98° that had seen better microphones. Jack and Lucas were fabulous backup singers, performing silly, exaggerated dance moves that had the room laughing.

When their song came to a close, Annie leaned in. “Okay, girls, we have to show them up now. Who knows Wannabe?”

“Um, everyone,” Sydney said.

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