Page 22 of Sorry, You've Got The Wrong Number

“Of course, have fun and try not to dwell too much on Travis.”

“I will try not to.” I laughed as I parked the car and then got out. Harriet pulled in about a minute later, and I jumped into the passenger seat.

“Bye, honey. Chelsea just got into the car. I’ll call you when I get home.”

“All right, have fun and drive safely. I love you.”

“Love you too, Finn,” Harriet said in a teeny-weeny, sweet voice and then blew kisses into the phone. “Can’t wait until you’re back home.” She hung up, then turned to me. “Ready for action?”

“Uhm, hold on, I might need to poke my head out of the window and throw up first.”

“You’re so extra, Chelsea.”

“You’re so over the top, Harriet.” I rolled my eyes. “Talk about dick whipped.”

“Don’t be jealous.” She laughed. “You’ll find someone eventually.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I looked out the window and smiled to myself. Little did she know that I already had someone. Harriet and Polly were going to flip when they found out that Travis and I were a couple. Well, technically, we weren’t a couple yet, but we were well on our way.

“Don’t worry, Chelsea, you’ll meet someone soon, I promise. It always happens when you least expect it.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

* * *

We listenedto Ray La Montagne as we drove toward the beach. It was a beautiful night, and I loved spending time with my sister. I thought about my plans for the week. Early the next morning, I was going to go to the library and see if I could sign up for the business class. Then I’d start doing some research. I really wanted this store to happen. In fact, I was even thinking about taking some business and marketing classes in the fall so I could have some credits that would actually help me in the real world. I’d enjoyed my literature, history, and film classes, but they weren’t going to help me with the practicalities of starting my own business.

“I hope it’s not busy when we get there,” Harriet said as she paid the toll.

“It’s never busy,” I said with a laugh as I looked out at the turquoise water. It was gorgeous here. The Gulf water was opaque and the beaches were filled with white sand. Cute beach houses stood on stilts next to the tumbleweeds and sand, and the sky was a joyous orangey-yellow. I absolutely loved the Gulf Coast sunsets. They were the best part of living in Southwest Florida.

Harriet pulled into the parking lot, and we grabbed two beach chairs and made our way down to the sand and next to the water. I decided to leave my phone in the car because I didn’t want Travis to text me and then make me want to rush home. Let him wait for me to be done for the night before he heard back from me.

I took a deep breath of the salty air and smiled. I loved being by the water. Harriet and I started running toward the shore when I tripped over a broken branch and went falling.

“You okay?” a male voice, full of humor, sounded from next to me. The man held out a hand to me, and I took it before looking up. My eyes met brown ones, and I wanted to scream. “Chelsea.” He grinned at me as he pulled me up.

“Chandler.” I pulled my hand away from him quickly.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said, his eyes laughing at me.

“It’s a free beach,” I snapped at him. I saw a girl standing behind him in a black bikini, looking at me with a sour expression on her face. “You can go back to,” I looked into his eyes, “your woman of the night.”

“She’s not my woman of the night,” he said, smirking. “Hi, Harriet.” He waved to my sister. “Good to see you.”

“Hey.” She smiled at him and looked at me with concern.

“So I’m going to go now.” I pressed my lips together and watched as he pulled his shirt off and threw it to the ground. His body was tanned and muscular, and I felt my heart racing.

“Eyes up, Chelsea.” He laughed. “You wouldn’t want anyone thinking you were checking out my body.” He then pulled his shorts off to showcase his tight black swim briefs. He ran his fingers through his dark hair, and I felt his eyes on my lips. “You’re looking quite beautiful tonight.” He looked down at my legs. “My brother is really missing out.”

“Tough luck,” I said, shrugging. The girl behind him finally came up and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Let’s go into the water.” She pouted as she pressed herself up against him. “I’m hot.”

“Go ahead, Brooke,” he said, stepping away from her. “I’ll join you in a minute.”

“Fine.” She looked annoyed, but she did walk away. “But hurry up.”

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