Page 59 of Slow Kind of Love

Chapter Twenty-One

Asoft breeze blew in off the sea, and the early afternoon waves were gentle as they rolled in and disappeared into the sand. Elise pulled on her sunglasses and gazed out at the Caribbean from the shade of their covered porch. Already, boats dotted the horizon, their crisp white silhouettes little dots against the deep blue and turquoise green of the water.

“This place is heaven,” Heather said, stretching like a cat on the lounge chair beside Elise.

“It is,” she murmured. She’d arrived nearly a week ago with her best friend and her husband in tow. To celebrate their reconciliation, Heather and Reg had booked the villa, and surprisingly, it was Reg who insisted Elise join them.

She’d said no.

He’d said there was lots of room.

She’d said she didn’t want to intrude on their private time.

He’d said, why in hell would you stop now?

She would have come up with some other excuse, but Reg had given her a look, the kind that brooked no argument, and told her to get her passport ready. He instructed her to pack bathing suits and summer dresses and to leave her worries behind.

And she had. Packed the clothes, that was. And sure, being in Belize was certainly better than being home in Crystal Lake. But the thing about a broken heart was that it had a nasty habit of following a person wherever they went. She was, in spite of the beauty of this place, miserable.

Reg appeared with two frosty margaritas and then told the girls he was headed to the main building to play a game of corn hole with a couple of the men they’d met on their trip. Heather gave her husband a long, lingering kiss and then murmured something that made Reg blush. What could do that? Elise wondered, because from the noise those two had made the night before, it could be a lot of things.

“Don’t bring Tim back with you,” Heather warned as Reg stepped off the porch.

“Why not? He’s already mentioned drinks later.”

“Sweet, darling Reg,” Heather said with a grin. “Tim has the biggest crush on our sweet little Elise, but if he puts his hands on her butt one more time, I think he’s going home without his balls because they’ll be flattened by her heel.”

“Okay,” Reg said. “Got it.” He gave a wave and disappeared around the corner.

“I got your back,” Heather said to Elise, reaching for her drink.

“Thanks.”

The two women enjoyed the scenery, and Elise was dozing off when Heather spoke.

“It’s been nearly two weeks.”

“I know.” No longer sleepy, Elise sighed and reached for her now warm and decidedly un-frosty drink.

“How long are you going to be this sad?”

Elise didn’t answer at first, mostly because she didn’t know. And there was a big old frog stuck in her throat, making it nearly impossible to speak.

“I suppose until I’m not,” she finally managed to say.

“That’s no answer.”

“It’s all I got.”

“I still think…” Heather sat up, and Elise glanced over.

“What?” At first, Elise thought Heather would just drop whatever it was she wanted to say—she’d done that a few times on this trip—but this time, she surprised Elise.

“I think that if you love him as much as it seems you do, and if he loves you as much as it seems he does, well, it’s a fucking shame that you’re not together.”

Her friend never swore. She raised an eyebrow at Elise’s reaction to it. “I know, right? I read an article on the word fuck, and seriously, sometimes it is the only word to use.” She settled back on her lounger. “Answer me this, Elise. Ten years from now, when you look back on this moment, are you going to regret that you made the decision to end your relationship on your own with no input from Link?”

“I had to,” she replied, sitting straighter as a wave of anger flushed her skin pink.

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