The thought of making herself so vulnerable frightened Indina to no end, but listening to the women in her family describe the joy they felt on a daily basis had her ready to reconsider. The payoff just might be worth facing her fear.
Maybe she could finally be happy again, something she could admit she hadn’t been for a while now.
“Enough of all this chitchat,” Monica said. “Can we please talk about the elephant in the room?”
All the women focused on Indina.
“What?” Indina asked.
“Oh, don’t give me that. You show up here yesterday with this fine ass man that none of us knew about. Spill it,” Monica said.
Indina shouldn’t have been surprised. In fact, she was surprised she’d been able to go an entire twenty-four hours without the women in her family bombarding her with questions about her relationship with Griffin, especially Monica.
Her cousin’s wife had tried setting Indina up with several of the doctors who worked with her at Methodist Memorial Hospital, where Monica was the chief ER attending physician. The first black woman to ever hold that position, thank you very much.
But not one of Monica’s attempts at playing matchmaker had panned out. Actually, none of them had gone beyond the first date. When Indina backed out of a date with one of the top plastic surgeons in the city, who even she had to admit had been one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever encountered, Monica had thrown in the towel.
She stared at Indina now with marked curiosity.
Indina took another sip of her drink and let out a satisfied ahhh. “Okay,” she said, setting the drink down. “What do you want to know?”
“How long have you two been dating?” Renee asked.
“How old is he?” Monica asked.
“Who cares about any of that?” Sienna said. “I want to know if the sex is good.”
“Okay, yeah, that too,” Monica said.
Indina burst out laughing. “First, he’s thirty-eight, so not all that young. We met when I started working on a project for Sykes-Wilcox.”
“How long have you two been dating?” Monica asked.
Indina hesitated. “We haven’t really been dating.” She turned to Sienna. “And to answer your question, the sex is freaking fantastic.”
“Alright girl!” Sienna said. She held up her cup of fruit punch in salute.
Renee raised her hand. “Hold up. I’m confused. The two of you are not dating, but you’re having fantastic sex?”
“What’s confusing about that?” Sienna asked. “Every girl’s got an itch. Indina found herself a hottie to scratch hers.” She leaned over and held her hand up for a high-five. “More power to you.”
“Is that really all it is?” Monica asked with a frown.
Indina hunched her shoulders and nodded.
“Well, that sucks,” Monica said. “You two look so good together. I was hoping this was something real.”
“Didn’t you hear the woman?” Sienna asked. “It is real. It’s really good sex.” She pointed to Indina. “Give us some details.”
“Oh, please don’t,” Renee said. “If this is going to turn into a sex convo I’m tapping out right now. I’ve been so exhausted with my new job that I’m never in the mood lately.”
“Uh oh. Being a school principal is more work than you thought it would be, huh?” Indina asked.
“So much more,” Renee said. “By the time I get home, feed the kids, and help with homework, I just want to crawl into bed.”
“Poor Alex,” Monica said, not even trying to hide her laugh.
“Poor me,” Renee said. “I’d love to get into bed and do something other than sleep, but Alex is just as exhausted as I am, especially with Holmes Construction’s new expansion. We’re just two sexless adults waiting for the day we both have the time and energy to get back to doing it.”
“Toby and I will happily keep Sebastian in our cabin tonight if you two want to get your freak on,” Sienna offered. “We already have two little ones in the cabin with us. We can make room for a third.” She tapped Willow on the arm. “Athens can join us too.”
“That’s not necessary,” Willow said. “Besides, my husband hasn’t touched me in months.” With that, she slipped on her sunglasses and rose from her chair. “I’ll catch up with you all later.”
There was complete silence as they all stared at Willow’s retreating form.
“Okay, I wasn’t going to say anything, but there’s something going on with those two,” Monica said. “They’ve barely talked to each other on this cruise.”
Sienna leaned toward the hot tub. “I don’t know the full story, but according to what Jonathan told Toby, Harrison has been a pain in the ass at the office lately. Jonathan said just about anything sets him off.”
“Has she said anything to you, Indina?”
Indina shook her head, still looking toward the door where her sister-in-law had disappeared. “No, but there’s definitely something going on. I’m going to try to talk to Harrison.”
Monica, Renee and Sienna all snorted at the same time.
“Good luck with that,” Sienna said.
Indina recognized the exercise in futility that would be. But she had to do something. She couldn’t sit back and watch silently as her brother and sister-in-law just ignored each other’s existence. As a couple, they had been the very definition of relationship goals. If the romance had gone sour in Willow and Harrison’s once storybook marriage, Indina didn’t see the point in even trying to find real love again.
Griffin had just finished the cool down on the treadmill when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to find Toby.
“Hey, what’s up?” Griffin asked as he pulled out his ear buds.
“Getting in a workout even after all that hustle at beach volleyball today?” Toby asked.
He shrugged. “My body is used to ninety minutes of high intensity. If it doesn’t get that, I start to feel sluggish.”
“I know what you mean. I try to do at least an hour a day myself.” Toby climbed onto the treadmill next to his and started it at a slow jog. “I also want to take advantage of
