Instead of getting angry, I let her go by. And despite her sarcasm, or maybe even because of it, I catch myself watching her walk away.
I’m captivated for a long moment. Then I feel my phone buzz in my pocket and pull it out and roll my eyes. Now what? I’m on vacation. Can’t a guy get a moment’s peace?
It’s a message from my brother. About a social media post from one of my exes. She’s getting married.
Cheryl and I are old news anyway. She was a social climber that came from new money who found me one night in an L.A. bar and we had some fun. So what if she’s getting serious with somebody?
I find an empty table and sit down heavily. Now I am in an even worse mood. First the drink gets spilled on me, and now this. I came here to have fun and get away from work for a while. Not have all the shit I’m running from follow me.
Chapter Three
Kaylee
When I finally get closer to the table, I can see that pink tie guy is a letdown compared to handsome growly guy. I should have gotten his number. Oh wait, he was mad about the whole drink spilling thing. Maybe I shouldn’t have chased two full sized drinks with a shot. Or two. Oh well.
I reach the table with pink tie guy and drum my fingers on it, causing him to look up from his phone. I smile and curl my fingers around my hair. “Hi, I’m Starla.”
He gives me a broad smile. “Hi darlin’. Care to join me?”
This is going to be even easier than I thought. I swear I can hear stifled giggles across the room. Even over the roar of the chatter, the sea, and the piped in top forty music. I turn my attention back to the task at hand. “Can’t right now. I’m with my friends. But how about later?”
His face lights up. I pull out my phone. Normally at this point of a fake flirt, I pretend to type in the number. But since this is a challenge, I get the digits for real. “Can I get your number, cowboy?”
And that’s all it took. I saunter back to the table, careful to avoid crashing into any more angry, handsome suit-wearing tourists and plop my phone onto the middle of the table with the notes app still visible.
I mean, no way am I going to put his number into my actual contacts. “How do you like them apples? And that, ladies, is how you win a challenge.”
My friends break into a golf-clap session. I curtsy and then sit back down.
The next hour is filled with laughter, appetizers, and one more round of drinks. Then Fi and Angie’s phones buzz at exactly the same time. They practically vibrate themselves across the table. In Angie’s case, I know that it’s the dreaded bat signal. She’s needed at the animal hospital.
Fi grabs her phone and reads her text.
“Oh no. I’m so sorry, Kaylee,” Angie says, scooping up the phone to reply.
“It’s okay,” I answer her. “You go help adorable small animals. Fi and I will be fine. Right, Fi?”
Fi gives me a mortified look.
“What is it?”
“I got a text that Kirk got off early. I’ll text him back and tell him it’s off.” She winks at me. “I was going to meet him later, but that was before Angie got her message.”
“Go,” I say to Fi. “I’ll be fine. You know this is my happy place.”
Fi laughs out loud. “I can’t leave you for a booty call in the middle of your love life intervention.”
“Intervention’s over,” I say, standing. “It’s group hug time. You guys are the best.” This is our tradition. We meet up here most nights. And every time we part, it’s with a group hug and a flurry of cheek kisses.
We wrap our arms around each other. I feel better already. If a girl has to have a slumping love life, at least I have the best friends in the world to help me through it. “Don’t worry, I’ll be dating again and getting into trouble before you know it. Promise. And it’s all thanks to you guys.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” Fi says, then she tilts her head at me. “Are you sure? You can ask me to stay and I will.”
“Go. Please. I’m good. Today was a long day, I’ll just take a walk on the beach and go home. You guys take care.”
Fi hurries off, leaving me alone at the table that I had been dancing on only a little while earlier. I take a deep breath, watching the surf come in and out while I finish my glass of water. I concentrate on the sea breeze on my face and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore in the distance.
My thoughts circle back to tonight’s love life intervention. The reason for my no tourists rule is because here at the ocean’s edge, people come and go. They never stay. The one thing I know for sure is that vacation boyfriends never work out.
That’s what makes this last breakup even more worrying. He was local. If tourists are useless and I can’t connect with the local men, where does that leave me?
I break myself out of that particular train of thought, gather up the empty shot glasses, and carry them over to the bar.
Even though it’s not that late by weekend beach bar standards, the place has really emptied out. By the looks of it, most of the patrons have coupled up and moved on.
The tiki torches are now casting long shadows as I get to the bar and set down the glasses with a chorus of clinking noises on the shiny, wooden, surface. I smile across at Abigail, who wears a frown of worry.
I know that look. Somebody’s in trouble. Maybe I should help. “What is it?”
