Little did I know, it was also the only night we’d all be alive.
Chapter Eleven
Laura
After our dinner plates had been cleared, we were all stuffed and exhausted, and over the horizon, the sun had begun to set into the sea.
“Let’s go watch the sunset, Nicky,” Megan said, her excitement contagious as she leaned into him and he kissed her forehead. They were so in love it was nearly sickening.
I looked at Brad, who was staring out over the water stoically. “Want to go, too?” I asked.
He nodded less enthusiastically, standing up, and I watched as Nick pulled Megan’s chair out, though Brad was already several paces away from the table by the time I caught up to him. “Wait up!” I called.
The others followed behind, each couple getting up and stretching at their own pace. We made our way to the shore, and Brad turned to me. “What do you think, babe? Sand or a chair?”
“A chair, please,” I said with a laugh. “I’d never manage to get up from the sand.” It was a joke, but the pain in my knees had begun getting worse and, try as I might to ignore it, my hips felt sore from day-to-day movements anymore—a definite sign I was no longer the eighteen-year-old he’d met so long ago. Emily was a constant reminder of everything I wasn’t anymore. We started toward the white chairs on the sand, stopping abruptly as Nick darted into our path with Megan on his back.
“Sorry,” he called, Megan squealing with delight as he launched them both into the water. Brad took my hand, leading me toward the chairs as we watched Nick and Megan play in the water, laughing loudly and splashing each other like two teenagers. I couldn’t help smiling. It was a perfect picture, really. The sunset behind them, both of them undeniably beautiful, even soaking wet and jet lagged.
I sat down in the white chair, nearly tipping it over as I managed to sink in and Brad slid his toward me, surprising me by putting an arm around my shoulders. Maybe this place would be good for us after all.
“I love you,” he whispered, resting his chin on my shoulder. I leaned my head onto his.
“I love you, too.”
“Alright, you love birds,” Natasha said, laughing as she hurried around in front of me and took the seat to my right. “Dear God, how do you get in this thing without falling on your ass?”
I snorted, reaching over and holding the chair steady so she could sit without tipping the chair on its side. “I don’t think you do.”
Without a word to her, Jaren took off his shirt, laying it over a free chair and hurrying into the water as well. “Has Jaren been working out?” I asked Natasha, surprised at the abs I’d never noticed before. Then again, it wasn’t all that frequently I saw him without a shirt on.
She raised a brow, following my gaze. “Who knows what he does… He bought one of those ab machines off some guy who brought his car into the shop a few months back. Ten bucks says by the end of the year, it’ll be used to stack clothes on.”
“He looks great,” I told her, wiggling my brow and elbowing her playfully. “This week could be really great for you two.”
“I have ears, you know,” Brad said, shaking his head. “Sometimes it’s like you girls don’t care about our feelings at all.” He crossed his arms, batting his eyelashes excessively.
I laughed out loud, sliding my feet further down in the sand, where the earth began to grow cool. “I’m just saying. Natasha and Jaren are bound to have a great time reconnecting. We all are.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well don’t get your hopes up. I don’t plan on getting too cuddly with someone who can’t change his drawers for a week.” She snorted again, obviously feeling the three glasses of a cocktail called Yellow Bird she’d had at dinner.
I tsked, clicking my tongue at her. “You’re awful.”
She shook her head. “He’s a grown man, baby. He can stick up for himself. Anyway, don’t let me ruin your time with your man. You have clean clothes, don’t you, Brad?”
He guffawed. “Plenty of ’em. And I’m giving some to Jaren too…drawers and all.”
She cackled. “Don’t do it for my sake.”
“Where’s Andy and Emily?” I asked, looking behind us when I realized they weren’t around.
“I think Andy went to order them some extra drinks over at the kayak rental shack,” Brad said, pointing to where Andy could be seen waiting at the small, round pergola a few yards back.
“Do you think Little Miss is going to swim in that full face of makeup?” Natasha asked.
“Twenty bucks says she’s going to make Andy take her picture and not even drink it,” Brad said, winking at Natasha.
She shook her head. “You should know by now I’m not taking any losing bets, Brad.”
“Shh…” I quieted them as Andy was handed two tall, red and yellow frozen cocktails. He moved to hand one to Emily, but she turned around too quickly, missing the gesture, so he followed behind her instead, carrying the drinks carefully, as if they were eggs in an egg-and-spoon race. They made their way so far away from us I was sure they were going back to the huts, but eventually they stopped, and Emily reached for a drink, pulling her phone from inside her bra.
Natasha sighed apprehensively. “She sure is pretty, but poor Andy…”
“Poor Andy?” Brad asked with a sarcastic chuckle, so excitedly I elbowed him.
“Watch it.”
“I’m just saying,” he rubbed his chest where I’d hurt him, “she’s half our age, loaded, and…” He sighed, folding his arms over his chest. “I’m just saying Andy is, like the girls would say, living his best life,” he teased, using a phrase Britta overused.
I grimaced. “Yeah, for now. But how long do you realistically
