We laughed, but it was unenthusiastic.
“Well, honestly, Emily. We can’t thank you enough for bringing us here. It’s been so fun, and I think we all really needed it,” Megan said, her voice shaking slightly.
“Yeah, I agree. You’re a godsend with this,” Laura said. “Brad and I haven’t been on a proper vacation in, well…maybe not ever. Not like this, anyway.”
“Us either,” I agreed. “I can’t believe you get to do stuff like this for work.”
Emily smiled, seemingly pleased with herself as the waiter finally appeared with fresh refills for us all. “Sorry, ladies. We’re running a bit behind today.” She took our empty glasses. “If you need more before I come back, just shout across the hall. I’ll be around.”
“Thank you, Mina,” Megan said, because of course she already had the staff members’ names memorized.
When she left the room, I lifted my glass to my lips, swallowing a gulp in hopes of bringing back my quickly fading buzz.
“Anyway, like we were saying, thank you. I really can’t believe this is happening. It’s like a fairytale,” Megan said, and I had to hide the fact that I was rolling my eyes. God love her, she could be so cheesy sometimes.
“You’re all so welcome,” Emily said. “Seriously, don’t mention it. I’d do anything for my new besties.” She tilted the bright red cocktail to her lips and paused, “And besides, the more I get to know you, the closer I get to all those secrets…right?”
Chapter Fifteen
Andy
By the time dinner came, we were all exhausted. Who knew vacation could be so much work? We took the same seats at the table we’d taken for every meal thus far, almost as if they were assigned, and immediately began looking over the various options on the menu. While most of the others chose similar food each time, I wanted to eat something different for every meal.
“How was your day?” I asked Emily, my voice low. I’d missed her—as insane as that was to say. We didn’t live together, didn’t know each other on a level where I should miss her after just a few hours apart, but I did. It was the strangest feeling.
“Fine,” she said, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. After her day at the spa, she’d changed into her bikini, tying a white wrap around her waist, and had sunglasses on top of her head. This night was much more casual than our first meal on the island. At this point, we were almost all sunburned, and we’d chosen light, loose clothing to ease that pain.
“You look beautiful,” I told her, and it was true. Despite her casual clothes, she wore a full face of makeup; her long, dark hair had been straightened, and the top half was pulled back.
“Thanks, Andy,” she said, looking up at me finally. “How was your day? Did you have fun with the boys?”
“We kicked his ass,” Nick teased.
“Cheated is more like it,” Brad argued, shaking his head.
“Don’t be a sore loser, Walker,” Nick spat back lightheartedly.
“We’ll get ’em next time,” I called over Emily.
“Tomorrow?” Jaren asked.
“I don’t know about that,” Laura responded, putting a hand on Brad’s chest with a grin. “I would like to spend a bit of time with my husband on this trip.” Her eyes danced between mine, and warmth spread in my stomach. She’d never know it, but I considered Laura my closest friend after Brad, the nearest thing I had to a sister. We’d been through so much together, and she’d been right there through most of my life. I couldn’t help caring about her so deeply—but those weren’t the kinds of things you said to your best friend's wife. My feelings weren’t romantic, for the record, not like Nick’s. I just genuinely liked her. She was a warm person, always had been. I admired that in people.
“I agree,” Nick said quickly. “I plan on relaxing with my girl tomorrow.” He wrapped an arm around Megan and kissed her head. “But tomorrow evening, it’s on.”
I laughed, holding out a fist for him to bump. “You’ve got a deal.”
The waiter came and we placed our orders, and within twenty minutes, our food was in front of us. That night I’d ordered jerk chicken with coconut rice. Predictably, Emily had ordered a salad. It was all I’d ever seen her eat. She reminded me that it was because she had to keep herself in shape to keep up her page, but I believed a carb now and again wouldn’t do that much harm.
“You okay?” I asked, watching her pick at her meal. She was the only one who’d ordered a salad that night. Even Megan, the vegetarian, had ordered black bean and green chile enchiladas.
She ran her fork through the salad, nodding, but not looking up at me. “Mhm.”
I leaned down closer to her. “You sure? You’re being really quiet.”
“I’m fine, Andy,” she said softly.
“You don’t seem fine,” I said, laying down my fork. Though we were trying to be quiet, it was obvious we were drawing attention to ourselves. “Did something happen today?” I shot a glance toward Natasha. After all Emily had done for us, if someone had done anything to upset her, I wasn’t sure there was any coming back from—
“No,” Emily said, laying her fork down without taking a bite and lifting her glass instead. She took a sip of her wine.
“Are you sure? If someone said something to—”
“Why are you pushing, Andy?” she asked, her voice raised. The table fell silent.
“Because…” I felt my face flame red with heat. “Because I care about you.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Why do you care about me?”
I scoffed, turning in my chair to face her. “Are you kidding me? Because you’re amazing, Emily. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And you’re kind and fun, and…I care about you, okay? Why is that a bad thing?” I should’ve been embarrassed to
