Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
She’s a nurse and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.
Mila’s beaming, too, caught up in the excitement, sitting at her mom’s side like a miniature version, except her hair is tied up in an intricate pattern on the top of her head.
She’s training to be a hairdresser and often uses herself as a test subject.
I take in their happiness, their eagerness to get this long weekend started.
I take in the glistening water, the golden shores, the trees, and all of it, and I promise myself….
I won’t ruin this.
Later, I sit on my bed, staring down at the glass floor with colorful fish swimming beneath the surface. The room is luxurious, leaving me to wonder again how dad afforded all this.
He’s worked as a carpenter for years, and I know he has money from mom’s life insurance, but this is extravagant.
I just hope he hasn’t put himself into any debt. I’ve tried asking him a couple of times, but he always gets awkward, refusing to talk about it.
“Let’s just enjoy the wedding, okay, kiddo?”
I cringed at the word kiddo because I didn’t feel like that. And I’m not that.
I’m a nineteen-year-old woman. I’m currently working twelve-hour shifts back home at a dog shelter, and I hope to be an animal behaviorist one day.
Laughing softly, I shake my head.
I know what I’m doing. Justifying something which is never going to happen, trying to make it okay that a thirty-nine-year-old man is going to take me, claim me.
But he’s not. So there’s no need to get my defense ready.
Our luxury beach huts are all situated on a long walkway that stretches into the ocean. There are maybe twenty or so feet in between each one. Through my open window, I can hear Mila and Sonya laughing, and then dad says something loudly, and the laughter grows.
I should be out there with them, ready and enthusiastic to begin this journey.
Standing, I stride across the room to my suitcase, deciding I’ll focus on the little things.
Otherwise, my mind will return again and again and again to Banner Barret….
Banner, who’s probably slept with at least a few women while living in Tokyo, is a constant fixation in my mind. I imagine him, this six-foot-two American, with his strong features, with eyes that transfixed me that night…and probably transfixed plenty of other women too.
Just as I’ve put away the last of my socks, there’s a knock on the door. Despite this technically being a hut, the doors are thick, the wood sturdy.
“Hello?” I call.
“It’s me,” Dad says. “Can I come in?”
I resent the tightness in my belly, wishing it would go away. It’s been the same ever since Banner and I almost kissed…or since Banner made a drunken mistake because we didn’t almost do anything.
I wonder how he felt the next day. Disgusted with himself?
“Yeah, sure.”
Dad pushes the door open, grinning in a goofy way as if nothing could affect his mood.
But I could think of one thing….
“Isn’t this great?” He beams down at the glass floor, looking at the fish for a moment. “I wanted to give you this.”
Reaching into his pocket, he takes out a cell phone.
“There’s no internet, and I doubt we’ll get a cell signal, but we can contact each other with these satellite phones. They’ve already programmed everybody’s numbers in. How great is that?”
I reach forward, my hand trembling a little.
Dad’s so thrilled he doesn’t seem to notice my hands.
“Everybody?” I ask, even if I know the answer.
“The other guests, me, Mila…everybody.”
I take the phone, knowing I should do the right thing.
Throw it in the ocean.
Okay, fine, maybe that’s a little dramatic.
But I could delete Banner’s number, at least.
“Are you hungry?” Dad asks. “We’re going to have a bite to eat if you want to join us?”
“Sure,” I say, smiling, hoping dad sees nothing but a proud and supportive daughter.
And not a selfish woman who may very well ruin the wedding.
CHAPTER 2
Banner
My eyes are closed as the boat flows across the water, the sunlight shining against my eyelids. My heart hasn’t stopped pounding like it’s trying to send me a message all day.
And I hear it.
Get away from here. You can’t do this. Leave.
But I can’t miss Gil’s wedding. We’ve been friends since our late teens, meeting in a boxing gym.
I slept on Gil’s couch when my parents suddenly passed, and Gil was there when I’d wake roaring in the night, my grief twisting into me, hurting.
I’ve always been able to trust Gil, and for a long time, I was certain I’d never betray that trust.
But something happened at Brooke’s party.
I lost control when I walked over the bridge, trying to find a quiet place. And found her.
Of course, I’d never noticed anything about Brooke before. I only saw her as Gil’s kid.
But then, after returning from a three-month work trip, there she was, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, the only woman I could ever want.