Chapter 9 - Gwen - Bumping into You
Chapter 9
Gwen
I’m a jumble of emotions as I make my way to the Imperial SkyDeck. Niall is still throwing me off, and I don’t have time for whatever he wants with all the things I need to do for the wedding. Trying to calm myself, I grab a drink before sitting at the bar.
As I’m mid-sip on my Miami Vice, a tall figure stops by my table.
“Gwen?” he asks.
I cough on my drink, sputtering all over the bar. It can’t be. But it is. The man standing in front of me is no other than Bradley.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he says.
My head whips up, taking him in. He looks just as good as he did the last time I saw him when he left my office eight months ago.
I just blink at him. This cannot be real life; this can’t be happening. It’s like I’ve short-circuited, and I can’t compute what my eyes are trying to tell my brain. Bradley is on the same cruise. The cruise that Holly and Greg are about to get married on. A cruise that is going to last over a week.
My brain is screaming at me to do something, anything. Say something, Gwen!
“Yes, small world,” I say, my voice shaking slightly. What the heck is he doing here? On this exact cruise, what are the odds of this even happening?
“What’s it been, about a year?” asks Bradley.
I lean back a bit, trying to distance myself from Bradley, my shoulders stiff as I force a smile on my face.
“Who’s counting?” I say, dryly. I am not prepared for this little reunion. I can’t even wrap my head around how Bradley is on this cruise too. “What are you doing here?”
“At the bar?”
“On this cruise.” I say with more than a little heat in my voice.
“Oh, um, I’m here with . . .” Bradley looks around, then says, “Here she is.” He gestures toward a woman coming our way with a drink in each hand.
She gives him a peck on the cheek. “Here, Bradley Boo,” she says, handing him a drink.
“Gwen,” says Bradley, “this is my . . . uh, fiancée.”
His WHAT?! My ears ring. I can’t be hearing him correctly. It’s not possible. Not after we’d been together for years. It doesn’t make sense. How is he engaged to someone else when we haven’t even been broken up a year? The blood drains from my face. I feel panicked.
“It’s so nice to put a face to the name,” says the fiancée, offering me a smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” She is showing way more skin than I’d ever feel comfortable showing, practically walking around in just her swimsuit, not a care in the world. Who is this person? And how did she end up engaged to Bradley so soon after our breakup?
“What about you?” asks Bradley. “Here with anyone?”
“Of course,” I say. I can’t let Bradley think that he was right—that I’m too much of a workaholic to be in a relationship. He can’t think that he’s the only one who has moved on from our relationship. “I’m here with my boyfriend,” I blurt.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” says Bradley.
“Thank you,” I say. “We’re very happy together.”
“We’d love to meet him,” says the fiancée. “Maybe we could get drinks together sometime?”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” says Bradley.
Sensing how uncomfortable it makes Bradley to talk about me being in a relationship, I push it a step further. “We’d love to,” I say.
“Great!” says Tammy.
What have I done? Where am I going to get a boyfriend on this cruise? Now, I’m just going to look even more pathetic to Bradley when he finds out the truth. I look around trying to find some escape out of the hole I just dug for myself.
And then, across the bar, I lock eyes with McHottie.
I don’t even think. I jump up from my seat and walk over to Niall. Grabbing his arm, I say in a sharp whisper, “Come with me. I need your help with something.”
“What?” Niall says. “Is everything okay?”
“Sort of. I just need your help.” I’m practically begging him with my eyes. To my utter surprise, he puts his half-finished drink on the bar and stands.
“Okay,” he says.
I jump slightly at how quickly he stood. I’m shocked again, but this time by his willingness to help me after the tongue-lashing I’d given him in Duke’s Diner. When I return to my place at the bar, I don’t hesitate before saying to Bradley, “This is my boyfriend, Niall.”
Niall blinks twice then leans in and plants a quick peck on my cheek, jumping right in on my little charade. Well, that was unexpected.
“I was looking for you, mo ghrá ,” Niall says.
My what? What did he say? I don’t care. I’m just so thankful he’s playing along that I could cry. The shock on Bradley’s face after he takes in Niall makes the risk I took worth it.
I reach over and take Niall’s hand in mine; my body zings from the contact. Electricity shoots through me, making me come alive. I glance quickly down at our hands and then back up into his eyes. I know mine are full of relief but his convey something different that I can’t quite place.
“Well, that’s great to hear,” says Bradley. Bradley and Niall are about the same height, but Niall’s dark hair contrasts with Bradley’s blonde hair. And Niall is much broader in the shoulders. And his arms, wow, his arms! I could definitely . . . Snap out of it, Gwen!
“Niall, this is Bradley and his fiancée,” I say, adding emphasis on fiancée because I still can’t wrap my head around it.
Niall reaches out his free hand to greet them. “Nice to meet you. You’re an old friend of my girl, then?”
Shock courses through me. He’s playing along flawlessly. He’s not going to make me look like a fool in front of Bradley.
Niall’s blasé comment catches Bradley off guard. He responds, “Surely she’s told you about me before?”
Niall shrugs, like he hasn’t a care in the world who this man is. “’Fraid not. Sorry, should she have?”
“I just thought . . . that after two years together—”
“Is that an Irish accent?” asks the fiancée, butting in. “Are you Irish?”
“Sure am,” says Niall, flashing that amazing smile. “Have been since the day my mam birthed me.”
“So, what brings you two on the cruise?” I ask, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
“Tammy’s here for a friend,” says Bradley, gesturing toward his fiancée. “I’m just an extra plus one for her.”
Why does the name Tammy sound so familiar?
“Yeah,” says Tammy, “I thought, ‘Why waste a perfectly good trip?’” She grabs Bradley’s arm. Seeing her touch him makes me want to throw up. “And we’re here for a wedding. So romantic, right? So, I thought Bradley should join me. Then I won’t be all alone in my room.”
“Wait,” I say, suddenly looking between Tammy and Bradley. “Tammy, are you friends with a Vivian?”
“Why yes, I am.”
“A Vivian Palmer?”
“Yes!” exclaims Tammy. “She and I have been friends since we started working at the same company years ago.”
“Well, that makes so much more sense then.” I look at Bradley. “You’re the fiancé.”
“Yeah, that’s what I literally just explained,” Bradley says.
Bradley is the unexpected plus one Vivian’s Tammy brought with her. That means he’s going to be around this whole week.
There is no getting rid of him.
None.
What the hell am I going to do? Especially now that I’ve dragged Niall into this fake boyfriend bit that I thought was going to last all of five minutes?
Internally, I groan. Why, oh, why do embarrassing things have to keep happening around McHottie? First the rideshare, then the heated ending to our conversation at Duke’s Diner, and now this with Bradley—when will it end?
Then, to my relief, Niall jumps in. “Well, as lovely as this has been, we’re supposed to be meeting up with a few other people. Don’t want to be late. Right, mo ghrá ?” Niall squeezes lightly on my hand that is still clasping his.
I finally look up at him, wonder in my eyes. This man, who has no reason to be kind and helpful to me after how rude I’ve been to him, has rushed in like a knight in shining armor. Realizing he asked me a question, I nod, before looking back over at Bradley and Tammy. “Of course, yes, the others. I must have lost track of time.”
Bradley furrows his brows at my statement. “That doesn’t seem like you to lose track of time.”
“Well, I must have changed in the last eight months. Seems like we’ve both been busy that way,” I snap, a fire raging through me now that I’ve got my bearings and a little help from McHottie. The shock of seeing Bradley, much less of finding out who Tammy is, has me heated.
But Niall’s presence is giving me courage. Not that I need a man to feel confident, but seeing as this is the first time Bradley and I have spoken since he moved out of my apartment eight months ago . . .
“I guess we will be seeing a lot of each other,” says Tammy, “since we’re going to the same wedding and all.”
“Right, I guess so,” says Bradley. “We’re heading out anyway. See you around.” Placing his hand on Tammy’s back, the two stand and leave. I stay there watching them until they’ve walked out of the Imperial Bar area.