Chapter One #2
She just scoffs on the other side of the line. “And did you have your meeting yet? What did the chief want? Have you and Wes been called into the principal’s office?” she asks, and I roll my eyes as she mentions my best friend—and also my co-pilot for the majority of my off-the-clock flights.
“Not quite,” I say.
“Go on.”
“I got promoted to captain.”
“Oh my god, Miles!” Isla squeals from the other side of the phone. This is it, this is the joy I was waiting for. Hearing my sister's excitement is what finally makes my heart kick. “That is amazing, I am so proud of you! ”
“Thank you,” I chuckle, her happiness making me smile. “Yeah, it’s an amazing opportunity.”
“It is…” Her voice trails off. “You don’t sound all that excited about it though?”
“No, it’s great,” I say, forcing my tone to perk up. “It’s awesome really. I’m sure Mom will be happy about it.” I force out a chuckle.
“Of course she will, but are you happy about it, Miles? Because that is the most important thing.”
“Yeah, no, I am,” I say, trying to sound as convincing as possible.
It occurs to me that I shouldn’t have to convince my sister I’m happy about something if I’m truly happy about it.
It should radiate off me, the way it does from her when she talks about her paintings.
I close my eyes against the sun, trying to block it all out.
“Did you just call to check in?” I ask, flipping the conversation.
“Yeah, kind of. Okay. Umm.” She has that nervous Isla muttering thing going on.
My eyes fly open. “What, Isla?”
“I sort of need to tell you something. About the wedding. About someone who will be there.”
My face contorts into a frown, trying to think of anyone that could possibly be a part of the wedding that I should be concerned about. “You didn’t invite Uncle Ernie, did you?”
She snorts. “God no.”
My face splits into a grin as I hear that snort. The one I used to hear so much as a kid. “Okay, spit it out then.” It can’t be worse than Uncle Ernie.
“It’s, um… It’s Marina.”
I hear the sound of fabric shredding, almost like a record scratching on the reality TV show of my life.
When I look down, I see the little muppet running away with a chunk of my jeans.
My mouth hangs open as I watch him sprint to the other side of the park.
I should be standing up, I should be chasing that little fucker through the park to get the bottom of my jeans back. But all I can think of is that name .
Marina.
Marina ?
“Miles?” Isla asks, jolting me back into action.
I stand up. “Marina who?”
“D’Angelo,” she whispers. My heart kicks against my chest, my mind shooting through a highlight reel of one of the best summers of my life.
Reminding me of dark curls wrapped around my fingers, and hazel eyes that caught my attention from the first time I ever saw them.
Reminding me of the last time I felt that heart fluttering, face-hurting-so-much-from-smiling kind of happiness, and the girl I walked away from.
I instantly feel like I can smell coconut shampoo, and my hands begin to feel damp.
“Why is Marina D’Angelo going to be at your wedding?” I ask wearily.
“Because she’s Caio’s cousin, and one of my closest friends.”
“What?” I sit straight back down again and run a hand through my hair, tugging on the strands. How could I not know that my sister is best friends with my…Marina? “How? I mean, I—I met all of your friends.”
“You remember that first night you came to Ruby Cove for my birthday?”
“Yeah.” Not even the amount of tequila shots we took that night could make me forget the look on Isla’s face when I walked through those doors to surprise her.
“You came to Marina’s bar.” My heart is beating way too fucking fast right now.
Her bar. She did it. She owns her own bar. One with dim lighting and red booths lining the walls, just like how she wanted it. Pride washes over me even though I have no right to feel that way, not after what I did.
So Ruby Cove was the small little town Marina came from, and somehow that’s where my sister ended up.
Ruby Cove is a small town, and from what my sister has said, everyone knows everyone.
And even if they don’t, everyone knows Caio Marchetti—his hotel being a sort of social hub for the community.
So, even if Marina wasn’t his cousin or close to my sister, I have no doubt the entire town will be at this wedding.
I never could’ve escaped seeing her there.
“As soon as you walked in the door the night of my birthday, she disappeared, and I never knew why. Not until the fundraiser at Hotel Dolce.” Isla and May roped me into auctioning myself off for a date last year to help raise money for Isla’s art studio. I had no idea Marina was there. How could I?
“She saw you up on stage and she just froze, staring straight at you. That’s when I found out that you two were…something.”
Something . Yeah, we were something before I went and ruined it all.
“ Marina?” I yelled out, my voice echoing against the walls of my summer house. “Where is my uniform?”
I turned the corner and walked straight into the girl who took my breath away every time I saw her face. Saw her eyes that drew me in like a horse to water.
She just gave me a guilty look and wrapped her arms around my neck, planting kisses on my bare chest. She was adorable.
“You don’t need it.”
“I beg to differ. I don’t think anyone would be very impressed to see the pilot of their flight shirtless in the cockpit.” I couldn’t fight the smile that pulled at the corner of my mouth every time I looked into her hazel eyes.
“Oh, I think they’d be very impressed.” She leaned back, running her hands down my chest. “Plus, you look so much better without it.”
I shook my head as I grabbed her under her legs. She squealed as she instinctively wrapped her legs around my waist, giggling as I walked her across the room and carefully dropped her on the stone kitchen bench. “Are you trying to make me late, princess?”
She wrapped her hands back around my neck, pulling me into her. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“I don’t doubt it.” I pressed a longing kiss to her lips. “But I have to go. ”
I went to pull away but her grip on me tightened. “I’ll see you soon, hotshot.”
Another kiss. “See you soon, baby.”
A sharp bark pulls me back to the present as I instinctively tuck my legs under the bench, hiding them from anyone else who wants a piece of my wardrobe.
“Miles?”
“Mm-hmm?”
“You’re quiet.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Grunt if you’re still coming to the wedding.”
I let out the first breath in I’m not sure how long. “Of course I’m still coming to the wedding, Isla.”
She sighs in relief. “Are you okay?”
“Ask me again tomorrow,” I say, a nervous chuckle bubbling from my throat.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I just… I didn’t know how.”
“Has she…” I shake my head. I have no right to ask, but I can’t help it. “Has she said anything about me?” I can’t help but imagine the nights filled with red wine and stories about ex-boyfriends. I can't help but wonder if my sister looks at me any differently.
But more than anything, I can’t help but wonder what Marina is like now. If my sister knows the same girl I knew four years ago, or if she’s changed in any way. If me leaving changed her.
It might sound ridiculous, it was only one summer…but I felt more in that summer than I’ve ever felt in my entire life, and that’s precisely why I had to leave.
“Um...” She goes quiet on the other line.
“Sorry,” I bring my hand up to cover my eyes, “I shouldn’t have asked you that.”
“No, uh, it’s fine,” Isla mutters. “She hasn’t said much, only that you left without a word.”
“ Fuck ,” I curse under my breath. I feel like my heart just cracked, and my sister gave me barely a scrap of information .
I have no right to feel heartbroken, I’m the one who did all the breaking. I scrub a hand over my face, my palm grazing over the rough stubble that brushes my jawline.
Fuck. I was a coward. I never wanted to see those hazel eyes laced with hurt. I didn’t want to see the pain that I was going to cause, so I just left. I left like a fucking coward.
I ignored the calls that came through in those first few days, not wanting to hear her voice asking me when I was coming back, not wanting to have to tell her that I wasn’t going to.
I hated myself for what I did to her, but I never had to face her, not until now.
Now I have to stand across the aisle from the girl who I was falling in love with, the girl who I considered dropping everything for, the girl who must be so fucking angry with me.
If I know anything about Marina, it’s that it doesn’t matter if it’s been four years–the girl knows how to hold a grudge. And this time I can’t blame her.
But in the four years that she’s probably spent hating me, all I’ve done is hate myself too.
I’ve never been able to forget about her, never been able to go more than a couple of days without wondering about her, without missing her laugh, and her soft skin, and her spark for life. The one that I feel like I've been missing ever since I walked out that door.
“She, um, she knows you’re coming. She’s known from the beginning, well, because she saw you last year.” Hearing the wobble of worry in Isla’s voice makes me take a breath. I try to digest all of this information, but I can barely swallow it down.
Marina has known, she’s had time to prepare herself for this, for seeing the bastard who left her all those years ago without a single word of goodbye. I’ve got a week. One week to steel myself to stand mere feet away from the girl who used to own my heart—who maybe still does.
I lean forward, my elbows pressing into the muscles of my thighs. I can barely think straight, let alone know what to say right now. “I’ve got to go, Isla, I’ll see you next week.”
“Okay, I love you. I’m sorry.”
I slump down in the bench seat, resting my head back against the wood. “I love you too. Bye.”
My eyes screw shut once the call hangs up. I don’t know if I’m ready to see Marina, even after all of this time, but I don’t have a choice.