Chapter 1
chapter one
Mia
Luke
Call me now.
“Demanding much, Luke?” I mutter under my breath as I smile at the message on the screen.
I tuck my phone into the back pocket of my favorite faded blue jeans.
Luke will have to wait ten minutes. I’ve just gotten to work, and I need to help my best friend Juniper set up our mobile bookstore, Salty Pages, for the day.
The sun already feels warm on my face, and I’m thinking that I should have worn shorts instead of pants.
I already know it’s going to be one of those hot Coconut Beach summer days that the tourists love to complain about.
Beep.
I pull my phone out of my pocket again.
Luke
I need to talk to you. It’s important.
Mia
Give me ten minutes. Just got to work.
After I text him back, I start putting up our store signs.
“It is so hot today,” I mumble to Juniper as she writes a welcome message on our black chalkboard sign.
“You can say that again.” She waves her hands in front of her face and grins.
“If it’s slow in the afternoon, I’m going to take a swim in the ocean to cool off.” I laugh.
“You just wanna stare at the hunky lifeguards as they sit in their huts,” Juniper says, and I just grin back at her.
Nothing beats jumping around in the waves while watching hot men with six-packs contemplate whether or not you need rescuing.
Beep.
Luke
Mia Bishop, you have five minutes.
He really thinks he runs my life.
“What’s our song of the summer this year?
” My best friend, roommate, and fellow business owner, Juniper, lowers her knock-off Ray-Ban sunglasses and peers at me with her knowing brown eyes.
“And if you give me the title of another sad country song, I will scream.” She leans back against the side of our mint-green mobile bookstore and wiggles her fingers at me before humming my favorite achy-breaky tune of the last year.
The sun makes her skin glow, illuminating her freckles like specks of gold. I take a deep breath of the salty ocean breeze and allow the familiar feeling of calm to overtake me. The cries of the seagulls make me smile, even as the humidity flattens my fine hair against my neck uncomfortably.
It almost feels like being on vacation, coming out here every day. Even though I’m here selling books, painting kids’ faces, and taking photos of happy couples and families on vacation who are trying not to kill each other, it is still fun.
“I don’t know yet. Why don’t we write our own and perform it for all the tourists in town?
” I grin at her and shimmy back and forth.
“You can sing, and I’ll be your backup dancer.
” I spin around, my long blonde hair flying across my shoulders as I do my little dance.
That slightly resembles a wonky two-step move.
“Is this the mobile bookstore I’ve heard so much about or auditions for American Idol?” a voice whispers softly behind us.
We both still and turn around slowly. I let out a loud laugh as I see Wendy standing there with her sister, Josie, both gazing at us with amused expressions on their faces.
“How’s it going, Wendy?” I ask her.
Josie giggles and immediately enters our renovated VW van to check out what new books we’ve gotten in stock.
“I’m good,” She nods, and I see her checking out her phone. “Just waiting on Summer and Silvie, as we’re all going to do some yoga.”
I am not a yoga girl, and I don’t enjoy it, but I decide to keep that information to myself.
“Yoga on the beach sounds like a good way to start the day.” I tuck some loose wisps of hair behind my ears. My plethora of colorful bangles jangle with the movement, and I look down at my wrists in pleasure.
Beep.
Luke
Two minutes. I’m waiting.
I grin at the text. I kinda like him waiting on me for once.
“Yeah, Summer says yoga on the beach and then a swim in the ocean is like becoming one with nature.” Wendy shifts her beach bag against her hip.
“I feel the same way about sex on the beach,” Juniper adds in slyly, and we all start laughing, though I know I have to call her out.
“You’ve never had sex on the beach, Juni,” I tease her and wiggle my eyebrows as a cool breeze brushes past us. “Or are you keeping secrets from me?”
“Would I do that?” She adjusts some of the Greetings from Coconut Beach postcards on the tall rack to the left of the van and starts unpacking the box of bookmarks that arrived the night before. “Oh, I forgot to give you the mail.”
Juniper hands me a stack of letters, which I idly sort through, only expecting to see bills.
“Ooh, what’s this?” I say, spying an elegant linen envelope with my name written in calligraphy. I notice the name at the top is Rex Haverbrook.
I’m about to open it when my phone rings with the song “Baby Got Back,” which my best friend, Luke, programmed in years ago. Nerves are now entering my stomach. Luke is never this insistent about getting in contact with me.
“What’s up?” I say as I answer the phone. “Everything okay?”
“It’s fine. I needed to talk to you,” he says in his smooth, dry voice.
Luke Haverbrook has been my best friend since we were four years old and we met in pre-K.
And even though he left Coconut Beach right after high school for college, we’ve remained close.
It’s crazy to me that we haven’t seen each other in five years.
Other than a late-night video call every few weeks when we watch a movie or something together.
I miss my friend, but he’s happy in the city, working his very lucrative job.
“Did you know your brother sent me a letter?” I rip it open eagerly, wondering if it’s some sort of declaration of love. That would be weird, but kinda exciting.
“About that …” Luke clears his throat, and he sounds awkward. Which is weird because he never sounds awkward. “That’s why I’ve been trying to get in contact with you.”
“What is it?” I feel an internal flicker of something like hope or anticipation, swiftly followed by dread, and I’m not sure why.
“I’m actually working right now, and I can’t talk for super long, but …” he says, his voice dropping dramatically, which is so unlike Luke. He’s the least dramatic person I know. And the least likely to gossip, which I find quite annoying.
“But what?” I ask eagerly, and both Wendy and Juniper look up at me with questioning eyes. “Luke, stop being coy! Tell me what’s going on!”
“I’m nervous to tell you, Mi-Mi.”
He almost chuckles as I growl at his pet name for me, which delights him. Luke loves to annoy me.
“Why are you nervous to tell me?” I ask, my eyes narrowing as I think about what he could have to tell me.
“Did you open the envelope?”
“I just did. Let me take out the letter. Wait, what? It’s an invitation?” I stare at it in confusion.
“Rex is getting married.” He says the words like they mean nothing, but my heart stops beating for a couple of seconds. “Are you there?”
“Yes, I thought you just said Rex is getting married,” I whisper into the phone and quickly read the invite. “Please tell me if I’m hearing and reading this correctly. Is this for real?” My earlier joy evaporates and is replaced by shock.
“Rex is getting married.” His voice is amused and yet worried. “You didn’t fall to the ground, did you?”
“No.” I roll my eyes. “Not at all.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I say, though I feel slightly breathless. “Is this for real?” My heart drops.
“It’s for real.”
There’s silence on the phone while I process everything.
“Mia, are you there?”
“I thought you were calling ’cause you got a girl pregnant or something,” I joke because I just don’t know what else to say. I just need to think.
“Really, Mia?”
“True. You’d have to be having sex for that to happen.” I can’t help but tease him, even though I’m closer to being a nun myself.
“You can’t talk, queen of romance and empty beds,” Luke snaps back, and all I can do is laugh. “Are you okay?” he asks again, his voice soft this time.
I don’t answer immediately. Luke knows me better than I know myself. He knows that when I’m joking, I’m actually processing. And this is a lot to process.
Instead, I look past the book truck to the white sand, swaying green reeds, and turquoise-blue water of Coconut Bay and take three deep breaths. The water always calms me down when I feel anxious or overwhelmed or just taken aback.
“What’s going on?” Wendy asks, concern in her eyes as she stares at me. “Is Rex your ex?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “He’s Luke’s older brother. My first crush. The man I told everyone I was going to marry.” I wrinkle my nose and laugh loudly, even though the merriment doesn’t reach my eyes. “I guess that proves I’m not a psychic.” I stare at Juniper, who rubs my shoulders.
All I can think is that the entire town will be there for the nuptials.
“That and many other reasons,” Luke says in my ear. “He was never worthy of your crush, you know.”
“I know, but I still can’t believe it.”
The truth of the matter is that I always thought Rex Haverbrook was going to be my one.
Even though we’d never kissed, never dated, never anything.
We’d just had one moment when I was a teenager, where he carried me to my room after a party I’d gotten drunk at and put me to bed and then whispered in my ear that he’d never let anything happen to me.
And that was it. I spent the rest of my teenage years attempting to get his attention, but he never really noticed me.
Everyone would stare at me, wondering if I was heartbroken.
“You and me both,” he sighs. “Did you read the actual invitation? It’s ridiculous.”
“No, let me read it now.” I stare at the words and read them out loud.
Ms. Mia Bishop,
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Rex Haverbrook and Andi Maggiano on the eleventh day of July at the Coconut Beach Cathedral.
The wedding party festivities will begin on June 27, and we invite you to take part in a two-week celebration that will culminate in a coming together of our love.
The festivities will center around the Grand Palm Resort of Coconut Beach, and we are delighted to offer every expected guest free accommodation and transport across the island to partake in the activities.
Please RSVP within the next week, as the festivities are soon to begin. We do understand this is short notice, but we hope you will be able to join us.
Rex and Andi
“Wow, that’s fast.” Juniper’s eyes search mine, and I just shrug. “Wait, I think there’s something on the back.”
I turn the invite over and stare at the note scribbled in bright red ink.
There’s a handwritten note, in neat cursive and I can’t believe what it says.
You’re invited to the wedding of the summer. We hope you can join us. Mia, it’s a pity you don’t have a date.
“Oh, hell no,” I blurt out loudly, and I hear a low groan on the phone.
My entire body suddenly feels cold, like I just landed in the North Pole and I’m only in my underwear.
People will stare at me, wondering why I’m alone, feeling sorry for me. Coconut Beach loves a good gossip session, and I will be the top headline.
“I take it, you got a rude note as well?” Luke asks as I feel fire burning in my cheeks.
“Your jerk-off of a brother said it’s a pity I don’t have a date.” My jaw drops in shock as I read the note again.
Now this has made me mad. I will not allow myself to become upset. Rex Haverbrook has never been mine. And we’ve never been close friends, but this note is next-level rude. Now I know why Luke called me. He must have known about the note.
I take a deep breath and allow the cool salt air to calm me.
I may be single, I may not have any options, but I’m sure as hell not going to show up to the wedding festivities with no one.
Even if that means going out that very evening and finding a guy at Cocktails I could also lose my best friend.
The thought sobers me. The thought of risking my friendship with Luke makes losing Rex mean absolutely nothing.
But the thought of him pretending to be my boyfriend in front of everyone fills me with a pure shot of excitement.
Everybody would be shocked, and I wouldn’t mind just a little bit of positive attention on me.