Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
P aige and Blake caught a buggy to the Pink Pony together with Tess and Lukas. No one but Lukas saw them on the tandem bike and if Paige was being honest with herself, she wanted Lukas to think that.
Their group filled the restaurant’s entire patio. Tables were pushed together, and all the guys sat at one and the women at another.
Paige followed a waddling Tess to the group of women. Nerves danced in her belly. She wasn’t good with groups of women even before Emery died. She wanted to follow Blake to his table, but that would not only be weird, but also look suspicious to Lukas. Maybe she should. Then again that might just make things weird again.
For some reason Blake had become her security blanket, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“Oh my goodness, woman, you look like you are about ready to pop,” a petite brunette said. “Just like the first time we met.”
Tess groaned and sank onto her chair, and Paige took the seat next to her.
“How did we get away with not seeing you pregnant?” Tess asked.
The woman just grinned and winked. “Who’s this?”
“Oh, sorry. My manners were lost in your rudeness.” Tess grinned. “This is Paige, Lukas’s sister.”
“I’m Bethany. I’m married to Jaime and have a stepson and a three-year-old daughter,” she said. Then she pointed around the table. “That’s Anna. She’s Hayden’s wife. They have two-year-old twins.”
“We’ve met,” Anna said. And they had, briefly. But Anna had always been a little chilly around her. She suspected it had to do with her history with Hayden, but that was minor.
“Okaaay,” Bethany said. “Moving on. There’s Liz. She and Adam don’t have any kids yet, but she owns like three auto shops. Someday she’s gonna be richer than all of us, except her hubby.” Liz blushed but didn’t respond. “And Mia joined our ranks last year. They’re expecting, but obviously not as soon as Tess.” Bethany looked around the table, and her eyes landed on an empty chair. “Where’s Jessica?”
“Probably puking her guts up. Pregnancy hasn’t been nice to her,” Tess said.
Bethany gaped at her, and Anna giggled. “Wait, Jessica’s pregnant?” Liz asked.
“Why is that so funny?” Paige asked.
“Because Jessica and Conner have been together the longest, but they still aren’t married and swore they weren’t having any kids. They had dogs and live in Dubai.”
Paige raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything. She wondered what other things she’d learn about this group before the weekend was over.
Lunch was fun. She liked getting to know the women, and Bethany was quickly becoming her favorite. After eating, they wandered the shops.
“Oooh, we should get our tarot cards read.” Anna pointed to a tiny shop tucked in between a few others. This was new, and so Paige hadn’t seen it before. When she was growing up, there was no psychic on the island.
“I’ll pass,” Tess said and nearly everyone else agreed with her.
“I’m down,” Paige said and stepped toward the shop. Anna stiffened but didn’t say anything else. She and Anna ducked into the tiny space where someone was already getting their cards read.
They waited, and Anna stood by with her arms crossed. Paige didn’t like this tension between the two of them. She thought about all the things she’d learned about the girls since she’d arrived.
“What’s it like raising twins?” Paige asked.
“Busy.” She hesitated like she wanted to say something else but didn’t. If Anna gave her the cold shoulder all weekend, then this wouldn’t be any fun.
“Have I done something to upset you?” Paige asked.
Anna pursed her lips. “No. Not really. It’s just Hayden rarely talks about women he dated in the past, but he talks about you a lot.”
“Hayden and I never dated.”
“That’s not because he didn’t want to. Plus, he kissed you.”
Paige snorted. “Yeah, when were like fifteen.”
Anna picked at her nails and still wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Look, it’s just you were the one Hayden wishes he had dated, but didn’t because of Lukas. He’s never said it directly, but I know he wonders what if he had.”
This was news to her. At some point she’d had a crush on him too, but that was high school. Paige shook her head. “He’s like a brother to me and that kiss was years ago when we were stupid kids. He probably had a crush on me because there were a total of four girls on the island our age. I had a crush on him too, but that was a long time ago. And it doesn’t even matter. I’ve only been around you and Hayden a few times and when we are all together, he never even looks at me. His eyes are always on you.”
Anna chewed on her bottom lip. “Okay. I’m sorry I’m being all jealous. I’ll work on that.”
“You don’t have to apologize. If you don’t want to talk to me, I can hang out with the rest of the girls. We don’t have to be friends.” But she really hoped she didn’t. She wanted all these women to like her.
Anna nudged her. “Nah, we gotta stick together now. No one else will get their cards read. I bet they tell us we’ll become the best of friends.”
* * *
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, and Paige couldn’t remember ever having more fun with a group of women. They all got ice cream and sat at picnic tables in the park while they waited for the guys to come back from wherever they’d disappeared to.
Bethany nudged her. “You know, we’ve had a lot of fun with you around. Maybe we should make your presence permanent.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means, there are still single men in our group. You could fix that,” Anna said with a giggle.
Paige blushed, but didn’t respond. Lukas would never let it happen.
“Let’s see who could we hook her up with?” Liz mused, tapping her lips. “Seth is still too immature for a real relationship, and David too serious. Grayson would work.”
Tess snorted. “You know Blake’s been staying at her place this summer.”
Anna almost dropped her ice cream. “What? No way. You and Blake? How did I not know about this?”
“No, it’s not like that. He needed a place to stay, and I needed some help around the house. Lukas thought it would be a good idea. It’s worked out well. I enjoy his company, but we’re just friends.”
“Oh my word. That explains lunch. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. I thought that was weird. I never thought he’d give up on the idea of going back to Debbie,” Anna said.
“Yeah, he turned up at our place a couple of months ago, completely heartbroken,” Mia said.
Yeah. Because of Debbie. “I’m telling you we’re just friends.”
A dog ran up and leaped on the bench of the picnic table. Mia grabbed her collar. “Sera, no. Get down.”
Paige swiveled in her seat. The guys were all heading their way, dogs in hand, except Sera, who had somehow escaped.
Jessica waved her hand at Blake. “You’re telling me that you aren’t attracted to that.”
Anna snorted. “He’s the best guy I know. You should at least try. All of us would love to see him settled and happy.”
This was all too much for Paige. It was one thing for her to be nursing a massive crush on Blake. It was quite another for all of them to be in on it. Jessica crossed her arms. “As long as it’s not with Debbie.”
“Amen, sister,” Anna said.
She wanted to ask more about Debbie. Blake had told her the story, but she’d bet her house that he left things out that these women knew, but before anyone could say anything else, tan and brown noses were sticking themselves into the bowls of ice cream.
Blake stood on the other side with Hayden and Anna, but his eyes were on her.