Chapter Seven
I’m in trouble.
I unlock the door to my room, walk straight to my bed, and flop face first onto the comforter. Thankfully, my lipstick wore off from the gelato, otherwise it would smear all over the white comforter.
Tyler is everything I remember and more. All these years, I’ve thought about our time together and figured it was just the rose-colored glasses of youth. After going back to Colorado, dating Landon, and getting engaged, I concluded that was what an actual relationship looked like. It looked a lot like my parents’ relationship. Well, with a side of cheating. My dad, although he seems uninterested in my mom half the time, would never be so dishonorable as to cheat on her.
It’s not that Tyler and I agreed on everything, and even now we don’t. But we just click. There’s so much lightness about him, and when we’re together, I feel like I’m floating. Being around him now reminds me that this is what it was like when we were younger.
Maybe it wasn’t rose-colored glasses after all.
But there’s no way I’m going to do something ridiculous, like go to Disneyland with him.
My phone buzzes in my clutch on the bed. I feel around with my hand, refusing to sit up from my position on the bed, until I find my phone and pull it out, instinctively pushing the “answer” button.
“Hello?” I say, my face still smushed into the mattress.
“Brooke?” Ava’s voice says in my ear. “Are you okay?”
“Mm-hmm.” I finally sit up. “Just got home from the art walk.”
“Oh! Great! How was it?”
A slow smile spreads across my face as I remember the actual art walk. And not because of the art…but because of Tyler. “It was awesome.”
“Feeling inspired?” she asks, a hint of suggestion in her voice.
I sigh. I know what she means. Ava has been hoping I’d get back into painting for years, but I haven’t touched a brush since I started my master’s program. It was almost impossible to be creative when so much brain power was spent on school. “Maybe.”
“And…how are you feeling? You know, about…”
“The wedding? Cheating Landon? The guy you warned me about from the beginning?” I pause. “Unfortunately, I feel indifferent.”
“Not heartbroken?”
“Not really.” I pick at imaginary lint on my dress. “I almost wish I did, because that would mean the last few years of my life wouldn’t have been wasted with him.”
“They weren’t wasted,” she insists. “You learned a lot.”
“I guess.” I stand and pace around my room. “But you warned me about him. All the Sunny Girls did. And I was too stubborn to see the whole picture.”
“But at least you came to your senses before you got married.”
“True.”
There’s a pause for a moment. I take a look at myself in the mirror, remembering how I felt in my wedding dress and veil for that last fitting. The dress was perfect, but in my gut, I knew the groom wasn’t. I’m embarrassed I let it get that far.
“What about you?” I ask. “Any guys in Utah catching your attention?”
“No,” she says quickly. A little too quickly.
“Sure,” I say, dragging out the word. “Come on, out with it.”
“It’s nothing, I swear. There’s this guy who just moved here with his mom and niece, and I can’t…figure him out. I don’t know. It’s nothing.” She pauses a moment. “You know, you should totally go to Disneyland while you’re there.”
If that wasn’t such an alarming change in subject, I wouldn’t let her off the hook so easily about this new guy. Instead, panic rises in me. How does she know? “What? Why? Who did you talk to?”
She chuckles. “What’s with the overreaction? I remember you always wanted to go, and you were so upset that your parents refused to let you go when you were in Canyon Cove a few years ago.” She pauses. “Didn’t you have some fling with that guy? What was his name again?”
My heart is racing in my chest. “Tyler,” I whisper.
“Tyler! That’s right! Oh, man. You couldn’t stop talking about him for months. I thought for sure something would happen from that, but then you found Landon, and, well…”
“I have to tell you something,” I blurt. It’s only been two days of this trip, but already I feel the absolute necessity to confide in someone. “The inn I’m staying at…Tyler owns it.”
There’s silence on the other end.
“Are you there?”
“That. Is. Amazing. Please tell me you’ve rekindled the flames of passion.”
“Ava! I was supposed to be here on my honeymoon. There are zero flames of passion happening with anyone.”
She blows out a loud breath, and I have to pull the phone away from my ear so she doesn’t blast my eardrum. “Brooke Westfield. You just told me you are ‘indifferent’ to your cheating ex. It’s obvious that flames of passion are waiting around the corner to be ignited.”
Ugh. I wish she wasn’t right. There’s already a spark between me and Tyler, and a little bit of fuel would turn it into a raging inferno.
“He went on the art walk with me,” I confess. “And he invited me to Disneyland, too.”
Ava squeals. “Yes! You have to go!”
“Oh, do I?”
“Yes. One hundred percent. You deserve this. You spent years doing what Landon and your parents wanted instead of making yourself happy. So I have to ask you: would going to Disneyland with Tyler make you happy?”
I wish I could say I have to think about it, but my answer is immediate. “Yes.”
“Whoop!” Ava cheers. Her enthusiasm is contagious, and an unbidden smile creeps across my face. “It’s settled then. You’re going.”
I guess I am.
The next morning,I’m completely exhausted. I had spent all night tossing and turning, trying to decide how to ask Tyler if I could come to Disneyland with him. Ava’s right: I do want to go. And I’m here, on my solo honeymoon, to do what I want to do for once.
But what if he already found someone else? What if he asked another girl? Or if he gave the tickets to Brittany and her boyfriend? I’m going to look like a moron. So the sooner I get to him this morning, the better.
Hence, the not-sleeping.
At seven-thirty, I’m fully dressed in another fitted dress and stilettos, and I figure it’s time to face my fears. I leave the security of my room and head down to the lobby.
Which is where I see Tyler and Brittany talking. And Brittany has a giant smile spread across her face.
Shoot. Did I miss my chance? Did he already offer her the tickets?
I scurry over as fast as my heels will allow, clicking loudly in the lobby.
“That sounds amazing!” Brittany says. “I can’t wait to tell Brandon. He’ll be so excited.”
“Wait!” I blurt. “I’ll go with you!”
Tyler turns his head to look at me. Brittany’s brows furrow in confusion.
“You’ll come with me…to the OC Chili Cookoff?” Brittany asks.
I blink a few times. “Oh. No. I thought…” I glance over at Tyler,
He folds his arms over his chest and smirks. “I didn’t know you were such a fan of spicy peppers.”
I clear my throat. “I, uh, thought you were talking about…” I plead with Tyler through my eyes, hoping he’ll save me from putting my foot in my mouth, but no such luck. “Are you enjoying this?” I ask him.
He shrugs, and I wish I could kiss the smug grin off his face.
Wait, what?
No, no. Not kiss his grin. Smack it.
Yeah, that’s what I meant.
I compose myself, straightening and taking a deep breath. “Never mind. Tyler, can I speak to you for a minute?”
“Sure.” He uncrosses his arms and gestures over to the pool area. I walk ahead of him, shoulders back, head tall, because I will not be ashamed by my mistake.
But I hear Tyler open a door behind me, and I turn to see him gesturing for me to step through. Once inside, I see a desk littered with paperwork, a computer, some pictures hanging in frames of the ocean and a young woman with a little boy.
“Welcome to my office,” he says, shutting the door behind us.
“Oh, you don’t need to—” I was about to say “close the door,” but as soon as I turn around and feel rather than see how close Tyler stands in front of me, I lose all speech functions.
Tyler takes a beat, not backing away to give me space, but not moving any closer. “So. What did you want to talk about?”
I swallow hard. Why am I here? Oh, yeah. Disneyland. “I changed my mind.”
He tilts his head. “About what?”
“Disneyland,” I blurt, as if getting the word out fast will make it less painful.
His lips twitch. He’s fighting a smile. “And what made you change your mind?”
“I just…figure this trip is about what I want to do. And you’re right, I’ve always wanted to go.”
He doesn’t say anything. What is it about this man that makes me so off-balance I don’t have this problem with anyone else. But silence hangs thick in the air, and I rush to fill it. “I mean, if you haven’t found someone else to take the tickets already. That’s what I thought was happening with Brittany. So if you can’t go, I’m sure I can grab tickets online or something, it’s not like?—”
“I still have them,” Tyler says, finally putting me out of my misery. “And I’d love to take you.”
“You would?”
He nods, slow and sexy, and takes the tiniest step toward me. “I think it’ll be the perfect day.” He takes another step toward me and lightly brushes my waist with his hand. Shivers run down my spine, and the spot where his hand touches me feels like it’s on fire. “But I have one condition.”
“What is it?” My voice comes out all breathy. Composure, Brooke! Get it together!
His eyes run down my body and back up to my eyes. “You can’t wear anything like this.”
“I…what?”
He smirks at me, pulling his hand away from my waist. I miss it already. “Please tell me you brought some normal clothes. Shorts, pants, something. And shoes that don’t add any height.”
I blink, swallowing hard to process the change in subject. “Uh, yes. I have some shorts and normal shoes.” Truthfully? I don’t. But now I know my plans for today—shopping.
“Perfect.” He flashes me a grin. “I’ll meet you in the lobby tomorrow morning at six-thirty.”
“Whoa, what?” I shake my head. How early will I need to get up to do my hair and makeup? “Why so early?”
“We have to be there for rope drop. You get to be the first ones on the rides for the day. Trust me, on a Saturday in the summer, it’s worth it.”
I twist my lips to the side, and I see his eyes flick down to them. “Okay. I can make it work.”
“Great.” His eyes meet mine, and I feel like I’m going to melt under his intense gaze. “Can’t wait.”