Chapter 9 Faith
NINE
FAITH
The knocking on my door rattles through me, and I sit straight up as my heart beats out of my chest. I fell back to sleep again. Sliding off the bed, I fling my legs over the edge and get up. I open my hotel door to find my girlfriends standing there with worried looks on their faces.
“You ok?” Kendall barges into the room. Addison and Lane follow her.
“Yes, why?” I ask, brushing my hair out of my face. I’m sure it’s a sight to see.
“It’s time for dinner. You sure you’re ok? You look like shit,” Kendall mutters, pointing to my face and hair.
Going to the bathroom, I peek at myself in the mirror. I’m horrified by what I see—mascara all over my face, red and puffy eyes, and a scrunchie hanging out of my hair. So maybe I had a bit of a crying fest after writing and decided to lie down and rest my eyes…
I yell from the bathroom, “I’ll need a few minutes to fluff my hair!”
“You need more than that girl, get moving!” Addsion yells back.
It ends up taking me about fifteen minutes to put an ice-cold face cloth on my eyes to tame the swelling, wash off all the rogue mascara, wet and brush my hair, and then style it.
Thankfully my concealer is in my makeup bag, because I need it right now—badly.
The essentials are all lined up on the counter, and I grab products and apply them to my face.
I spritz some of my vanilla body spray on, and by the time I’m done, I feel human again.
I come around the corner to get dressed, and my girlfriends start whistling at me.
The before and after is a stark contrast. My friends are all wearing dresses.
I go through the clothes on the hangers, and bam!
There it is. My fitted black dress with an open back.
I’ll wear a necklace statement piece to dress it up for tonight’s dinner.
Opening my arms and displaying my attire, I say, “Ready.”
“Thank you for gracing us with your hotness.” Kendall wiggles her eyebrows. “You trying to impress someone who shall not be named?”
“No, I had this outfit planned out before even knowing he’d be here. And seriously, it’s not like that. I’m happy for him and seeing him reminded me that I need to move on with my life and not have one foot in the past.” I shake my head, trying to believe what I’m saying.
“Well then, let’s get to dinner,” Addison pipes in as she points to the door.
“Sounds great to me,” Lane says as she hooks her arm around mine. “You look stunning, and any man would die to have you on his arm.”
“You’re sweet. Thank you.”
The restaurant is a quick walk from the lobby, and as we make our way through the winding path, I get a gorgeous view of the sun starting its descent in the sky.
It’s not quite sunset time, but when it does set, I can already tell there will be ribbons of oranges and pinks painting the sky, setting the perfect scene for the boats to coast on the ocean in the distance.
I stop for just a few seconds and close my eyes.
The sun warms my skin and recharges my body—which is much needed after my afternoon, that’s for sure.
Sorting through all of those residual feelings and hurt over Jude really took it out of me.
There’s just something about feeling the warmth of the sun that provides a special kind of comfort and rejuvenation.
The ocean waves are in the background, and it makes me want to stay here and soak it all in.
The girls halt after realizing I stopped.
“You need a minute?” Lane asks as she makes her way back to me and takes my hand.
I open my eyes and give her a loving smile. “This is paradise! No wonder they call it One Happy Island. I just needed a minute to soak in the sun.”
We arrive at the restaurant right on time for our reservations.
Phew! I thought I was going to make us late, but that nap was much needed.
I’m standing taller, my muscles in my neck and shoulders are relaxed, and I’m smiling and enjoying the time with my friends.
There hasn’t been much time to be with each other without talking about Jude.
A Jude-free night sounds like just what I need.
The hostess approaches us with menus in her hands and asks, “What’s the name?”
“Faith Tinsley.”
She marks us down with a swift check mark on her clipboard and gives us a welcoming smile. "Right this way," she says, motioning us to follow her.
We weave in and out of a couple of tables, the clinking of cutlery and chatter loud in the air as we arrive at a hibachi setup designed to accommodate eight people. Its polished surface gleams under the light. The air is rich with the aroma of soy sauce, savory steak, and the scent of rice.
We sit and when I look up, I realize we have a view of the ocean. The horizon is painted an array of colors. We’ll be able to watch the sunset tonight as we eat our dinner. This is utterly perfect.
I pull out my phone and see that I missed a bunch of texts and calls from my friends. I also missed a text from Kai, so I take a quick peek.
Kai:
You are beautiful. I can’t wait to get to know you better on Sunday.
That’s really nice of him to say. Before we get settled into dinner mode, I text him back.
Faith:
You’re too kind. How’s your day going?
Kai:
You’re on vacation. Relax, don’t worry about texting me. But I will admit, I like it when you do.
Faith:
It’s always nice to see your text on my screen.
Kai:
Same.
I slip my phone into the bag. No more distractions tonight.
“When is the meeting with the wedding coordinator?” I ask.
Kendall squeals and says, “It’s tomorrow. I’m getting more giddy by the day. I keep looking at the coffee table wedding books and making lists of what I want.”
“The wedding pictures around the resort are beautiful. You are going to make a gorgeous bride. Thank you for including us in the big wedding decision. It’s an honor to be part of the planning, and we are going to be amazing bridesmaids,” I tell her, giving her a big smile.
“We’ll be able to see the set up on the beach overlooking the ocean before we leave. It’s so exciting!” Suddenly, she covers her mouth to stop the words from coming out. “Ugh. Faith, sorry! I didn’t mean to bring up Jude’s wedding.”
“No, you guys can’t walk on eggshells with me when it comes to Jude. Accepting where we both are in life is part of my healing. Journaling and sleeping earlier helped. One more layer of hurt is removed. It will take some time, but I have plenty of that.”
Lane leans over, touches my shoulder, and whispers to me, “You know we’re here for you when you’re ready to talk.”
Addison, who sits on the other side of me, gives me a big side hug and says, “We got you.”
I lean against her and say, “You guys are the best. Now, let’s celebrate our trip with some drinks and good food.”
Being with friends who love and support each other has gotten me through a lot, and we know how to have fun together.
They help me stay grounded and present. We’ve all grown over the years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is our loyalty to each other.
When one person is down, we are always there to listen and distract each other with something fun.
Today, it’s celebrating with my best friends on this One Happy Island.
How can I be upset with all this beauty around me?
Taking care of myself is my top priority.
It’s the reason we’re all here—to get away from the stress of life, escape our careers, and spend quality time with each other—especially since we’re all so busy.
We are all laughing as the chef entertains us with an onion volcano of fire and tosses food from his spatula into our mouths.
He serves us the food he cooked and moves onto the next table.
We chat, eat, and watch the sunset. We finish our food and frozen drinks, and I realize it’s dinners like these that keep us together.
“Want to take this outside to the tiki bar and enjoy the music and views?” Kendall asks as she lifts herself from the chair and gives a pointed look to us.
“Is that our cue to get up? Guess we’re moving outside,” I tease her and pull my hair up, securing it with the scrunchie that’s around my wrist.
“I think the DJ is playing tonight,” Addison says as we leave the restaurant and leisurely walk to the tiki bar.
The odds of me seeing Jude just skyrocketed.
This bar is packed, but we manage to find a table overlooking the beach.
Hopefully there’s no Jude tonight. I’ve been having such a good time, and I’m really hoping to keep it that way.