CHAPTER 39 Sophie Summers
I Can Totally Keep a Secret
Our first stop is Cozumel, and we get off the ship to check out the port.
There’s plenty of shopping, bars, and more shopping.
It was a tough decision not to book an excursion since there are so many available, but ultimately we wanted a day to just bum around the port and get back to the ship for a little private stateroom time.
We weren’t able to secure our romantic cabana during the daytime, but I have plans to check it out again tonight.
Maybe every night.
Since we found out my parents are getting divorced on the first night of the cruise, I can only imagine what secrets will be revealed on night two.
As we arrive at dinner, I see that tonight, there’s a parents table, for which I’m grateful.
Seated at it are my parents, Miller’s parents, Cassie’s parents, Grace’s dad and grandmother, Desi’s parents, and Missy Nash.
The next table is Lincoln, Jolene, their kids, and her parents, along with Luca and Lily, who have become fast friends with Lincoln and Jolene’s kids .
So that leaves our table—the three younger Nash brothers, their wives, and the two Banks brothers and their significant others, along with Asher’s son.
The parents place their orders first, and I spot the servers as they bring over the drinks.
It seems like all of the parents ordered wine, and their table is already getting loud with laughter.
My mom is sitting next to Miller’s mom, and my dad is on the other side of Miller’s dad—which makes sense since we’ve known their family for years, and it’s probably better to split my parents up given their impending divorce.
On my dad’s other side is Missy Nash, and she’s next to Grace’s dad. Missy is telling some story about her four children, and everyone at the table is in stitches.
Sort of like our table. Grayson is leading the conversation, and everyone is laughing. This is a much more relaxed atmosphere than last night when I had to sit at the table and listen to my parents talk about their divorce after Cassie blew my little secret on night one.
These were not things I was expecting to deal with on this cruise, but I guess if you get enough family members together in the same room, secrets are bound to come out.
I’m next to Cassie again. “I’m so, so sorry about last night,” she says to me once Grayson finishes his story. Miller turns to Asher on his other side, and Cassie and I talk while he chats with his half-brother. “I had no idea your parents didn’t know.”
“It’s fine. It’s better that it’s out in the open. Really.” I reach for my water since tonight’s dark and stormy isn’t here yet.
“I’m usually really good at keeping secrets. In fact, I can totally keep a secret, so please don’t hold it against me.”
“Promise,” I say, holding up a pinky. She links hers through mine, and I love that we’ve become real friends over the last couple of months. If Miller and I are truly going to get married as we said we were last night, then Cassie is going to be like a sister to me.
And that’s something I’m really, really excited about.
Our drinks arrive, and I glance around the table. The men all ordered different beers, and the women are all drinking daiquiris—except me with my rum and ginger beer concoction and Cassie with her margarita.
We’re through the first round before our food arrives.
“I’m starving,” Cassie says to me. “Tanner made me go snorkeling today when I just wanted a day at the beach, and we didn’t eat lunch. Now I’m half-drunk since that was the strongest margarita I’ve had in a while.”
I giggle. “We just hung around the port…and then our stateroom.” I wiggle my eyebrows, and Cassie laughs.
“I’m so happy for you two. Tanner told me how Miller’s been in love with you forever, so to see you two finally together is just so amazing.”
Wait…what?
What the hell did she just say?
“What?” I ask.
“How Miller’s always been in love with you,” she repeats.
Miller’s head swings over in Cassie’s direction, and I catch the look of horror he gives Cassie, who’s totally oblivious to it.
“Always?” I repeat.
“Yeah, since, like high school or whatever.”
I clear my throat as this feeling of being totally blindsided overwhelms me. I’m looking at Miller when I say, “He’s been in love with me since high school ?”
Is Cassie drunk?
Well, yes. A little. She just admitted to that.
Have I really been that blind?
If he’s really been in love with me that long, why did he wait until last night after I said it first to tell me he loves me ?
Did we just waste half our lives searching for the wrong thing when the right thing was within reach the entire time?
“Yes,” she says, and her eyes finally move over to Miller. She slaps a hand over her mouth. Her eyes are wide as her hand slides down. “Wait. You didn’t know that.”
“Does this look like the face of someone who knew?” I ask.
She shakes her head as she looks up at the ceiling. “Dear Lord, this is really making me look like a terrible secret-keeper.”
I turn toward Miller. “Is this true?”
I watch as he thinks quickly. He swallows, his throat bobbing up and down for a second, and he presses his lips together. And then he turns toward me, and he nods. “Yes. It’s true. I think I fell in love with you the second I met you.”
My chest tightens as I think back over the years we’ve known each other, all the way back to when we first met.
I thought he was cute, but I was fourteen. I thought everyone was cute. And when he slid so easily into the role of my best friend, he just sort of stayed there.
He cheered me on when I started dating Bryce McDaniels, but at the same time, he was noticeably absent from many of the events Bryce and I attended together for nearly two years.
When Bryce and I broke up, he was right there for me, but he was dating Mandy. They broke up, and I was with Liam. We broke up, and he was with Jamie. They broke up, and we headed off to college.
Our timing just never seemed to work out.
We always said I love you to each other, but I always thought we meant as friends.
I didn’t realize he was saying it from a totally different place. And the more I think about the love I feel for him, the more I realize how totally unmatched it is in every aspect and every relationship of my life .
I would do anything for him, and I know he would do anything for me.
And suddenly, just like that, my heart seems to swell for him as I think about how very much I want this love to last a lifetime.
And with Miller, it feels possible. Anything feels possible when I’m with him because he’s the kind of guy who makes anything possible. Because he loves me.
I always just thought he was a really, really good friend. I didn’t realize his acts of service were because he was in love with me.
How stupid I’ve been. How much time we’ve wasted.
How very, very much I love this man beside me, and how lucky I am that he loves me too.
All this darts through my head in the space of a second, and I finally draw in a breath and lean toward him. I press my lips to his, and then I whisper, “I love you, too.”
And after dinner, we rush right over to our private cabana to celebrate that love.