Chapter 1 #3
“It’s a big bungalow,” she assures me too enthusiastically.
“With two bedrooms. All of the bungalows have at least two bedrooms. And I’m working every day —no, every hour —with the staff here to get you into your own as soon as it opens—I know you were planning to share with your parents, so we’ll have a space for them before they arrive for sure without having to put them in the overflow hotel, and I know you’d be fine sharing with Claire and Sabrina and there are pullout sofas and all, but I realized…
” She pauses, sighs while she eyes Theo again.
“It’ll be easier for you to keep him out of Chandler’s way for a couple days if you’re with him all the time,” she finishes with a whisper.
I am definitely going to need four of whatever’s in those pineapples that Theo’s handing out. “Oh my god, Em, this is the least I can do for you.”
I’m squeaking.
She can hear it.
She knows this is the worst thing she could ask any of us to do.
But it’s just for a day or two. Just until space opens up somewhere else and tensions die down and everything goes back to normal. I can do this for a day or two.
Probably not three—my parents get here in three days—but I can absolutely help tensions die down by keeping Theo away from Chandler until then.
I pat her back and stifle a frown at how sharp her shoulder blades are. She’s always struggled to keep weight on. Stress isn’t good for her.
And while my parents abhor Theo, they love Emma.
The girl who rose above being raised solo by a taxidermist after her mom tragically passed while we were in middle school to become a respectable accountant who pays her own bills and socializes with the right people in the Tooth.
They’d want me to do whatever it takes to keep her happy and healthy.
“Don’t you worry. I’m on the job. Five years from now, we’ll all look back on this while your babies are opening their birthday presents and laugh and laugh at how silly we all were this week and how amazing it all turned out in the end.
Everything’s under control. I’ve got this. ”
She tackles me in a hug. “Thank you.”
“Em, it’s your wedding. Of course.”
“I know it’s an awful thing to ask?—”
“It’s not. Awful would be asking me to monitor who your uncle’s flirting with.”
She laughs.
I laugh.
We both sound like desperate fools.
“Em. You’re marrying Chandler, and then after a week in Hawaii, you’re going to Fiji . You’ve waited your whole life for this. Even the years when you were on a break in college. Waiting for that doofus to propose counts as double, right?”
She laughs again as she pulls out of the hug, and this time, she sounds more normal. “You’re the best, Laney. Truly.”
I smile at her. “Just wait until I ask you for a favor for my wedding.”
“Oh, god, tell me you’re not dating that banker your mother introduced you to last week.”
And this is why I love Emma. “No, but I’m starting to think about dating someone completely inappropriate just to freak them out,” I joke, even though it’s not as much of a joke as it would’ve been a year ago.
She looks at me.
Then at Theo.
Then back at me.
“No,” I say.
She snickers.
It’s still a little hysterical.
“Not yet, anyway,” I say quickly. “Maybe…later. After they’ve signed the company over to me and can’t go back on it.”
Which is supposed to happen in the next five years so that they can retire and enjoy the rest of their lives.
I love my job. I love our mission and our purpose, and I’m so excited to continue expanding what I watched them build as I was growing up.
I just wish it didn’t come with quite so many expectations for all aspects of my life. It wasn’t like this when I was little.
But as Kingston Photo Gifts has expanded, my parents have gotten stiffer and pickier about everything. Mostly about who’s worthy . And believe me, some days I think they still question if I am.
I glance at Theo again.
He doesn’t have any expectations to live up to. And so he gets to go to a destination wedding in Hawaii and be a total screwball.
“What’s he doing right now?” I whisper to her. “Like, for real. Do I need some background on the costume?”
“The costume—it’s Theo.” She rolls her eyes. “He and Uncle Owen saw it in the window of a thrift store. Uncle Owen dared him to wear it. And like I said, the resort is a little short-staffed, so he decided to help pass out drinks. And it is kinda funny. Isn’t it?”
“You want me to make sure he doesn’t wear it to breakfast tomorrow?
“That would be amazing. But when you talk to him, don’t?—”
“Em. I think I know how to handle your brother and at least what not to say.” Probably.
Mostly.
I haven’t actively avoided Theo since I got home from college, but I haven’t been sad that our paths have rarely crossed.
She sags in relief while Chandler swings the tennis racket at something.
“What—” I start but stop myself when her eyelid starts twitching.
“The bugs here really like Chandler,” she whispers. “This is maybe not his ideal wedding spot.”
“That’s…?”
“An electrified tennis racket bug zapper. Theo got it for him and he was super annoyed at first, but now he’s using it all the time. So. You ready?”
Right.
Ready .
For my job. The one thing that will make my best friend happiest during her wedding week.
Theo’s circling the pool closer to the groom’s table.
His shaggy light brown hair lifts in the breeze as he holds a tray with a final pineapple drink in one hand and the flamingo reins in his other.
His hair isn’t long . More due for a haircut, which is a big change from the days that he kept it buzzed close to his scalp, which was a direct result of an incident with a match and fermented apple juice in the middle school cafeteria.
And if he wasn’t Theo , I might be gawking at his tattooed chest too, like Claire is.
But it’s Theo.
And he’s definitely headed toward Chandler, which is the one thing I’ve been asked to make sure doesn’t happen.
“I’m on it,” I say.
Did not see this coming, but I probably should’ve.
Why would Theo be anyone but himself even here in paradise? And who else can Emma trust to make him behave beyond her biggest wet blanket of a friend?
I stifle a sigh. When do I get to have fun?
Not when your best friend needs you to make sure she gets the wedding of her dreams .
“I swear, I’ll get you another room before your parents get here,” she says. “Them too if we can’t get another bungalow.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of that too.” We’ve been besties for a long time. It’s pretty normal for her to know I don’t want my parents knowing I’ll be spending a lot of time with Theo.
Just like I can tell you she’s having nerves but knows this is what she wants, and once she gets through making sure her wedding week goes great, everything will be amazing and they’ll start a family soon and she’ll be the happiest Emma to ever Emma in the history of Emmas.
Theo pauses next to Chandler’s table and offers the table a pineapple with the paper umbrella.
And then it happens.
As he’s standing there extending the tray of drinks, Theo sneezes.
And I don’t actually mean sneezes .
Normal people?
Normal people sneeze.
Theo, however, has a full-body, full-lung, full-nose, full-vocal-cord seizure that sounds like a freight train slamming its brakes and honking its horn at full speed.
He is one of those sneeezers.
It’s sudden.
It’s loud.
And it’s so startling that Chandler yelps, “ Jesus Christ! ” and swings his bug zapper tennis racket in the direction of the danger, which just so happens to be Theo.
But he doesn’t hit Theo.
Oh, no.
He hits something far worse.
A paper drink umbrella.
There’s a zzzzzzzip! that echoes across the pool as the zapper connects with the drink sloshing in Theo’s hand.
It’s immediately followed by a very distinct poof!
And accompanied by a spark of flame.
“Oh my god.” I drop my purse. I drop the leftover protein bar. And I take off at a dead run.
The drink umbrella has lit up on fire.
It’s on fire .
And it’s too close to Theo’s costume.
Way too close.
“In the pool!” I yell as I get halfway around the pool. “Theo! Jump in the pool! ”
The Sullivan triplets scatter, one closer to get pictures, the other two to clear the older people out of the way of the fire, while Chandler gapes at Theo.
Theo twists his head at me while his costume ignites . The flamingo head is on fire.
It’s on fire .
We’re mountain people. We don’t screw around with fire.
Especially flaming flamingo head fires.
But Theo’s giving me a look I’ve seen so many times, I hear him in my head. Oh, good, Princess Plainy-Laney is here .
I’m still in sneakers. Practical for plane rides, practical for sprinting around a pool, and I’m closing in fast. “You’re on fire !” I shriek at him.
Finally— finally —he looks down.
And then the dumbass grins . “Aww, are you worried about me, Laney?”
“ You’re. On. Fire ,” I yell again. So close. So close .
“What the hell , ass—idiot— Theo ,” Chandler snaps.
“Theo. Theo ! Jump in the pool!” Chandler’s mom yells from behind the triplet who’s trying to get her out of harm’s way.
I’m finally right on top of him.
He has me by at least six inches and probably fifty to sixty pounds of solid muscle, but I won’t let a little thing like his size and his strength stop me.
He’s about to be on fire himself.
There’s only one thing to do here.
I angle in my dash toward him, feel the heat growing as I get right up next to him, and I use all of my momentum to shove him into the water.
Unfortunately though, that’s not where my momentum ends.
And when his eyes go wide and he realizes he’s falling backward, he reaches for the nearest thing.
Me.
And that’s how I, too, end up tumbling into the pool.