Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
CARLIE
Jenna and Devin take their kids out on a glass-bottomed boat the next day, so I’m left with most of the day to myself. I use it wisely by sleeping in. Tonight is the main event of vacation—a special ceremony on the beach for Gabriella and Colby and then a party afterward. I tried to get out of it well ahead of time by offering to watch the kids, but everyone nixed that idea. The kids will be at the resort daycare, watching a pirate show that the resort puts on. Devin or Jenna will pick them up when the ceremony’s over and put them to bed, but since the party is on the beach right in front of the building that houses our room as well as most of the rest of the team that’s here, Jenna and Devin will just bring a monitor out and check on them from time to time.
That means I’m going to this party.
It’s not that I don’t want to. I don’t know Gabriella and Colby very well, but I’ve spent some time here with them, given that they’re good friends of Ava and Jett. And I am looking forward to spending some more time with Law. It’s just … we barely know each other, so how do we get to a point where he opens up about who he is and I can start trusting myself a little more? Last night, if it was just me and him at that table and he asked about my most embarrassing moment, I think I would have told him the truth. Sure, I was super embarrassed that I misunderstood that parent, but it pales in comparison to having your picture in the news, people talking about how your fiancé is a drug dealer, and footage of you being hauled out of the apartment with him because at that point they can’t take a chance you aren’t part of it all.
When I do finally get up, I eat breakfast on the ocean-view deck of our suite and dream about how lovely it would be if this was my every day. Maybe I should tell Caleb to find us a place to rent in Galveston. He can totally afford something right on the beach. But the truth is, the Texas ocean isn’t the same as in Hawaii.
I grab my headphones, turn on my crime podcast, and head for the beach, walking sometimes briskly and sometimes lazily up and down it while the host of the podcast—who feels like my bestie at this point—details the frustrating lack of action by the police and family members in the disappearance of a fourteen-year-old girl. All the clues point to the older boy she was sneaking around with, and I find myself ticking them off in my head like everyone didn’t already know that and they still did nothing. Anger boils in my chest as I listen, but it’s a feeling I’ve weirdly grown to like. I can tell by the way the host tells this story that the stupid nineteen-year-old boy will be caught, and everyone will know what he is. I’ll get the whole story.
Sometimes I find myself thinking about how this host would tell Xavier’s story and how the end would be satisfyingly tied up. After months of compiling evidence and careful video surveillance, federal agents move in to arrest Xavier Elliot in his Phoenix apartment, surprising him on a quiet night in with his fiancée Carlie Gallagher—who the FBI would later realize was an innocent bystander caught in Elliot’s web of lies …
Listeners would feel like the story wrapped up so nicely with the bad guy in the jail and the sweet fiancée saved from his terribleness. So how come it doesn’t feel wrapped up neatly like that when that’s all the truth?
Surprisingly, I don’t encounter Law or Ivy on my long walk. They probably went to do something fun like Jenna and Devin did. Come to think of it, I don’t even know where Jett and Ava are.
I do cross paths with Ford and his wife—until I realize it’s not his wife. I glance back a few times at him and the woman he’s with. She’s blond, like Madelyn Wise, which is maybe why Jenna thought it was his wife the other night when we watched them walk down the beach. They’re walking closer this time, and after a few steps of my own, I make my decision to follow them. I turn and walk up the beach behind them, looking totally casual. If there’s an opportunity to find out more about this situation, I’m absolutely going to take it.
She purposefully bumps into him while laughing and then steps away, making the way she puts distance between them look intentional. His responding smile has a definite flirtatious vibe. I pause and hold my phone up like I’m taking a selfie on the beach, waiting for the perfect moment when the woman turns to say something to Ford and I can see her face. I snap the picture and send it to Jenna.
Carlie
I don’t think Ford brought his wife …
I’ve followed them clear down the beach, to a new group of hotels, when Jenna texts back.
Jenna
That’s probably just a friend. I’m sure Ford is a good guy.
But I can totally hear the uncertainty in her tone even over text, even without an emoji. She’s my sister.
And maybe Wylie Ford is a good guy, and this conversation is totally innocent, and he’s taking a long walk on the beach with another woman for a completely explainable reason.
She could be his agent.
She could be someone on staff with the Pumas that Ford knows well.
She could be a family member of someone else on the team that he’s helping entertain.
She could be any of those things and also be more .
I’m totally going to find out. Madelyn Wise deserves better than someone lying to her, no matter who she is. And if Ford is innocent, all the better.
I just can’t imagine that he is. This doesn’t look like innocent to me.
They walk up a sidewalk that leads from the beach into a restaurant, and I hesitate as I pass the sidewalk. They’ve noticed me multiple times. There’s no way I can go inside. I walk for another ten minutes up the beach and then turn and head back like this ridiculously long beach walk was my intention the whole time. I slow when I come to the restaurant, hoping that Ford and this woman have a table outside or in front of the big windows facing the ocean.
No such luck. But I’m already convinced. There were enough flirty vibes while I followed them to make anyone suspicious. But there’s no proof until I catch them kissing or something. Then I’m going right to Gabriella.
I spend the rest of the day lazily, sometimes feeling guilty that I’m not off parasailing or snorkeling or zip-lining or something, but mostly just enjoying how great it is to read a book on a cabana on the beach.
When Jenna and Devin and the kids get back, Devin entertains them on the beach for a while so Jenna and I can get ready. The ceremony has a color scheme, which I’m learning is a very Gabriella thing to do. The pictures will look gorgeous, with Gabriella in her white boho gown and everyone else in shades of gray with pale coral and teal accessories. My dress was a fortunate Amazon find, since I can’t afford something better, but I ended up loving it. It’s a pale pearl gray, off the shoulder with a flounce neckline, and the pale teal beaded necklace I found contrasts perfectly with my hair.
When we’re finished, Jenna helps Devin with the kids, and then they go together to take them to the daycare, so I head down to the beach myself. There’s a wooden arch standing alone in the middle of the area roped off, draped in pale gray fabrics and flowers in the ceremony colors. There are no chairs, but Jenna warned me that the ceremony would be short and Gabriella and Colby wanted people standing, so I’m prepared.
There are a few people milling about, and when I approach the area, a resort staff member asks my name, ticking it off a tablet before handing me a small electric candle. “Gabriella would like you to turn it on at the start of the ceremony,” she instructs. The whole thing will look so gorgeous when it’s photographed. Ava planned their wedding earlier this year, so I wonder how much she had a hand in the aesthetics of this.
I see Law before he sees me, which I’m glad for, because he looks so good. His suit is exquisitely tailored for him and is just a shade or two darker gray than my dress. I almost laugh when I see he has a teal tie that must be almost the exact color of my necklace. We’ll look like a bridesmaid and groomsman. He turns as I stare at him, and our eyes meet. His broad shoulders rise as he takes a deep breath, and he tucks his hands into his pockets, making him look more like a model, if that’s possible. A slow smile spreads across his wide lips as he takes the first step toward me, and my heart flares to life, warming me all over. His gaze is not just appreciative, not just in admiration of my looks. There’s joy and excitement there that makes those same feelings dance through me. I want so badly to trust that Law is a good guy, that there’s no dirty skeleton in his closet waiting to jump out and surprise me, but there’s something with everyone.
By the time Law reaches me, I’m grinning ear to ear, regardless of my thoughts.
“You look stunning,” he says in a low voice, leaning over to kiss my cheek lightly.
“Thank you,” I say, staring up at him, a little giddy over the idea that he likes me.
He holds out an arm toward me, and I take it, still grinning. “Can I stand with you?” he asks.
“Of course. I’d really like that.”
We don’t walk very far, and for a moment we stand, watching the sun quickly descending toward the ocean. The setting is completely magical. This is why people fall for each other quickly in situations like this, why they get involved too fast. Half of my brain is chiding me for not heeding my own advice to be “twice shy,” but the other half wants to know what it would feel like to have Law wrap his arms around me. To kiss him. To feel his hands pressing into my back and closer to him.
“How was your day?” he asks.
“Good. Relaxing.” I’m not about to tell him about how I followed Ford and that woman for almost an hour. I know how that looks without an explanation as to why I’d care that he might be cheating on his wife.
And what exactly is my explanation? I just needed to know? It sounds stupid in my head, and I know it kind of is, but would Law understand that I don’t want Madelyn Wise to go through what I did, even a tiny part of it, by finding out the person she loves isn’t what he says he is? If I can spare her that, why wouldn’t I?
“How about you?” I ask instead. I also don’t ask where he was or why I didn’t see him, even though I’ve been wondering all day.
He answers that anyway. “Ivy and I took a boat out snorkeling with some of the other guys on the team. It was amazing, so much sea life and just right there.” He shakes his head and pulls out his phone. “Want to see?”
I don’t like the jealousy that pricks at my stomach thinking about him with Ivy all day, and I force myself to shake it off. They probably booked that excursion before they came. Maybe he would’ve invited me if they hadn’t.
I lean in toward him. “Of course.”
He scrolls through several photos, and I ooh and ahh over all of them. He even has a couple videos, and it’s delightful to watch the colorful fish dart this way and that. I try to ignore the cozy pictures of him and Ivy and believe her that they really are just friends.
“That’s so cool.” I don’t pull away from him until he tucks his phone back in his pocket. Did I mention that he smells spectacular? It’s kind of sporty, but also with the barest hint of something tropical. Or maybe that’s just the air around us. I can’t say for sure.
“I heard about this great beach where we can watch sea turtles. Do you want to go in the morning?” he asks.
“Absolutely.” I don’t have to think about that answer. Still, I cringe a little when I can’t help asking, “Would you mind if the kids come along? Probably Jenna and Devin too. I promised to help with them tomorrow since I had today to myself.”
His expression doesn’t even drop. His smile grows wider, and I am so smitten. “No problem at all. Jett and Ava will probably want to come too.”
I tilt my head. My gut says he really is this good, that I’m not in danger of anything with him, but my heart still worries. There are still clues to find to put together the story of him. Still loose threads. “Thanks.”
Devin and Jenna join us, and I smile at them, but I don’t drop Law’s arm. I like the closeness and the warmth of him.
I just like him.