Chapter 18 – Katie
Eighteen
PRESENT DAY
KATIE
The following afternoon, I picked up a pair of binoculars and looked across the beach where Michelle and Chris were sharing a coconut drink.
I’d been looking off and on all day, confused about the purpose of today’s “mission.”
I heard footsteps from behind, and then my towel shifted in the sand.
“Good morning, Katie,” Asher said.
“Good morning.” I squinted as Chris pressed a kiss on Michelle’s neck. “What exactly am I supposed to be looking for today, Asher?”
“A reaction.”
“To what?”
“I had a note delivered—handwritten, not typed,” he said. “From her ex. Referencing a trip they took to Santorini and something she supposedly ‘never told Chris.’”
I blinked. “That’s…specific.”
“It needs to be,” he said. “Vague doesn’t trigger anything real.”
“And if it goes terribly?”
“They both have an excuse to cancel things long before their final week here, and we can all go home.”
I turned around to look at him and regretted it instantly.
Wearing nothing except shades and dark blue swim trunks, he was lying on his back, his glistening six-pack abs on full display.
A smile tugged on his lips. “See something you like?”
“Nope.” I shrugged. “Do you?”
“Very much so…”
I swallowed, and it took everything in me to turn back around.
When I glanced through the binoculars again, a staffer in all white was approaching Chris and Michelle’s spot.
“Okay, I think they’re getting the note,” I said, watching. “Chris is opening it. Please tell me it’s addressed to Michelle.”
“It is.”
“Okay, looks like he’s reading it aloud, and she’s furrowing her brow a bit.” I squinted. “Your brother is scratching his head and…Okay, they’re laughing.”
“What?” Asher sat up and took the binoculars from me. “What the hell…”
“Does this trick usually work?”
“Ninety percent of the time,” he said. “We’ll try something new tomorrow. Do me a favor.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t wear another bikini around me—ever again…”