Chapter Six Kelsie
Inviting others to our movie night was an impulsive decision, and I was convinced it was the right call. No matter how much I wanted to preserve my friendship with Damien, I wasn’t ready to be alone with him yet. My heart was still too bruised for that.
When the movie ended, Damien was the first one to leave the room.
Most of our friends didn’t pay much attention to that, but I saw the concerned look that Jess sent my way.
She’d picked up on something strange going on between us, but that wasn’t really a surprise.
Damien and I were so close that any change in our relationship was bound to be noticed.
Jess didn’t ask me about it, probably because the others were there, and I hoped that she wouldn’t.
It was still too embarrassing to discuss what went down between us.
Not the night of the bonfire, but the morning after.
I was ashamed of that moment when he crushed my spirit, no matter how much I told myself that I did nothing wrong.
I just hoped that with time, I would stop wanting to be with Damien in that way. No matter what, I refused to become a woman who pined after a man that didn’t want her. I was stronger than that. I hoped.
The next morning, I headed down to the complimentary breakfast the resort offered.
There was a setup in a small room next to the hotel bar with a large selection of food options.
The place was luxurious, so this wasn’t the kind of spread you’d find in a cheap hotel that put out stale muffins and off-brand cereal.
There was a variety of baked goods—cinnamon rolls covered in gooey cream cheese icing, flaky croissants, and sweet Danishes—and fresh fruit that could be grabbed without a wait.
There was also a station where a man in a white chef’s coat made omelets to order and a woman beside him was continuously pouring batter into waffle makers so that guests could take plates of steaming waffles right as they were done cooking.
It was a nice setup, and I went straight for the waffles, adding a generous serving of syrup and whipped cream to the top.
When I turned around and scanned the tables, I saw a few familiar faces, but of course, my eye caught Damien’s right away.
When he saw me, his face lit up with a smile that made my pulse flutter.
Why did he have to be so happy to see me?
Or I guessed the more important question was, why did I have to still feel like this about him? Why did my traitorous heart still beat for him?
I wished that my feelings for him had died when he shattered me yesterday, but life wasn’t quite that simple. All I could do was hope that they would truly fade with time because trying to make them disappear with sheer force of will wasn’t working so far.
I stood there for a moment, considering going to another table. Damien was sitting alone, and the idea of joining him felt like walking to a guillotine.
I had to do it though. If I wanted to maintain this friendship after my heartbreak, I couldn’t keep avoiding him. And I did want to stay friends. The only thing worse than being around him all the time while knowing my feelings weren’t returned would be losing him completely.
I placed my breakfast on the table and took a seat across from him.
For the first time in so long, I didn’t know what to say to him, how to greet him.
Damien had stopped eating and was watching me as I opened sugar packets and added them to my coffee.
I could feel his gaze with the intensity of a physical touch, just like I felt him watching me at dinner last night.
This strained silence between us was almost as painful as learning that he didn’t want me.
I couldn’t let this go on. Pulling in a deep, shuddering breath, I pulled on my big girl panties and looked at my best friend.
There was something vulnerable in his eyes that split my chest open.
In dealing with my pain, I’d hurt him. That wasn’t my intention, but I could see it clear as day.
No matter how upset I was, I never wanted that.
“You know what I was thinking about?” I asked as I stirred my coffee. “If you had to choose between always speaking in rhymes or talking like a pirate for the rest of your life, what would you pick?”
Relief made the tension in Damien’s body disappear. His shoulders relaxed, and amusement danced in his eyes. “That’s what you were thinking about? A would you rather question?”
I shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal that we were talking like this.
We played this game all the time to entertain each other, and it was the best way that I could think of to get us past this horrid awkwardness and into a conversation that would remind us both of who we were together before sex and feelings and heartache got in the way.
“It’s a good one, isn’t it?”
“I suppose,” Damien said, looking thoughtful as he put a bite of his cinnamon roll into his mouth.
“And your answer?”
Damien smirked. “I guess I’d choose to rhyme. It’s something I could get used to in time.”
A giggle bubbled up and escaped my throat. “Look at that. I had no idea you were a poet.”
“And I didn’t even know it.”
At that, I cringed, making Damien laugh this time.
“Okay, that wasn’t my best attempt at rhyming,” he admitted. “But my answer stays the same. And you?”
“I don’t think I could pull off talking like a pirate. Shouting ‘arrr’ and calling people scallywag is not really my thing.”
“Okay, I’ve got one for you,” Damien said as I cut into my waffle. “Would you rather lose a finger or a toe?”
I put a bite of waffle into my mouth and swallowed it before responding. “Such a dark scenario. I guess it depends on how I lose it. Cut off by a surgeon under anesthesia? Chopped off with a machete by a crazy person?”
“And you act like my question is violent.” Damien tsked in mock disappointment. “I think you’ve been watching too many of those horror movies.”
I loved the playful tone of his voice. This was the side of Damien that made me fall for him in the first place. As we kept the game going, the scenarios getting more and more outlandish while we ate breakfast together, I allowed myself to pretend that everything was as it always had been.
It felt good for a while.
“Are you going to the beach with us today?” Damien asked just as I shoved the last bite of my breakfast into my mouth. He grinned as I rolled my eyes at him for waiting until my mouth was full to ask a question.
Just as I swallowed my food, Leanne came rushing up to our table before I could answer him. Her eyes were red, and her mouth was turned down in a deep frown.
“You won’t believe what happened this morning!” She looked like she was about to burst into tears, so I held back the urge to make a snarky comment about her dramatic entrance into the breakfast room.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“My veil…” She held up the delicate lace material that I didn’t even realize she was holding.
“There was an accident this morning. The resort said that I could start putting my things in the bridal suite since ours is the only wedding here this week. I was moving my dress into the room when the veil snagged on a loose nail.”
My jaw dropped. “There was a loose nail in the bridal suite? That’s just an accident waiting to happen.”
“That’s what I told them.” Leanne’s chin quivered and her eyes got glassy. It looked like this was the thing that broke through her calm and cool attitude about the wedding. “They apologized and promised to make sure the nail is removed, but that doesn’t help me with this.”
She thrust the veil into my hands, and I saw it. The veil was ripped on the side, and it wasn’t a small tear. There was no way she could use this.
“Okay, okay. Don’t panic.” I glanced at Damien and then at my empty plate and coffee mug. He nodded with an understanding smile, and I knew he’d take care of the dishes. Standing, I placed an arm around Leanne and led her out of the room. “What does your mom say?”
Aunt Cathy was a problem solver, and I was sure she’d have some idea of what we should do about this.
“I can’t tell her!” Leanne’s voice was a high-pitched squeak that made me wince. “She’s stressed enough about making sure everything comes together the way it’s supposed to. I don’t want to dump this in her lap. I have to find a solution myself.”
There was a frenzied panic about her. Apparently, when she finally lost her cool about all of this wedding stuff, she did it in a big way.
“Alright,” I said. “We’ll take care of it ourselves. I know there’s a small town here on the island. Maybe there’s a talented seamstress here.”
Leanne held up the veil again. “Look at this! There’s no way it can be repaired.”
“Then, we’ll try to find a store that sells them.”
I was being pretty optimistic here. The island was small, and the town probably didn’t consist of much. But we had to try.
There were shuttles that regularly left the resort throughout the day, taking guests to various attractions on the island. We’d taken one of them to the winery yesterday, but that was booked in advance. Today, we got lucky, and one of those shuttles was leaving just as we stepped out front.
I could feel the anxiety radiating from Leanne as we rode on the crowded shuttle, and I was sure that the noise level didn’t help. There were two families with young kids present, and it seemed like they were having a competition to see who could be louder.
I didn’t mind, but Leanne was on edge. She was looking out the window, so I couldn’t see her face, but she was rubbing a thumb over the pulse point in her wrist over and over again, tension bunching up her shoulders.
Considering how calm she’d been throughout the whole wedding planning process, I figured she was due a little freak out, but I hoped we’d resolve the issue quickly.