Chapter 4
chapter four
Mia
The sky looks like a painting with its purple, pink, and orange hues.
The sand tickles my toes as I make my way down the sandy white beach toward my grandparents’ house for our weekly dinner.
I stop to pick up a perfect pearlescent-hued shell and brush the granules of sand off of it.
I drop my flip-flops to the ground and make my way to the water, so I can dip my toes in for just a few moments before I continue on my way.
The cool water makes me shiver for a few seconds as I watch the sun make its final descent on the horizon.
A couple of plops in the water to the right of me makes me swivel my head, and I’m happy to see two dolphins swimming.
Coconut Beach has always felt magical to me, which is one of the reasons why I’ve never even thought of leaving the island to live elsewhere.
Though there is a part of me that would like to explore other parts of the world.
Just to see what’s out there. Maybe one day.
When I’ve got money. Maybe Juniper and I can take a trip somewhere.
Or maybe even me and Luke, if he ever takes time off of work.
“Am I crazy?” I call out to a circling pelican, who is looking for scattered food left by tourists on the beach.
“Am I making a mistake, trying to pretend like Luke and I are in a relationship?” I speak out loud and then look around me quickly to ensure that nobody is nearby, listening to me talk out loud to myself like a crazy person.
I really don’t need word going around the island that Mia Bishop is a nutcase.
“Hey, Mia. Is that you?”
I look behind me and see Wendy in a pair of jogging shorts and a sports bra. Her dark hair is on top of her head, and her face looks sweaty and focused.
“Going for a swim in your clothes?”
“No, just headed to my grandparents’ house for dinner with my brother, Rafe.” I giggle as I step back from the water and head over to her. “Been jogging?”
“Yeah, trying to stay fit after all our nights partying it up at Cocktails & Chaos.” She wipes her forehead.
“Thanks for including me. I know, sometimes, I can be a bit of a grouch when you girls are talking about men.” She smiles ruefully.
“I hate that my ex has turned me off of love, but I don’t want to make you girls hate it as well. ”
“Your ex sucked and was a fool for dumping you.” I stick my finger up in the air. “Screw you, jackass, for dumping Wendy. Mark my words: he will regret it.”
“I know he will.” Wendy nods. “But suffice it to say, right now, I’m just concerned with keeping Seaside Bed-and-Breakfast open.” She looks stressed out. “And trying to get my grandma to spend more time figuring out how to get her spending under control and less time in everyone’s business.”
“Ha-ha, girl. I know what you mean. Those busy Bees are in everything.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “I have faith in you though. You are more than capable of turning the business around, and I bet you end up meeting a hot guy who will make you forget your ex.”
“I’m not interested, thank you very much.”
“Not even for a hot one-night stand?”
I start humming the words to “WAP” by Cardi B, and Wendy just looks at me in shock. I burst out laughing at her expression and she just shakes her head.
“Nothing wrong with getting some. There are going to be some hot men at the wedding, I bet. Maybe even staying at your place. You wouldn’t want to have hot sex with some tall, dark, handsome stranger?”
“No,” she says quickly, but I notice her face goes red, and she’s looking away.
My brain immediately starts ticking. Has she already met someone? I’m about to pry and ask her a question when she speaks again.
“What about you? Are you planning on having a hot love affair with a gorgeous wedding guest? Oh, wait, did you decide to go with Luke?” She lowers her voice, and I grin.
“I mean, I wouldn’t say no to a hot guy.” I move my hips back and forth. “But I’m not sure that’s going to work, to be honest. Now I officially have a fake boyfriend.”
“So, it’s on?” She grins at me, and I nod.
“Luke and I are going to the wedding together. As a couple. We’re going to pretend to be in love.” I giggle and twirl around. “My heart beats for you, Luke.” I stop and wink at Wendy. “At least, that’s what I’ll be telling everyone in a couple of days.”
“Oh, hmm.” Wendy smiles ruefully, and I see her gazing at me before speaking again. “Is it all a ruse or …”
“Or what?” I frown and stare at her. “It’s just a ruse, trust me. There is nothing between Luke and me in real life, other than being best friends. Nothing at all. You know this, Wendy.” My tone sounds slightly too high, and I frown.
Why would Wendy even ask me that question? There is absolutely nothing between Luke and me. Nothing at all but years of friendship.
“Rafe, can you have a seat, please?” I ask my brother as he hovers over the table, grabbing warm chocolate chip cookies and stuffing them in his face.
“I have something important I want to announce to everyone.” I glare at him as he goes to grab another cookie.
At the rate he’s eating them, there won’t be any left for me.
“Please save some for the rest of us.” I grab my fork and take another bite of the lasagna my grandma made for dinner. “I would like some cookies as well.”
“You snooze, you lose, Mia.”
“You sound like you’re five.” I grab two cookies and place them next to my plate just in case.
“I don’t know any five-year-old vets.” He chortles as he takes a seat across the table from me. “What’s the deal? What’s the big announcement?” He looks over to our grandparents and then our parents. “Does anyone know?”
“I have no idea.” My mother looks slightly miffed that she’s not in on whatever I’m about to divulge to everyone, but I hope she will understand why.
“Everyone, I’m about to impart on you a huge announcement, something I can no longer keep to myself.”
I look down at the table, my face bright red.
To everyone else, it may look like I’m blushing with anxiousness or embarrassment, but the fact is, I’m doing my best to look like I’m struggling to tell them this information.
I need for them to believe that this is real.
My grandparents, parents, and brother are all upstanding people, and I love them, but they like to talk.
And while I don’t think any of them would deliberately tell my secret, I am not so sure that it wouldn’t slip out.
Especially from my grandma’s lips. So, I have to ensure that they all believe me.
“What is going on, Mia?” Rafe checks his watch and then taps his fingers against the table in a grating way.
“And how long is this announcement going to take? I have beach volleyball later tonight, and I have to go to work tomorrow. Unfortunately, the animals are not going to understand that I spent the night listening to you whine about how …” His voice drifts off as I give him my best death stare.
“I’m sure all of you have heard that Rex Haverbrook is engaged and getting married in a couple of weeks.”
“Oh, boy, are you heartbroken?” Rafe’s voice is teasing, but I can tell from the concerned look on his face that my big brother is worried.
For all of his moaning and groaning, I know that Rafe would do anything for me. He’s always been an overprotective big brother. He just doesn’t know that I know about all the times he stuck up for me in school.
“No, I’m not heartbroken. Far from it.” I hold my head up high and burst into a wide smile.
I channel my inner Viola Davis from How to Get Away with Murder.
I channel my inner Meryl Streep from Sophie’s Choice.
And then I desperately try to recall every memory of Kate Hudson from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
My fingers play with my hair nervously, and then I look down in a demure fashion, like I’m giddy but nervous to speak.
I tilt my head up, pretending Steven Spielberg himself is directing me, and then I look each one of them in the eye and blink rapidly.
The goal is to tear up in happiness, but unfortunately for me, my skills aren’t that profound.
“Do you have an eyelash stuck or something?” Rafe leans forward. “You need to stop wearing so much eye junk.”
“I do not have an eyelash stuck.” Calm down, Mia. Do not go off on your brother. I offer him a sweet smile instead. “I am in love.”
“You, what?” He starts coughing and spits out a piece of the cookie he was chewing. “With who?”
“I have been waiting to tell everyone the news, and we’ve decided that it’s best to let everyone know now.” I lick my lips.
Everyone is staring at me intently now.
“I don’t want anyone to be upset that we’ve been keeping this secret.”
“Oh shit, you’re not sleeping with Captain Smitty Johnson, are you?
” Rafe cackles and slams his hand down on the table.
“I knew you were desperate for love, but you can do better than him, sis. He’s, like, sixty-five.
” He grins at me. “I suppose it’s because Ocean’s Calling is right there near your book truck, isn’t it?
Did he promise you a free boat ride to see the dolphins and you couldn’t resist? ”
He laughs like he thinks his joke is funny, and I want to go off on him and his single status, but now is not the time to be sidetracked.
“Very funny, Rafe.” I look down my nose at him, and he just rolls his eyes in response.
“My boyfriend—and, yes, I said boyfriend because we have been official for about a year now. Well, my boyfriend and I want everyone to know about our love because he will be at the wedding.” I’d have to remember to tell Luke that we’d been dating for a year.
All of these small details would bring us down if we weren’t on the same page.
“You’re bringing some random dude to the Haverbrook wedding? Yikes.” Rafe stands up. “Look, if you want an internet date, that is up to you, but I’m sure everyone at this table can agree that we don’t want to meet your cyber boyfriend—”
“Everyone knows him,” I cut him off. I am done with Rafe and my demure act. It’s getting me nowhere fast. “Luke and I want the world to know about our love and our relationship. It is finally time for everyone to know that we are soulmates.”
“Luke?” Rafe’s jaw drops in shock, and on the inside, I’m screaming in delight. “Like Luke Haverbrook, your best friend?”
“No, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.” I giggle and then look over at my grandparents, who look absolutely delighted. “Does anyone else have anything to say, or is Rafe going to dominate the conversation?”
“Me, dominate anything in this family?” He chuckles loudly, as if that could never be a possibility—which, to be fair, may be true.
But I can’t help it that I am the baby of the family and much more dramatic than he is.
“But seriously, sis, when did this happen? Luke hasn’t even been back on the island in years. ”
“As far as you know.”
I give him a small wink, and he frowns. My stomach twists slightly because I know that frown.
It’s the frown of him thinking deeply. Overanalyzing and trying to figure out facts of the situation and then parse them into a manner that makes sense to him.
It’s why he’s such a good vet. But at this moment, I don’t want him thinking too hard about what I said.
“Grandma, Grandpa, are you happy for me? Grams, I know that Bitsy is your best friend. Will she hate the fact that we’re dating, or will she be happy?”
“I can’t speak for Bitsy,” Grams says slowly as she studies my face. “But I do think she will be intrigued to find out more. I had no clue you were seeing Luke, my dear. What caused you to reveal this new status of your relationship with us tonight?”
“We just thought it was time,” I say dreamily. “We got the invitations, with some fairly rude notes about dating statuses, and we decided to let everyone know that we’d been secretly dating and falling desperately in love.”
“How did this happen?” My mother looks happy but confused. “I’m just so surprised you never let anything slip. You’ve been such a good actress. I truly didn’t even suspect that you were seeing anyone. You let nothing slip that you were dating at all.”
“Yeah, you’re constantly bitching about not finding any good guys.” Rafe stares at me. “Just last week at Cocktails & Chaos, I heard you telling Juniper that you were thinking of leaving the island to meet a man.” He raises an eyebrow. “And Cal and I were teasing you, and you said that …”
“Well, I was just pretending, Rafe.” Since when has he listened to my conversations that closely? “And if you were paying closer attention, you’d know that Juni and I were actually talking about how we wanted to go traveling.”
“Why don’t you and Luke go traveling then? He has loads of money.” Rafe is annoying me. “And what’s the plan? Is he moving back to Coconut Beach, or are you planning on moving to New York?”
“Hmm?” Shit, I didn’t anticipate that question.
“How often have you guys seen each other in the last year?” my grandma asks. “Bitsy will feel saddened to hear that Luke has been on the island and hasn’t been in touch to see her.”
“Oh, well, I mean …” I lick my lips nervously.
“Where did he stay?” My dad frowns. “I hope not with you and Juniper.”
“I, um, well, you know … he, um …” I don’t know how to answer any of these questions, and I suddenly realize how hard it is going to be to sell this relationship.
I have two options at this moment. I can pretend this was all a joke and just end the ruse now.
Or I can go all in and make sure that everyone believes me.
“And what note are you talking about?” Grandma asks as she grabs her cup of tea and sips. “You got a note from Rex?”
“Kinda. It was a little rude.” I shrug, but that feeling of hurt and discomfort fills me as I think about his dig. I do not want to go to all those wedding festivities alone. I am not going to tell my family that this was a joke.
“But I, um, need to call Luke right now,” I say quickly, feeling overwhelmed. “I will—”
“Call him in front of us,” Rafe demands. “Let us congratulate him as well.”
“I, uh …”
“Yes, do it, Mia.” My mother sounds miffed, and I know I need to appease her for keeping the secret.
I grab my phone and dial his number, praying to God that he won’t answer. The last thing I need is Luke revealing the truth to my family before he even gets to town. As the phone rings, I hold my breath.
Do not answer, Luke. Please do not answer.