Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Bower
Mia was here, back at Agate Harbors. At her bachelorette party. When Dean had mentioned a bachelorette party coming in tonight, I never would’ve guessed it was Mia’s.
Though there was no mistaking that it was her, she looked…different. Her hair was a little blonder, her body curvier. The tight dress she was wearing left little to the imagination. I’d be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t attracted to her.
The ring on her hand was more like a rock. She must’ve found someone rich, but did he take care of her like she deserved? Did anyone in her life nowadays?
Earlier, I could tell from the bar that the crown on her head and the sash on her body had been irritating her. She’d been constantly fidgeting in her seat, adjusting the monstrosity on her head. I’d ripped it off the first second I could, and the relief in her eyes had been instant.
She was with a group of girls who looked like they walked out of Barbie boxes and into the bar.
They were too fancy for this place. They looked like they belonged in a swanky downtown bar or a VIP table in Las Vegas.
Not here. They acted like they didn’t want to be here either.
I’d heard them complaining about the food and asking for drinks we didn’t have.
Was this the company she kept now? Being engaged to a rich man had changed her.
When I’d enlisted, I’d known I needed to make myself into the man Mia deserved.
I’d thought I had, thought I’d turned into someone Mia could respect, be proud of.
But that was all for shit now. She was engaged.
I was too late. I’d thought I’d maybe see her in two weeks, when her family came up for their annual vacation, but it was better this way.
This way I didn’t have to keep my hopes up for any longer.
Finding out she was engaged should’ve been a relief, a reminder of where things stood.
I was no prize. Those years in the Marines had changed me.
She didn’t need to deal with my shit. Especially when she had a man that could afford to buy her the life she deserved.
I could barely afford to keep the resort up and running.
Dean, Caleb, and I had done our best to clean up the place and were slowly updating it, but it was expensive.
The resort was low on funds coming out of the winter months, the slow season.
Mia didn’t need those burdens and everything else that I brought to the table. She deserved to be happy. She was happy, wasn’t she? Shrieks of drunken laughter filled the bar, which I knew was coming from their table. I tried not to look over at her.
It’d been nine years since I’d seen her.
A lot had changed. If those women sitting at her table were the company she kept, I wasn’t sure I’d have anything in common with her anymore.
Maybe I’d been keeping her memory alive for so long in my head, adding to the fantasy of Mia, that I’d turned her into a made-up, fictionally perfect woman that didn’t exist.
Drinks needed pouring, and food started coming out of the kitchen. I made sure Dean was the one who delivered everything to their table. I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.
Without warning, I heard a series of loud pops and jumped back. Only to see the pop gun Dean was filling a glass with had misfired. “Shit, man, I’m sorry.” He patted me on the back. “I’ll go replace the syrup.”
I straightened my fingers, stretching them before curling them back into my palm, returning the heel of my hand to the edge of the bar top.
I looked down the bar hoping no one had seen me jump.
No such luck. Ruby was sitting on a barstool in the back of the bar, leaning against the wall, and clearly had seen my entire reaction to the pop gun.
The older, wilder of the two sisters. Ruby looked the same as she had nine years ago—she still had that mischievous glimmer in her eyes.
I walked over to where she was sitting, glancing quickly at Mia’s table. Had they sent her over here? It didn’t seem like it. Mia and the three blondes were sitting at the table, not paying any attention to her.
“Bower, how are ya?” Ruby asked.
“Ruby.” I nodded back at her.
“So, our girl’s getting married,” she said. She lifted the lid to the garnish tray and snuck out a cherry. “He’s not the one.” She popped it into her mouth like she owned the place. “I know it, and I think she knows it deep down.”
I froze in place.
“The only time I’ve seen her truly happy was all those summers ago…with you.”
Ruby reached for another cherry, and I slammed the lid shut before she could get a second one.
I looked back at the table. Mia was hunched over, twirling her drink with her straw. She didn’t look happy. It looked like she was bored—maybe daydreaming about something else…
“What are you going to do about it?” Ruby asked.
I shook my head, prying my eyes away from the table. Mia was engaged. At her bachelorette party. Fuck.
“What’s there to do?” I snapped. “She’s engaged.”
I grabbed the cleaning rag from the soap bucket and slapped it onto the counter. What was Ruby suggesting? I wasn’t about to break up a relationship because I’d had a childhood crush on the girl. Especially since she seemed so different than the girl I used to know.
But what if she wasn’t? What if she was the same Mia I’d fallen in love with all those years ago? Mia wasn’t married yet. If there was a chance…
“What do you…” I paused, shaking my head again. Nope, I couldn’t go there. “Forget it.”
“I think she needs a little reminding of who she used to be.” Ruby leaned in, opening the garnish tray again, this time taking an olive. “Remind her, Bower.”