Chapter 14
Fourteen
JESSE
A list of names didn’t do justice to just how many bodies were milling around by the pool, all of them co-existing with an air of familiarity. Most of them were family to each other in some way or another.
And then there was me.
Despite being a couple of feet behind Clara and the fact that I knew her friends, I still felt like I was the glaring odd one out.
As we approached the sun loungers, a short blonde woman in a green swimsuit pulled herself out of the pool and walked over to us as she squeezed water out of her hair.
“Clo-Clo is here!” she shouted. Clara recoiled. As she got closer to us, I noticed that there was sympathy in her eyes that disappeared the moment she saw me over Clara’s shoulders. “Who’s your friend?” she spat.
Clara reached back and wrapped her fingers around my wrist, pulling me closer to her until my chest was nearly flush against her back. I didn’t move away.
“This is Jesse. Jesse is this Danielle, Becky’s soon-to-be sister-in-law.”
Before I could say anything, a Black man walked over and wrapped his arm around Danielle’s waist, placing a sloppy kiss on her damp skin.
“And this is Samuel, Gavin’s brother. Samuel, this is Jesse,” Clara said.
Samuel held his hand out to me. Realising that she still had a hold of my right wrist, Clara let me go, and I reached out to shake Samuel’s hand.
“So, you’re the Drew replacement?” Samuel asked, the question sounding incredulous.
“Last I checked, Drew was still coming. So, he’s not a replacement, he’s my plus one,” Clara replied, thinly veiled anger lacing her tone.
“Still, it was a surprise to hear that you were bringing a date at all. Drew seemed pretty beat up over the break-up. Guess you didn’t feel the same.” Samuel pulled his wife tighter to him.
I had to resist the urge to pull Clara closer to me as I watched her shoulders pull back, noticing the way her back expanded with a deep inhale.
“Jesse is a friend of mine. And of Becky’s. So why wouldn’t he be invited?”
“You just said he was your plus one. Doesn’t sound like Becky invited him at all. You just wanted to rub it in Drew’s face that you’ve moved on.”
I opened my mouth to interject but was beaten to it.
“For fuck’s sake, Samuel, of course I invited him. And he’s her plus one. Two things can be true at once,” Becky snapped, moving to stand between Clara and Samuel. Samuel raised one of his hands in surrender.
“Okay, Bride, no need to bite my head off. It’s nice to meet you, Jesse,” he said, walking off with Danielle in tow before I could say anything.
When they were closer to the villa than they were to us, Rachel let out a loud exhale from where she was sitting on a sun lounger.
“I am so glad that wasn’t awkward,” she said, sarcasm thick in her voice. Lucy snorted, which set her sister off until suddenly, all four of them were laughing so much they were gasping for breath.
As their laughter started to die down, Darren came over with a plate full of sandwiches.
“Do I want to know?” he asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.
“It’s just Samuel being…Samuel,” Becky answered. Darren nodded in understanding.
“Food is ready,” he said as he held out the plate. Clara and Becky picked up a sandwich each. Lucy and Rachel declined, instead heading over to an outdoor table, surprisingly laden with food.
Darren offered the plate to me, and I took a sandwich. He smiled before wandering over to the table, Becky close behind.
“Are you okay?” Clara asked quietly, her fingers tangling with mine for a moment.
“Yeah, I’m fine. You?”
“Yeah. Let’s go get more food.”
Her fingers brushed against mine once more before she led the way to lunch.