Chapter 6
SIX
Lauren
I almost choke on the champagne. A little of the liquid trickles down my chin and I reach for the cocktail napkin.
“What?” I say while mopping the champagne off my face.
“Shhh. Don't yell, Lauren. Come closer so you can hear me.”
“I can hear just fine. Why is it fake? What's fake? What are you talking about?”
Kate licks her lips. “Okay, it's not totally fake.”
I gape at her, more confused than before.
Kate obviously has a whole other side to her I never encountered during our four years in college and six years living together in downtown Chicago.
We’ve been friends ten years. I freeze for a millisecond.
It’s the first time I’ve realized that fact, and my mind is blown.
“Some of it's real.” She sighs, then tells me how Damien walked into her mom’s tiki bar.
“Okay. So you lusted after each other. Totally reasonable, he’s good looking. But how does that lead to a freaking rehearsal dinner for everyone in town? This is everyone in town, isn’t it?” I fling my hand toward the door, where people are now dancing on the lawn.
“Pretty much.” Kate sighs and for a split second, looks miserable.
“When he walked into the bar, I was shocked. He looked good. Real good. As you can see. We started talking and I felt this connection.” The tops of her cheeks redden.
What is it about this town? Kate never blushed in the city.
“We ended up making out that night. In his truck.”
I grimace. “Kate, come on. Making out is one thing. Marriage is another.”
“I know. Wait. There's more.”
“I sure hope so.” How far is it to the airport? I start doing calculations in my mind.
“We couldn't go back to my mom's house, because that’s weird, you know? And he was staying with his parents, and we thought that would also be awkward. So we kissed in the wagon. Then later we got a hotel room here at the resort because it was low season.”
“This is all very sweet but again, nothing that indicates you should do all this.” I stare at her. “How well do you even know this guy?”
“We were kinda close high school, and as it turned out, he had a huge crush on me. And I had a crush on him. We kissed once back then but then some people spread rumors about us. About me.”
I know there's something painful in this story, but Kate's not giving it up. Instead, she's inspecting her nail.
“Okayyyy,” I say slowly.
“We have a complicated history,” she retorts.
I nod slowly. For now. “You're going to throw away traveling the world with me for … Damien and his wagon?”
“Stop it.” Her lips press together. “It wasn't supposed to go any further than some kissing and whatever. We were both having fun. Friends with benefits thing. He was home for only a few months before his next fire assignment out west. He's a contract firefighter. I told you that.”
“So that part's true.”
“It's all true,” she cries, then shrinks back into the booth. “Most of it.”
I drain my champagne and cast a glance around for the waitress. She’s disappeared. “Kate, you’re not making sense.”
“Sorry. Things were casual, and then he found out about my health condition.”
I narrow my eyes. Kate has a rare genetic condition that causes freakishly high cholesterol. It can only be controlled with medication and blood dialysis treatments. At twenty-eight, she has the cholesterol of a seventy-year-old who eats bacon like popcorn.
“Okay, and?”
“And I told him I didn't have health insurance. I can’t afford it here like I could in Chicago. It’s some Florida thing. The medicine is crazy expensive. So he took pity on me.” She blinks, and a tear rolls down her cheek.
I lean in and grab her hand. Now it's all sinking in. “Holy crap! Did he offer to marry you for health insurance?”
She nods mournfully. “We were supposed to get married quietly.
We'd planned to go to Tampa, hang out in the city for few days and do the ceremony at the courthouse, alone.
Quietly. We figured I could get added to his insurance within a week, he'd be gone out west for a year, and it would give me time to get my life together. But my mom found the marriage license certificate, and she showed his mom. Things went sideways. Fast.” She covers her face with her hands.
“And so we're here at a rehearsal dinner, with everyone in town, a pig roast, and forty-eight hours before you officially become Mrs. Damien Hastings.”
She glances up. A river of tears slides down her cheek as she nods once. “It all spiraled out of control. But here's the thing. We get along so well. We've actually been spending time together. We like each other. We have a connection.”
I smirk. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
“No. Not only that. We've been kayaking and paddleboarding on the springs, and we jog together. We hang out and watch movies. We're like a real couple. I like him, Lauren. A lot. More than like.”
My spine straightens. “You jog?”
She shrugs. “Since I wasn't able to afford medication for a while, I thought exercise might help my cholesterol levels. We also walk Steve together at night.”
This is way more complicated than I imagined.
By the time we finish our second glass of champagne, the sun has almost set. I'm getting used to the idea Kate's marrying out of necessity. It’s not a bad plan, now that I think about it. Also, any skepticism about Damien that I had is mostly gone.
“I actually think it's chivalrous he offered to marry you for health insurance,” I say in a hoarse whisper. “That's kind of wonderful. And he didn't back out when the moms got involved.”
“Don't say anything to anyone this weekend, please? As far as everyone here's concerned, Damien and I are madly in love.”
“Considering you said he sends you flowers at the bar, and how you’ve been gushing about how much you make him laugh, and talking about how you continued watching a movie and making out after that dog farted on you, I’d say you are madly in love, lady.” I raise an eyebrow.
Kate shoots me a stern look. “Let's get back to the party, okay?”
We shuffle out of the bar. I haven’t again brought up how we’d planned to travel together, and I'm not sure if I should. Kate's got so much on her mind right now, between her health and the wedding.
I can't burden her with my selfish needs right now. Since Damien's heading out west for his fire job not long after the wedding, I'll stay an extra week or two, and that’s when I’ll talk Kate into coming with me to Costa Rica. Damien wouldn't stop her, would he? Could he? Of course he wouldn't.
He's not even her real husband.
When we reach the pool area, Kate slips off her flip-flops. I do the same with my sandals and notice a fierce volleyball game has started up on the lawn.
“Is this where the wedding's going to be, here by the pool?” I gesture in the air. “You should probably fill me in on all the details since I’m the maid of honor.”
“No, we're doing it on a platform in the garden.
You can see the Starlight River from there.
It's super pretty. I'll show you tomorrow.
Oh. Hey, what were you trying to say when you texted me earlier, by the way?
Some guy was naked? I didn't understand your text.
Sorry I didn't respond; I was a little busy.”
Almost as if by serendipity, my eye goes to a shirtless, golden-haired man playing volleyball on the lawn.
Max.
“Yeah. Apparently it was Damien's brother. I accidentally walked into his room while he was taking off his clothes. It was kinda funny.”
Kate grabs my arm. “Which brother?”
I continue staring at Max. He's moving with the grace of a gazelle, hitting the ball and thwacking it at the perfect time. All while grinning adorably and cheering his side on.
“The shirtless one over there.”
She squints at the game, and her line of sight immediately goes to Damien, because he's the biggest. He's also shirtless, and while he's handsome, he doesn't do it for me like Max does.
“Which brother? There's four of them, and they're all currently shirtless and playing volleyball. Sometimes I wonder if any of the Hastings men even own shirts.”
“The one I saw earlier didn't seem to own pants, either.” I crack up. Indeed, there are four men sans shirts on one side of the net. All have rippling torso muscles. The family is obviously genetically blessed.
“The guy who looks almost exactly like Damien is Remy. See?” She points. “He's a little shorter than Damien and doesn’t have a beard.”
“Nope. Wasn't him. Is Remy Damien's twin?”
“Identical. And the other guy who looks like the twins is Tate. He's got the red shorts on. You can tell the three apart because his hair is shorter and his nose a little bigger.”
“No, it wasn't him, either.”
“Max.” Something in her voice makes me tear my eyes away from him and turn to her.
“Yeah. That's him. The guy with the dirty blonde hair and the tan.” I beam. “He's intriguing. Very intriguing.”
She groans. “Lauren. No. You don't want to go there.”
“What? Why? He seems perfectly nice. He even brought me a beer after I barged into his room.”
Kate rolls her eyes.
“He's a sweet guy. He's the oldest, and he loves his family a lot. A hard worker. Trying to get the resort in shape to sell it so their parents can retire with some cash.” Kate scowls.
“None of those things seem like black marks on his personality.”
“He's a workaholic. Extremely Type-A.”
“Kate. I'm interested in a fun wedding weekend. Not a lifetime of marital bliss.”
“Damien says Max always seems to fall for women who are unavailable because that way, the women won't interfere with his job.” Kate shoots me a pointed look.
“What's that supposed to mean?” I widen my eyes.
“You're the nomad and not exactly available for a long-term relationship. Don't lead him on.”
“You make me seem so flaky. Or like some femme fatale predator.” I groan. Am I flaky? “Truth is, I would love a relationship with the right guy, if he adored me and accommodated my bouts of wanderlust. Is that asking too much?”
Kate shrugs. “I'm no expert. Obviously.”
As if on cue, Max turns and catches my eye. He grins, and it's like I'm blinded by goofy joy. I waggle my fingers at him and then stop, realizing it's exactly what that woman by the pool bar did earlier.
He inspires finger waggles in women. I laugh, and the muscles in my body relax. It's a huge relief to know the truth about Kate and her wedding. I'm actually thrilled Damien cares for her enough to want to give her health insurance.
I'll get her to Costa Rica one way or the other. Right now, I'm going to enjoy this crazy wedding, and from the way Max grinned at me, I'm going to enjoy it very much.
Kate shoves my shoulder with hers and giggles. “The Hastings men are charming. It's difficult not to get sucked into their charm, so watch out.”