Episode 240
COMPLICATED
Emily
An hour earlier…
Evangeline put together a gorgeous beach party for Ariel’s sendoff.
The tropical buffet stretches along a table lit with hurricane lanterns, the scent of grilled pineapple and roast chicken wafting through the ocean breeze.
Coconut shrimp in stacked in carved-out coconuts, mango ceviche in halved passion fruits, and colorful skewers of roasted plantains, bell peppers, and marinated pork.
Bowls of jasmine rice sit beside trays of spicy crab cakes and lime mahi mahi.
Even the fruit platter looks like a work of art—dragon fruit, papaya, and starfruit fanned out like a sunset.
A champagne tower sparkles next to a rum bar. It’s indulgent, lush, and completely over-the-top—just like Ariel deserves. She’s a lovely girl, and the one I first got to know here on the island.
I still adore her, but I suppose I’m closest to Sienna now.
Sienna has a pretty smile pasted on her face, and her hair—is it light brown or dark blond?
—is tied into a high ponytail. She’s wearing a yellow-gold sundress that brings out the gold flecks in her eyes.
Evangeline was right when she said gold was Sienna’s color.
Her fingernails and toenails are painted a neutral brown this evening, but the first night, they were painted gold.
She’s talking to Ariel’s mother about something as Ariel and Jazz take their turns at the buffet before sitting down.
June and Heather are standing together, whispering about something. The two of them are clearly up to no good. But what do I care?
River and I are good.
Better than good.
He does love me, and though he’s far from happy that I fucked Sebastian—I’d truly take it back if I could—he still loves me.
I don’t know if I’ll be getting a proposal anytime soon, but he got me out of my blackmail situation and he loves me. That’s good enough for now.
Ariel’s mother joins her daughter and Jazz at the table, and Sienna walks away from the party. I follow her.
“Hey,” I say, grabbing her arm. “Are you all right?”
She sighs. “I’m fine. This is about Ariel tonight.”
“I know that. But it’s also about all of us. One of the billionaires is off the market.”
Sienna gives me a weak smile. “I’d say two are, given that smile on your face. You look radiant, Em.”
Do I? I suppose I’ve got a bloody ridiculous grin on. “We…worked things out.”
She nods. “I’m glad. Truly.”
“And you? Brett?”
She shakes her head. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”
“Try me.”
She shakes her head again. “We should join the party. We’re the bridesmaids, after all. This is for Ariel. Not for my pity party.”
“Oh, See…”
She pastes the smile back on her face. “I’m good. Fake it until you make it, right?”
I look over at the others. Misty has appeared and is serving herself from the buffet. Heather and June are behind her. A moment later, everyone is at the table with the staff refilling water and champagne.
“Misty looks better,” Sienna says.
“She’s fine,” I say dryly. “They won’t miss us for a few. Tell me.”
“You won’t believe it.”
“You already said that,” I remind her.
She breathes in, holds it a moment, and lets the air out slowly. “Brett is apparently in love with…”
“You?”
“Yes. But also with someone else.”
I regard the ladies at the table as they laugh and eat the decadent food. Which one of them could it be? Surely not Misty. Or Heather or June. He hasn’t spent time with any of them. Not me, either.
Fuck. “No. You’re kidding.”
She sighs. “I wish I were.”
“He did choose her the first night,” I say. “And Ariel is a gem. But she’s head over heels for Alex, and—”
Sienna interrupts me as she bursts into laughter…but not humorous laughter. More like mad laughter.
“Sienna?”
She’s still laughing, and now it’s loud and crazy enough that Misty is eyeing us from the table.
I lead Sienna a few steps farther away. “What the bloody hell is wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me?” She gasps between laughs. “Only everything. Again I’ve fallen for a man who doesn’t seem to know his own heart.”
“What’s so funny about that?”
“What’s funny is that you assumed I was talking about Ariel.”
“Well, it can’t possibly be any of the others,” I say.
“It’s not,” she says, panting. She waits a moment, finally gets her bearing. “It’s Jake.”
“Jake?” I say way too loudly.
“Shhh,” she hisses, grabbing my wrist. “Keep your voice down.”
I blink. “Jake?”
“Yes,” she whispers. “Brett is in love with Jake.”
My mind blanks for a moment, trying to absorb what I’ve just heard. I glance back toward the table.
“I— But are you sure?”
Sienna crosses her arms, her body still trembling slightly from the fit of laughter. “He admitted it to me. That Jake was his first love, but they never acted on it. They were just kids, you know. I could accept that…except…”
“Except what?” I ask, my voice barely above the sound of the waves. “Does Jake know?”
Sienna doesn’t answer right away.
She just looks out at the ocean, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
“Oh, yes,” she finally says. “He knows.”
My brows shoot up. “How can you be sure?”
She swallows hard. “Because I saw them.” Her voice cracks. “I saw them kissing.”
My mouth falls open. I blink once, twice. “What?”
“Earlier today, here on the beach. I saw them. Brett and Jake. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was full of history.”
“Oh my God, Sienna…”
“They saw me. Brett called to me but I walked away. When we talked later, Brett said he had these feelings back then. But then Jake died, or so they thought.”
“What about you, though?” I ask, trying to be gentle.
She huffs. “Apparently he loves me too.”
My brain tries to keep up, but she’s not done.
“And that’s not even the worst part,” she adds with a bitter laugh. “I kissed Jake.”
I blink. “You what?”
“I don’t even know how it happened. We were talking—about Brett, about everything—and then we were suddenly too close. And it happened.”
“Sienna.” I breathe. “This is… I don’t even have a word for what this is.”
Her eyes are glassy. “Don’t you get all judgmental.”
“God, no.” I shake my head. “I’m just trying to make sense of it.”
“Same.”
“And Brett? What does he want?”
“He says he loves both of us.” She laughs again, but it’s hollow. “Says Jake returning opened something up in him he thought he had sealed off.”
“That’s not fair,” I whisper. “That’s not fair to any of you.”
“I know. But tell me this, Emily. If someone could love you that deeply, even if it meant sharing them…could you do it?”
I don’t answer. I can’t. Because I don’t know.
She sighs. “Now you understand.”
Then, just like that, she straightens her shoulders and pastes on that practiced smile again. “Come on. We’ve been gone too long. Let’s not give them anything else to whisper about.”
She walks back toward the table, calm and composed, like she hasn’t just handed me one of the most explosive secrets on the island.
But my mind is reeling.
Brett.
Jake.
Sienna.
A kiss.
A triangle.
What a mess.
Is it wrong to be thrilled that River and I are good?
I follow Sienna to join the others, just as Ariel queries, “Hey you guys, where’s Jazz?”