It was no surprise at all that Hank was late. In fact, Bree would’ve been shocked if he’d been on time. But when he knocked on her door at 9:30 that evening, she wasn’t upset at all that he was late. It had given her a little more time to work on a new song she was writing and a little less time to be in the same room with Monica and Trent.
“You look purty!” Hank exclaimed as she opened the door.
“Man, that’s bullshit,” Hank was saying as he and Bree walked home. The streets were a little crowded around the club, but once they got closer to the resort, there were less people, and Bree felt herself sobering up with the beach air in her lungs.“I mean, I guess I can’t blame her for being upset. I’d be upset if my fiancé was dancing with someone else, too. I guess.”
“God, Bree--do you have any idea what time it is?”Christy’s voice sounded in her ear, and even though she was annoyed, Bree was just happy she’d answered. At a time like this, when she needed to talk to someone who knew the background and was capable of saying the things she needed to hear, Christy was her go-to girl and had been ever since high school.
Dozens of hunky, shirtless guys on the beach, and all Bree could think about was one of them--the one she couldn’t have. The night before on the phone, Christy had asked if Matt and Dwayne were still hot. Now, seeing them in swimming trunks with the early light of morning illuminating a thin layer of sweat that dampened every rippling muscle, the answer was a resounding, “Yes!” Hank looked good, too, though it was apparent from his bloodshot eyes that he had gone back to his room to drink a little after he’d dropped her off the night before. Some of the cousins had come to play, too, and a few of them were also pretty good looking, not to mention all of the other random dudes out on the beach jogging, playing frisbee, walking through the surf. Yeah, a few
A long run on the beach at dawn hadn’t been enough for Trent to escape the uneasy feeling he had inside. After Monica had broken up the dance he shared with Bree at the club the night before, he’d laid awake most of the night thinking about her. He knew the fact that she’d wrapped her arms around his neck to dance had been partially the alcohol and partially Bree’s innocence. She certainly hadn’t meant to offend Monica, but that was easy to do, and once his fiancée was up in arms about something, it was difficult to get her to let it go. She’d been talking about Bree for the rest of the night.
The ocean waves rolled beneath the boat as Bree looked out the window at the setting sun. Normally, a dinner cruise would seem like a relaxing, romantic event. This evening, sitting in a dining room with the wedding party, romantic was the last word she would’ve used to describe it.Dinner was delicious. The lobster was buttery, the crab cakes flaky, and the wine was flowing. She sat with some of Trent’s family, aunts and uncles, a cousin, no one she’d met before. All of them had arrived earlier that day. The rest of them spent a great deal of time t
Trent found a quiet spot out on the boat deck. Like everything else, it had been Monica’s idea to take an evening boat ride for dinner. The sunset was beautiful, and the water was calm and serene, but Trent didn’t feel peace as he looked out at the horizon. He felt like a tempest was brewing under the surface, and he wasn’t sure how to put his finger on exactly why he was feeling that way.He wanted to ignore the tickle in the back of his brain that said it was Bree. He thought he’d moved on from her years ago, that he’d convinced himself
Despite her promise to Hank, Bree couldn’t stomach attending the breakfast Monica had organized Thursday morning. Instead, she was back on the beach. She had a lot to think about. Tomorrow night was the rehearsal, and then on Saturday, at 2:00, Trent would be a married man--unless Bree could figure out a way to speak the truth about how she felt about him in a way that made him realize he would rather be with her than Monica.He still had feelings for her. Not only could Bree see it in his eyes, she could see it in Monica’s. If Trent didn’t like her
Thursday evening was the lobster boil on the beach. Normally, Bree would be excited to attend, but under the circumstances, she didn’t want to go. Sure, it might be fun to eat lobster and corn on the cob, amongst other things, beneath the moon and stars and listen to the waves lap against the shore. But Hank’s words had played over and over again in her mind all day, so by the time she was supposed to be heading to the beach, she was sitting on the couch in her room instead, staring out the window at the descending sun, wondering what she should do.Her ph