Easton’s eyes lower as he edges further away to skirt my touch.
“So, you’re here with Damon?”
“Yes. God, yes. It’s wonderful. He’s so in love,” I explain. “Both of them, Holly too.”
Easton tilts his head, eyes assessing. “Let’s get you to your room.”
“Are you…you come…for…to see me?”
He pauses at my question before shaking his head. “My girlfriend is checking us in while I scope out the place.” He scratches the back of his neck, raking his lower lip before speaking. “Do you want to meet her?”
A sobering lightning bolt shoots straight into my chest, frying my hopeful insides as I realize just how fucking drunk and delusional I currently am. This is no apparition standing in front of me. It’s my ex-husband, who is here with another woman. A woman who knows what it feels like to take his offered hand, who gets to soak in his warmth, who might even be lucky enough to gain the rare looks in his eyes I once thought solely belonged to me.
Another woman who gets to know him intimately, in the way I was just with him mere minutes ago while wrapped in my blissful memory. Lightning threatens again, hovering, lingering—as does Easton’s question.
“Do I want to—，” I manage to stand on shaky legs and end up chest to chest with Easton. His nostrils flare as I try not to inhale and fail. He takes a step back as I grip the bar blindly behind me to correct my balance before jutting my chin. “Do I want to meet your girlfriend?” I force myself to choke out. “No, thank you, Easton. Honestly, I’d rather go for a slow dive to the bottom of the fucking sea.”
Confident I got my message across, I march straight through the patio bar and down the walkway toward the ocean, dead set on seeing my declaration through.
Crazy Love
Poco
Easton
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I grit through clenched teeth, watching Natalie wobble along the long dock that edges the patio leading to the beach.
The bartender speaks up. “I take it this was not a good coincidence?”
Reeling, I pull some cash from my pocket and tap the bar. “No, Jerod, it’s not. Line them up, top-shelf, please.” He immediately starts pouring, and I slam two shots back in rapid succession. Tossing another bill onto the bar, I keep my eyes glued to Natalie, who continues her drunken trek toward the water. I damn near ran headfirst into a fucking tropical plant when I saw her profile. The same reaction I’ve had the half dozen or so other times when I’ve searched for her in a crowd and found a likeness to her. But her doppelganger always pales in comparison the closer I get.
This time, no such luck.
No. This time, when I have the strength, an inkling I can grow differently, and finally have some of the needed mindset that life might have a better trajectory than me bleeding out on the stage—this is when she appears out of thin air.
“Jerod…humor me,” I toss more liquid fire down my throat, monitoring Natalie’s slow, drunken progress.
“I’m listening.”
“What are the odds of taking your new girlfriend on a short getaway to Mexico and running into your ex-wife, who’s vacationing at the same resort?”
Jerod barks out a sympathetic laugh and pours another shot. “So slim those odds probably don’t exist. Damn, man,” he mutters, pushing the brimming glass forward. “This one is on me.”
“Appreciate it, but help me think this through,” I toss another bill on the bar as Natalie stalls in the middle of the sand, halfway to the beach. “Mexico is a popular vacation spot.”
“Agreed,” he says quickly.
“This resort is one of the highest-rated.”
“True, probably first to pop up in the search engine.”
“That’s how I found it,” I fire back, clinging to that lifeline.
“Narrows it down a lot,” Jerod agrees.
“So, we’re getting warmer?” I ask.
He doesn’t at all look convinced as he pours one more shot. “Possibly.”
Chuckling dryly, I lift my brimming glass. “To the inherited luck of my mother.”
He pours his own and taps it with mine, and we both drink.
Taking my eyes off Natalie for a second, I meet his amused gaze as he lifts the bottle in offering. I cut my hand through the air to stop him from pouring another, my mother’s voice screaming in my head about signs and fate and magical nonsense I never believed for myself, until I met the woman currently stumbling through the sand. A woman who landed into my life, seemingly as lost now, as she was then. A woman I heavily pursued—and married—that eventually led me down the narrow path of self-destruction and premature aging.