“I can see that.”
“So we’ll be coordinated!” She tries to look innocent, but I can see the blatant mischief in her eyes. “Very couple-y.”
“I used to mock couples who matched their outfits.”
“Even better.” She turns me toward the bathroom. “Now go try them on.”
When I come out, her eyes dance.
“Well?” I spread my arms, turning in a circle. “How do I look?”
“Like a man who’s totally secure in his masculinity,” she states with an enormous grin.
“That’s one way to put it.” I settle on the squeaky pullout while she buries herself under a truckload of blankets. “By the way, try not to talk in your sleep tonight.”
“I don’t talk in my sleep!”
“Last night you did.”
“What did I say?”
“Just my name,” I say, reaching over to turn off the lamp. “Only about…a dozen times. Give or take.”
“You’re lying!” she says in the dark, then pauses. “Right?”
I smile to myself.
“Brendan?”
“Goodnight, Scarlett.”
I can’t get over the dichotomy between my two worlds right now.
In one world, I’m Coach Marco, trying to prove myself to my team, my uncle, and my entire family. In the other, I’m just Brendan, wearing ridiculous heart pajamas to appease a girl I’ve been in love with since high school.
I’d choose this world any day.
TWENTY-FIVE
Scarlett
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re in for a treat today!” The spa coordinator’s hype-girl enthusiasm is almost too much as she explains the plans for the wedding party. “You’re going to be scrubbed, soaked, and rubbed down until you’re a whole new person.”
I glance at Brendan, who’s wearing his usual coach face—stoic and hard to read. He catches my eye, and his lips curl just a little.
“Okay, ladies, follow me!” She waves us down a long hallway lit with soft, amber lights and Asian spa music drifting from hidden speakers. Somewhere in the distance, I can hear the trickle of a waterfall.
“You and Brendan are such a cute couple,” Carmen says as we head toward the massage rooms.
“Yeah?” I cringe inside that I sound like someone who’s never been in a serious relationship. I hate pretending in front of Carmen. She’s too sweet and deserves the truth. But I’m confused about what that truth even is anymore, especially after last night at the carnival.
Brendan looked like he wanted to kiss me on that Ferris wheel. And he’s everything I want—someone who’s happy just playing darts, or carrying a giant dolphin around, who doesn’t care if I’mwearing my glasses and my heart pajamas while eating Reese’s Pieces.
I want someone who makes my body melt and my pulse pound.
Someone who sounds suspiciously like Brendan Marco.
“It’s funny how things always work out,” Carmen says as we strip down to our underwear in side-by-side dressing rooms. “I always knew you two would reconnect when he moved back to Sully’s Beach.”