And Then What?
Britannia Beach
BY D.R. GRAHAM

A division of HarperCollinsPublishers

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HarperImpulse an imprint of

HarperCollinsPublishers

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First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2016

Copyright © D.R. Graham 2016

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D.R. Graham asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Ebook Edition © October 2016 ISBN: 9780008145187

Version 2016-09-19

For anyone going through a rough time

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Acknowledgements

Also by D.R. Graham

About the Author

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

CHAPTER 1

Every glass and mirrored surface in my mom’s high-rise condo was sparkling by the time I finished rushing around with a spray bottle. My boyfriend’s best friend, Murphy, was seated on the leather couch flicking between a football and a hockey game on TV. The party was about to start and I hadn’t even changed yet, so I handed him the broom. “Murph, a little help? Please and thank you.”

Despite the fact that his focus didn’t leave the television, he heaved his giant frame off the couch and half-heartedly pushed the broom over the hardwood floors as I quickly fluffed the throw pillows and stashed one of my textbooks under the couch. The original plan was to celebrate Trevor’s twenty-first birthday party up in Britannia Beach on the actual date, but then I got the bright idea to push it two weeks earlier and host it in Vancouver so he would be surprised. Too bad I didn’t factor into account that I’d have two papers due, a group project, and an exam while I was trying to plan everything. Sleep is overrated anyway, right?

“The place is already spotless, Deri.” Murphy said. “It’s not like Trevor cares what it looks like.”

“The thirty other people who are about to show up will.” The doorbell rang right on cue.

Trevor’s sister Kailyn, who was blowing up balloons at the dining table, sprung up and answered the door for me. It was her dad, so she gave him a hug around his waist.

“Hi everyone.” Jim Maverty waved, removed his jacket and shoes, then crossed the room and sat down on the couch to watch the game Murphy had left on. He wasn’t an overly chatty guy and social gatherings weren’t really his thing. He only came down to Vancouver from Britannia Beach for special occasions.

“Mom!” I hollered down the hall towards her bedroom as I turned the stereo system on for background music. “Jim’s here.”

“Okay, I’ll be right out.”

My best friend, Sophie, was helping my granddad prepare the hors d’oeuvres in the kitchen. She had moved back home from New York at the end of December after the off-Broadway play she’d been singing in ended its run. Her boyfriend, Doug asked her to move in with him in Los Angeles, but she hadn’t yet because he was on a world tour with his band and wouldn’t be back for another three months. In the meantime she was living at her parents’ house in Squamish and working as a waitress in Whistler, which she wasn’t crazy about. I tugged the loose braid she’d woven her long black hair into. “Mmm, that bruschetta smells amazing.” I popped a spinach, tomato, and feta-covered piece of bread into my mouth. “It tastes amazing too. Thanks for helping with the food. You’re a life-saver.”

“I’ve been doing more eating than helping. Your grandpa did most of the work.” She dumped half a bottle of barbecue sauce over a dish of chicken wings.

It had been over a month since I’d seen Granddad because I had been swamped with school work. Originally, when I had decided to stay in Vancouver and attend the same school as Trevor, I had hoped to go up to Britannia Beach on weekends to visit Granddad, Sophie, and Kailyn, but finding the time turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. Going from seeing him every day for my entire life to less than once a month made me sad. I hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Granddad. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” He opened the oven door and slid in a baking sheet of about fifty mini quiches. “But stop hovering. You can go get ready. We have everything under control in here.”

“Okay, thanks.” I had been hovering and micro-managing too much. I wanted everything to be perfect, but I hadn’t scheduled enough time for perfection. All Trevor would care about was having his friends and family around to celebrate. It was me who wanted it to feel like a proper, sophisticated grown-up party. I leaned my palms on the granite countertop of the kitchen island, poked my head out towards the living room. “Can I get anyone a drink or a meatball or something?”

The doorbell rang again and Kailyn got up to answer it.

“We’re fine, Deri. Just go get ready,” Murphy said.

I did need to get changed, so I left everything in their capable hands. On the way to my room, my mom passed me in the hall, putting her earring in and pressing her lips together to blend her lipstick. She looked nice.

“Is Ron coming?” I asked her.

“No, sweetheart. I know you don’t feel comfortable when he’s here.”

True. He’d been her boyfriend for almost a year, but it still didn’t sit right with me. Feeling guilty for being childish about their relationship, I tucked my hair behind my ears and attempted to come across as more mature than I actually was. “You could have invited him to the party. I just feel weird when he’s hanging around here without you as if he lives here.”

“Maybe with more time you’ll get used to him.”

“Yeah, time,” I said under my breath. Although I really had no choice but to accept that she and Ron were a thing, I couldn’t imagine ever being comfortable with him lounging around on the couch and helping himself to food and trying to have parental-type talks with me. I wasn’t ready for that. Hard to host a grown-up party if I couldn’t even be adult enough to accept the fact that my mom had a boyfriend, though. “Call him and tell him he’s welcome.”

“I think he made plans with his son, but I’ll let him know.” Mom touched my arm lightly, then carried on down the hall to join everyone in the living room. Ron’s son was seventeen and already cool with my mom, which she reminded me of frequently. His situation was different, though. His parents divorced when he was five years old. My parents adored each other and would have still been together if my dad hadn’t died in a car crash when I was fifteen. Change really wasn’t my thing. Admittedly, I needed to work on letting things go.

Later.

Voices filled the living room as more people arrived, so I ducked into my room. The black, fitted dress I’d borrowed from Sophie was hung on the back of my closet door. I really wanted the party to be a success because, despite going to the same school, Trevor and I had barely seen each other in weeks. I missed him. I brushed my hair, applied a little makeup, stepped into the dress I’d borrowed from Sophie, and slipped my feet into black pumps—all in record time. Ugh, I shouldn’t have looked in the mirror. Three nights in one week of pulling all-nighters to finish my assignments were not kind to me.

The doorbell rang again as I crossed my room to get Trevor’s birthday gift out of the drawer of my bedside table. It had slid next to the box where I kept the necklace Mason gave me. Mason and I had dated right after I graduated from high school, and although it hadn’t lasted long and I hadn’t seen him since, I never forgot about him. I stared for a second at the two boxes sitting next to each other, then picked up the box that had Trevor’s gift in it. He was supposed to arrive in five minutes, so I hurried back out into the living room.

Murphy whistled when he saw me. “You clean up good.”

I rolled my eyes in a self-deprecating gesture as my cheeks heated. “Thanks. Can I get anyone a drink?” I asked to avoid being the centre of attention. Nobody took me up on my offer, so I stacked the gift on the kitchen island with the others and fidgeted with my dress to make it hang right. The condo was maybe not designed to be crammed with so many bodies. It was sweltering. It might have been just me. I waved my hands in front of my face to cool myself off.

Sophie sat on a stool next to the island. “Derian, relax. Everything’s ready, the place looks great, and you look hot.”

“Right, relax. I’m getting too worked up, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” Sophie and my mom both said in unison.

“This probably wasn’t the best week to plan a surprise party,” I admitted. “Exam worth fifty percent of my mark, three assignments, and I haven’t even thought about packing for our trip to Tofino yet. I may have been a little too ambitious when I decided to invite everyone we know over on such short notice.”

“The hard part’s done. All you need to do now is enjoy yourself,” my mom reassured me.

“You’re right. This will be good. Last term was busy for both Trevor and me, but my assignments are all handed in, my exam is over—although I’m not sure I did that well—and I can pack for Tofino tomorrow. It will be nice to just have fun. Okay, I’m calming down. I can do this.”

Sophie looked at me as if she knew there was something more wrong with me than just the stress of the party, but she didn’t ask. Truthfully, she was right. My high-strung mood had more to do with a vision I’d had earlier, but exhaustion, unrealistic expectations, and an over-estimation of what I was capable of achieving weren’t helping either.

“How’s Doug?” I asked to turn the focus away from me.

Sophie shrugged and transferred some turkey meatballs into a serving dish. She stabbed a toothpick into each one with more force than was necessary. “Good, I guess. The band is playing in Moscow tonight.”

“Cool. Where’s the next stop on the tour?”

“Berlin.”

“Did he get all his stuff moved into his new condo before they had to leave?”

“No. His assistant is finishing everything while he’s gone.” She stabbed the last couple of toothpicks with increasing force.

“Assistant? Wow. When did he get an assistant?”

She shrugged and poured herself a glass of wine. I was going to ask more questions, but she walked away and took the bottle with her into the living room to top up other people’s glasses. Murphy’s girlfriend Rene had arrived. Although she normally drank wine, she politely declined and then smiled adoringly at Murphy. He stretched his massive arm across her shoulder to squeeze her into his side, looking all proud. Whoa. I made eye contact with him in an attempt to ask with my expression if that gesture meant what I thought it meant, and if it did mean that, did Trevor know? He shot me an amused but otherwise unrevealing look. The timer buzzed for the quiches. He was saved by the bell. Temporarily. I planned to get to the bottom of that exchange. I rushed into the kitchen and took the quiche out of the oven, then slid the tins of apple-cinnamon muffins in—an unconventional replacement for a birthday cake, but they were my specialty and Trevor’s favourite. The recipe was originally my grandmother’s, and ever since he moved to Britannia Beach when he was seven years old, Trevor would come over to the Inn each morning for a fresh, home-made, apple-cinnamon muffin.

The condo was packed and getting hotter. I opened the sliding glass door that led to the patio and took a few deep breaths of the cool, rainy spring air. Murphy walked past me into the kitchen to load up a plate with chicken wings.

I spun around and rested my butt on the counter, with my arms crossed. In some ways it was bizarre to think of someone the same age as Trevor already being a dad. But I’d known Murphy since he and Trevor became best friends as kids, and Murphy had always been both big and mature for his age. He’d moved out of his mom’s house when he was seventeen. Then, after he graduated high school, he went straight into training at the Justice Institute and already had a stable career as a paramedic. Rene was twenty-four and a nurse, who owned her own place. It made sense that they were in a position to start a family. If that’s what their knowing look was about. “So, anything new with you and Rene?”

“Nope. Same old same old.” He tossed a cherry tomato up in the air and caught it in his mouth.

“Are you sure? Nothing new? Nothing developing?”

He smiled and shook his head to deny it. His smile is what gave him away.

“Oh my God, Murphy. That is so exciting.”

He held his hands up in defense. “What’s so exciting? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t say anything.”

I lunged over and hugged him around the waist. “Have you told Trevor yet?”

“Uh.” He glanced over his shoulder. “There’s nothing to tell. Are you having one of your Spidey senses or something?”

“No. I had a vision this morning but it wasn’t about you and Rene. I just noticed that she’s not drinking and you look all happy and goofy. There’s something to tell, isn’t there?”

He rolled his eyes and twisted the cap off a beer. “Zip it.”

I bounced up and down on my toes, about to burst from the news. “When can I unzip it?”

He shook his head in an attempt to discourage my enthusiasm as Rene joined us in the kitchen. He shot me a cautionary glare.

She smiled and slid in next to him. “Sorry to interrupt, but I have to go to back to work soon. What time is Trevor supposed to arrive?”

“Eight.” I looked at the clock on the stove, which showed eight forty-five. “What time do you have?” I asked Murphy.

He took his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. “Eight forty-five.”

“Are you sure?”

We both knew it was out of character for Trevor to be late, but Murphy said, “He probably got caught up in traffic.”

“For forty-five minutes? He would have called if he was going to be this late.” I texted him to ask if he was on his way.

Murphy’s eyes darted away from mine. He knew I was right.

“He’ll be here.” Murphy reached across the counter, grabbed a couple of pieces of sushi, and popped them both into his mouth, probably so he wouldn’t be able to say anything. He glanced at me one more time, then stretched his arm across Rene’s shoulder and walked away.

Trevor still hadn’t responded to my text when Sophie stepped into the kitchen to get a new bottle of wine. She had on a black mini skirt and she’d put on one of my mom’s frilly white aprons so she looked like a French maid. The guys seemed to be enjoying it.

“Rene’s not drinking,” she said with a curious eyebrow lift.

Partly to avoid divulging anything Murphy wouldn’t want me to, and partly because I was actually starting to worry, I said, “Trevor’s almost an hour late.”

She waved her hand to dismiss my concern. “Don’t worry about it. You know what he’s like. He probably came across an accident and helped some people who needed saving or something. What did you tell him you guys were going to be doing?”

“Nothing specific. I didn’t want to sound suspicious, so I just said come over around eight.”

“Maybe he didn’t realize it was a set plan. Just call him.”

“Okay, yeah. Right. Just call him.” I pulled out my phone and locked myself in the bathroom so he wouldn’t hear the music or the people and ruin the surprise. It rang and rang and then his voicemail kicked in. “Hi, Trev. Just wondering if everything is all right? I thought we were supposed to meet at my place at eight. Call me.”

All of his friends and the guys from Search and Rescue shot awkward glances at me when I returned to the living room. To avoid their stares I ducked back into the kitchen and updated Sophie. “He didn’t answer,” I mumbled.

Sophie didn’t say anything and I could tell by her silence that she didn’t think it was good.

Trevor’s dad wandered into the kitchen and ate a few chicken wings before he realized there was tension. “What’s going on?”

“Trevor was supposed to be here at eight and he isn’t answering his phone,” I said.

Jim grabbed another chicken wing. “He’ll be here.” He piled a few other appetizers on a plate, then went back into the living room. When he sat back down, he leaned over to say something to Murphy. Murphy nodded and then got off the couch, walked towards the hallway, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He rested up against the wall with his enormous back to me. Less than a minute later, he went back to sit beside Jim on the couch and whispered something. They both turned to look at me. When they saw that I was staring at them they both forced smiles before they turned back and pretended to watch the game.

By nine-fifteen, more people started asking when Trevor was supposed to be arriving. By nine-forty-five, they made polite excuses for why they needed to get back up to Squamish. By ten o’clock, the only people left were my mom, my granddad, Jim, Kailyn, Sophie, and Murphy.

“Why didn’t Trevor come to his own surprise party?” Kailyn asked her dad in a heartbreaking way.

“I don’t know, Kiki. Something must have come up.” He patted her shoulder in a reassuring way, even though his expression didn’t sell it.

There was a long, heavy silence as they all either stared at the floor or fidgeted with whatever happened to be within reach. “I’m sure he’s fine,” Sophie finally said and hugged me.

“I had a vision this morning,” I blurted out. The words dropped like a grenade. Everyone except Kailyn turned at the same time and stared at me. “In the vision, I couldn’t find him. He was lost and I was calling his name, but he didn’t answer. I’m scared it means something bad has happened.”

They shot uneasy glances at each other. Ever since I was a kid I’d experienced intuitive visions. I hadn’t had many since I moved away from Britannia Beach, but the ones I did have were very accurate and gave me warning before things like a pop quiz in my lab and when my granddad fell from a ladder in his condo in Squamish. Unfortunately, I didn’t see that one quite early enough to warn him and prevent him from getting a concussion, but luckily I sent Sophie over to check on him. She found him on the floor and took him to the hospital.

I had assumed the vision I’d had in the morning was a mixed signal or symbolic of something else because Trevor never got lost. He found people who were lost. It still didn’t make sense, but the fact that he was not where he was supposed to be was a very bad sign.

Sophie dropped dishes into the sink of soapy water and scrubbed vigorously. Murphy left the room, probably to call Trevor again. He returned only a minute later and shook his head at Jim, which made my mom walk out of the kitchen. She sat down in an armchair and stared out the floor-to-ceiling window. Her hand shook as she pressed it to her mouth.

“Maybe he’s studying and lost track of time. Or, I bet he fell asleep,” Sophie offered. “Doug missed a gig once because he fell asleep. The band tried to get a hold of him, but he’d turned the ringer off on his phone.”

“You’re probably right.” I checked my phone again to see if I had missed a text. “You guys can head back to Squamish. I’ll go by his dorm to make sure he’s okay.”

Sophie put her coat on. Jim looked as if he didn’t want to leave, but it was getting late and they still had to drive back to Britannia Beach. “I’ll take Kailyn with me,” Jim said to Murphy. “Thanks for bringing her down.”

“No problem. I’ll go by the dorm with Derian and call you later,” Murphy said.

Everyone except Murphy left. I rushed to my room and changed into yoga pants and a sweatshirt, then grabbed my purse. Mom was still sitting in the armchair staring out the window with a distant look on her face. It was the expression she got whenever she was thinking about my dad and the accident. “I’ll call you when we find him,” I said as I took long strides through the living room and met Murphy at the door. It was hard to tell if she heard me. She didn’t move.

Murphy and I didn’t talk as we waited for the elevator, or as we walked to his old green GMC pick-up truck that was parked on the street in front of the building. He opened the door for me, then walked around the back to get in the driver’s side. The truck shocks shifted and squeaked from his weight.

“Do you think he fell asleep?” I asked as we headed to the university.

He took a deep breath. “Probably.”

“What else could have happened?”

“Lots of things. I’m sure he’s fine, though.” His fingers tightened around the steering wheel, making his knuckles turn white.

“The hospital would have contacted Jim by now if he was in an accident. Right?”

“Probably. I’m sure he’s fine.”

I looked at Murphy and bit my bottom lip to make it stop trembling.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s just as upsetting if he’s fine. It means he forgot about me and didn’t even call to make up an excuse for why he bailed on our date.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, and I’m sure he didn’t just forget about you. He has worshiped you our entire lives.”

“Then where the hell is he?”

He shook his head and seemed to seriously consider the possibilities before he answered, “I don’t know.”

I turned to look out the passenger side window and went over in my mind the conversation that Trevor and I’d had the evening before. “It’s my fault. I scheduled it two weeks before his real birthday so he wouldn’t suspect anything and then I was too evasive with the plans for tonight. Maybe we had a miscommunication. He probably thought I meant come by if he had time. He’s been really busy lately. I should have told him all of his friends and family were coming down for a party.” I shook my head and sighed. “The surprise was definitely a bad idea.”

We parked on the south side of the campus and walked along the sidewalk to the dorms. When we entered Trevor’s building, I led the way in front of Murphy down the hallway because his massive frame took up almost the entire width of the corridor. I had to take a few deep breaths to prepare myself for heartbreaking news before I lifted my hand and knocked on the door to his room. There was movement inside and then the door opened. It was his roommate. “Hi, Derian. What’s up?”

“Hi, Nick. Is Trevor here?”

“No. I thought he was going over to your place.” He looked over my shoulder at my hulking, bald bodyguard.

“Oh, sorry. This is Trevor’s best friend, Murphy. Murph, this is Trevor’s room-mate, Nick.” They shook hands. “Trevor was supposed to come over, but he didn’t show up and he’s not answering his phone.”

“Hmm. That’s not like him. I haven’t seen him since this morning. I think he planned to study with some classmates at the library this afternoon, but it’s probably closed now.”

I already knew that much, so I hid my disappointment with a forced smile. “Okay, thanks.” I glanced into the room that was only big enough for two desks, two beds, and the one closet that they shared. Who knows why I felt the need to see for myself? He wasn’t going to appear out of thin air. “If you see him will you please ask him to give me a call?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll text a couple of our buddies too. Maybe I can track him down.”

“Thanks, Nick. We’ll just be walking around campus to see if we run into him.”

“Okay. Good luck.”

Nick closed the door and my phone buzzed with a text from a number I didn’t recognize: Dealing with something serious. Will call when I can.

My heart pounded with dread as I held up my phone for Murphy to read the message. “Do you think it’s from Trevor? It must be. Why isn’t he using his own phone? What does he mean by ‘serious’? It’s kind of cryptic. That’s weird, right?”

Murphy raised his eyebrow in a way that upset me. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to because the deep crease that formed between his eyebrows, and the fact that he wouldn’t look me directly in the eyes, told me he was concerned. I typed a reply, asking for more details, but got no response.

CHAPTER 2

Murphy and I rushed down the path that led to the centre of campus. Huge cedar and fir trees lined the walkway and it was dimly lit, so I was extra glad Murphy was with me. I didn’t know if Trevor had meant personally serious like depression and suicidal thoughts, or medically serious like heart pains and broken bones, or mechanically serious like a basement flood, or academically serious like quantum physics. The possibilities were endless.

With nothing to go on, we checked the library Trevor and I both usually studied at first. It was closed. Sometimes he studied in a student lounge, which was open twenty-four hours, but he wasn’t there either. The campus was essentially a small city with restaurants and coffee shops spread throughout the streets. It would be impossible to check them all, so I focused on places where he hung out the most.

“Maybe we should check the pubs,” Murphy suggested.

Even though the thought of Trevor being at a pub instead of on an agreed-upon date with me hurt my feelings, it was the next probable place he would have gone on a Friday night, but still not likely a place where he’d be dealing with something serious. Unless it was a bar fight. We crossed the campus towards the Irish pub he liked the best.

He wasn’t at the pub so we circled around by the football field and then headed back in the direction of his dorm. About one hundred metres down the dark path, a couple walked towards us. I could only make out their silhouettes and I wouldn’t have thought much of it if I hadn’t recognized the outline of Trevor’s broad shoulders. I stopped walking and stood frozen in the middle of the path as they approached. Murphy didn’t seem to realize it was Trevor, but as they got closer, we heard his voice. The girl laughed as if she’d been drinking. My heart contorted into some sort of seizure and slammed against my lungs, which pushed all the air out. I couldn’t make the breath suck back in.

She was the something serious he was dealing with? Seriously?

Murphy reached over and wrapped his arm around my waist to hold me up. Somehow he knew before I did that my knees were just about to get weak from the shock of seeing Trevor with someone else. My eyeballs burned because I hadn’t blinked since I first spotted them. The girl stumbled sideways and had to place one hand down on the ground to steady herself. Trevor attempted to prevent her from falling but she landed on the grass and pulled him as if she wanted him to topple down on top of her. He caught his balance in time and said something to her that I couldn’t quite hear.

I turned around, twisted out of Murphy’s arms, and hurried down the path away from them.

“Wait,” Murphy called after me.

“I’ve seen enough, thanks.”

“Murphy?” Trevor shouted, and seemed relieved to see him.

“Is that your friend?” the girl asked. “He’s gigantic.” She laughed. “That’s a funny word—ji-gan-tic, guy-jant-tic. Say it. It sounds funny.”

“Deri,” Trevor called as I walked away. I didn’t want to know why he was stumbling around at midnight with a drunk girl, so I kept going.

Murphy ran after me, caught my elbow, and turned me towards him. He leaned in closely and said, “Let me talk to him. Just wait here.”

“I can’t watch,” I said and fought to hold back tears.

“You don’t even know what’s going on. I’m going to talk to him. Don’t go anywhere.”

“Give me the keys. I’ll wait in the truck. And his explanation better be really good.”

Murphy handed me the keys and turned to go back to where Trevor was helping the woman to her feet as she sang off-key. I hurried back to the parking lot, climbed into the truck, and stared out the window dumbfounded. I thought things had been good between Trevor and me. As far as I knew, everything was great. I was so in love. I would have sworn he was too. I was glad he wasn’t lying dead in a ditch somewhere. But it was completely shattering that he would blow me off to get drunk with some other girl. And then lie about it. It was shocking. It was devastating. It was so not like him.

Maybe things between us hadn’t been as good as I thought. Maybe I wasn’t putting enough effort into the relationship, or maybe I was a disappointment to him. Did our relationship go from inseparable as children into teenage sweethearts and then slip into the someone-I-used-to-know category without me noticing? Maybe adulthood changed us. It was possible that after waiting thirteen years to date his life-long crush, when it actually happened, I was a colossal let-down. I didn’t feel that way about him. In fact, dating the guy who was not only an amazing friend but also someone I had dreamed of being with for years had turned out to be a million times better than I had even imagined it would be.

It was my fault the relationship had unraveled. I hadn’t been spending enough time with him. My course load was ridiculously heavy. And even when we did have some spare time between studying, with me being at my mom’s and him having a roommate, we barely had enough privacy to even make out. Maybe he compared us to Sophie and Doug, who had plans to move in together. Or to Murphy and Rene, who already lived together and were ready to start a family. I wasn’t ready for that. Maybe Trevor was.

I winced when I realized that’s what my vision was about. I lost him.

The truck door opened, but I didn’t look over because I already knew it was Murphy, not Trevor. “He’s just walking her home. He’ll be right back to talk to you.”

I shook my head and mumbled, “I’m tired. I just want to go home.”

“You need to give him a chance to explain, Deri. A situation came up and he didn’t feel she was in a state to get home safely by herself.”

“I’m really tired and upset. Just call him and tell him I’ll talk to him in the morning.”

“I can’t. He lost his phone somewhere.”

“Convenient,” I mumbled.

Murphy shot me a grow-up-Deri expression. “He’s walking her home so she’ll be safe. You know that.”

Obviously it was more in character for Trevor to get involved in a situation where someone in trouble needed help rather than blow off plans with me to hang out with some random chick. I knew that, but I also had to face the possibility that I wasn’t cutting it in the girlfriend department. It was late and I was already being snappy and rude due to the lack of sleep from earlier in the week. I was afraid I would make everything worse if I tried to talk about it when I was so exhausted and emotional. “I just want to go home. Please.”

Murphy sighed and then reluctantly started the truck. He was quiet for most of the drive, then he said, “I know that looked bad, but he’s a good guy, Derian—you know that. And I’ve known him for almost fourteen years; he would never cheat on you. He was just helping someone who got caught up in a dangerous situation. That’s all.”

“Maybe I did something to push him away, or maybe he wanted something new,” I said as he turned out onto the street.

“He wants you, Deri. Trust me. He waited until you graduated to ask you out, but he wanted to date you for at least three years before that. And he’s loved you since the day he moved to Britannia Beach. He wouldn’t do anything to disrespect you or screw up what you guys have. If I could get him to stop constantly talking about how great you are, I would.” He smiled as he reached across the cab of the truck and shoved my shoulder. “I’m sick of it, frankly.”

It did make me feel better to hear Murphy say that, but then the image of Trevor and the woman catapulted me right back into a sludgy pool of self-doubt. “Did he seem unhappy about our relationship lately?”

“No. A bond like what you two have always had doesn’t just disappear. He’s been stressed out with school and coming up to Britannia Beach for rescues on weekends. But he has never said anything negative about you or the relationship. In fact, when he talks about the future, you are always included in that conversation. There is no doubt in his mind what he wants.”

It was true. Trevor never came across as unsure or as losing interest. He had been working really hard at school and still volunteering for Search and Rescue. That girl was definitely too drunk to safely walk home alone. It was most likely all innocent, but because of my vision about losing Trevor, I couldn’t help obsessing about the things I could have done to be a better girlfriend and a better friend to him. I should have never taken what we had for granted. I should have seen the signs that he was drifting away.

Or maybe he wasn’t. In his defence, he didn’t know about the party. If everybody hadn’t been at the condo waiting it wouldn’t have even been that big of a deal that he didn’t show up. But the vision bothered me. It was trying to warn me that I was losing him. And if that was true, the girl was potentially more than just someone he walked home. Or she might be, at some point in the future. It was an omen. Or not. I didn’t know what to think. And it was giving me a headache.

When Murphy pulled up in front of my mom’s condo, I opened the door and climbed out of the truck. “Thanks for the ride. Be safe driving home.”

“Just hear him out.”

I nodded. “I will. Good night, Murph. Thanks for everything. Don’t forget to call his dad. I don’t want him to worry.”

I took the elevator upstairs and stood in the hall. I was hesitant to go in because I didn’t want to deal with a million questions from my mom. I couldn’t avoid it forever, though, so I finally decided to plaster a smile across my face and act as if I was totally relieved. My plan was to lie and tell her that he just fell asleep. I opened the door, expecting to see her still sitting in the armchair. Fortunately, it looked as if she’d gone to bed and left one lamp on in the hallway for me.

I got ready for bed as quickly as I could and dove under my sheets in case she got up and asked me what happened. Only a second after I clicked my lamp off there was a knock on my door. She opened it a crack and poked her head in. I cringed.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Everybody is safe and sound. Good night.”

I could sense her lingering. But she didn’t say anything else before she eventually closed the door. My phone buzzed with a text so I rolled over and reached towards my bedside table. The phone number wasn’t familiar.

Always in my heart

Trevor had obviously borrowed someone’s phone, which was sweet. But I got sad at the thought that it might be hers. It was probably Nick’s, but I was still hurt by the possibility that it could have been hers. I replied Love You and then thought about how I was going to fix things as I twisted the ring he gave me around my finger.

CHAPTER 3

In the morning, the light peeked through my curtains and brightened the ceiling patterns that I had been staring at all night. It took every ounce of energy I had to slump out of bed and cross the hall to the bathroom. When I saw my face in the mirror, I actually gasped. The rims of my eyelids were blood-red and the dark circles under my eyes made me look like a desiccated vampire.

I stood in the shower and waited for the water to warm me up. I almost didn’t have the motivation to get back out, but my legs were tired of holding me up, so I turned the water off and put a robe on. I didn’t even dry my hair before I shuffled down the hall towards the kitchen to boil water for tea. Trevor was seated at the kitchen bar. He looked a million times worse than I did.

“Morning, sunshine,” he said hoarsely.

I didn’t respond, partly because I was surprised to see him and partly because I didn’t know where to start. My mom had obviously let him in on her way out and I wondered what he had told her. His dark hair stuck up in different directions and he was wearing the same thing he’d had on the night before. The rock from Britannia Beach that I’d had engraved with the Always In My Heart inscription for him was in his hands. He cradled it in his palm as if it were an injured bird. “Thanks for the birthday present. I love it.”

My eyebrows angled together and I walked to the sink to fill the kettle. I was apparently still not in the right frame of mind to sort everything out. I placed the kettle on the stove. I could feel him staring at me as I dropped tea bags in two mugs and waited for the water to boil.

“Deri.” The sound of his voice made my heart ache. “Derian,” he whispered, so softly.

It felt like he wanted to deliver bad news to me. Like break-up kind of bad. I didn’t want to admit that everything I had always wanted was over, but maybe it was impossible for a special childhood friendship that turned into an intense adolescent love to last forever. It felt as if my heart was being peeled into shreds one thin layer at a time. It was excruciating.

“Murphy said you planned a surprise.” He waited for me to respond, but I was too choked up to speak. When I didn’t say anything he exhaled heavily. “I’m so sorry I missed it.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “Were you out with that woman?”

“No. I was studying with a couple of friends from class all afternoon and we went to the pub for a pint. When I realized it was almost eight, I’d had a few drinks and didn’t think it was a good idea to drive, so I headed over to catch the bus. I would have called, but I don’t know where my phone is. I think it was stolen at the library or fell out of my pocket.” He stopped talking and stood, inching only slightly closer, as if he wasn’t sure how to gauge my mood.

I folded my arms across my chest and leaned my butt against the counter. “What happened between going to the bus and Murphy and me finding you with that woman almost four hours later?”

“I ran into Ethan, the guy in my biology class; you met him at that Halloween party, he was dressed as Muhammad Ali.”

I nodded, not because I remembered Ethan, but because I wanted him to get on with the story.

“Ethan’s girlfriend, Abbi, had texted him saying that she was worried about one of her friends because she couldn’t find her. They belong to a sorority that had a dinner party and it got crashed by a bunch of frat guys who turned it into a kegger. The last time Abbi had seen her friend, she’d been dancing with some guy nobody knew and then they disappeared. Ethan and I headed over to the sorority house to help Abbi look for her. It took a while, but we eventually found her in a laneway, unconscious.”

“Oh my God. Is she okay?”

He shook his head and his forehead creased with stress. “She’d been drugged and her clothes were torn.”

An awful feeling weighed heavy in my stomach, partly because she’d been assaulted and partly because I had been so selfishly worried about something that suddenly seemed so trivial. “That’s horrible. Did they catch the guy?”

“They will. The police questioned everyone after the ambulance left and they know who did it; they’re going to pull surveillance first to make sure the case sticks.”

“Was that Abbi you were walking home?”

“A friend of hers. She asked me if I’d walk her home because she’d had too much to drink. I texted you from Ethan’s phone to tell you there had been an emergency. Didn’t you get it?”

“I did, and at first I was sick with worry, but then we found you and I thought you had lied so you could hang out with someone else.” The kettle started to scream. I turned around and poured water into the mugs.

“Why would I lie?”

“I don’t know. I feel like an idiot for assuming that you were with her in a romantic way. I’m so sorry I didn’t stay and give you a chance to explain.”

Trevor’s arms wrapped around my waist from behind. He hugged me and rested his chin on my shoulder. I could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “I can’t believe you doubted my feelings for you.”

“I was afraid you changed your mind.”

“That will never happen.” He kissed my neck. “From the day I met you, all I wanted was to be near you. And if I’m not here right by your side, guaranteed it’s because something really bad has happened.”

I turned and reached up to touch his face, a face I’d known most of my life. “Don’t even say that. I don’t ever want to lose you.”

“You won’t. You’re the best thing in my life. You always have been and you always will be. I will be yours forever, if you want me.”

I leaned in and kissed him. “You are what I have always wanted and what I will always want.”

He smiled and tipped his head forward until our foreheads rested on each other.

“I’m sorry I overreacted, and jumped to crazy, unwarranted conclusions, and acted embarrassingly selfish and jealous when you were doing a great thing and helping someone who was in danger. I’ve been really stressed and tired and I had a vision that scared me, so I’m definitely too sensitive right now.”

“What was your vision about?”

“I’m not sure. It was vague. I couldn’t find you. Or, maybe you couldn’t find me. It didn’t make any sense, but it scared me. I thought it was an omen.”

“I will always find you.” His hand slid up to cradle the back of my neck. “No matter where you are; I will always find you.”

“I know.” I kissed him. “That’s one of the things I love about you. And you’re hot body is another thing.” I tickled his ribs as my eyebrows rose suggestively. “My mom’s out with Ron if you want to hang out for a while.”

He caught the hint and picked me up to carry me to my room. “Are you going to make me breakfast afterwards?”

“Of course.”

“With apple-cinnamon muffins?”

“Of course.”

He smiled and then kicked my bedroom door shut behind us.

CHAPTER 4

I woke up late the next morning and rushed to pack my bag to spend reading week with Sophie in Tofino—rain gear, toques, scarves, gloves, long johns, rubber boots, wool sweaters, and all my textbooks. The weather forecast was for torrential rain and cold temperatures. I had only been to Sophie’s cousin’s cabin on the west coast of Vancouver Island one other time and it was during the summer. I kind of remembered it being really windy and cold even in the middle of August, so I packed as many warm clothes as I could fit in my bag.

Sophie showed up at eight in the morning, grinning with her hand propped on her hip—she was never in a good mood in the morning. Something weird was definitely up. She was wearing tiny jean shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops.

“Uh, why are you chipper this early and why are you dressed like that?”

“Change of plans.”

“Changed how?”

She pulled all of the warm clothes out of my bag. “You’re not going to need these.”

“What? Why?”

She jumped up and down and waved two pieces of paper in front of my face. “My dad got us stand-by tickets to Acapulco and booked us in at an all-inclusive resort.”

I shook my head to make the information sink in. “Are you kidding?”

“Nope. I already asked your mom and she’s cool with it.”

Not sure if I was more shocked about the tickets to Acapulco or the fact my mom agreed, I paused. “Seriously?”

“My dad is convinced I need to travel, meet people, and experience other cultures. Date other guys.”

“But your parents like Doug.”

She shrugged and took a while to answer. “They don’t like that I’ve only dated one guy since I was fourteen. And they’re really not thrilled that he wants me to move to LA. Whatever, it’s a good time for me to travel and maybe figure out what I want to do with my life. We’re going to Mexico for a week—all expenses paid.”

“Shut up!” I squealed and jumped up and down with her. Then my heart sank when it hit me that I couldn’t go. “I have way too much studying to do.”

“Study, schmudy. You can read on the plane, on the beach, by the pool. Would you rather read textbooks in the freezing-cold Tofino rain or in the decadently warm Acapulco sunshine?”

“Good point.” I didn’t even need convincing. “Sunshine, here we come. Yes.” I did a fist-pump and leapt around my room to dump all the winter clothes into my closet. I filled a suitcase with shorts, bathing suits, summer dresses, hats, sunglasses, and sandals.

“Don’t forget club outfits,” Sophie hollered from the living room.

I grabbed some dressy clothes from my closet and opened the drawer to my bedside table to pull out the box Mason’s necklace was in. It was the nicest thing I owned and it would be one of the few times I could wear it without Trevor knowing.

“Mom!” I shouted and spun around, startled because she was already standing in the doorway, smiling.

“Are you really okay with us going to Mexico?”

“Yes. I think it will be a great experience. You’ve been working too hard at school lately and the stress has been getting to you. Here’s your passport.”

“Thanks.” I gave her a big hug. “This is so awesome. I have to tell Trevor.” When he didn’t respond to the text, I remembered that his phone was still lost. I hoped we had time to go by and see him before the flight. I skipped out into the living room and danced around with Sophie like hyper cheerleaders for another few seconds before we said goodbye to my mom and hurried down to Sophie’s car. “We have to stop by UBC on the way to the airport.”

“Yeah, I figured. So where was he the other night? You kind of left out all the juicy details when you texted to say you found him.”

“There was an emergency at school and he had to help a friend.”

“What kind of emergency?”

“A girl was drugged and date-raped. They helped find her and called the ambulance and police.”

“Jesus. Is it weird that I’m totally not surprised that’s the reason he no-showed? I hope they caught the piece of shit who did it.”

“Yeah, apparently someone at the party knew who he was. So that’s good.”

“It’s great. And you know what else is great? We’re going to Mexi-cooo,” she sang.

“Woo!”

We parked on campus and ran to Trevor’s building. We were laughing and holding hands like we used to when we were little girls. A classmate of Trevor’s named Beth—tall, with long, wavy, brown hair and a pin-up girl figure—was at the front door and just about to go into the building. I had met her at least six times before because she often sat with Trevor’s friends for lunch and she went to two football games with a whole group of us, but she always acted like she had no idea I was Trevor’s girlfriend. She turned to hold the door open for us, then smiled. “Derian, right?”

I nodded, surprised that she actually remembered my name.

“I was just going up to see Trevor. I found his phone on the floor in my room. He must have left it there the other night.”

Sophie whimpered a little as I dug my fingers into her hand.

“Here.” Beth held the phone out. “Would you be a sweetie and give it to him for me?”

I didn’t move to get the phone. Sophie finally extended her free arm and took the phone from Beth.

“Thanks. Tell Trev that I’ll see him tonight at study group. It was nice seeing you again.” Her smile was so phoney I wanted to puke.

“Okay, ow! You can release the vice on my hand now,” Sophie complained after Beth strutted away.

I stormed into Trevor’s building. Sophie chased after me. I pounded on his door with unnecessary force. When he opened the door, he was grinning, but when he saw my expression, his smile faded. “What’s wrong?”

I held my palm up to signal Sophie to produce the phone. “We ran into Beth downstairs. She was kind enough to return your phone.”

“Where did she find it?”

“On the floor in her bedroom, apparently. She said you must have left it there the other night.”

“What?” He frowned as the information sunk in. “I’ve never been in her room. I don’t even know which apartment she lives in. Did she really say I was in her room?”

“She certainly did.” I passed the phone to him. “I came by to tell you that Sophie and I are going to Mexico for a week instead of Tofino. Have fun at study group tonight.” I spun around and took long, fast strides down the hall. When I realized Sophie hadn’t followed me I turned back to give her a “come on” gesture. She and Trevor were both standing in front of his door staring at me.

“Derian, you can’t leave things like that,” Sophie called. “That whore was lying. Trust me, I know a lying whore when I see one.” She walked towards me, stood close, and whispered, “Don’t let a girl like that weasel her way in and ruin what you guys have. I’ll wait in the car. Take your time.”

After Sophie left, I stood in the hall staring at the tiles. I didn’t actually look, but I could feel Trevor waiting patiently. I was going to be gone for a week and I didn’t want things to be bad between us. I wouldn’t be able to relax if I knew that the last thing I said to him was hostile. I thought about what Sophie said. She had to handle groupies hitting on Doug all the time and she was right that I shouldn’t believe Beth over Trevor. When I eventually looked up at him, he smiled, probably because he knew I wouldn’t leave still mad at him.

He walked over to hug me. “She’s lying.”

I rested my cheek on his chest and listened to the comforting rhythm of his heart beat. “I know. But why would she lie?”

“I don’t know. She’s obviously trying to break us up.”

Lying or not lying, that part was definitely true. There were so many things testing our bond. I didn’t want it to break.

“The last time I remember having my phone was when I was at the library. She must have taken it.” He leaned back and held my face between his palms. “I won’t study with her anymore.”

The sincerity in his eyes reassured me completely. We were unbreakable. The universe could throw as many tests as it wanted at us. “I don’t want you to mess up your grades. If you have to work in a group with her I trust you.” I leaned forward and kissed him.

He pressed me against the wall and his hands slid down the side of my body to rest on my hips. “Are you really going to Mexico instead of Tofino?”

“Yeah, Sophie’s dad gave us stand-by tickets with his airline and he’s paying for an all-inclusive resort. Here’s where we’re staying.” I handed him the piece of paper that I had written the hotel information on. “I’ll email you every day.”

He leaned in and whispered, “I don’t want you to go away,” before he kissed his way down my neck.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, enjoying the soft touch of his lips against my skin. “I don’t want to go away anymore,” I whispered back and clutched his hair to draw his lips to mine.

“Hi, Derian,” Nick said loudly to interrupt our make-out session as he walked up. “Nice to see you again.” He paused and leaned in close to us, grinning. “How’s it going?” Trevor laughed and shoved him in the shoulder. “Oh, are you guys busy? My bad.” He mussed Trevor’s hair before carrying on towards their room “Don’t let me interrupt. We can talk later.” Before he disappeared through the doorway he pointed at us and made his eyebrows dance in an animated way.

Once we were alone again I kissed Trevor softly and whispered, “I love you so much.” I touched his chest. “Always in my heart.”

“I love you, too. Have fun in Mexico, but be safe.”

“Always am.” I smiled and kissed him one more time. “See ya, Maverty.”

“See ya, Lafleur.”

Nick poked his head back out into the hall. “Bye, Derian.”

“Bye, Nick.” I kissed my fingertips and blew it towards Trevor. Nick pretended to catch it, which earned him a body-slam into the wall.

“Okay, I give up,” Nick choked out.

Trevor let him go and they both stood grinning at me. I shook my head and waved before I took the stairs two at a time. I jogged to the car and flung the door open, which startled Sophie. “Sorry I took so long,” I said breathlessly.

“Was it worth it?”

“Definitely.”

“All right, Mexico, here we come.”

“Wooo!”

CHAPTER 5

I was too excited to read my textbook as Sophie and I waited at the airport gate to see if we could get on the next flight. I people-watched and made up stories in my head about why they were travelling. A young guy kept looking at a picture in his hand and smiling longingly, so I decided he was flying to meet a woman he met online. A woman whose eyes were red as if she had been crying typed on her phone the entire time she waited. I decided she was the oldest sibling and her father had died, so she was trying to arrange everything for the funeral. I also saw a family with two little boys. They looked like twins, but one had no hair and his skin was pale. He seemed weak and leaned his head on his mom’s shoulder. The healthy-looking one stood at the windows with his dad and pointed at an airplane that was taking off. I decided they were going to their grandparents’ cabin because it was the sick one’s dying wish. It reminded me of Mason and his twin brother. Cody had died of cancer the same year my dad died. Mason’s mom once told me that Cody’s dying wish had been to go fishing at their grandparents’ cabin, and seeing the boys in the airport made my eyes tear up.

“What the hell?” Sophie asked when she noticed I was getting choked up.

“I was just thinking about something sad.”

She was about to ask me what it was when her dad walked up to us. He looked handsome in his pilot’s uniform. “Hi, Dad.” She stood and hugged him.

“Are you girls all ready for some fun in the sun?”

“Yes. Thank you so much for the tickets, Mr. Sakamoto.”

“You’re welcome. Make sure you stay close to the resort. There have been some travel alerts for some of the surrounding areas.” The loud speaker announced our names and asked us to go up to the front counter. “Sounds like there’s room on this flight. I better get to my gate too. I’m off to snowy Montreal.” He hugged us both and warned, “Be safe.”

“We will. Love you, Dad.”

Sophie and I skipped up to the counter and got our boarding passes for the last two seats on the flight. Once we were boarded and settled, Sophie stuck her ear buds in and flipped through a magazine. I took a textbook out of my carry-on and placed it on my lap. As I watched the ground crew load up the last of the luggage, I had a vision. I was on my knees praying for Trevor. Then it ended. That was it. Weird.

Sophie pulled out one of her ear buds. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” I turned to stare out the window again.

“What did you see?”

“Nothing that makes any sense, since I’m not even religious.”

“If you saw the plane crashing, you should tell me now.”

“I don’t think that’s what it was.”

“You don’t think? Great.” She moaned and put her ear bud back in.

It was insanely hot in Acapulco. My jeans stuck to my legs the minute we stepped off the plane. If I had spotted a pair of scissors I would have cut them into shorts right there in the airport. I didn’t see any scissors lying around, but fortunately the shuttle to the resort was air-conditioned.

The five-star resort was massive and gorgeous. It had four restaurants, six pools, a nightclub, a bar every twenty feet, and it was right on the beach. I could hear the waves crashing from the open-air lobby. Sophie threw around tips to the shuttle driver, the older man who handed us a cocktail as we arrived, and the cute guy who carried our bags to our room. “Gracias Miss Sagamomo,” he attempted her name.

“Call me Sophie.”

“Gracias Miss Sophie.” He smiled a big, white, toothy smile.

“What’s your name?”

He pointed to the nametag on his chest. “Luis. If you need anything, Miss Sophie, just ask for Luis.”

“Gracias, Luis.”

The suite was sprawling and the bedroom was separated from the living room by double doors. I opened the sliding patio door and stepped out onto the balcony. It over-looked the pools below and the ocean beyond that. I closed my eyes and let the sun and the warm ocean breeze soak into my skin. It was amazing—like what paradise was supposed to feel like. The only thing better would have been being there with Trevor too.

My thoughts were interrupted when a male voice said, “Hi.” A tanned guy with longish blond hair and green eyes was standing on the balcony next to ours. He leaned on the railing with one hand and drank from a red plastic cup with his other hand. He smelled like a mix of coconut suntan lotion and alcohol.

“Hi,” I replied.

“Did you just get here?”

“What gave it away—the pasty skin or the jeans?”

“Neither, I just would have noticed you before now if you’d been here the whole time. I’m Liam.”

“Derian.” I reached across the gap between our balconies and shook his hand. “Have you been here long?”

“Three days. I should probably apologize in advance because my friends are a little loud and can be obnoxious. Well, not can be; they are obnoxious.”

“But you’re not?”

“Oh, I am too. I apologize for that in advance as well.”

I laughed. “Where are you from?”

“Toronto. It’s in Canada.”

“Really? Is it true that you live in igloos in Canada?” I teased.

He looked at me to see if I was dumb or joking. He smiled. “You’re Canadian too, aren’t you?”

“Vancouver.”

“I should have known that.” He turned his head a little when a guy’s voice called him from inside the room. He looked back at me. “We’re just heading out to get some dinner. Do you and your friends want to come with us?”

“It’s just my friend Sophie and me, and we kind of want to freshen up first. Maybe we’ll see you down there later.”

“I’ll buy you a drink,” he joked.

“Ha ha, big spender.”

Sophie stepped out onto the balcony behind me and rested her elbow on my shoulder. “What do we have here?”

“Sophie, Liam. Liam, Sophie.”

He reached over to shake her hand. He grinned in a very mischievous way and said, “You two are going to get into all sorts of trouble here. Hopefully we’ll run into you down at the club.” He waved and went back into his room.

“Cuuuute,” Sophie purred.

“Not as cute as Doug,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get ready.”

I showered, then Sophie straightened my hair. She always made it look so smooth and shiny. I loved it. I dressed in a fitted, white sundress and did my makeup. Sophie put on classy black shorts that had a cuff at the hem, and a silky green backless top that scooped low and kind of billowed at the front. She straightened her bangs into a perfectly level line across her forehead and layered on a couple of chains that shimmered on her skin. She made fashion look so effortless. I clasped on the necklace that Mason gave me and slipped into a pair of strappy heels.

We decided to try the Italian restaurant. As we walked through the lobby, I noticed there were computer stations, so I stopped and emailed Trevor.

We made it safe and sound. The resort is beautiful, but I wish you and Doug were here with us. Going for dinner now. Love u. D.

The dinner was awesome and we ate way too much because the idea of it being pre-paid made us gluttonous. We each had a margarita with dinner. It went straight to my head because the only alcohol I’d ever had was a glass of champagne at my cousin’s wedding and the cocktail that the hotel gave us when we arrived. Apparently, alcohol made me giggly, because I couldn’t stop laughing.

We eventually made our way over to the nightclub. It was packed with college students, who were all obviously desperately in need of reading break. There were no available tables, so we stood next to the bar and had another margarita. My legs started to get tingly.

“Hey, you made it.” Liam draped his arm across my shoulders.

I giggled.

“Sophie, this is my wing-man, Ben,” Liam said.

Sophie smiled at the tall guy, who looked half-Asian and half-Caucasian. “Hi, Ben.”

“Do you want to dance?” Liam asked me.

“I’ll try. I can’t exactly feel my legs.”

“You’re a lightweight, eh?”

“You could say that.”

He led me by the hand towards the dance floor, then wrapped his arms around my waist. I propped my hands on his shoulders, mostly to hold myself up. “You look beautiful,” he said.

“Thanks. I have a boyfriend. You should probably know that.”

“I know.” He held my hand above my head to twirl me around.

“How do you know?”

“Because girls like you always have boyfriends. Don’t worry about it. We’re just dancing.”

“Yeah, just dancing.”

Liam and I alternated between dancing and hanging out with Sophie and Ben. It was fun. I thought the boys said they were students at the University of Toronto, but that might not have been what they said because when I said, “I considered going to U of T,” they all laughed at me as if it didn’t make sense.

“Is the music getting louder?” I shouted.

Liam chuckled. “No, you’re just getting drunker.”

“I love this song. Let’s dance.” I dragged him back out onto the dance floor. He wasn’t a very good dancer. He mostly just positioned his hands on my waist or hips and watched as I danced. After another margarita, my eyesight started to get a little blurry. I could sort of see Sophie. She was smiling and she looked completely sober as she talked to Ben.

Some other guy handed me a drink and I was just about to drink it when Sophie grabbed it and took it away from me. “Nice try,” she yelled at the guy. “Derian, don’t take drinks unless they’re from the bar. In fact, don’t take any more drinks at all.”

I saluted her and stumbled back out onto the dance floor. Not much of anything was clear after that. Ben and Liam walked us back to the room. Well, they walked and Liam carried me over his shoulder.

The next thing I remembered clearly was waking up in the morning with a crushing pressure clamping down on my head. The sun streamed through the window and felt like someone turned the brightness up too high. I ran to the bathroom and wasn’t able to lift the toilet in time, so unceremoniously hurled in the bathtub. It was a revolting strawberry-pink mess mixed with what I could only imagine were spaghetti noodles. I used the showerhead and washed it down the drain. It was making me feel sick again as I watched it dilute with water. Sophie propped herself against the bathroom doorframe with her arms crossed and watched me.

“Sorry. You’re going to have to tip the maid really big,” I croaked hoarsely.

“I see that.”

“Why do you look perfectly fine?”

“Because I’m not a rookie.”

I sat on the edge of the tub and held my head between my palms to keep it from spinning. “Why did you let me do that to myself?”

“You were my entertainment for the night. Talking to that Ben guy was painful. He’s like a child in a sexy man’s body. I’m going down to the lobby to check my email. Get cleaned up. I want to sit by the pool.”

“Okay,” I mumbled, then crawled back into bed and pulled the covers over my head.

CHAPTER 6

I finally dragged myself out of bed just before noon and we went down to sit by the pool. Sophie made trips to the buffet every twenty minutes and returned with trays of fruits or chocolates and pastries. When I saw her eating Jell-O, taquitos, and baby shrimps all off the same plate, my stomach churned painfully. “That’s disgusting,” I moaned.

“You’re missing out. It’s such a waste to be at an all-you-can-eat-and-drink resort and not feel like eating or drinking.”

“Even if I didn’t drink too much last night I wouldn’t be eating that combination.”

She shrugged and popped a shrimp into her mouth. “Are you up for a salsa lesson?”

“No.”

“Water aerobics?”

“No. You go ahead. I’ll just stay here and try to get some reading done.”

She stood and pulled her linen cover-up off over her head. I watched as she strutted over to the other side of the pool deck for the salsa lesson. Three guys who had been sitting near the dance instructor jumped up and joined the class when they saw Sophie. They did more ass-watching than salsa dancing.

I struggled through a section of psychology without actually retaining much information on monkeys and attachment disorders. My head hurt and I couldn’t even take my sunglasses off to apply sunscreen because the sunlight felt like sabres through my eyeballs.

“Can I get you a drink?” a male voice asked from over my shoulder.

I turned to see if he was talking to me. He was a short guy with massive muscles and a nearly life-sized gold crucifix hanging around his neck. He slid his sunglasses down and peered over them at me. “Oh. No thanks. I’m nursing a hangover.” I turned my head back to start reading again.

“What’s your name?”

I glanced at him as he moved to sit on Sophie’s lounge chair. “Derian.”

“Gino.” He held his hand out to shake mine. Then he pushed his sunglasses back into place and took a sip of his mojito. It felt as if he was staring at my body. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I glanced over to see if I could make eye contact with Sophie. The dance lesson was over and I couldn’t see where she went. I scanned the pool deck, but didn’t see her anywhere.

“What are you reading?”

“Psychology.”

“You should take a break.” He pointed over his shoulder at the pool. “Let’s go for a swim.”

“No thanks. I should finish this.”

He took my textbook from me and closed it. “That’s boring. You’re in Mexico and you only live once. Would you like to go for a walk? There are some cool caves just down the beach. I would love to show them to you.”

“No thanks.” I grabbed my book back.

“You’re getting a little burnt. Pass me the sunscreen. I’ll do your back.”

I looked over at the bar to see if Sophie was getting a drink. I couldn’t see her. “I already have sunscreen on. Thanks.”

“My friends and I are staying in the presidential penthouse suite. Do you want to come up and party?”

I pointed to my textbook. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I should really get back to reading. Nice meeting you.”

He flexed his bloated pecs as if he thought that would mesmerize me into being interested in him. It didn’t impress me. I turned my head to see if Sophie was maybe on her way back from the buffet. She was standing right beside me. She smiled and leaned over to kiss me on the lips. “Hey, babe. Did you miss me?” she asked.

I glanced at Gino. His mouth was frozen in a crooked smile, but his eyebrows were angled in a frown.

“You’re on my seat,” Sophie said to him. He stood and stared at Sophie as she did a sexy crawl onto the lounge chair. She rolled over and extended her arm over to rest her hand on mine.

Gino tilted his head in a cocky way. “I could be into that.”

“No. You couldn’t,” Sophie snarled. “Go away. You’re in my sun.”

He shook his head as if he thought she was a bitch, then walked away.

I lifted an eyebrow at her. “Was that necessary?”

“Apparently. I watched you trying your sweet method for like fifteen minutes and he wasn’t even close to getting the hint.”

“Do you think, when we’re forty, you’ll still be a menace?”

“Definitely.” She stood. “I’m going for a swim. If the vultures start circling, try to be less nice.”

She dove in and swam underwater to the other end of the pool. She kicked off the wall and then backstroked towards me. Liam and his friends came running from somewhere behind me and did cannon balls into the pool. They almost landed on Sophie. Ben picked her up and acted as if he was going to launch her, which was an error. She did something to him under the water that made him groan and disappear below the surface. They all laughed.

Liam turned and swam to the edge near where I was. He flattened his hands on the deck and did a push-up to heave himself out of the pool, streaming water over his tanned and fit body. He really was cute. He stood over me to purposely let water drip off his lean muscles onto me. “How are you feeling after last night?”

I pushed his thigh to make him back away and stop dripping on me. “A little better. I won’t be doing that again.”

“Too bad. It was fun.”

“Was it? I don’t really recall.”

“I didn’t leave a lasting impression? Ouch, that hurts.” He sat down on Sophie’s lounge chair. “Maybe tonight we can hang out again. You can try to show some restraint around the booze and I’ll do some charming things that you’ll actually remember.”

“I have a boyfriend, remember?”

“It’s just dancing.”

“Right. Just dancing.”

“That kiss Sophie gave you to get rid of that guide was kind of hot. It left me with an interesting mental image.”

“Keep dreaming.”

He stood up abruptly to slide one arm under my knees and one around my back. I squirmed and screamed as he picked me up, took a couple long strides, and leapt into the pool with me in his arms. We hit the water and I heard the splash through the muted watery sound in my ears. I made vicious eye contact with him for a second while we were submerged; he was smiling. I broke the surface before he did and waited for him. As soon as he appeared, I splashed his face, then pushed all my weight down on his head to dunk him. After I held him down long enough to make a point, I swam back to the edge of the pool and got out. The water actually felt great, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. I twisted my hair to wring it out, then rubbed a towel across my skin. When I turned back toward the pool, Liam held up my sunglasses, which he had obviously retrieved from the bottom.

“Do you want these?”

“Yes. My retinas are burning.”

“Come and get them,” he teased.

I walked to the edge and crouched so my chest was in line with his face. “You come here,” I said seductively and fluttered my eyelashes.

He frantically treaded closer and his attitude turned serious at the hope that I was flirting with him. He glanced at my chest for a second, then looked back at my face and handed me the glasses. It was so easy.

“Good boy.” I patted him on the top of his head and then walked away.

His friends laughed at him. He didn’t seem to mind—he shouldn’t have minded since he got a close-up peek out of it. Sophie got out of the pool and ran her fingers through her hair. The guys all stood in the pool gawking up at her gorgeous figure. She knew they were drooling, so she bent over and slowly ran the towel up one leg. Then she reached her arms up and twisted her hair into a knot. “Bye, boys,” she said before she leaned over to toss her stuff into her bag. I grabbed my bag and followed her.

“Meet us at the club tonight,” Liam shouted after us.

We smiled and kept walking. It was fun to mess with them, but they were just goofy boys. I missed Trevor.

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