other players, which I try to answer without insulting the refs, the league or other players.
“We need to get going,” Sarah says eventually. “We have a dinner tonight.”
“Yeah.” Justin makes a face. “Duty calls.”
“Your boss is here,” Sarah reminds him. “You better show up.”
They leave to go to their business dinner. Molly and I have finished our drinks.
“We should think about dinner too, I guess.” I sets my empty down on the small table.
“Yes, I’ve had enough pool time for the day.”
“No sunburn?”
“I don’t think so. How’s my back?” She turns.
I cough, admiring the expanse of smooth skin. “Looks good.”
“Whew. It’s hard to sunscreen your own back.” She pushes a book and magazine into her tote bag, folds up her towel and we start back to the room. “So, why was your day so rough? Your grandpa not doing well?”
I blow out an explosive breath. “No. It’s just…hard.”
She doesn’t press me, but I know she will at some point. “What do you feel like for dinner? Something here? Or should we go out?”
“Let’s go out. Somewhere fun and noisy.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
I let her shower first, then take my turn. When I come out, rubbing my hair with a towel, she’s dressed in another cute sundress and she’s looking at her phone, clearly upset. I stop rubbing my hair, lowering my arms. “What’s wrong?”
Her lips tighten. “Steve went on our honeymoon.”
“Aw. Fuck.” I close my eyes and shake my head. “I’m sorry, Molly.”
“It’s okay.” She pulls in a breath and stands.
“Fuck,” I mutter again. “How do you know that?”
She holds up her phone. “Grace sent me a text message. My phone’s been off, and I had a bunch of missed calls, voice mails and texts. Most from Steve, but a lot from Grace and Brielle. And one from Mom just checking in.” She hesitates. “I didn’t listen to Steve’s messages, but I did read the others.”
“Who’s he there with?”
“Grace says she doesn’t know.” She swallows, a pained expression on her face. “If he’s with Claire…”
Goddammit.
“I’ll finish getting ready.” She darts into the bathroom.
“No rush,” I call. “I’ll be out on the balcony.”
I grab my own phone and go outside where the sun is sinking down to the horizon. The ocean glints silver and turquoise, stretching out to infinity.
Should I text Steve and see who he’s with?
I run my thumb over the phone screen. Shit. I hate seeing Molly unhappy. It must feel like a slap in the face that he went without her. Especially if he’s with someone else.
It might seem weird if I message him. We weren’t best buds or anything. So I don’t, but I scroll through Insta while I wait for Molly.
She joins me a few minutes later.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. I don’t care about the honeymoon.” She sits too. “Yes, I was excited to go to Europe, but it was my decision not to go through with the wedding, so I totally gave up the honeymoon too. It makes sense that Steve should go on the trip rather than waste a bunch of money. It just hurts that he may have gone with someone else.”
I nod.
“And if he’s with Claire, that just reinforces that I made the right decision.”
“I guess that’s true.” That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt, though.
“This view is incredible.”
I set down my phone. “It really is. I get why the rest of my family likes living here.”
“Would you want to play here?”
“Christ, no!”
She chokes out a laugh. “Okay, then.”
“My family owns both the local teams here. I don’t want to work for my family. Holy shit.” I shake my head.
“But what if you got traded? Players don’t always have a say where they’re going.”
“True.” I grimace. “Let’s hope that never happens.”
“I found a place for dinner. Mexican. How’s that?”
“Sounds good.”
We find the restaurant easily. It’s a typical cantina with wooden tables and chairs, stucco and brick, and lots of greenery.
We start off sharing cheese chips with guacamole. Molly orders the chicken mole and I go for beef fajitas. While we sip our drinks and wait for our meals, she changes the subject back to my visit with Grandpa.
“So how’s your grandpa doing today?”
I purse my lips briefly, then tell her about my conversation with Chelsea, ending with, “She’s not bailing on him.”
She watches me closely. “Do you feel more comfortable about her now?”
“Yeah. She’s looking after him. I tried to talk to Grandpa but I don’t think he really understood.”
“Oh no.”
I sigh. “I left it too late. I thought he was the enemy and