“hang loose” gesture. He laughed and turned back to his conversation with April.
Suddenly the music on Adam’s 80s playlist clicked over to the familiar beginning beats of Never Gonna Give You Up. Ah, only Adam Drake would rick-roll his own party. I caught Lucas’s eye and pointed toward one of the speakers. He appeared to understand, laughing. They’re playing our song, I wanted to say. But that would be letting everyone else in on our little in-joke.
Although when you thought about it, our entire marriage was our little in-joke, wasn’t it? Too bad it didn’t feel like too much of a joke when I was lying in bed at night alone. In my hot and bothered memory, I relived the memory of his kisses, his hands on my body.
Mia beamed at her husband then turned to me, shaking her head. “I can’t take that boy anywhere.”
I nodded, duly impressed. “Eight months of marriage and you two are still full-on horn-dawgs. I love it.”
She elbowed me. “Don’t you judge. Every time I catch your hubby looking at you, he reminds me of a starving wolf staring at a bloody steak hanging just out of his reach.”
I could feel the heat roast my face immediately and knew that I was blushing like a cherry. Sometimes being a ginger was such a detriment, especially when trying to hide certain emotions.
“Is that so?” I shrugged and smirked as if I knew full well what she was talking about despite the fact that I didn’t. I flicked a glance in Lucas’s direction but he was now deep in conversation with Jordan.
“How is everything going? How are you adjusting to married life? I mean… it was all so sudden for you. I’m still amazed by that.”
“Well, I guess I have some impulsive tendencies—like when I came down to see you the minute I found out you were sick, remember?”
She smiled and threw an arm around my shoulders. “You have no idea how much that meant to me. It was an amazing gesture and so selfless. You dropped everything in your life just for me. When we’d only ever met in person once.”
I shrugged and looked away. I had been happy to do it when I’d found out that Mia had cancer. But what I’d never told her was that it suited my purposes too. I’d needed to get out of town—hell, out of the country—and avoid my own problems back home. To avoid the impossible situation that my family was pushing me into.
What Mia saw as a show of selflessness was actually cowardice in action.
I returned Mia’s hug. “Well, you know, I was happy to do it. And now I’m here.”
“And here’s where you met your true love!” she smiled at me. And again, I avoided her gaze. My true love. Yeah. A fresh chord of some sharp emotion stabbed at me. It didn’t hurt so much as stated it was there and was too strong to be ignored.
“What’s going on over here?” April asked, suddenly appearing at Mia’s shoulder. “A mutual appreciation society and I’m not invited?”
April was gorgeous in a deep violet one-piece swimsuit complete with sparkly sequins, a garment made for showing off her curvy figure at the beach rather than actually swimming in. And given that her shiny dark hair looked perfect, it was clear that she’d done more floating than swimming.
Thank God for the perfect excuse to change the subject. “Dude, you have to try the guacamole,” I said. “Alex’s mom made it and it’s to die for.”
She pressed her hands to her flat belly. “Ugh. I’m so full I can’t eat anything else for a while. Hey is Jordan looking over here? I want to freak him out by oohing and ahhing over your wedding ring. It’s beautiful by the way, but I’m not going to put on the big show unless he’s my lowkey-terrified audience.”
Mia snickered. “You’re so deviously brilliant.”
April winked at her. “Any chance I can get to tweak my Beast, I’ll take it.”
“I’ll let you know when he looks over and we can start the big show.” I laughed along. “Meanwhile, can we talk about how weird it is that Heath is dating a dark-haired, dark-eyed hottie named Adan? Is he dating your husband by proxy?”
Mia’s mouth creased as if the thought had already occurred to her. “I would never in a million years say anything to him about it, but it is a little awkward.”
“Just make sure Adam and Adan aren’t locked in a room alone