I shivered, not realizing how cold the ocean breeze could sometimes feel. Because it couldn’t be him. “Yes?”
“First of all, I apologize for this morning. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Oh,” I replied on a breath. A simple apology completely dismantled any lingering anger I had toward him.
There were some voices in the background when Sunny begrudgingly admitted, “I’m going to put you on speaker. My friends are with me, and they’re being extremely pushy that I call you so they can invite you to a…coffee tour with us.”
I stared at the striped fish near my foot, mouthing, “What?” But like most fish, this one didn’t have an answer.
Guessing by the lack of enthusiasm in his voice, he probably didn’t want me to actually attend. I was certain he wasn’t planning on continuing this ruse. Hadn’t he said as much this morning before storming out?
Confused, I jerked my head back and studied the phone. Okay. This was really his number. “My sister probably has plans for us.”
“Oh, Bhanu! Bride here!” a sweet voice crooned. “I’d love to meet you today! Just a short tour.”
Another woman’s voice pitched in to agree.
“Oh, well. I should really check with my sister,” I found myself saying instead of, “Thanks so much, but my sister and I have plans.”
“Please join. Our treat,” the first woman—the bride—insisted.
“Let me get back to you?”
“Okay! Soon! We’re dying to meet you!”
“Aw, thank you.” She seemed sweet, and I felt awful having to lie to her face.
With that, Sunny was sighing into the phone. “So yeah. My friends are eager to meet you.”
“What happened to…” My voice trailed off in case everyone could still hear.
“We’re not on speaker anymore.” Yet his voice was calm and muted, so his friends were probably nearby. “You don’t have to come. Spend time with your sister.”
“She has to come!” someone yelled in the background.
“Stop deterring her!” another voice called.
“Why don’t you want her coming around?” This one was a familiar voice, although not the first two. “Was that woman at the hotel just making it up?”
Ah, the ex. Man, she was acute if she could tell we were lying right off the bat. Or maybe she was poking the bear?
“Can you stop?” Sunny was muttering to her, his voice heavy with irritation. In a second, I saw this woman ripping him apart for no reason. I didn’t want that for anyone, much less an integral part of my team. Forget that our company might be depending on this project to launch us into the tech giant stratosphere, but I needed this project to launch my candidacy into the PM promotion more than anything.
“Hey,” I told him, my voice gruffer than I’d meant. “When do we leave?”
There was a pause before he asked, “Are you sure? You don’t have to.”
“Stop telling her that!” the bride called out.
“No, listen, I got you into this and I’ll see it through. Just don’t pop a blood vessel.”
He grunted, “Not at all wanting to see me struggle, huh?”
“I’m not a jerk, unlike some people.”
“See? That mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble,” he said, his Denzel voice rumbling like a deep bass vibrating my insides. Oh my god, what the hell was wrong with me?
I stared at my phone for a second. I hated these things.
“Get a room!” the second woman from earlier said.
“Oh my god,” we muttered at the same time.
“I’ll meet you at the villa in about half an hour?” he asked.
“Okay.”
Then we hung up. There were no thanks exchanged. But since I’d started this mess, going on a free coffee tour seemed like the least I could do. And sure, the tendrils of anxiety stirred, but they would calm. They had to. This wasn’t a last-minute party. I’d been to plenty of coffee farms. Besides, how bad could his friends be?
So back to the villa I went. Boy, the walk back seemed much longer than the stroll out. I’d finished my water a while ago and my mouth was parched. First mistake was going out without enough water. My skin started tingling right as I cut across the gardens and rounded the corner onto the main street, where large flowering trees created much-needed shade.
As soon as I walked through the door, I ran to the kitchen for water, gulping it down until my stomach turned sick.
“Calm down! You’ll throw up!”
I yelped, turning to face Diya and Kimo entering from the lanai doors. I choked on the last drops of water, but not so badly that Diya expressed any concern.
“This heat…” I mumbled, then went to the couch and fell onto my back beneath the ceiling fan and the air-conditioned air, pulling my shirt to just under my breasts. “Sorry, Kimo. Best look away.”
