Olivia nods. “Yes. It has been. I’m just sorry for how it ended—”
“I know,” I say. “I hate that you met Lainey like this.”
“Me too,” she says.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, she’s really easygoing,” I say, knowing how much Olivia hates the drama her other sister creates. “She’s very different from your description of Ashley.”
“I can tell,” Olivia says. “She seems legitimately hurt, whereas Ashley just plays the victim.”
I nod, then remember that Tyson is waiting for me. I tell her I’d better go.
“Yes. Go,” she says, reaching for my hand as she gives me a tight smile.
“Okay,” I say, stalling a few seconds more. “I’ll reach out as soon as we talk to her. What time do you think you’ll go to sleep?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Call anytime. I want to know that everything’s okay.”
“I will,” I say, finally getting to my feet as Olivia does the same. She’s a good five inches taller than I am, so I tilt my head up to look in her eyes. “Bye for now.”
“Yep. Bye for now,” I whisper back, hit by a wave of affection and attraction. The attraction part still confuses me, but not as much as it did a few hours—and kisses—ago.
She gives me the cutest smile, then wraps her long arms around my waist, embracing me so tightly that it’s hard to hug her back. I find a way, though, wondering if she’ll give me one last kiss. I decide not to wait to find out, kissing her instead.
—
I find Tyson in the lobby.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“No worries,” he says, gathering the shopping bags at his feet.
As we walk out onto the dark street, it takes me a few seconds to clear my senses of Olivia.
“Any word yet?” I ask.
“Nope,” he says.
I glance at him, trying to gauge his mood. I know he’s frustrated and worried, but I can’t tell if he’s also angry with me.
“Just so you know,” I say, “I didn’t actually lie to Lainey.”
“Huh?” he says, giving me a sideways glance.
“I never told her I was with Archie. She just assumed…” My voice trails off.
“Look, Han,” Tyson says, pausing midstride to look at me. “Your business is your business. You’re entitled to have your own friendships and privacy. We’re all adults here.”
He takes a deep breath as I feel a but coming.
Sure enough, he says, “But I can understand why Lainey saw this as a breach of trust. Bottom line, it feels reckless.”
I nod, ashamed.
“And honestly—I really don’t know how you expected to pull this off on a speck of an island,” he says, walking again.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I was going to tell y’all…and then the hours passed…and I chickened out. I should have just told Lainey the deal this morning—”
“What is the deal?” he asks, cutting me off and giving me a look.
“I don’t mean deal like that,” I say, not ready to get into anything other than concern for Lainey. “I just mean…I should have told you both that Olivia was coming to Capri. And that we’ve become friends. And that you were both welcome to join…or not.”
“Yeah,” Tyson says, quickening his pace. “That would have been a whole lot easier than this fiasco.”
—
A few minutes later, we are back at our hotel. I brace myself the whole way up in the elevator, then down the hall to our room.
Tyson unlocks the door and pushes it open.
“Lainey?” he calls out.
There is no response, and it takes us all of three seconds to determine that she’s not here. Further, it would appear that she hasn’t been back since housekeeping cleaned the room, as the bedding and bathroom look undisturbed.
I point this out to Tyson, and he says, “Yeah. She definitely hasn’t been back.”
“Where do you think she went?”
He sighs. “I have no idea. But I bet it involves alcoholic beverages.”
