Chapter Eighteen
Gretchen
Mina hopped up onto my porch the morning after I had taken Christian to the waterfall. She wrinkled her nose when she saw me. “Reading again,” she sighed, shaking her head.
I laughed and put a bookmark in my book, setting it off to the side. “Reading again,” I confirmed.
Mina frowned at me, peering over at me. “You're happy,” she accused.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Should I not be?”
Mina rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean,” she said.
I laughed again and rolled out of the hammock. “So, I guess we're having brunch?”
“Of course, we are,” Mina said, as though it was a given. “You have the day off, and I didn't see you at all yesterday. Where did you disappear to, anyway? I came all the way over here to bother you on my lunch break, and you weren't even here.”
“Sorry that I can't always be there for you, darling,” I said.
“But where were you?” Mina asked. “Running errands?”
I paused. “Well, actually.” I led her through the house to the kitchen and began pulling out yogurt and fruits and some frozen hash browns that I had cooked up a few weeks before, in a massive batch. “I was with Christian,” I told her.
Mina's eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “You were, were you?” she asked, smirking. “I thought you weren't going to see him again. How did you explain to him about having kicked him out of bed?”
I sighed. “We didn't discuss things. I just went over there to his hotel and apologized.”
“I can guess how eloquent that apology was,” Mina said, a grin tugging at her lips. “And then?”
“I took him out to the waterfall,” I told her, shrugging a little. I paused. “We had a nice day together.”
“Sex?” Mina asked, always straightforward.
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I don't know if I want to yet. I just want to show him the real Hawaii, if he's going to be here for a while. I can tell that he needs that.”
“So, you're going to see him again?”
I blushed. “Yeah, actually,” I told her. I popped a piece of peach into my mouth, chewing slowly. “I invited him to the luau on Monday night.”
I expected Mina to look excited at that, but instead, she frowned, narrowing her eyes at me. “Are you sure that's a good idea?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I know there are probably going to be people there who recognize him and whatever, but I don't think that's going to matter, is it? Our parties are pretty low-key, and it's not like the media are going to pop up and surprise him or something like that. I'm surprised because I don't think there's been any coverage of him since he came down to Hawaii. It's like the media is respecting him or something.”
“Are you stalking him?” Mina’s eyes twinkled. She was back to frowning after just a moment. “The thing is, you know that Lino is probably going to be at the luau.”
I frowned as well. “I hadn't thought about that.” I shrugged though. “Aren't you the person who's always telling me that I need to get over Lino?” I asked. “Nothing is going to show him more clearly that we are over as me showing up with another guy, right?”
“It's not about showing him that you're over him,” Mina said, still thinking about what she wanted to say. “Doesn't it seem kind of like you're throwing it in his face? The last thing you want is to start a scene.”
“What, you think he's going to start a fight or something?” I asked incredulously. “I know that we have history and whatever, and I know that you think he's an asshole, but I don't think he's about to deck Christian or anything like that.”
“Probably not,” Mina agreed. “Just…” She sighed and shrugged. “I can't tell you what to do, and you obviously know Lino better than I do. Maybe everything will be fine. But be careful. There are a lot of people on the island who still don't know why the two of you broke up and all of that.”
“They shouldn't have to know why we broke up,” I snapped.
Mina held up both hands. “Hey, I know that,” she said. “I'm just trying to remind you that everyone thought you guys were perfect for one another. There are a lot of people who aren't going to understand why you're gallivanting around with Christian Wall and bringing him to our local luau.”
I frowned and then shook my head. “I just want to show him my Hawaii,” I finally said, shrugging. “Anyway, I've already invited him. I can't un-invite him now.”
“In that case.” Mina grinned at me, a gleam in her eyes. “You're going out on a date with Christian Wall, and you're going to need a new dress. Which means that today, we're going shopping.”
I laughed and shook my head, but I might have known that that would be her reaction. “All right, all right,” I told her. “Let's finish breakfast first, though.”
We managed to find a dress at the first store that we went to, a slinky, sky blue number that made my tan look especially nice. “God, I'd kill to have curves like you,” Mina said as we sat there in the salon getting our nails done.
I laughed. “Yeah?” I asked. “You've got the skinny beach babe look going on; I don't see why you're complaining.”
“I could never wear a dress like that, though,” Mina said, nodding toward the shopping bag at my feet. She laughed. “It would honestly just fall straight off.”
“Yeah, but some of the things that you can wear I could never wear.” I protested.
“And you get to go on the arm of Christian Wall.” Mina sighed. “Some girls have all the luck. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you, but I am also envious as anything.”
I laughed, but I quickly sobered. “Yeah, I'm lucky,” I agreed. “But at the same time, I know this all has an expiration date. It feels a bit like a Cinderella story, you know? Pretty soon, the ball is going to be over, and I'm going to come back down to reality.”
“And that's why you kicked him out of your bed?” Mina surmised.
“Yeah, to be honest,” I admitted. “I just started thinking about all the other girls who he's been with, and the fact that this was just another fuck for him. And that he'll be headed back to New York in a couple of weeks, and then there will be however many more women, and-”
“Oh, honey,” Mina interrupted. “You can't think like that. Remember what we were saying about your books and that whole line between reality and fiction? True love doesn't exist; the most we can do is just have a little fun with things. There's no problem with you just having some fun with Christian right now. Show him around, if that's what you want to do. Sleep with him, maybe, if you want to do that. But don't get too attached to him.”
“I know,” I said. “I just don't know how not to get attached. I'm not like you, Mina.”
“At least you know when the so-called expiration date is,” Mina pointed out. “For a lot of couples, they just never know that kind of thing, and when the end comes, they're totally surprised as well as upset.”
“He doesn't know when he's going to leave Hawaii,” I said miserably. “For all I know, it could be tomorrow.”
“It had better not be tomorrow,” Mina said, and I could hear a steely note in her voice. “He'd better at least stay through the luau because you just bought a killer dress to wear to it. If he stands you up, I swear I'll go after him, even if it means I have to dodge angry hordes of media to do it!”
I laughed a little. “I don't know what I've done to get such a great best friend,” I said happily.
Mina shrugged. “I know you'd do the same for me,” she pointed out.
“Definitely,” I agreed.
We sat there in contented silence for a long moment. Finally, Mina looked over at me, a gleam in her eye. “If you don't want to fuck Christian again, I definitely wouldn't mind having your sloppy seconds on that one.”
I burst out laughing, knowing that she didn't mean it. She would never do that to me, and especially not when I'd admitted to having feelings for him. “Keep dreaming, girl,” I told her. “But hey, maybe once he's back to New York, his tales of beaches and luaus and pretty girls will send some of his fellow billionaires down. You can get the next one.”