Page 100 of Ship Happens

“I’m not?” Owen tells her, clearly confused. “I just told you that I’m not.”

“No, not about that.” Kaitlyn looks at Owen with a concerning amount of, well, concern. “About something else.”

Owen’s eyes narrow. “What did you do?”

“You can’t be mad,” she repeats.

“You can’t tell me to not be mad before you explain what I can’t be mad about, Kaitlyn. That’s not how this works.” Owen pulls away. “What did you do?”

“I . . . I didn’t plan this trip just because of the baby.”

In an instant, the pieces click into place, and Owen understands what Kaitlyn’s going to say before she says it. “You were trying to get me and Jacob back together?”

Owen and Kaitlyn both crane their necks when they hear a knock on the bedroom door.

“You guys okay in there?” Jacob’s voice is soft and unsure.

Crossing the room in just a few steps, Owen swings the bedroom door open to find Jacob standing there, waiting for them. And behind him stand Abigail and Kevin, just as nosy.

“Did you know?” Owen asks.

Jacob’s brows furrow together. “Know what?”

He can tell in an instant that Jacob had no clue about any of this.

“Apparently, the actual reason any of us are here”—Owen turns to face Kaitlyn—“is because Kaitlyn was trying to get us back together.”

“What?” Jacob’s attention shifts to his sister.

“Wait, huh?” Abigail forces laughter, slipping past Jacob to get into the room. “What is Owen talking about, baby?”

And suddenly, Kaitlyn is faced with four sets of eyes staring back at her. Owen watches her throat bob. “I promise you both, I was only trying to help.”

“It’s true?” Abigail questions. “You told me that you wanted this to be a family thing.”

“It was! It is!” Kaitlyn insists. “I swear to all of you that this didn’t start as some scheme, back when we booked it, I just . . .” She turns to Owen. “I thought that this might be the only way to get the two of you in the same place, force you to work things out. And I was right!”

“You’ve got to be joking.” Owen groans and Abigail throws her head back.

“Dude . . .” is all Kevin has to add.

Fair enough.

“I just . . . Owen’s right,” Kaitlyn starts to explain. “Everything is changing, we’re all moving on and we’re spreading apart and I just . . . I thought this was one thing that I could control. Hailey and Ravi already wouldn’t be able to make it, and I couldn’t stand the idea of Owen and Jacob hating each other—”

“So you decided to manipulate us?” Jacob interrupts, blinking a few times in quick succession. “You decided that you’d make us your little project?”

“Well, if the two of you would’ve just sat down and talked to each other!” Kaitlyn stands. “I mean seriously, y’all didn’t even try to work things out.” In her frustration, the drawl of her accent starts to slip out.

“I can’t believe the money we spent for this,” Abigail says, mostly to herself, it seems.

“How selfish can you be, Kait?” Jacob steps closer to her. “How Owen and I worked through things, if we worked through them, that wasn’t something you had a say in.”

“But you told me that you still loved him,” Kaitlyn argues. “You told me that you wanted to reach out, that you just wanted to call and hear his voice one more time. You made it so clear that you loved him. Both of you did. And I was sick of you both not doing anything about your feelings. You bought a ring, Jacob!”

“Stop it,” Jacob says, his face darkening. “You don’t get to make these kinds of choices for other people.”

“Well, it’s not like the two of you were going to do anything about it,” Kaitlyn almost shouts. It’s the loudest her voice ever gets. “When you love someone you fight for them, you fight to stick together because you know the other person is worth it.”