Page 5 of Crossing the Line

I told myself to stop thinking about fucking my best friend. Considering that I’d forcibly suppressed any attraction to her from the beginning, when I determined that she would be a great friend to have, it was surprisingly difficult to banish those thoughts. But I had to try. What else could I do?

I was going to enjoy this excursion with the guys, knowing that Kelsie was out having one of her own with the other half of the wedding party. I promised myself that later, when we were both back at the resort, I’d talk to her, just to make sure things were okay between us.

They had to be. Anything else was unacceptable.

Chapter Three: Kelsie

Wallowing in self-pity had never been my style. After leaving Damien’s room and allowing myself a good cry, I picked myself up off the floor and started to get ready for the day. Leanne wanted all of the women in the wedding party and some members of the family to go with her to visit a winery on the island. We were supposed to choose a local wine to be served at the wedding reception, and the winery on the island was famous for its high-quality and unique craftsmanship.

At least, that was what Leanne said. I couldn’t really tell a good wine from a bad one. On the rare occasions that I bought a bottle, I usually just went with the cheapest one at the grocery store.

But this was an important outing to Leanne, and I wasn’t going to miss it, even if my input was unlikely to be helpful.

I spent the rest of the morning pulling myself together. Shower, a light breakfast, and some Ibuprofen to help with my pounding hangover headache got me feeling mostly normal. Physically.

My mind and my heart were still a mess, but by the time I met the rest of the women in the lobby of the resort, I’d already started to try to get past it, attempting to tuck my romantic feelings for Damien into a box and duct-tape it shut so that I could function. Until now, Damien had played a starring role in the story of my life. I thought he was my leading man, but I was wrong. Damien didn’t want that. He was a supporting character all along. A friend and confidant, but not my happy ending.

Compartmentalizing like that wasn’t easy for me, and my chest still felt like there’d been a hole punched through it, but I plastered a smile on my face as I joined the group of women. There was another bridesmaid, Leanne’s friend Angela, and a matron of honor named Jess. Jess had been best friends with Leanne since high school, and she was the only one of us who was married. Her husband doted on her, and he was in the lobby when I arrived, hugging Jess goodbye as if they were going to be separated for days instead of hours. It was sweet and cringey in equal measure.

I was jealous.

Leanne also invited the female family members on this outing. My mother and hers were there, and the two of them looked like twins as they stood side-by-side, even though my mother was three years younger. My Aunt Cathy had the kind of voice that carried, and I could hear her halfway across the lobby talking about a delay with the delivery of the wedding flowers, stress lining her features. She wasn’t just the mother of the bride; she was an event planner, and she’d been instrumental in the planning of this wedding.

“Is everything okay over there?” I asked as I came to stand beside Leanne, nodding toward our mothers.

Leanne grimaced. “It’ll be fine. You know how mom is. Everything is the end of the world with her.”

I chuckled. “What happened?”

“The florist was supposed to send the flowers Thursday, and a local flower shop was going to arrange the bouquets and make the arrangements for the centerpieces. Now, the florist is saying that there’s a delay and the flowers won’t be here until Friday evening.”

My jaw dropped. “But the wedding is Saturday.”

Leanne rolled her eyes as she smiled. “I think I know that, Kelsie. But I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

Leanne was the opposite of a stressed-out bridezilla. During the entire planning process, she didn’t scream or cry or make any unreasonable demands. She was just happy to be getting married to the man she loved.

And there was that jealousy again.

A week’s worth of celebrating a wedding wasn’t the best time to realize that the man I wanted to be with didn’t feel the same way about me, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I just shoved that duct-taped box further into the dark corners of my mind and committed to pretending that everything was fine.

We were also joined by my other aunt, who was married to my mom’s brother, and Ryan’s twenty-one-year-old cousin, Kirsten. I didn’t know her well, but she had a pierced nose and a seemingly permanent scowl on her face. Looking around, I noticed that Ryan’s sister wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Where’s Zoey?” I asked.

Leanne shrugged. “She just texted me this morning saying that she wasn’t up for joining us. Maybe she drank too much last night.”

I didn’t remember seeing her drink any alcohol at the bonfire, but I didn’t mention it. Since Zoey wasn’t joining us, I seemed to be the last one to arrive.

We all headed to the winery. The resort sat at the southern tip of the island, and there was a rainforest between it and the vineyard. Then, there was a mountain that once housed a volcano to the north. According to the tourist information about the island that the resort provided, tectonic plates had shifted, cutting the volcano off from its magma source long ago. The vineyard was built on the drier slope of the old volcano where the mountain itself blocked excess rain.

The road leading up the slope was winding, cutting through the dense rainforest until the trees fell away, and the vineyard was revealed. I stared at thousands of grapevines in perfect rows under the bright sun. It was neat and orderly, so different from the chaotic rainforest we just passed through.

Beyond the vines, the winery stood. It was built from dark rock and hardwood, seeming to almost grow out of the side of the mountain. The sign above the entrance read Basalt and Bloom Winery.

We were in a shuttle, and the driver parked directly in front of the building. As we stepped out, I noticed that the air here was different, sweeter and less briny than it was down by the shore.

Inside, we were led to a tasting room at the back of the building. The entire back wall was made of glass, allowing for a stunning view of the nearby vines and the ocean in the distance. I glanced out and wondered if one of the boats I could see out on the water contained the guys.