Page 222 of Out of Left Field

“Not often.” One of the reasons we’d become friends was because Jeri was a straight shooter. That, and she wasn’t one to judge. She reminded me of Seth and Everett. Plus she was super close to Annalise, so that put us in the same orbit.

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Why don’t you date?” She stirred her drink with a straw before sucking more of the tropical concoction into her mouth, looking expectantly at me.

“I’m married to my work.”

“Bullshit.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s true. But I’ve put a real effort in for the last month. I’ve been on a dozen dates.”

Jeri arched an eyebrow. “Any second dates?”

I still couldn’t believe I’d actually done it. I said yes to every offer. A couple had even been fun. But not one had seemed worth finding out if there was something there. “I have no time for messes.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Charley was going through a nasty divorce and was almost as blunt as Jeri.

“What’s up with what?” If I’d known “cocktails” was code for “twenty questions” I would have stayed in my room.

“You avoid complications. All complications. By your own admission you’ve avoided female friendships until you discovered how awesome we are, let Everett slide for years because you didn’t want to push him, and you don’t date unless it’s easy. Seems to me you’ve got a complex.”

I really hated how close she was to the mark.

I tossed my balled-up napkin at her. “Stop doing therapy on me.” But this was why I bonded with these women. They saw me for who I was, wrinkles and all, and called me on my crap. And they didn’t get prissy when I shoveled it right back. It was weird to finally have a female friend group I truly felt like I belonged in for the first time in my life at the age of thirty-one.

But I appreciated it a hell of a lot because it took so long to get here.

“I’ll let it slide. For now.” Charley winked before diving into the shrimp cocktail. “Is it just me or is the shrimp better here?”

I pointed to the docks. “They literally just came out of the sea. That’s why they’re better.”

Charley’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”

I shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal because I got a little embarrassed that I couldn’t turn off my work brain. “I may have quizzed the poor man at the seafood market after lunch.” It came with the territory. Everywhere I went I saw a story that needed to be told. This island had lots of stories and I couldn’t help starting with the large man who sang opera behind the counter. “Luckily Samuel was a talker. He told me all about the long history of fishing on these islands. Said he used to eat right on the docks when the boats came in. Also told me to order the oysters here. Apparently they’re the best he’s had anywhere in the world. And if we get adventurous, to take a boat over to Flamingo Island. There’s a hole in the wall restaurant called The Fighting Conch that has the best food. Period.”

“I think we should charter a boat then.” Jeri peered out at the water. “You know how much I love food.”

“Why don’t we enjoy the food in front of us before we start making other plans.” The table was covered with delicious food. And we hadn’t even gotten to those oysters Samuel recommended.

“But we go into full retreat at sunset. If we’re going to do anything wild and reckless, we need to do it soon.” There was a glint in Jeri’s eyes I couldn’t quite place. It was like she was trying to lure me into something.

What, I had no idea. “And why do we need to do something reckless? Isn’t the whole point of going into a full retreat to relax?” Kate decided the thing the teams needed more than anything was to disconnect from everything, so tonight all access to the outside world would be severed. No phones. No computers. For the next twenty-four hours all communication was supposed to be done face-to-face.

“I find rebelling relaxing.” Jeri shrugged. “Especially if it involves food.”

“I agree.” Charley held up her drink like she was making a toast. “Before we all get to work on improving ourselves, let’s have a little fun.”

8

EVERETT

Imight have made a mistake letting Annalise help me. It was like flashing the Bat Signal. The next thing I knew I’d lost all control. Jeri was involved. So was Charley. Probably more. It wasn’t subtle. If they weren’t careful they were going to scare Willa off.

They were rushing us together when I still hadn’t solved my bigger, more fundamental problem: I didn’t know how to be a boyfriend. Even when it came to our friendship, which I normally thought of as natural, I’d failed. Our vacation was proof enough of that. Conversation? Easy. Honesty? Not so much. When I didn’t open up to her, she turned and ran home, closing me out.

And I deserved that. How could she trust me after the years I kept her at arm’s length? It wasn’t like I was doing myself any favors.

Being a boyfriend meant being a partner. I couldn’t pick and choose what I told her about. I had to be vulnerable. Those were things I could figure out. But could I be reliable? There was no avoiding phone calls because I didn’t want to talk. No hiding from my problems and only showing up when I felt like it.

More importantly, could I give Willa what she deserved? Because she deserved the very best. A man she could lean on, count on, make her life better.