“I’m so sorry.” Cami placed a hand on top of hers.
“Yeah.” Mia sighed. “Me too. For you, I mean. For your loss. Everyone talks about how terrible it is to lose a parent or a child, but no one ever talks about how hard it is to lose a sibling.”
“It really drives home that old saying: life’s too short,” Cami agreed. “Which brings us full circle in this conversation. Life’s too short for us to be constantly worrying about the consequences when amazing opportunities present themselves. Plus, don’t we owe it to those who were taken too soon to live life to its fullest?”
Before Mia could answer her question, Cami pushed on. “So what if sex changes your friendship with Romeo? There’s no guarantee your friendship won’t change anyway. I mean, friends come and go. If you and Romeo do this, at least you’ll have the memory of it to hold onto when you’re all alone and the nights turn cold.”
Mia desperately wanted to buy what Cami was selling. The lawyer made it sound so simple and reasonable. Well, that and Mia may have undersold herself when she told Cami that for a while now she’d jump at the chance for some wild monkey sex with Romeo. It was more like she’d take a flying leap over a cliff with no safety net waiting at the bottom.
And maybe that was a good analogy. Because as fun as the fall would be, the landing might hurt like hell. And yet, even so, she couldn’t deny that she was—
Cami interrupted her thoughts. “You’re going to do it, aren’t you?”
“You make a compelling argument,” Mia admitted.
“Thank you.” Cami inclined her head. “I like to think so.” Then, her eyes narrowed. “But...”
“But what?” Mia frowned.
“That’s what I’m asking you. I can see there’s a but rolling around inside your head.” Cami pointed to a spot between Mia’s eyes.
“If you’re this much of a bulldog in regular life,” Mia said, “what are you like in the courtroom?”
“Pretty much the same,” Cami conceded with a chuckle. “I just use a lot more your honors and if it pleases the courts. So...what’s the but?”
Mia bit her lip. “But what if, despite everything we’ve talked about, this still ends up being a really bad idea and one or both of us gets hurt?”
Cami waved away her concern. “Bad ideas make for great stories. And as for getting hurt? Take it from Garth Brooks, it’s way worse to miss the dance than it is to miss the pain.”
Mia snorted. “Never figured you for a country music fan.”
“I’m not. But I make an exception for Garth.”
Am I really going to do this? Mia asked herself. Am I really going to take Spiro “Romeo” Delgado as a lover?
Heaven help her, she was. Because Cami and Garth were right. Life was too short and Mia didn’t want to miss the dance.
Plus, now she could view leaving Wayfarer Island as a good thing. Her leaving would create a hard stop for their affair, and it felt good knowing from the beginning how it would end.
It made her feel more in control.
Chapter 13
4:14 PM...
At least one of us will be getting laid soon, Cami thought as she stole a look at Mia and found the marine archeologist wearing a secretive little smile.
Of course, the last thing Cami was doing was smiling when she returned her attention to her palm leaf mat.
Mia had managed to make three of the big, green suckers in the time it’d taken Cami to make one. Not even one. Because she was half finished, and her weave looked no tighter on her third attempt than it had on her first.
Glancing at Mia’s hands, she diligently watched the process for the umpteenth time. And yet when she tried to recreate it? It was all Hashtag Nailed It.
Mia’s mat looked like it belonged under a dinner plate at a fancy island resort. Cami’s mat looked like...well, not a mat. Maybe a basket? Or...a hammock for a family of Central Park squirrels?
Her sorry attempt at weaving reminded her of the time Carlotta had tried to teach her to French braid. They’d ended up having to cut three inches off Carlotta’s hair because Cami had so thoroughly tied it in knots. And then Cami had let Carlotta cut three inches off her hair out of solidarity.
Their mother had been furious to find their raven locks lying in a pile on the bathroom floor. But they’d thought their new bangs looked kind of cute. And who cared if the left side of Cami’s hair was shorter than the right, or that there was a huge hunk missing from the back of Carlotta’s head?
The memory of that day, all the whispers and giggles while she and her sister took turns wielding the scissors, renewed the ache that lived in the center of her chest. She sent a silent sentiment into the abyss. Oh, how I miss you, my sweet sister.
Letting her head fall back, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the warmth of the wind as it slid over her skin. On the sound it made when it rattled through the palm trees overhead. On the smells it brought with it...salt water, hot sand, and sun.
“What did you give him anyway?” Mia’s voice interrupted her momentary mediation.
Cami dropped her chin. “Give who what?”
“Doc.” Mia pointed over her shoulder toward the life raft. Its garish, orange hue stood out in stark contrast to the creamy color of the sand and the caramel color of the tree trunks.
The only way to know Doc inhabited the watercraft was to see the two huge bare feet propped on the round rubber side, or to hear the deep, resonate snores that wafted up from within.
Cami giggled. “I gave him one of my period pills.” When Mia lifted an eyebrow, Cami raised a hand. “Hey, he looked on the bottle and said he’d be fine to take it. And who was I to second-guess him?”
“Should we”—Mia wrinkled her nose—“go see if he’s okay?”
“He sounds fine to me.” Cami smirked. “In fact, he sounds better than fine. He sounds like he’ll be out for the next couple of hours. And if those pills affect him like they affect me, he’ll wake up with a serious craving for red wine and potato chips dipped in chocolate syrup.”
Mia laughed. “Is that a thing?”
“It is at my house,” Cami assured with all due seriousness.
Mia pressed a hand to her stomach when it let out a loud growl. “Oh, god. We must stop talking about food. I’m starving. Have you seen Romeo catch anything? He’s been at it for a while now.”