“What?” Minnie jumped up, nearly spilling her plate. “Oh my God, Joshy. Yay!”
“Well, that took about five seconds,” Shawn said. “Congrats, man.” He stood to shake Josh’s hand, and Dylan did too, slapping Josh on the back then giving him a tight hug. The kind she should be giving Cat.
Dani stayed glued to her chair.
“She’s been sick,” Josh said, rubbing a hand down his face. “It’s been a rough few months.”
“Months?” Minnie’s eyes widened. “How many?”
“Almost five.”
Josh looked down at the ground, the guilt that felt so personal to Dani laid bare. Dani did the math. Just like she thought, they’d been keeping this from them since before the wedding.
Dylan’s eyes darted to her again, watching her carefully like he was afraid she was about to lose it. She felt her face getting blotchy from holding back tears.
“Shut up,” Minnie said, the glee that should be Dani’s shining on her face. “I just saw her in a bathing suit! She is not five months along.”
“Almost five. And she’s been sick, so she hasn’t gained much.” He looked over his shoulder toward their tent. “We were hoping it would end once she hit her second trimester, but so far, she hasn’t gotten a break.”
The details and Josh’s excuses faded out, and Dani’s chest expanded like a balloon of irritation and sadness. Did Cat really think she couldn’t tell her? Okay, maybe the condolence card she sent Sonya for her engagement was a bit over the top, but this was Cat! And a baby Cat! Baby JoshCat. She was there when Cat met Josh. She was there when they had their first fight. Bachelorette party, maid of honor at her wedding, now all of a sudden she was being shut out. Why?
She chewed on her lip to keep her tears from spilling over. As much shit as she liked to give her, Cat being happy was all she wanted and instead of being really, really happy like she should be, Dani just felt really, really sad.
Dylan reached around her and tugged her ponytail, probably to remind her that she hadn’t said anything remotely congratulatory yet.
She cleared her throat and turned to Josh. “Is Cat okay?”
Josh nodded. “Yeah. It was just the cake. She hasn’t even been able to smell coffee without getting nauseous.”
“Poor Cat,” Sonya groaned. If there was one thing Cat loved as much as she loved Josh, it was coffee. She must have been miserable.
The sound of leaves crunching whipped everyone’s head toward the footpath, and Cat appeared wearing a new shirt, her hair tied up.
Dylan slid his hand onto Dani’s shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze. She let herself lean into it. No one was paying attention to them anyway.
“Cat.” Minnie rushed to hug her. “Congratulations, sweetie.”
Cat’s face twisted in an uncomfortable expression. “Thanks.”
Minnie let her go, and Cat and Josh had a little tiff with their eyes. Cat looked like she was going to burst into tears, and for some reason, Josh looked unhappy with her.
Cat rubbed her arms. “I just came back to say thanks for dinner and sorry for puking in front of your cake. I’m going to turn in.”
Dylan nudged Dani’s shoulder, and she stepped toward Cat. She was pissed, and Cat still smelled like puke, but she gave her a hug anyway. “Congratulations, Kit Cat,” she whispered. “I hope you feel better.” She braced herself for a wooden hug, to feel the disappointment of their distance up close, but instead, Cat squeezed her back. It was tight and needy, and Dani had the sudden urge to wave everyone else off and pull Cat somewhere quiet and talk this out.
But Cat broke away and headed to her tent. Alone.
Twenty-three
“You know, there’s a deck of cards and a bottle of gin just through those trees,” Dylan said. “You don’t have to drink alone.” He dropped into the chair beside Dani and crossed his arms over his chest, studying her face.
After Cat had left and they’d cleaned up from dinner, Dani had claimed she needed a sweatshirt from her tent. Thirty minutes later, he’d begun to doubt the cover story. He’d seen her shoulders fall when Josh told everyone about Cat. As much as he’d tried to keep it light, use it to cheer her up, their “secret mission” game was real life to Dani. He hadn’t missed the way her eyes were shining when she gave them that sweatshirt story.
Sure enough, he’d found her sitting in a camp chair at her own site, sulking over a beer.
“I can’t play drinking games with Shawn and Josh,” she said. “I’ll die of alcohol poisoning.”
“What about me?”
“I can beat you.”
He laughed, her biting comeback easing his worry a little. But her voice was still flat, plaintive. Seeing her usual spark dim made a place inside his rib cage ache. He wanted to take it away, and since he couldn’t go back in time and fix whatever girl drama was happening between her and Cat, all he had left was distraction.
“Come on, Dani-pie. Don’t be sad.”
“I’m not.”
He poked her side and she batted his hand away. “Then don’t be mad. Let’s go for a swim.”
“It’s like fifty degrees out.”
“Yeah, but the water in the inlet stays warm from the sun. It’ll be like a hot tub.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“I swear. Please?” The sound of Minnie and Sonya laughing echoing off of the rocks and trees seemed to worsen her mood.
She didn’t answer, just picked at the label on her bottle of beer with her thumbnail.
Time for the big guns. He stood up and scooped her from the camp chair, and she squealed, pounding her fist into his bicep.
“Shhh.” He laughed at her weak little assault. “Enough of this. You can either change into your bathing suit or go naked, but you’re swimming. It’s a beautiful night, there’s a full moon and everyone up there”—he jutted his chin toward the next campsite over—“is hammered. No one will even know we’re gone.”
Dani stopped hitting him and her face twisted into a scowl that he had to fight really hard not to kiss.
“Bathing suit?” he asked.
Dani’s scowl wavered and twisted, then turned upward into a devilish smile. “No bathing suit.”
“There she is.”
She did insist on a towel, and after grabbing those and two more beers, he took her hand, tugging her the whole way down the bumpy path to the water. He had the overwhelming sense that this was his job right now, to force Fun Dani back to life. Lucky for her, fun was his forte.