“You’ll be back for dinner?” Mom asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” America said.
I dragged her up the stairs behind me to the main level and out the door.
“I looked up their flight,” she said as we settled into the Charger. “Two more hours.”
“Then we should roll into Chicago just in time.”
America leaned over to kiss my cheek. “Travis could be in a lot of trouble, couldn’t he?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“We, baby. Not if we can help it.”
I looked down into her eyes.
Travis had already cost me my relationship with America once. I loved him like a brother, but I wouldn’t risk it again. I couldn’t let America protect Travis and get in trouble with the authorities even if she wanted to.
“Mare, I love you for saying that, but I need you to stay out of this one.”
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Wow.”
“Travis will take a lot of people with him if he goes down for this. I don’t want you to be one of them.”
“Will you? Be one of them?”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “But you were at my parents’ all weekend. You know nothing. Understand?”
“Shep—”
“I mean it,” I said. My voice was uncharacteristically stern, and she leaned back a bit. “Promise me.”
“I … can’t promise you that. Abby is family. I’d do anything to protect her. By proxy, that includes Travis. We’re all in this together, Shepley. Travis would do the same for me or for you, and you know it.”
“That’s different.”
“Not at all. Not even a little bit.”
I leaned down to kiss her damn stubborn lips that I loved so much, and I twisted the ignition, firing up the Charger. “They can just drive your car home.”
“Oh, no,” she said, glaring out the window. “The last time I let them borrow my car, they got married without me.”
I chuckled.
“Drop me off at the Honda. I’ll drive them home, and they’re both going to hear it from me the entire way home. And Travis isn’t getting out of it by riding with you either, so if he asks—”
I shook my head, amused. “I wouldn’t dare.”
America
I dabbed the sweat beading above my top lip with the back of one hand, pressing down on the top of my wide-brimmed hat with the other. Across the palm trees and shrubs flowering in every bright color imaginable were Taylor and Falyn sitting together at a table at Bleuwater.
I removed my oversized black sunglasses and narrowed my eyes, watching them argue. The perfect island second wedding had taken most of the year to plan, and the Maddox boys were ruining it.
“Jesus,” I sighed. “What now?”
Shepley grabbed my hand, looking in the same direction until he eyed the problem. “Oh. They don’t look happy at all.”
“Thomas and Liis are fighting, too. The only ones getting along are Trent and Cami, and Tyler and Ellie, but Ellie never gets mad.”
“Tyler and Ellie aren’t really … together,” Shepley said.
“Why does everyone keep saying that? They’re together. They’re just not saying they’re together.”
“It’s been that way for a long time, Mare.”
“I know. Enough already.”
Shepley pulled my back against his chest and nuzzled my neck. “You forgot us.”
“Huh?”
“You forgot to say us. We’re getting along.”
I paused. Planning and organizing and making sure everything flowed smoothly had kept me busy. Aside from the reception at Sails, I’d barely seen Shepley. But he hadn’t once complained.
I touched his cheek. “We always get along.”
Shepley offered a half smile. “Travis has officially gotten married twice before the rest of us.”
“Trenton isn’t far behind.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They’re engaged, baby. I’m pretty sure.”
“They haven’t set a date.”
I smoothed my sheer black cover-up and pulled Shepley toward the beach. “Do you not approve?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s weird. She dated Thomas first. You just don’t do that.”
“Well, she did. And if she hadn’t, Trent wouldn’t be so happy.” I stopped at the edge of the sand, pointing to a small group of Maddoxes gathered at the water’s edge.
Travis was sitting on a white plastic lounge chair, puffing on a cigarette and staring across the ocean. Trenton and Camille were standing a few feet away from him, watching him with concerned expressions.
My stomach sank. “Oh, no. Oh, fuck.”
“I’m on it,” Shepley said, letting go of my hand to walk toward Travis.
“Fix it. I don’t care what you have to say or do … just fix it. They can’t fight on their honeymoon.”
Shepley waved back to me, letting me know that he had everything under control. His shoes flipped sand as he trudged to where his cousin sat. Travis looked devastated. I couldn’t imagine what might have happened between marital bliss just the night before and this morning.
Shepley sat with his feet planted between his chair and Travis’s, and he clasped his hands together. Travis didn’t move. He didn’t acknowledge Shepley. He just stared at the water.