With This Fling (Summersweet Island 5)

I must make some sort of sound leaning against the doorway when she bends over to slide the tray of bacon into the oven, since I’m given a perfect view of her ass, because everyone sitting at the table whips their head in my direction.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!”

“We tried to keep it down. But then we realized we just didn’t want to.”

“Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the couch.”

“Aww, do you need a hug?”

Laura tells them all to shut up and leave me alone while I walk into the room. She grabs a coffee mug from a cupboard and fills it from the pot on the counter, and I stop next to the table as Palmer pulls out his chair and sits down with everyone else. I watch her scoop a spoonful of sugar into the mug, quickly stir it around, and then walk it over to me.

“Sorry,” she mutters, handing me the coffee, not looking up to meet my eyes. “I tried to keep them quiet for as long as possible.”

I reach for her, but she quickly turns away from me, moves to the kitchen island, and starts clearing it off. A feeling of dread washes over me that I didn’t just talk to her last night. Before she started doing what I knew damn well she would do if I didn’t talk to her like a fucking adult. It’s happening whether we talk about it or not, but I was hoping to find out where her head was first before I made a final decision. I made commitments… I signed contracts, and I can’t go back on my word now.

I just wanted her to ask me to stay.

“Sit. Eat,” Bodhi orders, patting the empty chair next to him and then pointing to a foil-covered plate in front of it. “Mom made you a plate before we ate all the food.”

The guys start arguing over something else, but all I can hear is the blood rushing through my ears. I’m still stuck on the fact that Laura made my coffee exactly the way I like it, and she remembered from when I ordered it the night of the island tour. And she set aside a plate of food for me. And no one seems to be questioning the fact that I woke up here this morning. They just welcomed me into the fold like I’ve always been here, waking up to the sounds of their pandemonium over breakfast.

I should be happy as fuck right now, but I’m not.

As I move over to where Laura is standing and gathering up items in her arms, she quickly turns away from me as soon as I get next to her and try to talk to her. She takes the long way around the kitchen island to get to the other side of it instead of just brushing past me. That feeling of dread grows, wondering if I’ve fucked everything up and lost it all before it was even mine to lose.

I knew I should have talked to her last night about what’s going to happen tomorrow. I knew the longer I waited, the worse it would be. My stupid brain thought maybe the longer I waited, the more chance I’d have that she would ask me to stay. But now she won’t make eye contact with me. And she pulled her hand back so fast after handing me my coffee I was afraid I might drop the mug. And she’s moving around the kitchen, cleaning up the mess, staying as far away from me as possible, with her back to me the entire time.

“Where are you headed to next? I thought I heard Palmer say Maine, but—Ow!”

Palmer smacks Quinn, cutting him off, and it takes me a second to realize Quinn was talking to me as the two men share a quiet stare-down at the table.

“I hear Maine is beautiful this time of year. That should be a fun trip!” Laura chirps from the sink with her back still to me.

That feeling of dread turns into full-blown panic when she sounds perfectly fine about me leaving. The longer I waited to talk to her, the more time it gave her to continue thinking this was just a fling. She’s pushing me away before I’m even gone… and doesn’t that just fucking suck?

I take a sip of my coffee as I sit down at the table, even though I suddenly feel nauseous.

Who was I to think she’d actually want a relationship with me? This woman has avoided emotional commitments since that asshole left her alone with two little girls to raise. What in the hell made me think she’d want to settle down with me? She has a life. A home. A family. And what? I thought I could just crash through it all like the Kool-Aid man and make it mine?

No wonder she’s putting distance between us. She knows I’m supposed to be leaving tomorrow, so in her mind, this “fling” is almost over. It’s too much, too soon. I was an idiot to think I could change her mind in a fucking week. What was it Palmer said to me the night of the welcome dinner? Laura is fun, and carefree, doesn’t want to settle down, and doesn’t take life too seriously. He warned me, but I didn’t listen. Who the fuck was I to think I should change the best parts about her? Making her settle down wouldn’t make her fun and carefree any longer. It would fucking settle her down, and she would hate it. I should have known that and kept it light and fun. Instead, I had to go and get Summersweetened, all while she was counting down the days until I left.

My eyes follow her all around the room, willing her to stop moving and just look at me, but she never does. She makes it even more obvious she doesn’t want to be near me when Bodhi gets up from his seat next to me, telling her to sit down and that he’ll finish cleaning. She just waves him away and flits around the kitchen, wiping down the counter she already wiped down and restacking a pile of mail she already restacked twice. I get the picture and finally take my eyes off of her.

“Don’t forget, Laura, when you get to Wren and Shepherd’s house, make sure you apologize to Tess for me again,” Bodhi instructs her around a mouthful of pancake. He sits back down in his seat, while I try to choke down a bite of scrambled eggs over the lump in my throat.

The girls are all getting ready for the wedding over there, and Laura is supposed to be meeting them after breakfast, while all the guys get ready here. I was looking forward to this day of hanging out with my nephew before he says “I do.” Now, I’m just panicking that Laura will have an entire day apart from me to push me even further away.

“She’s not going to apologize to your wife about you having weed dick last night.” Palmer rolls his eyes, while I actually do start choking on my food.

“Now look what you’ve done,” Quinn complains, reaching over and patting me on the back. “You made Uncle Dean choke, talking about your weed dick and not being able to satisfy your woman.”

“You smoke entirely too much weed.” Palmer sighs, grabbing a piece of toast from a pile on a plate in the middle of the table.

“I don’t smoke nearly enough weed.” Bodhi chuckles. “And I’ll have you know, this was my first experience with weed dick. It left us both a little irritable, and we both said things we didn’t mean.”

“Can we please stop talking about choking and dicks at the breakfast table?” Laura complains, making me want to laugh even through my misery, as she sets a big bowl of cut-up fruit down on the table next to all the other food. “All right, I need to get out of here before Birdie sends me another text yelling at me. Take the bacon out when the timer goes off, and make sure you turn off the oven. Don’t be late to the ceremony, or I will slit all of your throats.”

Laura makes her way around the table, kissing the top of everyone’s head, her feet stuttering to a stop when she gets to me. I hold my breath while she hesitates, her eyes finally meeting mine. I search her face, looking for any kind of clue about what she’s thinking, but she just gives me a tight smile and a nod.