w that it was my fault that we were late. “We had to pick up my brother—this is Jeff—from the airport on the way, and the traffic was really bad getting back here; there was an accident. It looks like you've been doing a great job, though.”
“Can we get the speeches and the formal part out of the way first?” Mina asked.
“Sure thing,” Gretchen said. She grabbed her friend's hand and led her up onto the front porch, which today would double as a stage. Then, she looked back at me, frowning when she saw I was still standing there next to Jeff. She beckoned me up toward the stage, and after a sharp nudge from my brother, I slowly made my way up to join them.
“This is your day,” I said in an undertone to Gretchen.
“I never would have made it here without your help,” Gretchen shot back. “It's our day.”
The way she smiled up at me left me unable to argue.
“Hi everybody,” she said into the microphone, giving a little wave. “Neighbors and friends and whoever else our neighbors and friends have dragged along.” There was a short laugh at that. “A lot of you out there know Mina and me, and most of you are getting to know Christian as well. Now, Mina and I have been operating our businesses next to one another for years now. Lately, we've been successful at intermingling our client pool, so that people who come to me for a massage then go to her for a shake and people who come to her for pineapple then come to me for a massage. Our aim in all of this has been to give everyone the most relaxing experience that they can have on this beautiful island.”
“But there's so much more to our partnership than that,” Mina said. “I'm lucky enough to be standing up here with my best friend, and about to go into business with her. We believe that a great shop experience begins the moment you encounter the smiling face of your shopkeeper, and we both know that with the two of us working together, we're always going to be smiling.”
They continued talking along this vein for a little while, and I, along with most of the audience, I was sure, couldn't help from smiling along with them at their sheer enthusiasm at the fact that they were going to be coworkers. Finally, they wrapped it up, and together they cut the brightly-colored ribbon that had been strung across the back doors to the new place. The crowd erupted in cheers, and then it was time for the party to start.
“Just like a luau, huh?” Gretchen asked a little while later, smiling next to me as we watched people begin grilling up tasty bites for dinner.
“Pretty much,” I said, grinning at her. “Looks like Mina's having a good day too, doesn't it?”
Gretchen looked over where I was pointed and gaped at her friend. I'd been watching them over the course of the past few hours, and Mina was unmistakably flirting, tossing back her hair every once in a while, and totally focusing all of her body language toward-
“Is that your brother?” Gretchen asked in surprise.
“Yup,” I said, grinning over at her. “He's not a billionaire like some of us, but he's a pretty good guy.”
Gretchen snorted and lightly hit my arm. But I could tell that she was pleased to see Mina looking happy. “Do you think that she's ever going to convince him to leave Boston and move down here?” she mused.
“Stranger things have happened,” I said, shrugging.
“That they have,” Gretchen said. She bit her lower lip. “So, I know that you're part of the business now, as a consultant if nothing more, but…”
“Are you asking me again whether I regret moving down here?” I asked, turning to face her. “Because I definitely, definitely don't. And you don't need to ask me that every month, you know!”
Gretchen sighed. “I love seeing you here with all my friends and everyone else. You look like you're having fun, but I don't want you to feel like I'm holding you back. I know managing a little massage parlor-slash-pineapple shop probably wasn't exactly what you had in mind for your life.”
“Gretchen,” I sighed, wondering how to make her see the truth. There was only one thing that I could say. “You know that I love you, don't you?”
Gretchen stared up at me in surprise. “You do?”
“Yeah, baby. I love you,” I told her firmly. “More than you could even know.”
She stared at me for another moment and then smiled broadly. “I love you too,” she said quietly, almost shyly, as though there were anything left for either of us to be shy about. She bit her lower lip and then laughed a little. “So, we aren't just fucking anymore?”
I snorted and shoved her, almost succeeding in toppling her onto the sand. “I'll show you a good fucking when we get back home if you're going to have a mouth like that,” I told her.
“You'd better,” she said, a challenge in her eyes. Then, her expression softened a little and she gave me an uncertain look. “You aren't sorry that you came here?” she asked, clearly needing to hear it one more time.
“I'm honestly not at all sorry about it,” I told her, punctuating the words with a filthy kiss, which she eagerly returned.
“Okay,” she said breathlessly as we broke apart. “Okay, I'm glad to hear that.”
Epilogue
Christian
I groaned as Gretchen lightly shook my shoulder. I'd been up late the night before. I'd gotten caught up working on the boat out in the garage, and the next thing I'd known, it had been three in the morning, and I still hadn't gone to bed. Gretchen had to know that I'd gone to bed late, too, since she'd clearly stayed up waiting for me, she'd eventually fallen asleep with a book in her hands.