Stormy Love (Wet & Wild 1)

Her mother’s voice trailed in from down the hall accompanied by the sound of the door shutting behind her. Kallie and Eris levered themselves up from the bed and headed for the kitchen, where the rustling of bags being emptied promised food. Kallie’s mother was leaning over the table, setting cartons out, but she looked up when they came in, eyebrows raised in question as her two other bridesmaids grabbed forks and sodas from the refrigerator.

“Time to go on the honeymoon,” Kallie said. “It’s already paid for.”

She took a seat at the table and opened the box with “tikka masala” written in a messy scrawl across the top. The scent of curry drifted up from it and her stomach growled out again.

“Are you sure that’s the wisest choice?” her mother asked.

She could hear the gentle concern in her mother’s voice and it was appreciated. Especially after the way she had watched her mother lay into Magda.

Eris set a glass of wine in front of her, and Kallie took a sip. She set it aside again before she spoke, taking the time to draw from her thoughts.

“I need a break. From work. From Boston. From all this. I don’t want to have to worry that James is going to show up at my apartment three days from now, begging for forgiveness.”

“It’ll put you far away from family,” her mother said. “During a time when you might need us the most.”

“I can always come home early,” she said.

“I don’t know about you,” Eris said, scooping up vegetables and sauce with a piece of naan. “But I think a luxury resort-villa thing in St. Barts is just what a jilted bride needs. Daily massage. Delicious food. Plenty of hot potential rebound guys running around in next to nothing. And all of it on that cheating asshole’s dime.”

Kallie shook her head. That most certainly wasn’t happening.

“No rebound guys. I’m not going out there to find a new relationship. Especially not with the kind of men that frequent the playgrounds of the rich and famous. I’ve had enough of that sort. No more for me.”

“I’m not saying you need to start signing prenups,” Eris said as she paused to pop a piece of chicken in her mouth. “Just pointing out that there will probably be plenty of opportunities to blow off a little steam, should the whim take you. Think about it: some guy, golden from the sun, water dripping down his washboard abs...”

“Earth to planet Eris,” Kallie said as she leaned over the table. She was waving a hand in front of her best friend’s face to drag her attention back from whatever fantasy she’d drifted off into.

“In front of my mom? Really?”

“Oh, like your mom is going to be shocked,” Eris said.

And Kallie’s mother, true to form, was laughing.

“Both of you are terrible people. I hope you know that,” she said.

“And yet you still keep me around,” Eris said as she leaned smugly back in her chair.

She crossed one leg over the other and shoveled another load of vegetable-topped naan into her mouth.

“Someone’s got to be the comedic relief,” Kallie said.

“That’s just mean. I’m hurt. I provide more than raunchy humor to laugh at,” Eris said.

“Don’t be mean to Eris,” Kallie’s mother cut in before she could retort. Her lips pulled into a smile even as she attempted to keep a straight face. Kallie shook her head and Eris’s laughter grew, and soon everyone in the kitchen was laughing. Harder and louder than anyone should’ve been during a time like the one they had all been presented with.

It was a well-worn routine. Kallie’s mother would favor Eris in some obvious and obviously teasing manner. Kallie would protest that Eris couldn’t be her mother’s favorite child, seeing as she wasn’t her mother’s child at all. Eris would counter by sticking her tongue out. Or, when they got older, with a raised middle finger behind her mother’s back. It rarely failed to make her laugh.

But, abruptly, Kallie wasn’t feeling the joke.

She shouldn’t have been sitting in her own kitchen, eating takeout from the place down the street. She should’ve been indulging in a quickie during the limo ride that her ex-fiancé had teased her with all morning. She should’ve been walking into the reception as Mrs. James Rathbone and tossing her bouquet for Eris to catch. She should’ve been tangled in the sheets with her makeup running down her face and her hair disheveled from James gripping it too tightly as they panted “I love you” into their rented hotel room for the night.

The laughter soon stopped pouring from Kallie’s lips and it silenced the kitchen. The humor faded from Eris’s expression, and her mother reached over to rest a hand on Kallie’s shoulder. She breathed out a sigh, relegating herself to the harsh reality of her existence.

“I thought I had it all together,” she said, when the silence between all of them had stretched nearly to the breaking point. “A career. A decent apartment. A fiancé I could be just a little smug about. And now...?”

She laughed a little, without any mirth.

“So much for that,” Kallie said.