Page 111 of A Real Good Bad Thing
MIDNIGHT WAVES
Ruby
I spent the night at Devon’s, where he ordered a pizza and we watched a Webflix dark comedy together, taking guesses at who the culprit behind a teenage revenge plot was. He picked the gal in skinny jeans.
“Nope. It’s definitely the one with the flare pants,” I said, pointing at the screen.
“Because fashionable people are the bad guys?” he asked.
I eyed his ultra-casual clothes. Basic black shorts and a T-shirt. “Is that your way of saying you’re always the good guy?”
His jaw dropped open comically. “Burn,” he said.
I bumped his shoulder, savoring this camaraderie with my long-time friend. We hadn’t talked about Jake, and that was a welcome break.Mostly. “Well, if the shirt fits,” I added.
He sighed, over the top. “What I lack in fashion I make up for in…personality,” he said, then he cleared his throat. “But please tell me you don’t still wear skinny jeans.”
I gestured to my sundress. “I’m bikinis and sundresses all the time.”
“I guess you’re not a villain either,” he teased.
“Ouch!”
A few minutes later, the credits rolled and we realized we weren’t getting the answer to the mystery tonight. “We’ll just have to do a Zoom watch when you’re back next week,” he offered.
On the mainland.
Where I was supposed to be with Jake.
Devon must have noticed my frown, as he gently said, “Ah, and maybe you do want to talk, after all?”
I turned back to him, my heart still heavy. No point hiding it. I didn’t want to dive into the details, but I could use some comfort. “It’s just this guy,” I began. I didn’t give details about the diamonds or my stepfather, but I told him more about my feelings. My big, messy feelings.
He patted my shoulder. “Sometimes a good night’s sleep is all anyone needs to sort out a mess,” Devon said.
I let that sink in with a yawn, then I fell asleep on my friend’s couch, curled up under a blanket. Sometime in the middle of the night, I kicked it off. The sliding glass door to his deck had been left open, and a breeze drifted in, warm and tropical. I rolled over and sat up on the couch, hooking my arm over the side of it and staring out the open doors into the night.
When the beaches were quiet like this and the sounds of the day were folded up into sleep, the ocean was at its most constant state. A steady drumbeat against the shore. The ceaselesswhooshof midnight waves crashing into the sand. The pull of the tides.
I breathed the salty air, letting it soothe me. Once I’d cooled off, the realization that Eli had treated me as badly as he’d treated everyone else—well, everyone but Willow, and that was probably just a matter of time—brought absolute relief. I was free from doubt and free to think the worst of him without feeling guilty about it.
But when it came to Jake, I had no answers. Even after the fiasco at the car wash, I didn’t regret anything about our time together. I was glad I’d shared my heart with him.
As I resettled on the pillows of the couch, I spotted a notification on my phone. Grabbing it, I checked quickly for messages. A few sales alerts from Etsy. A note from Lance about a sunset tour in a week. An email from the moms who’d taken their kids on the stingray trip on the weekend. The silver lining was that my business seemed to be back on track or headed in the right direction.
A star winked in the night sky.
Maybe my luck was turning.
* * *
In the morning, Devon handed me a steaming cup of coffee. “You need fuel,” he said.
“I do.”
I downed the coffee, crunched into some toast, then showered and dressed. “I’m ready. Thanks again for letting me stay here.”
“You are welcome anytime,” he said, then patted my back as I left to meet my group on the dock, along with the crew for the tour. I’d shoved all thoughts of Jake, diamonds, and larcenous stepfathers out of my head. I was doing what I loved in a place I loved.