Day 3
“You don’t have to babysit me,” Tucker says the next day. He’s sprawled on the beach chair next to mine, absently brushing sand off his abdomen. “I’m fine here if you want to go for a swim.”
“In that?” I look up from my book to nod at the lovely blue expanse in front of us. All full of terrors untold. “Not a chance.”
“So the ocean is the devil now?”
“Yes. Yes it is.”
He snorts a laugh at me from behind his dark sunglasses. I choose to ignore that. He thinks it’s funny now, but last night he was a crying toddler with his mangled leg. We spent the rest of the day laid up inside, eating and watching movies while I kept working on our will. Not exactly the honeymoon of our dreams.
“The ocean and I have an understanding,” I explain. “I stay away from it, and it doesn’t try to kill me.”
“I’ve been to the beach a thousand times. First time anything ever got me. You don’t have to be scared of it.”
“Sounds like something the ocean would say.”
I’m flipping to the next page when my phone beeps. The villa Wi-Fi encompasses this section of the beach, so I’ve been making sure to connect to it every time we’re outside just in case there’s an emergency back home. I glance at the screen to find a message Grace just sent to our girls’ group chat.
GRACE: Wanted to share the news before you saw that stupid Hockey Hotties blog post. And if you’ve already seen it, then yes, it’s true.
What news? And what blog post? Rather than ask for clarification, I click on the automatic link generated by my phone, which takes me to that ridiculous hockey blog run by a group of rabid groupies.
The article in question is at the very top of the page.
Secret Wedding Scandal!!!!!!!
Make sure you’re sitting down, ladies and gents!! BECAUSE WE HAVE NEWS!!!
We are sad to inform you that our very own John Logan is off the market!
We’ll wait while you go grab the tissues…
Okay, are you back??! Well, it’s true, everyone. Our sources have confirmed that JL has indeed married his longtime girlfriend. And not only that, but the sneaky man did it MONTHS AGO!! Like, we’re talking wintertime. The nerve of him!!!
Are we happy for that big sexy man?? Well, yeah. Of course!! But we’re also CRUSHED!!!!
I stop reading. The excessive punctuation is too much. Besides, I already got the gist of it. If this silly blog is correct, then Grace and Logan got married behind all our backs. This past winter.
The nerve of them.
“Tucker!” I growl.
He looks up in alarm. “What is it?”
“Did you know Logan and Grace got married?” I demand.
His jaw drops. “No. Seriously?”
I click back into the group chat and waste no time furiously typing up a storm.
ME: Omg. You made us find out from the internet? What kind of friendship is this??!?
ALLIE: Seriously!!??
GRACE: Oh, shut it, Allie. You knew.
ME: YOU KNEW?
ALLIE: Hey, in my defense, Hannah knew too.
ME: Yeah, but Hannah’s not a gossip. YOU’RE the gossip in the group and that means it was your duty to tell us.
HANNAH: Thanks, S.
ALLIE: Oh come on. How is this on me? They’re the ones who got married in secret.
GRACE: I’m sorry we didn’t say anything earlier. We were waiting to tell my dad until after my graduation. We finally shared the news with him and Mom last night, and both of Logan’s parents.
ME: I need details. Now.
GRACE: Remember when we went to Vermont for New Year’s? It sort of turned into an elopement. Totally unplanned. But zero regrets <3
Beside me, Tucker is trying to peer at my phone. “What’s going on?” he pries. “What are they saying?”
“Grace just confirmed it. Apparently she and Logan eloped to Vermont over New Year’s.”
“New Year’s!” he balks. He’s already reaching for his phone, no doubt to open his own group chat.
“Yup. They’ve been keeping it from everyone for months. They only told their parents last night.”
We’re each typing on our respective phones now.
ME: Ahh, this is great news! I mean, nefarious tactics aside, I’m so happy for you two <3
GRACE: Thanks! We’re pretty happy ourselves.
HANNAH: For what it’s worth, Allie and I only stumbled on the news at your wedding, S. They’d already been married for months by then.
ALLIE: Yeah, see! I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin your big day. You’re welcome, bitch.
I send a middle finger emoji, followed by another reprimand.
ME: Don’t use my wedding as an excuse, you traitor. You should have informed everyone the moment you found out. I’m disappointed in you, Allison Jane.
ALLIE: Hannah’s pregnant.
My shriek nearly sends Tucker flying off his chair. “What?” he says anxiously. “Are you okay?”
I’m about to answer when Hannah’s response pops up, causing my jaw to slam closed.
HANNAH: No. No fair. You promised you wouldn’t say anything.
ALLIE: omg I’m sorry. It just slipped out. My fingers took on a life of their own. Maybe Alexander possessed them.
ME: Don’t you dare try to distract us. Also, Alexander is swimming with the fishes.
GRACE: Wait, what?
ME: We drowned him.
GRACE: No, the Hannah thing. You’re pregnant? I assumed you took the test after the wedding and it was negative so that’s why you didn’t say anything.
HANNAH: I’m sorry. I’m not keeping anyone in the dark on purpose. The test was positive. Allie’s the only one who knows.
HANNAH: I haven’t even told Garrett yet.
ME: Is this a group chat or a den of secrets and lies?
HANNAH: Don’t say anything to the guys. Please. Not until I tell Garrett.
“Sabrina?” Tucker keeps trying to read my screen.
I angle it away. “Sorry. We’re all giving Grace grief in the chat for hiding the marriage from us.”
“Yeah, Logan’s getting shit from us too.” He sends another text.
With Tucker distracted, I return my attention to my own tumultuous chat thread.
HANNAH: Please, you guys. Don’t say anything. I don’t even know what I’m going to do yet.
The rest of us are quick to reassure her.
ALLIE: I’m sorry I let it slip here. My lips are officially crazy-glued shut, babe.
GRACE: Mine too.
ME: I won’t say a word. Promise.
I bite my lip after sending the response. Normally I don’t keep secrets from Tucker. I trust that man with my life. With our daughter’s life. But I also know what it’s like to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. At least, I get the sense this one is unplanned. And if it is, then Hannah needs time and space to work through the flood of emotions—and hormones—she’s probably struggling to make sense of right now.
So I banish the news to a little box in my head labeled shut your damn mouth. Tuck will understand. He would’ve hated it with all his heart if he’d learned I was pregnant from anybody but me. Garrett deserves to hear it from his girlfriend, not us.
