Page 64 of No Words

“Fine,” I said grudgingly. “I’ll go tonight. But we’re not staying long. And if anyone starts joking about this BuzzFeed thing—”

Bernadette held up her hand in the traditional claw-fingered Kitty Katz salute. “We leave. I swear. And I’m not kitten around.”

I winced. This was going to be a long night.

The Momentby Will Price

With her golden hair piled on top of her head, small diamond pendants dangling from her earlobes like icicles, Melanie reminded me of a princess from a storybook. Her white dress, covered all over with diamonds smaller than the ones at her ears, shimmered like the snow outside. She was without a doubt the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Whenever I looked at her, I felt my chest tighten with emotion... an emotion that only had one name: love.

Don’t ask me how, but I’d done it. In a few short moments, we’d walk down the aisle together, and she would be mine.

Chapter Twenty-One

LITTLE BRIDGE BOOK FESTIVAL ITINERARY FOR:JO WRIGHT

Saturday, January 4, 8:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m.

- Building Bridges Dinner -

Please join all festival attendees for a night of fine drinking and dining by the sea at Cracked on the Pier.

Joooooooo!”

Of course the first person we ran into when we got to the restaurant was Kellyjean. She was resplendent in a red-and-gold kimono, her long blond hair flowing loose around her shoulders, her skin glowing from her day out on the water, despite her organic sunscreen.

“Wow, Kellyjean,” I said. “You look like a tequila sunrise threw up on you.”

“Oh, stop!” She gave me a playful but clearly delighted slap. I wasn’t certain Kellyjean knew what a tequila sunrise was. “Where’ve y’all been? You almost missed it!”

I was worried she meant that we’d missed a group reading aloud of the BuzzFeed article until Kellyjean, seeing our confused expressions, laughed and said, “Sillies! I’ll show you!”

Then she grabbed Bernadette and I each by the shoulder, and wordlessly pushed us not inside Cracked, but around the side of the restaurant, onto the pier. It was weirdly crowded there—not just the fenced-off deck with white-clothed tables reserved for diners at Cracked, but the rest of the pier, as well.

A huge crowd had gathered onto the weathered dock, everyone staring off into the west where the sun was slowly sinking into the sea with a blaze of color almost as vibrant as Kellyjean’s ensemble.

I glanced around suspiciously. “What’s happening?”

“Yeah,” Bernadette said. “What’s everyone looking at? Someone get mugged?”

“The sunset.”

The voice at my side was deep. I’d have recognized it anywhere even without the British accent, so I didn’t need to turn around to see that Will had come to stand beside me, but I did anyway.

Yep, there he was, looking tall and ridiculously handsome in a dark linen suit and another crisp white button-down shirt that showed off his deep tan. How many of these did the guy own? Hundreds, probably.

“What do you mean, the sunset?” I glanced back at the horizon. There were sailboats and yachts gliding around on glassy water in front of us, each as crowded with people as the dock we were standing on. “Are you trying to tell me thatallof these people are out here just to watch the sun set?”

“Yes.” He had on the little half smile he seemed to wear habitually, except when he was frowning with anxiety—or displeasure—over something. So it was impossible to know if he’d seen the gossip about us online, unless of course he’d seen it and found it amusing. I didn’t think that Will was the kind of person who’d find that kind of thing amusing, however. “It’s a nightly tradition here in Little Bridge.”

“Watching the sunset?” I was baffled. “But the sun sets every night. Why on earth would anyone stand around and watch it?”

Will’s smile deepened as he glanced at me with what I could only call a pitying expression. “Because it’s beautiful. I know that might be a difficult concept for a New Yorker to understand, but some people do find nature soothing.”

After making a face at him, I turned back toward the sea. I supposed there was something slightly relaxing about watching the boats bob on the smooth surface of the water, and the sun sink lower and lower behind them into the sea. There was only a small crescent of it left now, since Bernadette and I had arrived so late to the party.

“But that’s not the best part,” Kellyjean declared, so loudly that I jumped. I’d forgotten she was standing so close to me. “Tell them the best part, Will.”

“They say that when the last rays of the sun hit the sea,” Will explained, “if you see a green flash, you’ll have good luck for a year.”