Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh nono no no.
Lacey felt her stomach lurch as she opened her mouth to respond, sensing Tessa coming closer behind her.
“You’ve lost it, Seamus. He’s a famous football player, not my…” Her voice caught…and went silent. “He’s not… He isn’t…”
Seamus didn’t answer.
Roman didn’t blink.
And Lacey couldn’t find the strength to turn and look at the friend she’d lied to a hundred times in the past month. Instead, shame crawled all over her skin and made her want to drop into the water and never come back up.
“I mean, look at those eyes,” Seamus said, still staring. “Like sunshine on a bottle of whiskey. Dang, you even got Artie Wylie’s jaw. Gimme a smile, son. I want to see if you got his teeth, too.”
Oh, this was not happening.
“Um, Seamus,” Roman said, obviously uncomfortable. “I don’t think you should?—”
“Oh, you can’t stop me. I see what I see.” Seamus patted his chest as if his heart needed a little attention. “God rest the good man’s soul.”
“Lacey.” Tessa’s hand landed on Lacey’s shoulder, clammy and trembling.
Lacey felt the world tilt. She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move.
“Lacey,” she said again, her voice nearly inaudible but gruff.
Very slowly, Lacey turned to look directly into Tessa’s eyes and see…a woman who looked like she’d been sucker punched by her best friend.
Because she had.
“Did you know?” she whispered.
“I…I found him and we?—”
“Youfoundhim? You looked for him? How—how could youbetray my trust?” she demanded, her voice wavering.
“I didn’t?—”
“You did!”
“She didn’t.” Roman choked the words. “I did it. Everything was my idea, Tessa. I wanted to meet you and she didn’t want to?—”
“Stop!” Tessa held up a quivering hand, her face as white as the deck under her.
Lacey opened her mouth to say something—to explain everything, to fix it, to turn time backwards and start again—but nothing came out. Not a single sound or word.
“I can’t believe this,” Tessa breathed the words. “I can’t believe you would do this to me.”
“Well,Ican’t believe what I just stepped into,” Seamus murmured, taking a few steps back. “I’m really sorry, Tess.”
“Don’t be,” she said, shifting her gaze to Roman. “I was so blind and stupid and trusting and stupid and…did I mention stupid?”
“Tessa, please.” He took a step forward to get back on the boat.
“No.” She inhaled so sharply, her nostrils flared. “No, you stay right there. No, you won’t appease me.”
“We came here to tell you,” Lacey said. “Right now, today, because?—”
“Because you didn’t have enough opportunity for the past month?” She spat the words at Lacey. “You bring him around, pretend he’s your boyfriend, fish and eat and laugh and talk with himunder my noseand youdon’t tell me? After you took my secret and threw it away like…like yesterday’s trash? Like I didn’t matter as much as your childish, selfishcuriosity?”
