“Yes,” I said with a giggle.
Jax laughed along with me as if my joke was actually funny. “Definitely a family of five. Probably two moms, because why not? The oldest daughter is straight, bless her heart, and instead of enjoying the pool with the rest of the family, she’s laying on the side texting her boyfriend.”
I laughed so hard I snorted, which made no sense since this really shouldn’t have been as funny as we were both making it out to be.
“No! You snort when you laugh really hard?” Jax asked between her own laughter. “I love that so much.”
I instinctively put my hand over my mouth and nose. “I do, but I hate it.”
Jax pulled my hand away. “You shouldn’t. It’s cute. I wasn’t kidding. I really do love it.”
She held my hand for another few seconds before dropping it, and I immediately felt the loss.Have I really been without human contact for so long that a girl touching my hand has this effect on me?I didn’t have time to harp on that question because the plane landed at that moment, pushing these thoughts from my head.Thank god.
The only problem was that worry was immediately replaced by another one. “Wait. We don’t have anywhere to stay.”
“You’re right.” Jax shrugged as if this was no big deal. “I’ll find something now.”
“It’s summer! What if we can’t find anything?”
Jax turned to face me completely and put her hands on my arms, which was strangely calming. “Just breathe, okay? I’ll find us something. I promise.” Jax smirked. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll even be able to find a room that has two beds.”
Blood rushed to my face at the thought of being forced to share a bed. I’m not sure why this was my immediate reaction. It’s not like I hadn’t shared a bed before. Olivia and I had shared more times than I could count. Sharing with Jax shouldn’t be any different than that.
Jax’s boisterous laughter brought me back to the present moment. “You’ve been reading too many romance books. I was kidding. It’s not that hard to find a room with two beds. I honestly think it’s harder to find a room with one.” She removed her hand from my arm to type into her phone, then held it out toward me. “All booked. Two nights.Twoqueen beds. Happy?”
“Of course. I wasn’t worried.”
We both knew it was a lie, but Jax didn’t address it. Instead, she stood and motioned for me to get off of the plane. “Our hotel has a restaurant. Want to get a ride over there and get something to eat while we’re waiting for our room to be ready?”
“Sounds great.” As if on cue, my stomach growled at that very moment, causing us both to laugh.
It felt good to laugh with someone like this. I had friends, but they were either friends from high school or college that I mostly had a texting relationship with or work friends that I really only talked to at work and an occasional happy hour. At this point in my life, moments like this really only happened with my family, which was kind of sad when I thought about it.
“Everything okay? I feel like you’re suddenly a million miles away.”
I felt bad about the genuinely concerned look Jax was giving me. The last thing I wanted was for her to think she did anything wrong. “Everything is great. Seriously. I’m alreadyhaving a really nice time.” I didn’t have to worry about Jax catching me lying, because I wasn’t.
After getting to the hotel, Jax checked in and was told our room would be ready within an hour. We left our carry-on bags with the receptionist who promised they would be sent to our room once it was ready, then finally headed to the restaurant to have our first real meal of the day.
The menu was huge, which wasn’t helpful at all since I was so hungry I wanted everything. “I can’t decide. It all looks so good.”
“Which two things look the best to you?”
Surprisingly, I only had to study the menu for another minute to narrow it down. “Probably the lobster macaroni and cheese and the buffalo chicken sandwich.” I looked across the table at Jax, who was looking at me with a smile I couldn’t quite read. “I know. Two very different options.”
Jax shook her head, but the smile stayed plastered to her face. “That’s not why I’m smiling. I’m smiling because those were the exact two things I was between. Want to split them?”
“Are you serious?” There was no way out of all the items on the menu we had both chosen the same things. Jax was probably making it up so that I didn’t have to make a decision.
“I’m dead serious.” Jax put a hand on her heart. “I swear on my friendship with your sister. You can text her right now and ask if I would ever lie on our friendship, because I wouldn’t. It’s sacred.”
I put both hands in the air. “Say no more. I believe you.”
I had truly never seen a friendship like the one between Olivia and Jax. The best comparison I had was the relationship between my mom and my Uncle Jamie, who were friends even before my mom and mama got together. It was hard to compare the two though since my mom and Jamie were now family, which obviously wasn’t the case with Jax and Olivia.
“Any idea what you want to do the rest of the night?”
I had to hold in a yawn just from the thought of doing anything. I knew we didn’t have much time, and Jax most likely wanted to take advantage of every minute we were here, but I would have been happy spending the night relaxing in our hotel room and preparing for the next day.
