Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Hunt Family Book 1) (12 page)

"It's perfect," he said.

"I might get you wet," I said. "I just came out of the water."

He smiled. "I think I'll manage."

I looked at Ryan. "Ms. Paige has never been on a horse," I said. "I'm gonna go take a ride with Jackson, okay?"

She smiled and nodded, and I set her down, briefly kissing her cheek in the process. I smiled at Evan before I climbed up there, but I didn't even look at Cody. I couldn’t. If I did, I would have never gotten on the horse.

Chapter 16

Charlotte North Carolina was a nice town with lots of options for entertainment, but I might as well have been in a tiny bubble my entire life with all the new things I had been exposed to since I'd been in Myrtle Beach.

There could have been no greater distractions from the heart-shattering words Cody said to me in the ocean than a ride on a gigantic, magical white horse. I held on tightly as Jackson ran the horse through the shallow water, laughing at the thrill of feeling like I might fall off any second.

I was terrified at first, but Jackson seemed like he knew what he was doing, so after a while I relaxed. We went past Travis's house and he stopped to show me the path we'd need to walk later that evening. He showed me the huge pile of wood on the beach that would later turn into a bonfire.

I thought about Andy and Willow's bonfire at the other house, and imagined how much cozier I'd be at that one, but there was no way I was skipping the party. I was too mad at Cody for that.

Jackson and I rode for about an hour before he brought me back to Diane's house. I was somewhat surprised to find that there was no one at the beach. I thought for sure someone would be there, but our stretch of the beach was totally deserted.

Jackson made it obvious that he was interested in getting to know me, and I did my best to seem a little interested without leading him on. He didn't try to kiss me or anything, but he touched my thigh several times with a familiarity I didn't think we were quite ready for.

Most of the family was on the deck when I got back. Some of them were doing a beanbag toss game, and a few were just sitting around, soaking in the sun. Ryan was drawing on the deck floor with sidewalk chalk, but Cody was nowhere in sight.

"I heard you got to go horseback riding," Charlotte said when I crossed the deck, headed for the sliding glass door.

I smiled and nodded at her.

"Was it fun?"

"So fun," I said. "I thought I would know what it felt like to ride a horse just from imagining it, but it felt nothing like I anticipated. It was scary bouncing around on something so high off the ground. I was pretty petrified at first, but I got used to it by the end."

"Is there gonna be pony rides at the party tonight?" Evan asked, overhearing us.

"He said Snowball's going in his trailer during the party so nobody messes with him." I glanced at Charlotte. "I think there's gonna be like two hundred people there."

"I figured it'd be big," she said. "Have you seen that house?"

I nodded.

She closed her eyes as she faced the sun. "I hope I get to meet my Australian."

I chuckled as I opened the door.

"We'll head out after sunset," she said, still basking in the sun.

"I told Jackson we'd be there about nine," I said.

She smiled. "Perfect."

Cody was nowhere to be found in the house. I spoke with Diane and a few others who were on the first floor before heading to my room. I ran into Cody on the stairway between the second and third floors. We were both moving quickly and nearly collided. I made eye contact with him, but quickly broke it when I saw his serious expression.

"I was wondering where you were," I said, smiling sheepishly as I glanced downward.

"You need something?"

"No, I was just wondering where you were. I didn't see you downstairs."

"That's because I was up here," he said dryly.

I smiled at him, and he returned it, but both of our expressions seemed forced. Every nerve of my body was on edge. I felt like I wanted to cry and throw myself into his arms. I was heartbroken, and so mad at him for it. He turned to walk away without saying another word. I watched him disappear before turning to head upstairs. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I never knew heartbreak could cause such anger.

No one was upstairs with me, so I decided to shower and then pretend I was taking a nap. There was no way I would be able to fall asleep, but I didn't feel like talking to anyone. I washed my hair for the first time since I got it cut. I decided I would style it curly that evening, so I put some product in it and let it dry naturally while I sat on the couch and wallowed in my own self-pity.

I tried to remind myself that I was so very fortunate and should be thankful for all my many blessings, but heartbreak has a way of overruling any rational thoughts. I sat on that couch, listening to the sounds of other people in the house and feeling nothing but anger, hurt, and resentment.

Heartache sucks.

I cried like a baby.

It felt good to let tears freely fall. I sunk my face into my hands and let the floodgates open, thinking about the conversation I had with Cody, and remembering choice miserable tidbits of it like "random fling" and "Ryan will get the wrong idea".

Part of me felt like his words were justified, and the other part of me thought he was dead wrong and making a huge mistake. I didn't know which part of me was right, but I knew it wasn't really my choice since he had already called things off.

After I had a good, long cry, I stretched out onto the couch with my face buried in the back of it and fell asleep.

I woke up with Charlotte rubbing my shoulder. "It's almost seven, she whispered. "I thought you might want to eat something before we start getting ready."

I rolled over and looked at her, feeling totally out of it.

"Are you okay?" she asked, inspecting my face with a worried expression.

I nodded and tried to smile. My face felt dry and painful like it could crack under the pressure of my smile. I must not have slept that long, because my eyes and cheeks still stung from crying.

"Are you crying?"

"I was just taking a nap," I said squinting as if I was having a hard time waking up. I managed a tiny half-smile to assure her I was fine.

"You look like you're crying," she said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded.

"I wanted to see if you would help me with my hair," she said. "I found a look I want to go for on Instagram. I took a screenshot of it."

"Definitely," I said, sleepily. "Did you bring it up with you?"

"No, it's downstairs. I figured you'd want to come down and get something to eat anyway. Are you wearing that dress you bought the other day?"

I nodded.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded again.

"Just sleepy."

"I know you're lying," she said, "but I'm not gonna push you to talk about anything you don't want to."

I gave her a sad smile. "I'm not really used to taking about my feelings," I said. "It's a hazard of only having a dad and brother in the house, I guess."

"Is it about a guy?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"It's not Jackson, is it? Did he do something to you?"

For a second, I didn't even know who she was talking about when she said the name Jackson. I shook my head. "No."

"An old boyfriend?" she asked.

I attempted another smile that I'm sure looked as pitiful as I felt. "Something like that."

She stared at me for several long seconds before patting my leg. "Well I think you should forget all about that guy," she said in an optimistic tone. "It's his loss if he missed out on you."

I nodded to let her know I was thankful for the kind words. "And, little did he know, you'd come on vacation and have a rich, eligible bachelor hitting on you and taking you for horseback rides on the beach. We'll get you all dressed up, and I'll take a picture of you and Jackson tonight to post on your Instagram. He'll be so jealous."

I took a deep breath, and stretched toward the ceiling. I knew I had to shake it off and get on with my life, and I certainly couldn’t tell Charlotte it was her cousin we were trying to make jealous.

"I'm gonna take a shower," I said even though I had already taken one. "I'll come down in a few minutes to grab a bite to eat for dinner before we get started on our hair. Am I doing Mia's, too?"

"Yeah, and probably Evan's. He took his braids out and he said he wanted you to make sure his man-bun was on point."

I smiled and stretched again. "All right I'll be down in a few."

I took a second shower, this time letting cool water hit my swollen face. I felt and looked better when I got done.

Cody was nowhere to be found when I went downstairs. A lot of the family was gathered down there, but he and Ryan were not among them, and I didn't ask where they were. They offered me different things to eat, but I just made a fold-over sandwich from what was in the fridge and choked down a few bites of it before throwing the last bite in the trash.

Diane was delighted that Evan was accompanying us to the party. I knew she still had hopes that something would happen between us even though she never said as much.

Charlotte and Mia came upstairs and we all got dressed on the third floor. My dress was a short, sheer peasant style shirt-dress. It was shorter than anything else I owned. I told them I was reluctant about wearing it, but they said I was being silly since some people would be in swimsuits.

I was in charge of everyone's hair, and we all helped each other with makeup. We took more than an hour getting ready, and by the time we were done, we were fit to be seen anywhere.

Mia was ready first, so she went downstairs before us. Charlotte and I met her down there right when it was time for us to leave. Mia and Evan were in the kitchen, and she had a huge scowl on her face.

"What's the matter?" Charlotte asked as we came in there.

"You girls look gooood!" Evan said, ignoring Charlotte's question to Mia.

"Apparently
I
don't look good," Mia said angrily.

"Don't let him bother you," Evan said. "He's been like that all afternoon."

"Who?" Charlotte asked.

"Cody!" Mia said, still scowling when she said his name.

"What'd he do?"

"I asked him if I looked good for the party, and he almost bit my head off. He told me to try not to be too much of a slut! Can you believe he said that?"

Charlotte's jaw fell open. "You look amazing," she said. "What's wrong with him?"

"Do I look slutty in this?" Mia asked, looking down at her dress.

"It has nothing to do with you, Mia," Evan said. "He's been in a bad mood all day. Don't worry about it." Evan smiled as he looked at all three of us. "You ladies ready?" he asked.

"Don't get into any trouble," Dan said as he and Christy came into the kitchen from the living room.

"Yeah, you guys need to stick together," Christy said.

"We're probably not gonna stick together, Mom," Evan said, teasing her.

"Be good, Evan. No getting into trouble."

We left out the back door to walk to the party, so we had to say goodbye to the ones who were out on the deck. Willow reminded us that they were about to start a bonfire in case we got bored at the party and wanted to come back, and Ryan announced again that she'd be eating lots of smores. Cody was sitting out there, but he didn't even look at us. I had put a great deal of effort into getting dressed just so I could make him jealous, and he didn't even see me. I wanted to cry right then and there, but I held back.

"I don't know what Cody's problem is," Mia said, once we got out onto the beach. "He's acting like a big butthole."

"One of Paige's ex-boyfriends is acting like a butthole, too," Charlotte said, surprising me. "We're gonna take tons of pictures to show him how much fun we're having tonight."

"I'll take a picture with you right now," Evan said. He came up behind me as we walked, and put his arms around my shoulders as if we were a happy couple posing for a photo. "We can even kiss if you want to."

"Hang on, let me get my phone," Charlotte said, digging in her clutch as she came to stand in front of Evan and me.

"It's okay, I said, shaking my head, but trying to smile as I shifted out of his grasp. "It's really not like that. I don't have anybody to make jealous."

Charlotte stuck out her lip like she was sad she missed the picture. "You two look so cute together," she said.

"I'm just licking my wounds right now," I said, hoping she'd drop it.

"What happened?" Mia asked as we started walking again.

I sighed. "I was sort of just catching a few little feelings for someone who didn't feel the same way, that's all."

"Who?" Evan asked.

"She might not want to say," Charlotte said.

"Is it Cody?" Mia asked.

I couldn't bear to confirm or deny it. I didn't respond. I just walked several paces in silence.

"Does he know?" Mia asked.

I nodded one time but otherwise remained silent as we walked.

"Wait… Cody's the guy we're trying to make
jealous
?" Charlotte asked.

"I'm not trying to make anyone jealous," I said, trying to smile and appear somewhat upbeat. "That was your plan, remember?"