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She rolled her eyes. “It’s a vacation and you brought paper for the drawers.”
“Not just any paper,” I said smartly, “this paper was designed for just this.” Then I opened the drawers one by one and began lining them. When I was done, I stood back and smiled at my job well done. And it was a perfectly mundane task to distract me from my thoughts that were suddenly spinning over memories of Lance.
“All right,” Coco said, sighing. “Well, as fun as this has been I’m going to go to the bar.”
Daphne jumped up and clapped her hands together. “Oh, me, too. I want a margarita!”
“Make that two,” Sophie said, smiling now. She looked back and asked, “What about you, G? You coming?”
I shook my head. “No, I think I’ll stay back and unpack.” I pointed to Sophie’s suitcase. “I’ll unpack yours, too.”
“You don’t have to,” she said, likely thinking she wouldn’t care one way or another—I did know my sister, after all.
But I knew it’d be better that way, so it didn’t bother me to help her out. “No, really, it relaxes me. It’s fine.”
“Gemma, are you sure?”
Coco pointed to the door. “Come on, Soph, we’re losing daylight over here.”
I shooed my hands toward the door and insisted, “Please, go. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
She eyed me and then finally gave. “Okay, but I have my phone, so text me when you’re done. We can meet up or something.”
I smiled. “You got it.”
As they were leaving, Daphne laughed. “Good thing I put my bathing suit top back on before we got out of the car. I feel like hitting the beach. You girls?”
“I’ve been to a nude beach before. It’s not pretty,” Coco announced and Sophie laughed.
When the door clicked behind them, I sat down on the bed, took my sunglasses off the top of my head and placed them on the bed beside me. I reached backward and rubbed my shoulders. I did not care for long car rides. Especially as I was getting older. They seemed to give me a gnarly kink in my neck that I couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard I tried. I rolled my head around and begged for it to crack. No such luck.
I finally gave up and got off the bed, going to the bathroom to check things out. Everything looked modern and clean. It was all very nice and definitely worth the pretty penny we paid for these rooms. I walked over to the sink and turned the water on, rinsing my face. Thankfully, I didn’t wear any makeup or my face would have been melting at this point. The cold water felt good, refreshing on my face. I reached over for a towel and was immediately surprised with how soft and plush it was. It was like a hug.
I placed it down and looked at myself in the mirror. “The room looks the same, but I certainly don’t.” I patted the underside of my chin in that way that was all the rage a few years ago and hoped my elasticity would never disappear. It was bad enough that as I got older I could see little differences. Small lines, wrinkles. But once the elasticity was gone, I knew it’d be bad. Thankfully, I wasn’t experiencing crepe skin yet. Although, as long as the bottle of lotion I used to keep it at bay didn’t lie, I wouldn’t have to deal with that ever.
I sighed and placed my hands on the counter. Who was I kidding? There was no guarantee with that stuff. Products claimed a bunch of things and that was all it was—meaningless promises.
I heard my phone ringing and walked back into the room to grab it from my purse. “Coming,” I said. Then I slapped my forehead. Coming? Really, I thought to myself. It wasn’t like they could hear me or anything.
I dug it out of my purse, but it wasn’t mine that was ringing.
Listening closer, I followed the ring and went to the nightstand where Sophie left hers. The culprit responsible for all the ringing. I held it up and exhaled. “So much for bringing your phone,” I said to myself.
I read the readout and saw it was Bobby, so I let it go to voicemail. Soph could call her fiancé back later.
I put it back on the nightstand and turned my attention to unpacking, but I knew the sun would soon start its descent and I couldn’t deny how badly I wanted to sit outside and soak it all up before it was too late.
I looked at the clock on the nightstand. Three o’clock.
Oh, never mind this. Unpacking could wait.
I deserved to have a little fun, too, right? Darn straight, I did.
I went over to my suitcase and pulled out my white one-piece bathing suit. Of course, I needed something to cover me up, too, so I tugged at this cute beige crochet dress.
Changed in no time, I looked in the mirror and gave myself a once-over. I looked good, I decided. Young. Maybe even cute. Definitely cute. Finally feeling like myself without my sister and her teeny-boppers hanging around, I felt good. Ready to have that fun they were all about. It was Soph’s bachelorette party, after all. Too bad she wasn’t standing here right now. She’d definitely approve.
I looked down at my feet and realized I should probably change my shoes, though, from the very boring flip flops I had on to something cuter that went with my look. I had just the pair in my bags, too. White strappy sandals.
