She ignored the first thing he said, far more interested in what was said after; Wyatt’s equivalent of pouring his heart out. There didn’t need to be a lot of words. Kendall returned with half smile. “All goes to plan, you won’t have to.” For now were two words she kept to herself. She held to no delusions that anyone would be in her life forever. Live in the present, not the future. A mantra she had to believe in. It allowed her to enjoy, fully and with minimal doubts, everything she currently had.
“You think so, eh?” She propped a fist on her hip. He was probably right, though. Following the rules wasn’t fun. It would take a lot to compensate for all that effort of behaving. Time to throw out her own return bluff. Maybe it would be enough to make him doubt. “How could I ever be bored when I’m messing with you?”
No one they knew was really prying into whatever was going on between them. Lucas acted like he had some kind of idea, but he had even fewer words on the scale to offer than Jere did. If he knew, Kendall wasn’t all that fussed. Between everyone in their circle, Lucas was least likely to make a big deal out of it. Deb, on the other hand… “Who knows, might be able to make it to six months without her finding out. I almost said something while we were in quarantine, you know? Kind of a last-hurrah, get-shit-off-my-chest kind of thing. Kept it to myself, though. She had Lily on her mind. Wouldn’t have been fair to dump our shit on her right then.”
Kendall hummed an acknowledgment and turned her gaze to the hotel. They were more or less alone out here on the beach and not exactly trying to keep their voices down. Anyone could overhear if they got near enough. All she wanted was to avoid any potential grilling from her friend. Questions she didn’t want to answer. “Don’t suppose we can hold out ‘til we’re in another country and then tell her?”
“I’m aiming my next throw at your head, just so you know.” The smirk on her face didn’t add any weight at all to her warning.
She snorted, the sound lost in the waves rolling over the shore. “Planning to make me jealous around all those Brazilian chicks you can only smile at?” Nobody could deny the man had a disarming smile. Bad enough tourists still eyed him. No telling how the women in Brazil would misinterpret his intentions. Kendall moistened her lips (which the air dried instantly) and made her next words lighter. “‘Cause I’ll have to do the same. Can’t speak Spanish… or whatever it is they speak over that way. Gonna have to pack on the charm.”
She shrugged, wasn’t bothered with the comparison between the locales. As fond of beach life as she was, the tourist thing almost always went in the same hand. “Like you need an excuse for that,” she replied. “Wouldn’t mind Brazil or any other country near there. As long as it’s not fucking Antarctica or someplace cold, we can go wherever.” She paused. “You don’t wanna go wherever Jere’s heading?” She hoped he wasn’t coming with, but would go along if Wyatt wanted the older guy around.