Brightest (Brighter #2) Read online

  “Alina, why don’t you go get ready?” Caroline asked, nodding toward the house. “We got this.”

  I blew my hair from my face, looking around the back yard. It was always a lovely space, but now, it had been transformed into a lit-up wonderland. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had an actual birthday party. We usually just went out for drinks or dinner.

  Jude passed by me on his way out, all sweaty and yummy looking. “You gonna go shower?”

  “Yeah...wanna join me?” I smacked his butt.

  His laugh followed him as he went outside, so I wasn’t expecting him to take me up on my offer. Squealing in surprise, I slid my arms around him, kissing his face. “You know we have a ton of guests, right?” I said, letting him corner me, late day sunlight glowing golden down through the glass above.

  By the time we emerged, there were a lot more familiar faces floating around. Bodhi and Jen had set up a food tent near the patio, filling the air with the mouthwatering aroma of barbecue. Miles was playing DJ. Things cooled down as the sun set, and I stretched my legs out on the blanket, enjoying the gentle breeze. Surrounded by lights, music, and friends, I celebrated my twenty-third birthday, appreciating the simplicity and the good feelings.

  After cutting the cake, Jude sat down next to me. Balancing a glass of sparkling wine between my fingertips, I leaned over and kissed his cheek. He smelled faintly of the grapefruit soap we’d shared in the shower earlier.

  “Enjoying yourself?” he asked.

  I nodded, wiggling my toes. “It’s perfect.” Small Sydney and Sadie were passed out on a blanket nearby, remnants of sparklers in their hands. Ivy passed by, dropping a flower crown on my head. It had been doing the rounds all night. “Thanks.”

  He stroked my hand with his finger, and when I looked up at him, he kissed me. “Are you happy, Alina?”

  I stared into his eyes. I loved those eyes. I couldn’t imagine a life where I wasn’t looking into them. “Yes. Are you?”

  “Yeah.” He smiled. “Hey, I got Midnight a new collar for your birthday," he said, clapping his hands to get the dog’s attention, whistling when that didn’t work.

  I watched our puppy bound toward us, panting and drooling.

  “Good boy, come on,” urged Jude, grabbing him and putting his squirmy little body between ours on the blanket.

  “Aww, so handsome,” I cooed, giving him a cuddle. Sydney and Sadie had given him a bath, and he smelled like bubblegum. “What’s this, now?” Midnight did have a new collar, but it was the pink ribbon tied to it that caught my attention. A folded piece of paper dangled from it.

  I glanced up at Jude, who motioned for me to take it. Curious, I pulled the ribbon from the collar and unfolded the note.

  Will you marry me?

  I froze, heart pounding, hands shaking. Beside me, I felt Jude move, and when I finally looked up at him, through blurry eyes, he was holding a ring. Silence had fallen all around us; even the music had been turned down. Was everyone in on this?

  “I didn’t realize Midnight felt that way about me,” I joked, but my voice was shaky.

  Jude laughed a little, tense, his eyes locked on mine.

  “Yes,” I whispered, wanting to say so much more but unable to because I was crying, and he was laughing, and the people we loved were cheering and clapping as he took me in to his arms.

  ~

  “How long have you known?”

  “That I wanted to marry you? Since the beginning.”

  “C’mon.”

  “Since we went hiking. To the baths.”

  I smiled a little. “How could you have known then?”

  “I don’t know. I just knew.” He ran his hand over the curve of my hip. “When did you know?”

  “When I moved down here for good. In May.”

  “Took you that long? Sheesh.”

  “I had big plans, Jude. You got in the way.”

  “Nah.”

  “Yeah.” I pressed closer and kissed his mouth. “When did you get the ring?”

  “Boston.”

  My heart thumped. “Were you…going to ask me then?”

  He paused. “Yeah.”

  Tears filled my eyes. “I really fucked that up.”

  “It worked out better this way.” He kissed my neck, his soft hair brushing my cheek. “You needed that time with your father. I needed time with mine.”

  He was being kind. Still, it was hard to argue with that.

  ~

  “Theo?”

  “I’m here.”

  “Say something.”

  “I think I’m in shock.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say,” he added.

  “How about ‘congratulations?’” I said.

  Theo sighed. “You’re really marrying Jude. Wow.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so surprised…we’ve been together for a year and a half.”

  “I know. It’s just so…final.”

  “Some of us are into that,” I said dryly. “Anyway, you’ll bring Charlotte, won’t you?”

  “Sure,” he said, a smile in his voice. He’d gotten back together with this girl after a rough split and time apart, so I suspected she was special. “She’d love that.”

  “Good. She seems like a sweetheart.”

  “She is.”

  A beat of silence passed. Jude caught my eye from across the room. “I’m gonna go, Theo. Keep your eyes peeled for an invite, okay?”

  “Will do.”

  “Talk soon.”

  “Alina…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Congratulations. I mean it.”

  ~

  “Not June?” asked Caroline, smoothing a piece of packing tape over a box. She was finally going home to Miami—right in time for me to get engaged. I was bummed to see my best friend go, but she was in a much better place than she’d been when she came. “When every Tom, Dick and Harry ties the knot?”

  “May…the month I moved down last year.”

  “Not much time to plan.” Caroline cocked her head. “But why wait, right?”

  “I don’t see the point of a long engagement.”

  “Neither do I,” she agreed, sitting beside me.

  “Will you be my maid of honor?”

  To my surprise, her eyes went glassy. “Of course.”

  ~

  Not much changed. I still fit shifts at Larsen’s in between classes at UVI and night patrols at Sandy Point or Jack’s Bay. We went to Rainbow Beach with our friends on Sundays and rode Jude’s bike around the rainforest.

  But really, everything changed. It was the weight of that ring on my finger, catching its sparkle when I was taking a shower or putting on makeup. Introducing Jude as my fiancé, and not just my boyfriend…conversations inevitably straying into wedding territory like guest lists and venues.

  Ivy lent her professional expertise as a gift. I would’ve been willing to get over myself and hire both twins—plus Jolie, the girl who rounded out their event planning trio—but in the end it was Ariel who couldn’t hang. I’d always suspected she still had feelings for Jude, and that became apparent when she made herself scarce during the months leading up to the ceremony.

  I was having brunch one Sunday with a group of girlfriends when my ears pricked on a familiar voice. The Deep End was a popular beachside restaurant on Tamarind Reef, always packed on Sundays, so it wasn’t all that surprising Ariel and I’d ended up in the same place yet again. But when the table between us cleared, and our eyes met, the venom in her eyes caught me off guard. We weren’t BFFs, but we ran in the same circles…we’d worked together. Her sister and I were close. How long was Ariel going to harbor a grudge? For the love of God.

  “More mimosas, Alina?” Emma asked, touching my hand. One of my oldest friends on island, she’d also given me my first job at Café Coco. She and her boyfriend Logan often stopped by Larsen’s after work, but it was nice having girl time.

  I blinked, looking
at her and then up at our server’s expectant smile. We’d already had a couple, but who was counting? “Oh, definitely.”

  “Great! I’ll bring a fresh round,” she chirped.

  Emma cocked her head, munching on her toast. “You okay, there?”

  “I’m fine.” I smiled, finishing off the last of my old mimosa before it was taken away. “Just thinking about stuff.”

  “Wedding stuff?” Jen asked. “Have you decided on the venue yet?”

  “Not yet…” I looked around the Deep End, with its open-air dining room, palm trees and swimming pool. “I wonder if this place is available?”

  Our mimosas arrived. We barreled through them, chatting away. I tried to ignore Ariel the way I usually did, but I couldn’t help feeling like she was talking shit about me. I kept feeling her eyes on me, kept hearing titters from her group of friends. Paranoid or not, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like her, especially since she’d visited Jude’s parents in Boston during Thanksgiving. I’d been willing to overlook her hot and cold attitude toward me and the residual crush on Jude, but that move felt inappropriate. Almost proprietary, when she had no right to be.

  And then I heard my name. I snapped my head around, catching Ariel’s narrowed eyes before they slid away.

  “What the fuck?” whispered Jen.

  “You heard that, right?” I murmured, not looking away from Ariel. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Alina!” Emma whispered desperately, but I was already on my feet.

  Ariel raised her eyebrows as I walked over, setting her Bloody Mary down. Her equally glammed out friends perched eagerly around, barely hiding their own smirks. Maybe that was why this girl was so trifling—she had a squad to egg her on. “Hey, Alina.”

  “Hi, Ariel,” I said, fueled by fury and two hours’ worth of alcohol. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

  Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she rose to her feet, towering above me in her wedge heels. “Sure.”

  Leaving the din of the dining room, I headed for the pool. There was a path leading down to the beach, so I took it, wanting some privacy for this conversation.

  “You planning on killing me out here or something?” snarked Ariel.

  Tempting, but no. I turned to look at her, trying to calm my racing heart. I was a lover, not a fighter, but I’d had it. “Just wanted a quiet spot.”

  Folding her arms, she gazed at me. She was such a beautiful girl, with her long, blonde waves and bright green eyes. Her flawless body. At one time I’d been envious, especially when she’d been the one on Jude’s arm. But not anymore.

  “God, Alina, what?” she snapped, dropping her arms.

  “Look, I love Jude. I’m sorry things went down the way they did, but I’m not sorry we’re together.” I took a step forward, continuing when it looked like she was about to say something. “I need you to leave me alone. In fact, leave us alone.”

  “You brought me out here to tell me this shit? Who do you think you are?”

  “Are you listening? Because I’ve put up with your shitty attitude and nasty looks for like, over a year—and I’m sick of it. I’ve tried and tried to get on your good side because I know how important you are to Ivy and Jude, and everyone’s known each other since way back when and I respect that. Okay? But you need to respect me, and what Jude and I have now.”

  Ariel rolled her eyes. “I don’t need to do anything. Girls come and go, but Jude always comes back around. You have no idea what we’ve been through.”

  “I’m not just one of Jude’s girlfriends, Ariel.” We stared at each other, the sea breeze whipping our hair around. “We’re getting married.”

  “Really? Where were you over Thanksgiving? When his dad was sick?”

  It was a low blow, and it hit me exactly where she’d intended. God, I wanted to just slap her. But hurting people hurt people, and there was pain all over her face. I swallowed back the curses on the tip of my tongue. “What happened on Thanksgiving is between Jude and me. We love each other…we’ll be okay.”

  “You don’t know what it’s like to love someone like that.”

  “Oh, and you do? If you loved him so much, you’d still be with him,” I said. “So, save your bullshit. You’re just mad you lost.”

  She gaped at me, for once blessedly silent. Guess it wasn’t so pleasant when someone saw through your crap.

  “I don’t want to fight with you anymore,” I said.

  “Whatever, Alina,” she said, making for the steps. “Have a nice life.”

  ~

  Caroline came down two weeks before the wedding, much to Miles’ delight—he’d been a little mopey in her absence, despite trying to move on—and stayed in our guest room. And thank God. I needed someone to keep me sane, because I was determined not to become a bridezilla.

  Two days out, the florist called Ivy and said they couldn’t handle the order, so she had to rush to find another. Then, at my last fitting, we discovered the dress I’d bought in Puerto Rico just months before didn’t fit properly. Maybe I’d lost weight due to nerves. Mrs. Hodge was a local seamstress who came highly recommended. She chided I was too skinny, and then proceeded to take the dress in.

  Meanwhile, Jude spent most of his time at the bar, making sure Bodhi and the crew were ready for his impending absence due to our honeymoon in St. Maarten.

  Mom, Dad, and Adam came down a week before the wedding. They stayed at Eli and Nora’s duplex. Together. I was the only one who seemed to find this weird.

  “When you have as much history with someone as we do, it changes things,” Mom said. “We have children together, Alina.”

  We’d fantasized about getting married on a small, private beach, but judging by the size of our guest list, that just wasn’t practical. Instead, we opted for the Renaissance Carambola Beach Resort out on the North Shore. Ivy and Jude both had connections there, and we got a great deal on the romantic beachside villas, where we and our out of town guests would stay after the reception. Even Salomen and Amelia stayed there, despite our offers to give up the house.

  “It’s your house now,” Amelia said.

  A couple of days before the wedding, Jude and I took my parents and Adam to Rainbow Beach. My mother was a nervous Nellie on the jet-ski at first, but then we couldn't get her off the thing. She even took it out by herself. There was a bar and restaurant right on the beach, so we stayed for lunch, leaving only when the sun started its slow descent, a sinking sphere hovering heavily over the horizon.

  “People go fishing off that pier?” Dad asked as we drove past on the way out of Frederiksted. Sometimes cruise ships or navy ships docked there, but right now, it was empty.

  “All the time,” Jude said, pulling in to a parking space that looked out over the water. “Come on, let’s go take a look.”

  Wrapped in towels and still wet from “one last dip” at the beach, we left the truck and walked down the pier, where there were, in fact, several men scattered up and down, fishing.

  My father nodded in approval, rubbing his mustache. “I should come back out here before leaving.”

  “Hey, I wanna do that,” Adam said suddenly. Further down, toward the end of the pier, a large group of kids was running and leaping in to the sparkling water.

  “Go for it,” said Jude.

  Mom balked, grabbing Adam’s arm. “Oh, no…I don’t…”

  “Let him try, Sharon,” Dad said with a chuckle. “He does stuff like that all the time back home.”

  “Oh, that’s great,” she said, but she let go of my brother, who walked quickly ahead of us.

  Jude grabbed my hand. I felt him thumb my ring, and we looked each one another. Sometimes it felt like we were already married. “You wanna jump in?” he asked, bringing me to the edge.

  It was a long way down. Kind of. At least I could see what was down there; even this late in the day, the water remained deeply clear, lapping gently against the concrete of the pier.

  “Everyone does it,” Jude cajoled, dropping
his towel and kicking off his flip flops. Without warning, Adam threw himself in, hollering all the way down.

  “Are you guys gonna jump?” I called over my shoulder.

  My dad snorted, waving me off, and Mom just giggled, shaking her head. “Kid's stuff. That's all you, honey.”