Page 21 of What I Like About You

Chapter Eight

The bright sunsparkled off the crystal-blue waters of the Caribbean as the Brown Eyed Girl bobbed up and down with the waves. Every single guest on this excursion had hopped out to enjoy a snorkel around Turtle Cove. Well, all except Cullen, who had decided to tag along at the last minute, but he really wasn’t a guest anymore.

Beautiful days like this made Dalton miss having Drea as a part of their team, but he had to admit that the dedicated guy time was nice. Kyle was the first real friend Dalton had met since things had blown up with Zara at the end of high school. The guy he’d thought was his best friend had turned out to be a weasel, and none of the other guys he’d hung with in high school or college had really been anything more than surface-level buddies. While he’d never been a big sharer of feelings and all that, even he knew you had to have someone to talk things out with. Finding Kyle when he arrived at the Indigo Royal was nothing short of a lifesaver.

“So, this Zara chick…” Kyle said, joining Dalton up at the front of the boat.

“What about her?” Dalton asked, trying to delay the conversation he knew was coming.

“Did you sleep with her or something?” Kyle asked.

“The only place I have ever fucked Zara Wellington is in my mind,” Dalton admitted, sounding a lot more wistful than he’d intended.

“So then, how exactly does she fit in to the scene back home?”

Dalton glanced down at Cullen who was “resting his eyes” on the trampoline in front of them. “Bro code, this stays between us?”

“Who are we going to tell?” Cullen asked, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“Well, there’s that smart-mouthed blonde you have back in your bungalow,” Dalton quipped before turning toward Kyle and saying, “And don’t get me started on your girlfriend.”

“What happens on the boat, stays on the boat,” Kyle assured him. He glanced down to Cullen, who was nodding in agreement.

Dalton sucked in a long, deep breath. How exactly did one explain all this?

“Childhood best friend is the easiest way to describe it, I guess,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“You guess?” Cullen asked, sitting up.

“My mom, ShariLou, and her mom, Tara Mae—”

“What is it with you Americans and double names?” Cullen asked.

“It’s southern tradition,” Dalton said, mockingly indignant. “Anyway, they were best friends as little girls, who turned around and married a pair of buddies. So, naturally, our families did everything together. Zara’s older sister, Scarlett, was a lot older than us, and her brother, Rhett, was a year or two ahead of Felicity in school. Scarlett never really had time for us, and Flick and Rhett ran in some of the same circles, but Zara and I were inseparable.”

“Even after…?”

“Yeah. More so, actually. She was the only person who really knew what I was going through when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Her mom was grieving in her own way from losing her best friend, so Zara was waist deep in it with me. She was the only person to see me cry. Not my dad, not Flick. I held it together the whole funeral. It was only after everyone left that I broke down in front of her. She just sat there and let me cry.”

Just thinking about his mother’s death made a lump form in Dalton’s throat. Losing her had been one of the worst moments of his life. It had left a hole in him that to this day he wasn’t sure could ever be filled. So much of who he was up to that moment had been because of her love and gentle spirit guiding his own mischievous heart to use those powers for good. So much of who he was now was trying to be the man she would have wanted him to grow to be. Which was not easy given who his father was.

ShariLou Sutherland had taken her last breath with one hand holding Dalton’s and the other holding Felicity's, her husband nowhere to be found. It was way more than any twelve-year-old should be asked to handle. He’d held in all his tears and emotions trying to be strong for her, not wanting her to see him break down. Instead he had saved it for the only other person who he trusted.

“Zara’s older sister is actually best friends with BJ, oddly enough,” he continued, referring to his step-mother by the immature nickname he’d given her around the age of thirteen. “In case everything wasn’t already incestuous enough.”

“That’s the nanny turned step-mum, yes?” Cullen verified.

“That’s her!” Dalton said, cringing at the thought of her and all the damage she’d done to his family. “So, Zara lived through all that with me as well. And then, we hit puberty. I grew into my lanky frame and fell into a more popular crowd at our old-money prep school, and she, well…” he trailed off, looking for the right words.

“Didn’t?” Kyle offered.

“It was more than that. She was always kinda chubby as a kid—the moms used to call her ‘fluffy’—but it was always just assumed that she’d grow into herself. But then…she didn’t. She stayed…full figured, or whatever you want to call it. She’s always been beautiful. Always. She just was never skinny.” Dalton sighed, wandering over to the side of the boat and leaning against the railing. His mind conjured up the image of Zara’s lush curves and soft body, wondering how it would feel up against him.

“And high school kids are mean.”

“Mean doesn’t begin to cover it. They were cruel to her. Because on top of being heavy, she wasn’t exactly cool. She loved books, and musicals, and all this really smart stuff. Stuff that would make you interesting now, but not so much at sixteen. And the popular girls, well, they took mean to a new level. She was constantly the butt of jokes.”

“Did you not stick up for her? I thought you were best mates?” Cullen asked.