“What was the tattoo of?” I shut my mouth the moment the words flew out, wishing I hadn’t asked. The second I saw a glint of humor in her gaze, I knew it was okay.
Winter shook her head, but she started laughing. “An anchor with red roses wrapped around it and a pair of skis propped next to the roses. Underneath, it read, Anchors Don’t Weigh Me Down.”
I hid a snicker.
“Wait—roses?” Samantha asked, giggling.
“Roses? I’m stuck on the anchor and skis.” Arie laughed.
“I tried to look away, but the image is burned into my memory.” She shuddered, laughing.
“I think the whole combo is priceless.” I laughed and let out a happy sigh. “Well, I always wondered why you didn’t like skiing or men who skied.”
She smiled and pursed her lips. “Well, now you know.”
“Was your dad in the navy?” Arie asked.
“Nope. Nothing really makes sense about the tattoo.” Winter scowled and shook her head. “And my mom still won’t tell me its meaning.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know,” I offered. “I mean, I’m not sure anyone could possibly figure that one out.”
“In college, he was ski patrol, but it still doesn’t explain the anchor and roses.” She rolled her eyes. “But he does like boats.”
“At least we can laugh about it now,” I offered, and Winter agreed.
“Crazy how things, when you’re young, can stay with a person.” Arie pursed her lips together, and I glanced at Samantha.
“So, what are you two saying? That Winter should go find a guy who cooks and has a house on the beach with a boat docked out front?” I asked, and Arie laughed.
“And has tattoos?” Arie chuckled.
“Just to clear things up, I have slept with men with tattoos. I just knew I’d never marry one.” Winter grinned and looked over at the bartender.
I held up my hands and laughed. “Believe me, we had no doubt there. Seriously, though. Why dig this up? What’s the point?”
“The point is that whether Winter knows it or not, she’s limiting herself. She’s cutting herself off from love, all because of a horrible incident back in high school.” Samantha cocked her head slightly. “And I think it’s about time we start letting ourselves go in the direction where love might actually be hidden.”
“You mean hidden in plain sight?” Arie asked, and I scowled.
“Don’t tell me you’re falling for it too?” I asked. “You didn’t even write anything down.”
Arie laughed and took a sip of her drink. “Because I’m the smart one.”
“Essentially, Winter has subconsciously vowed to date slackers for the rest of her life so she doesn’t wind up with someone successful because in her mind, she equates success with men who cheat, lie, and abandon people they should care about. But as we all know, that’s not true. Successful men aren’t all like that. There are plenty of slackers who do the same thing.” Samantha caught her breath. “I’m saying it’s high time Winter raises the bar. Maybe even date a lawyer, an entrepreneur, or actually anyone with a steady job, really.”
“Well, that’s just crazy talk.” I chuckled.
“It kind of is.” Winter smiled and glanced at the bartender. “Do you realize I’ve never been in a relationship where I didn’t have to support the other person?’
“Why, yes.” I nodded. “I think it’s something we’ve all noticed and mentioned over the years.”
“So, what about you?’ Winter asked, and I froze.
I didn’t actually have to look at the paper to know what I wrote or whom I wrote it about, but I certainly wasn’t going to reveal that bit of info or I’d fall entirely into their plan.
I took a deep breath and read the words aloud, “I hereby swear I will never marry a man named McKenzie.” I sucked in a breath. “I vow to never marry a bad boy or a rebel.”
Arie’s eyes widened. “You wrote yours about the McKenzie boys? The brothers?”
“One brother,” Samantha corrected.
She obviously remembered too.
Darn it.
“I only knew one.” I folded my paper back up and prepared my best lying expression. “I don’t even remember his first name.”
Another lie. The thought of Morgan McKenzie still turned my insides into a wild roller coaster ride of forbidden teenage lust.
“Okay, so let’s see.” Arie sucked on her bottom lip and nodded slowly. “I think Winter and Samantha might be onto something because you have an awful problem of dating only preppy boys, and I mean boys when I say it. I don’t think you’ve ever dated a real man.”
“I do tend to date very clean-cut men with—”
“An appreciation for matching sweaters and socks, loafers, and a ton of letters and numbers after their name,” Winter interrupted me with no sign of slowing. “I mean, think about your ex-fiancé.”
“Do I have to?” I teased.
“He looked like he stepped out of an eighties frat house complete with plaid sweaters and too much cologne doused on him.”
“Well, I wouldn’t pick him now, which was why I wasn’t heartbroken when he left Fireweed to pursue his career.”
“As a school teacher,” Winter added. “On the fast track to an administration role. Wasn’t that what he’d announced to us all at the last dinner we’d had at your house?”
I’d put that night out of my head almost as soon as it had happened. My ex had already grown distant and had absolutely zero thought about anyone but himself. He didn’t care that I’d loved Fireweed or that I had dreams too. It was always him, all the time, which was why when he announced that he’d accepted another position off the island, I didn’t follow. I’d had enough. It was actually relief that filled me right up, not sadness. So, when he held a dinner party to announce to his group of friends, with a few of mine thrown in, that he was leaving for a promotion, everyone turned to see my reaction. And it was pure shock. Because he hadn’t told me yet. I learned with everyone else, and yet, I couldn’t wait to help him pack.
Winter started up again. “Anyway, I think you absolutely need to quit dating such goody-two-shoes types. You just always ignore the guy with an edge or someone who has—”
“Tattoos?” I giggled. “Should we just switch dating types? You go for the clean-cut, goody-two-shoes, and I’ll go for the bad boy rebel.”
“You said it. I didn’t.” She chuckled. “No, I just think you should go for someone who isn’t so straitlaced. Maybe you’d have more fun than you realize. Maybe date a guy who wouldn’t mind jumping out of a plane with you or hang gliding off some mountain.”
I let out a thoughtful sigh as I thought back to why I had written that pledge.
My mom’s sister had just been dumped by her boyfriend of ten years, whom she’d had three children with. My aunt and her children had to live with us off and on over the years because she could barely make ends meet. She’d given him everything emotionally, and he’d left her broken to go play in a band that never took off, but it gave him plenty of reasons to sleep around and stay out drinking.
Seeing the devastation that man caused my aunt and cousins left a scar, and it happened to be at the same time I’d run into McKenzie, a last-name-only kind of guy. He was seventeen and somehow managed to have more tats than I’d ever seen, probably using his fake id at the time to talk his way into the tattoo studio for an appointment. He lived only a few houses down the street, and his band always practiced in his garage. One day, the garage door was wide open, and he blew me a kiss. From that moment on, I avoided him like the plague.
Why?
Because he blew every girl a kiss.
And I didn’t want to wind up like my aunt.
I glanced at Winter, who was observing me, and I nodded slowly. “I think you guys are onto something here.”
“And haven’t you ever wondered who kept leaving you that white rose week after week your entire junior year?” Arie asked me.
I laughed nervously,
wishing my friend had a better case of amnesia, but I’d always wondered who left those roses for me.
Every Monday morning, one would be on our doorstep. At first, I thought my brothers were messing with me, and then I fantasized that it was a secret message from Morgan McKenzie. I shook that last thought out of my head.
Ridiculous.
Arie’s eyes were wide with anticipation as she looked at Samantha. “What about you? Who did you write off?”
“I’m probably the most doomed here.” Samantha folded up her piece of paper, and Winter almost ripped it out of her hands, but Samantha was too quick.
“You’re seriously not going to tell us?” I asked, completely shocked that my friend would play such a dirty trick.
“I got cold feet.” She frowned. “I fully intended on revealing my vows.”
“That’s not fair.” Winter shook her head. “In fact, it reminds me of something a sixteen-year-old would do.”
“Actually, wasn’t this pact idea Samantha’s in the first place?” I asked.
“It was.” Arie nodded.
“All I’m saying is we’re about to turn thirty.” Winter drew a breath. “And I think it’s high time we find our Mr. Wrong and give it a shot, and I say we have until our thirtieth to do it. We need to commit to this challenge or else.”
“That gives me a week.” I slammed my hands on the seat of the booth. “That’s totally not fair, and who said I even wanted to agree to this?”
Winter smiled an all-knowing look. “You don’t want Samantha and me to be the only two trying out this theory when all three of us committed to the original pact.” Her right brow arched. “You’ve got to do this challenge with us.”
“We were teenagers,” I protested.
“I bet you’ll find the love of your life in the next thirty days,” Winter shot back. “How about that?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not buying into this, and I don’t want to play. I’ll think about what you’re saying, and maybe I’ll dabble with a bad boy, but by my birthday? No.”
“We’ll see.” Winter was readying for battle.
Samantha giggled.
“You are so not off the hook.” I shot Samantha a warning gaze.
“Okay, I will fully admit that this is completely rotten of me, but how about I share my pact after you guys experiment?” She tapped her finger nervously and clutched her purse. “I got cold feet hearing you two argue, and it will all make sense once I read what I wrote, but I just…can’t. What we need to do is vow to experiment with the men who are wrong with us before we turn thirty.”
“Nice try.” I shook my head. “But you’re reading it. I turn thirty next week, and I don’t even have time to fit in a date with a bad boy.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Winter asked me. “You constantly babble about wanting to jump out of an airplane, but you don’t want the adventure of love? Not on my watch. We’re all in this challenge together.” She pointed at Samantha. “And you better read it.”
“Ditto that sentiment.” Arie stared in disbelief. “You can’t pull me along for the ride this far and not tell me what your vows were.”
“Yeah,” Winter agreed, brows furrowed. “This isn’t how we planned it.”
“Fine. But I won’t answer any questions. Not now, anyway. Deal?”
Winter and I traded glances, and I shrugged. “Fine.”
But I wondered why in the world we’d have any questions. These were pretty blanket statements coming from a sixteen-year-old’s perspective.
She dug the paper out of her purse and unfolded it. She drew a slow breath and stared at the page.
“I hereby swear that I will never date my best friend’s brother.” Her breath caught. “I vow to never sleep with him again.”
“Again?” Arie nearly choked on her drink as she slammed the glass down on the table while Winter’s eyes remained wide and locked on mine.
We all had brothers.
Chapter Two
I stared at the twenty sets of eager eyes looking at me for tonight’s homework assignment.
Oh, who was I kidding?
They weren’t eager.
They were desperate to hear there would be no English homework for the long weekend.
I watched Chelsea Hanningway, seated in the front row, wiggle nervously as she and the others waited for me to turn off the projector and announce my expectations for Tuesday. Even though it was Thursday, there was a teacher planning day tomorrow and Monday was Memorial Day.
“Can you turn on the lights, Mindy?” I asked, smiling at the shy teenager with light pink hair.
She was closest to the switch or I wouldn’t have asked her. She usually took the far back corner seat, but she’d arrived late. Hopefully, this latest request wouldn’t put her over the edge and spoil her long weekend.
I stood from my desk and glanced at the class again as Mindy trudged to the light switch. The moment the lights flicked on, I was unable to hide my smile. I loved my students. I loved my job. And I prided myself on not making my kids miserable.
Opening the bottom drawer slowly, I bent down as all eyes remained on me.
I pulled out a small tray of chocolate brownies. My favorite coffee shop and bakery, Gabby’s Goodies, just opened another location near the ferry terminal, and I had to treat my students.
Cheers and applause flooded the classroom the moment the chocolate goodness came into view.
“No homework this weekend, my people. Just promise me to have fun and crack open a book or download one for fun on Monday and get through a few pages.”
Promises erupted all over the classroom as a giant horde of students came bounding over to grab the brownies. Of course, all the guys got to the desk first, nearly trampling one another.
“Only one,” I hummed as greedy hands came piling on top of one another. “But you can go support our newest little bakery by the terminal,” I reminded them. “I know they’d love to see more students take advantage of their student discount.”
“Absolutely, Mrs. Berry.” Gordan grinned, taking a bite. He always seemed to be the leader in every group he fell into, and it was impossible to miss all the teenage girls drooling over him. I held in a sweet sigh. High school crushes were always so…
Simple.
Pure.
Innocent.
“No, it isn’t Mrs.,” a different student, Becky, warned loudly.
I snapped my head in her direction.
“She’s not married. Doesn’t even have a boyfriend,” she continued to another student, Emma.
Emma’s eyes widened, and she glanced at me.
“Shit, I hope I didn’t make her feel bad.” Becky glanced at Emma who pulled her gaze from mine.
“Yikes.” Emma grinned.
“That’s why she tells us to call her Tessa, so we don’t remind her that she’s single,” Becky continued. “Nobody that age wants to remember something like that.”
I watched Becky shudder and couldn’t help but laugh.
“She is standing right here.” I put my hands on my hips and shook my head, promising myself that I loved teenagers. “I’m a happy single person.”
“Oh, of course,” Becky said and nodded before grabbing a brownie and running to catch up with Gordan.
Emma was right behind her when Becky turned around to whisper, “She actually got dumped and became stranded on Fireweed.”
Okay, so living on a small island was both a blessing and a curse. Stories spread, changed, and evolved over time. Privacy didn’t exactly exist on Fireweed, but most of the time, it didn’t bother me … even a little. I liked being known around town and knowing others. It just wasn’t usually over my dating life.
I watched the students dash into the hall as Becky glanced over her shoulder at me. There was a part of me that wanted to toss a crumpled piece of paper in their direction.
But I was better than that.
I was the mature one.
“It’s okay, Tessa. My mom’
s single too, and it’s by choice. I get it.” Mindy winked and walked out of the room as she munched on her brownie.
I wasn’t sure if she was getting back at me for earlier or was genuinely being sympathetic. It was hard to tell with teenagers. They were a tricky lot.
With every second that passed by, I was suddenly grateful I had a student-free day tomorrow.
It didn’t help that the whole conversation last night with my best friends hadn’t left my mind. Well, it was more than it hadn’t left my mind. I was actually thinking about all of our vows all day.
I couldn’t stop reminiscing about my teenage crush who never knew he was a crush, and I really couldn’t understand how I’d promised my three best friends that I’d go out with a rebel by the time I turned thirty. I now had six days left to accomplish that impossible task, but it was the only thing that would keep my friends quiet and my peaceful life intact. I could prove them wrong and move on.
When the last student finally filed out, I picked up a brownie and took a bite and looked around my classroom filled with brightly colored posters of apostrophes and exclamation points.
Hot pink and turquoise streamers ran along my windows for extra zippiness, but everything was hanging on by a thread. After all, summer was right around the corner, and after last night, I suddenly felt like I needed a break.
What if on some subconscious level, that pact from all those years ago did screw us up mentally? I mean, what were the odds that all three of us were single? Well, four of us, if you were to count Arie, but she didn’t take the vows like the rest of us and yet she was still as single as they came. Although she did at least find someone and fall in love with him enough to marry him.
Only to get divorced.
And Samantha and one of our brothers?
I shuddered.
I wanted to believe I hadn’t given my vows a second thought, but I unintentionally kind of had followed that pledge. I did stay away from the rebels, the bad boys of the world.
But I’d like to believe it wasn’t because of that pact.
Nope.
Just common sense.
And self-preservation.
Mr. Mistake: A Fake Marriage Romance (Mr. Mistake Series Book 1) Page 2