Destiny Ever-Changing

by Ivey , Tasha

  She smiles at me shyly after coming to the realization that I am entranced with her. "You can call off the search party," she says. "I'm here."

  "Lucky for you," I joke. "Laura, I want you to meet my sister, Ashton."

  Ashton steps forward and offers her hand to her. "I'm so happy to meet the woman who has been keeping my boys in check. These two are a lot of work, aren't they?"

  "You couldn't be more right about that. Hey, uh, can I help with anything?"

  Ashton turns to me instead of answering. "Now, I get it. Even I like this girl already." She beams at Laura, gestures for her to follow, and they disappear into the kitchen.

  Will giggles. "I think Ash is in love."

  "I know she is . . ." I accidentally reply. "Oh, you mean with Laura! That's just because Jacqueline hasn't ever offered to help with anything."

  "What did you think I meant?"

  "Nothing. I just misunderstood you."

  "Mmm-hmm," he replies, peeking into the kitchen window. "So, you're still sure about setting me up with Laura, right. It's not too late to back out now."

  "Why do you keep asking if I'm sure?" I am desperately attempting to play stupid.

  "Oh, I don't know. It could be because you've flipped that same piece of steak over fourteen times since I brought it up five seconds ago."

  "Will, we've been through this . . . I'm positively sure. Quit kicking the dead horse, okay?"

  "Suit yourself," he says, puffing out his chest. "Be prepared to see game that you've never seen before. I have a few moves up my sleeve that would put you to shame."

  I shake my head and laugh. "I can't wait to see you use your moves on her. She'll chew you up and spit you out if you're not careful."

  "Just watch and learn, my friend," Will dares as he steps back into the kitchen. "Hey, ladies, ya'll don't need to go and get your hands dirty. Let me help."

  As soon as the meal is ready, we all sit down at the deck's dining table, which Ashton and Laura have decorated beautifully with a centerpiece of fragrant gladiolus from the garden and vibrant yellow linen napkins. And, if I do say so myself, the ceramic platter filled with juicy, steaming steaks looks the most appealing.

  Jacqueline finally emerges from her nest upstairs, clearly wanting to upstage the other women in the house—wearing a slinky black cocktail dress, sky-high heels, and jewelry dripping off of every possible location. She slowly saunters outside and quietly takes her place next to me at the end of the table, holding her head high and cutting her eyes at Laura and Ashton. I'm sure she only wants to be sure that they are taking notice of her, and when they pretend not to notice, she reaches across the table to take my hand. But, of course, I don't want to give her the satisfaction either, so I pull my hand away. Ashton immediately snickers and doesn't try to hide it.

  "So," Will pipes up through the uncomfortable silence, "I think I'll have one of those steaks, Brooksey. Pass 'em on down."

  "Ooh, Laura and I will take one of those," Ashton says as Laura nods wide-eyed in agreement.

  All of the bowls and platters make their way around the table—Jacqueline passes on everything except the salad, of course—and the casual chatter ensues. Laura, who is sitting right between Will and Ashton, seems to be having a good time, and I notice Will nonchalantly touching her arm as they speak. After offering several times to serve her more food or drink, he finally convinces her that her ice has nearly melted away, so he jumps up to refill it. He's really laying it on thick, and Ashton is noticing, too. She looks over at me and shrugs as if to say, "Nothing we can do about it." And she's right.

  A sudden prod from pointy shoe snaps my attention back over to Jacqueline, who has silently enjoyed my misery of watching Will and Laura engaging in flirtatious small talk. She glares at me for a moment, but after some careful thought, her mouth curls up at the edges. "Laura," she proposes, "I have been thinking that you should come to our wedding in August. You've quickly managed to win the hearts of everyone here, so I know everyone would just love for you to join us."

  Laura's face freezes in a look of horror and shock. "Uh, sure. I'll try to come if I'm still around."

  "Wonderful. Oh, but I'm almost out of invitations, so I get one to you as soon as the new shipment comes in. I did have a little problem with finding your address to send the invitation, so I searched your name on the internet. The only Laura Carey I could find was living with an Alex Walker in Baltimore, Maryland. That's not you, is it?"

  "Well . . . yes. Yes, it is—or was."

  "Attorney Alex Walker?" she questions.

  Laura nods, the color draining from her smooth cheeks. "That's him."

  "Interesting," she says, victoriously sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

  I don't know what she's getting at, but I do know that Jacqueline doesn't know the first thing about using the internet—or even turning the computer on, for that matter. It's one thing for her to cause me grief, but to attack Laura is completely uncalled for. And it's clear that Laura has had enough of it.

  Luckily, Will swoops in to save the day before I have a chance to harshly intervene. "That's okay," he says. "As best man, I will happily hand deliver an invitation to your house as soon as they come in."

  "That's a good idea, Will." I agree. "Hey, if everyone is finished, why don't we go sit on the lower part of the deck, crank up the music, and start mixing the margaritas?"

  Everyone except Jacqueline immediately stands. "I'd love to, but I have a meeting to . . . discuss wedding ideas. I'll be back later."

  "Whatever," I scoff. "Shall we, everyone?"

  I follow Laura, Ashton, and Will down the two steps to the lower section where all of the more comfortable seating is situated. Ashton begins mixing up margaritas for everyone while I light the lanterns that border the deck railing and turn off the harsh, glaring floodlights. The warm, flickering glow of the flames forces the shadows of the approaching night to reluctantly retreat, creating a mood that I wish I hadn't created. The tequila, the soft lighting, the slow rhythmic jazz music—I unintentionally set the stage for Will to romance Laura, all the while Ash and I are their pathetic audience.

  Awesome idea, Brooks.

  I am the one who wanted this, though. I am the one who pushed the two of them together, so it's time that I face the hard, undeniable truth, by whatever means necessary. Maybe seeing Laura with Will could help me to solidify the fact that she'll never be mine, and she deserves more than I can give her.

  Ashton, on the other hand, is struggling with all of it, keeping her head down and refusing to look in their direction. You would think that we are witnessing them making out or something. But, no, just watching them talk and laugh and playfully pick at one another is more than enough to make the both of us sick.

  Ashton pours and serves everyone a margarita and begins sopping up the mess she made after seeing Will pull Laura's hair back out of her face. I walk over, grab two of the shot glasses, and fill them both full of tequila, and my sister scrunches up her nose as I extend one of the glasses out to her. But the sight of Will slipping his arm around Laura causes her to snatch it away from my hand and down it in one gulp, and I follow suit.

  "Hey, let's walk down to the beach!" Will suggests.

  "Yes, let's," Ashton responds with mock enthusiasm.

  He and Laura take off toward the gate while Ashton and I lag behind. She makes me wait for a moment, so she can run back up to the house, only to return with our tequila and shot glasses. Good thinking.

  We seat ourselves on the bottom step while we watch them chasing crabs and walking out into the waves just far enough to kick water at each other. I guess when Will told me that he was going to use his "moves" on Laura, he wasn't kidding. The only problem is that I can't believe they're actually working on her, and she actually seems to enjoy his company.

  "We're going for a walk. You guys want to?" Will asks, trying to shake his head at us when Laura isn't looking.

  "No, thanks. I think we're too full to walk.
You go ahead." Ashton nudges me to agree.

  "We'll be here when you get back," I insist.

  But just as they walk away, I have a brief moment of hope. Laura turns back to smile at me—something I haven't seen much of since she got here—and Will shoots a conflicted look in Ashton's direction. In that split second, I am relieved. And in the next second, he takes her by the hand, and they walk into the darkness.

  "Here," Ashton says, forcing a shot glass into my hand.

  "No," I refuse. "I'm good."

  "Uh-huh, me, too." She pours both of our glasses full anyway and extends hers out for a toast. Even though, I fully expect to hear the same toast from earlier today, she surprises me with a new one. "To tequila . . . because dealing with jealousy while completely sober is overrated."

  After one more shot and fifteen minutes go by, we see Will and Laura strolling back arm in arm and laughing about something, and it's nearly more than Ashton—or I—can take.

  "I'll distract her, and you get the scoop from him on what they've been doing," she whispers. "Hey, Laura, why don't we run back up to the house and put the leftovers away real quick?"

  "Sure," she agrees, patting me on the shoulder as she ascends the wooden stairs.

  "I think Laura is about ready for me to take her home," he gloats excitedly.

  "What gives? Why are you so anxious to get her home all the sudden?"

  He casually shrugs. "She said so. And I always give the ladies what they want."

  "So, what have you two been doing to make her want to leave?"

  "Did Ashton make you get all the juicy details?" He grins suspiciously.

  "Are you seriously answering my question with a question?" I ask, getting a little worried about why he isn't divulging anything, and I begin digging a hole in the sand with my toe.

  "Okay, okay. The truth is . . . I tried to kiss her, and she shot me down big time. She said she wasn't ready for anything like that yet, but maybe she would be after we got to know each other better. So, she said she was getting tired and said something about spending all morning with you. That's when I offered to drive her home, and she told me that she'd love for me to. I'm thinking we can get to know each other a little better then."

  "Aww, Will, really? You tried to kiss her?" I'm almost embarrassed that I set him up with her now.

  "Come on, Brooks. You told me to distract her, to show her a good time."

  "Yeah, but I never thought you'd put forth that much effort. I've never seen you act like that around a girl before. You were trying too hard. You probably freaked the poor girl out."

  Will looks up at me and sighs. "To be honest, I thought I could do it. I thought that I could pretend to like Laura enough to have a romantic relationship with her, but I just can't. Don't get me wrong . . . she's gorgeous and sweet, but I . . . I just can't."

  "Oh, geez!" I exclaim, finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

  "What?"

  I put my arm around him and laugh aloud, hearing it echo into the black expanse surrounding me. "You like my sister, don't you?"

  "Me?" he shrieks in the same awkward manner that Ashton did earlier. "No . . . what would make you think that."

  "Come on, level with me. Admit it."

  "Dang, you're insistent . . ."

  "Is that a yes?" I push.

  "Good grief, Brooks. Yes! I won't act on it, though, I promise. We've been best friends for nearly our entire lives, and you're more important than some girl."

  "That 'some girl' is my sister, but I honestly don't have a problem with it."

  "No, I can't do it," he contests. "Like you said, that's your sister."

  "My sister that's in love with you." I look up at Will and wait for some reaction, but he just stands there stunned and perplexed. "Will? Did you hear what I said?"

  He finally squints at me as if he's trying to look directly into my thoughts. "If you're just pulling my chain, Brooks, it isn't funny."

  "Dead serious. I don't joke about my baby sister, especially when it comes to men. She told me this afternoon."

  He suddenly plops down into the sand. "Wow . . ."

  "No kidding. You should tell her, you know, and soon."

  "I should."

  I can only laugh at this point. "Tell you what, I'll drive Laura home, and I'm going to send Ash down here to talk to you."

  He jumps up and paces. "Not yet . . . not right now."

  "No better time than the present. See you when I get back." Smiling, I turn to go back up the stairs, leaving Will speechless and anxious. I step into the shallow hole that I previously dug with my toes, and I feel something hard. After reaching down to pick it up, I am relieved to find that Laura's night won't be a total bust, after all.

  Chapter Fifteen — Green with Envy

  Laura:

  When Jacqueline asks me if I had been living with "Attorney Alex Walker," I don't exactly know what to think, but I know there is more to it than what she was letting on. I'm positive that she doesn't honestly want me to come to their wedding, but I can't figure out what her angle is or what she's scheming. Brooks glances over at me, looking just as confused, so I know he's not in on it. I wish someone would enlighten me, but I'm not interested in talking to Jacqueline about it any further.

  Even though Brooks said he wanted to set me up with Will, I still can't help but notice his incessant jealous stares. Every time I look in his direction, I find his cool blue eyes gazing back at me, but they dart away as soon as I catch him. And, he has hardly touched his food. Instead, he's absentmindedly pushing it around on his plate, only scooping a morsel into his mouth when I interrupt his gawking.

  Will is also being exceptionally attentive and doing everything he can to try to impress me, just short of spoon-feeding me. While his interest is nice to have, it is also extremely annoying. He's almost acting like a stray dog—if you pet him once, he keeps nudging and licking until you do it again, and then, you'll never get rid of him.

  Then again, I can't help but feeling like he's just putting on a show for everyone because he is trying so hard to garner my affections . . . a little too hard. So, needless to say, when he asks me to take a walk with him, I become a tad worried that he's going to do something stupid. Then, he takes my hand and proves my intuition to be right on track.

  "So . . ." Will says once we get out of the others' hearing distance, being the captivating conversationalist that he is.

  "So?" I mock. "You had to have something important to say to me to want to get me alone so badly."

  "Oh, I didn't necessarily want to get you all to myself. You heard the other two; they just didn't want to walk with us."

  "Will," I laugh. "Have you ever heard of this fascinating ability that humans have? It's called peripheral vision. I saw you shaking your head at them."

  "Okay, you got me. You're a real spitfire, aren't you? You don't seem like you are the least bit afraid to call someone out. Brooks warned me about you." He pretends to have something stuck in his shoe and sits down in the sand to fish out the imaginary intruder. "Why don't you have a seat? We don't actually have to walk, you know. Just to sit here alone and listen to the waves would be just as fun."

  Here it comes. This is the point in the evening that he's going to pull out the big guns—I just hope it's not the "big gun," so to speak. He is going to try something. I don't know what it is yet, but the suspense is killing me. This is almost comical. "Okay, but I don't want to stay long."

  "No problemo," he says, bumping me with his shoulder as I take my place beside him. He looks over at me with a coy grin. He's actually quite a good-looking guy now that I take the time to notice. His shaggy golden hair curls at the ends, lending to his playful demeanor and boyish charm, and I can understand how his dark chocolate eyes would melt any woman's heart with one glance. His physique doesn't quite match up to the chiseled definition that Brooks so flawlessly maintains, but his long, lean stature doesn't exactly disappoint the eyes, either.

  "Laura, I have to te
ll you . . . I think you're the most stunning woman I've ever seen." He leans in, rapidly closing the distance between us. His close proximity doesn't alarm me at first, since he's been invading my personal space all night—that is, until his face is only mere inches from mine, and I see his eyes close in anticipation of an impending kiss. However, when I don't lean in to meet him, his eyes flash open to catch me fighting back a wave of giggles.

  "Wow," he laments. "I knew I was a little rusty, but I've never been laughed at before."

  "No, no, no. Not that at all. I'm just . . . not looking for that kind of a relationship right now, you know what I mean?"

  "Yeah, I do." He looks almost relieved.

  "Will, honestly, tell me what all of this is about. You haven't taken any real interest in me until today. Did Brooks put you up to this?"

  He slumps down and nods. "Yes. Well, in a way. He didn't tell me to take it to the extreme that I did, but he did want me to show you a good time and take your mind off of your problems."

  "He's worried about my problems? Even with everything he's going through?"

  "That's just how Brooks is. He's been my best friend since we were kids, and he's always looked out for me, even if it meant he was going to be the one who ended up hurt."

  "Just like he's doing now," I add. "Looking out for his brother and sister."

  He leans back on his elbows and kicks off his flip-flops. "Yep. I guess you know all about that. We've all tried to tell him not to do it, that it would work out, but he refuses to chance it. I'm afraid that he'll never get out of the marriage, though. I suspect that some reason will come up for him to stay married to her, and he'll never be free. Ashton and I have been talking about it a lot. She hates that he's doing this."