Save the Secret Date

by Ellie Cahill

  “I’m not looking for instant love,” I said. “But I would really like something that could turn into love. I just…” I sighed. “I’m not desperate, but I’m ready. Do you know what I mean?”

  “It’s hard, Mary. Marriage is hard. It’s not carrying your wife off to bed when she falls asleep in a hotel lobby, or having someone to watch a movie with on a Saturday night. It’s bills, and arguments, and paperwork, and not knowing whose turn it was to empty the dishwasher, and having to care about shit you never wanted to care about—like what brand of toilet paper your wife likes, because she can tell the difference and if you get it wrong, you’re the idiot. Trust me. It’s not all hearts and flowers.”

  “You talk like you’ve been married for years,” I teased.

  “Yeah, well…” He laughed and shrugged.

  “If it’s so hard, why do people do it?”

  He considered that for a long time. “I guess, because life is hard, and maybe it’s less hard if you’ve got someone there in the trenches with you.”

  “See? I want that.”

  “Just make sure you’ve got the right person in the trench with you,” he said. “Because someday you’re gonna get locked in a bathroom and the wrong person will scream at you the whole time, but the right person will drink a bottle of champagne with you and laugh until you get rescued.”

  “That’s extremely specific.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  And weirdly, I did.

  11

  Bachelorettes on the Beach

  There were no official plans for a bachelor or bachelorette party. It was almost impossible to separate the boys and girls when we were all staying at the same resort. And with only one nightclub on property, it wasn't like we could go our separate ways in the evening. I suppose we could have gone into the nearest town, but everyone was pretty content to stay on property. The drinks were free here after all. And it was walking distance everywhere.

  The boys however decided to have a day of guy fun. They were going to spend much of the afternoon by the water sports pavilion. They started out renting paddle boards.

  “I know we're supposed to be doing our own thing, but this is too hilarious to miss,” Emmy said.

  “No kidding!” Reina agreed. Reina was one of Emmy and Beck’s grad school friends from Iowa. They had arrived late last night. Nearly midnight. But I knew right away why they was friends with Emmy and Beck. Reina was great.

  At the far end of the beach, Brady took a spill off his paddle board, plunging into the ocean. We all burst out laughing.

  “I can't believe how bad is this he is!” Hadley said. “He’s usually not this…sad.”

  “Maybe it's something to do with how big he is.” I shaded my eyes with one hand, squinting into the distance. “He’s top-heavy or something.”

  “Maybe…” Hadley sounded skeptical.

  “Beck seems to have it,” Emmy said, looking pleased.

  It was true. Beckett was out past the breakers, and paddling with more confidence than any of the other guys.

  Ashley cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Go, Beck!”

  That made Luke glanced back over his shoulder toward us, which put him off his balance, and suddenly he was in the water, his paddle drifting away.

  We all laughed.

  “This is the best show I've seen in years!” Reina declared.

  “Oh, look! Now Trav has it!” Emmy said.

  Another one of the girls from Iowa, Mandy, appeared at our cluster of chairs. “Special delivery!” she announced. Just behind her, one of the resort waiters was carrying a tray in our direction. On it, he had a collection of champagne flutes, and a large bottle of the bubbly stuff.

  “Now we're talking!” Ashley said. “Champagne before noon, this is my kind of party.”

  The waiter gave each of us a flute, and poured a serving of champagne. Only Hadley turned it down, saying champagne gave her a headache.

  “Come on,” Emmy said. “What better place to have a hangover than the beach?”

  “No, really.” Hadley shook her, ruefully. “I’ll be out of commission all day. It's not worth it. But I'm toasting you in spirit.” She lifted a bottle of water.

  Out on the water, Brady had gotten himself back on his paddle board and was trying again. You had to admire his determination, anyway.

  The guys spent the next hour on their boards with varying degrees of success. I was glad to see Luke seemed to be getting along with the rest of them. It had to be hard to the odd-man-out, but he was definitely all in on hanging with the rest of us. I admired him for it.

  Meanwhile, the female end of the party was content to lounge. Just like yesterday, I was finding that being with them was a kind of time traveling. It was as if no time had passed at all. We could talk about anything, but we could also all be quiet together without it being awkward. I had a book with me that I’d occasionally pick up and read a few pages. Emmy had her kindle, and Mandy had a magazine. Ashley and Reina were happier laying in the sun working on their tans. I kindly bit my tongue about skin cancer. Hadley was with me in the shade of a palapa, where the people who didn’t want to die of melanoma preferred to hide.

  “Where are your parents?” Reina asked Emmy.

  “My dad and Charlene wanted to do one of the tours of the Mayan ruins today,” she said. “I think Beck’s dad and some other family went with them.”

  “What about his mom?”

  Emmy rolled her eyes. “I think she’s having a spa day.”

  “Your future mother-in-law!” Ashley chirped.

  Emmy made a grossed-out sound.

  The guys had finished their paddle boarding, but it looked like they were planning to do something else now. I shaded my eyes, trying to figure out their plans from a distance, but then I saw Beck break away and jog across the sand toward us.

  Emmy sat up on her lounge, calling, “Have fun?” as he approached.

  “Yeah,” he said brightly. “You lazy girls should try it.”

  “We are perfectly happy being lazy girls, thank you very much,” Emmy said.

  Beck smiled and leaned down, bracing his hands on the arms of her chair to kiss her. She cupped the back of his head with one hand, keeping him close even after he broke the kiss. All they did was look at each other, forgetting the rest of us existed for just a moment, but it took my breath away. Emmy smiled and gave him one last peck before releasing him.

  “We’re gonna go out on a kayak,” he said. “They said we might see some turtles. You want in?”

  Emmy turned to consult the rest of us with a quick look.

  “Pass,” Ashley groaned, turning over to expose her back to the sun.

  The sentiment was shared by all of us.

  Beckett shook his head. “Seriously? None of you wants to see turtles?”

  “Go have your fun,” Mandy said, flicking her hand at the water sports pavilion.

  “Lazy. Girls.” He admonished.

  “I love you, Beck, but go away.” Emmy said.

  He laughed, but left us to our lolling. We watched him trot across the sand to meet the rest of the guys.

  “Still weirds me out,” Ashley declared when he was gone.

  “What?”

  “You two. Getting married,” she said. “‘I love you, Beck.’ Weird.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Emmy laughed distractedly. “Hey, do you guys want to go to the discotheque tonight?”

  “Mmph,” Reina mumbled into her arms. She was drowsy from baking in the sun.

  “Sounds fun,” Mandy said.

  “Why not?” I said.

  “Guys, too?” Hadley asked.

  “Yeah,” Emmy said. “Definitely.”

  “Hmm,” Hadley tapped her chin. “Now I just have to figure out how to convince Will that he wants to go to a dance club…”

  “Promise him sex?” Mandy suggested.

  Hadley laughed. “Always a good tactic.”

  “Pub crawl,” Reina said, lifting
her head.

  “What?” Emmy asked.

  Now Reina pushed herself up to her elbows. “There are five resorts, right? And we can go to all of them?”

  “Yeah.”

  Reina shrugged. “They’ve all got bars. A drink at each, and we just squeeze the disco in the middle.”

  Hadley pointed at Reina. “You are a genius.”

  “I know.” Reina flopped down to continue her baking.

  “All right. Pub crawl it is,” Emmy declared.

  12

  Pub Crawl

  The group that gathered in the lobby that night looked much more alert than the crew that had spent the afternoon on the beach. It was amazing what a shower and some dinner could to do revive you after a day in the sun.

  The guys were completely on board for the pub crawl idea. They even liked the idea of stopping at the discotheque in the middle. It was one of the bars on property after all. Plus, we’d heard from another guest that it was sci-fi themed and everyone was dying of curiosity to see what a sci-fi discotheque in Mexico could possibly look like.

  The property was large enough that we decided to get a ride from the bell staff to the first resort. They had to use three golf carts to carry all of us. We crammed into the carts as tightly as possible, including the rear-facing seats. Jake and I took one of those, which meant we got whipped around with every turn. I had to grab onto a support bar with both hands as we sped toward the first stop of the night.

  “You okay?” Jake asked.

  “I’m sliding all over.”

  “I gotcha.” He put an arm around my waist, pulling me tight to his body and bracing himself with his other hand and both feet. It helped me not get tossed like a salad, but it also felt so nice. I was never going to get over him if my hormones didn’t stop doing the cha-cha every time he touched me.

  Why couldn’t I be like Ashley, who was already walking with her hand threaded through Luke’s arm as we entered the first resort? They were laughing and smiling together. Touching each other without hesitation or self-consciousness. Their flirting was at Def-Con 4 and no sign of cooling. Why did I have to be the one getting all freaked out every time Jake got near me?

  We didn’t last long at the first stop. It was as noisy and chaotic as it had been when we dropped off other passengers from the airport shuttle. There were kids and families everywhere, and the wait to get a drink at the bar was much longer than we’d experienced at our resort. In fact, it was so loud, we could barely talk to each other. Instead, everyone focused on their drinks. As soon as Beckett finished his, he swirled his fingers over his head to rally the troops and we headed out.

  The second resort was a little better, though there were still a lot of people jockeying for service at the bar, and for the seats in the nearby lounge area. I decided not to have a drink at that bar, since my strawberry daiquiri had filled me up at the first. None of us wanted to stay long at that spot, however, because the next stop was the discotheque. And we’d all heard about the discotheque. No one could quite imagine what a sci-fi themed dance club would look like, and we were all dying to find out.

  The central shopping center that served all the resorts was mostly shut down for the night when we arrived. The little souvenir shops kept regular business hours, and now the windows were darkened. There was still life at the far end of the center, though. A small cigar bar was open for business, with a sweet, pungent odor permeating the air around the entrance, even in the open-air plaza.

  Brady took a deep inhale. “You sure you guys don’t want to go there instead?”

  Hadley made a disgusted noise. “Please god no.”

  Brady gave her a wounded puppy dog look. “You’re lucky I like you, HB, because you are ruining my fun.”

  “Sorry not sorry,” she said.

  Just around corner from the cigar shop, the discotheque was impossible to miss. Dance music served as a homing beacon for anyone searching for a place to get down. The entrance wasn’t especially remarkable. Just an archway with a neon sign overhead and black curtains obscuring the view inside. The bigger-than-life fiberglass statue of a stormtrooper, however, was definitely unique.

  “What the fuck,” Luke said. It wasn’t a question. Just an observation. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

  “Let’s do this,” Emmy declared.

  Inside, things just got weirder. There were more fiberglass figures, including Darth Vader and Yoda, but also an astronaut. The flashing lights, swirling disco ball, and the pounding dance music just made the whole situation even more surreal. The dance floor was full, but it definitely wasn’t the typical clubbing crowd. There were some 20-somethings, but the average age definitely skewed more toward the 40-50 range. And the dance style was definitely more wedding guest than club scene.

  Emmy jumped and up and down, clapping her hands and squealing with delight. “Oh my god I love it here so much I am never leaving!” She grabbed Beckett. “We live here now. This is our house. We are moving. Here.” She pointed at the floor.

  “Whatever you say, baby.”

  A contingent went to the bar to get the next round, which a bunch of others beelined for the dance floor. I’m okay with dancing once I’ve had a few drinks, but it’s never my first choice, so I hung back with the other wallflowers.

  Jake stepped close and leaned in to whisper near my ear. “See that couple in the second booth?” he asked.

  I knew what he was doing immediately. Whenever I got into my wallflower mood back in college, Jake would get me laughing by making up stories about people around us. They’d started out mild, and more innocent. But over the years they’d gotten more detailed, lurid, and outrageous. It never failed to get me giggling. “Yeah, I see.”

  “That’s not his wife,” he said. “He decided to go for the full girlfriend experience to celebrate his divorce, but he didn’t get to pick the girl.”

  I giggled. “And he’s not happy?”

  “Turned out to be his ex-girlfriend.”

  I burst out laughing. So loud I had to cover my mouth. “Aww, poor guy,” I finally managed to say.

  “See the group of women on the dance floor? Matching tiaras?”

  “Bachelorette party?” I suggested.

  “That’s the booth guy’s ex-wife. She’s here having a divorce party.”

  “Oh man, this guy is definitely having the worst vacation ever.”

  “You can’t even imagine.”

  I turned to smile at Jake just as he was leaning in for another observation and we bumped noses. “Sorry!”

  “Don’t be.”

  I thought of the way he’d kissed my face at the airport, and how close he’d come to kissing my lips. Had that been my imagination? Or some strange sense of obligation to me since we’d once locked lips two years ago? I just could not read him.

  I forced my eyes back to the dance floor and found a couple that could not be more mismatched. He was older, maybe in his sixties, and the woman was in her thirties. She was taller than him, and in much better physical shape.

  “What about them?” I asked.

  “They met at the dog park. It was love at first sight. They are the happiest couple in here tonight.”

  “Happier than Emmy and Beck?”

  “Happier than any of us can ever aspire to be. It’s movie love.”

  I smiled. “Lucky them.”

  “What about…” I zeroed in on our group, finding two of the Iowa group bellied up to the bar. “…Mandy and Travis?”

  Jake gave me a bit of side-eye. It was an unspoken rule that we didn’t play the game with people we knew. But we only barely knew them, so I thought he’d go for it.

  “It’s not a romantic relationship,” he said. “But they are both really really into My Little Pony. In very dark ways.”

  I burst into laughter again, letting out a snort. “Oh my god, I think I’m gonna be sick.”

  “Don’t kink-shame, Mary.”

  “Oh, but the ponies!”

  “They�
�re all consenting adults.”

  “Ugh! Moving on.” I cast my eyes around the room and landed on Ashley and Luke on the dance floor. I’d seen Ashley dance before. She loved it, and she was good at it. And in Luke, she’d found a partner who was more than happy to match her moves on the dance floor. They only had eyes for each other, and the energy between them was volcanic. “Oh boy,” I said. “What about Ashley and Luke?”

  “Off-limits,” Jake reminded me.

  “I know, but…should we rock-paper-scissors for whose room they go back to?”

  He followed my gaze and watched them grind to the beat. “Mine. It’s got to be mine.”

  “Why?”

  “At least he’s got his own bed in our room. You’re sharing the king with Ash.”

  “You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.”

  “I know.”

  13

  Hadley’s Secret

  Despite Emmy’s earlier decision to live in the space-themed disco forever, we eventually moved on to have a drink under the huge Mayan pyramid that sat atop the lobby at the next resort. It was an impressive sight from inside, and far less incongruous than random Star Wars figures and astronauts.

  We’d clearly moved up a step in poshness now, and the lobby was considerably calmer than the other places we’d been earlier. My ears were ringing after the disco, and the relative quiet here was almost deafening in comparison. It was much better lit, too, and everyone blinked too much for the first few minutes.

  Emmy was happy drunk, giving everyone hugs repeatedly, though she focused most of her affection on Beckett. That was fine with him, especially when she added kisses to the mix.

  “Still. Not. Over it.” Ashley said to me as we watched them kiss for the hundredth time.

  “Agreed.”

  She nudged Reina. “Are they like this all the time?”

  “No, this is definitely worse than usual.”

  “Thank god. This is nauseating.”

  “I think it’s sweet,” I said. “They’re so happy together.”