Island Love Songs: Seven Nights in Paradise / The Wedding Dance / Orchids and Bliss

“It’s a disaster, that’s what it is.”

“You didn’t tell him accidentally, did you?”

“Accidentally?” Melanie looked at Richelle in shock. “How could I tell him accidentally if I haven’t spoken to him in nine months?”

“I’m just wondering if he saw the news about the wedding on your Facebook page, or on Twitter.”

“I unfriended him, but even if he had access, I never said where we were going to be. I’ve been very careful about that.”

“Well, maybe he heard about the wedding through a mutual friend, and he decided he’d head to Fiji to get a chance to talk to you. I’m sure he still wants closure.”

“Lawrence isn’t the kind of guy to get on a plane and come all the way here for the sole purpose of talking to me. If he’d wanted to talk to me, he would have done so in New York.”

“If you’re certain that he didn’t find out about the wedding, then it sounds like fate is making a major play.”

“Fate?” Melanie countered. “It’s simply a coincidence.”

“Coincidence?” Richelle shook her head. “No, it’s more like the universe forced the two of you together. I sense a reconciliation in the making....”

Melanie’s jaw dropped. “Don’t say that. Don’t even start on that.”

“Why not? I always thought you and Lawrence—”

“We’re over. He never even called me after the wedding, remember?” Melanie swallowed painfully, remembering how a part of her heart had hoped that he would reach out to her. Reach out to her and beg her to take him back, beg her to come to her senses.

“You mean the wedding where you stood him up?” Richelle said, giving her a pointed look.

“Obviously, he wasn’t too torn up over it,” Melanie insisted. “Because he said nothing to me. Not a call, not a text message, not an email.”

“Because you stood him up—” Richelle stressed.

“He didn’t reach out to me, and I didn’t reach out to him, which makes it very clear that both of us knew we were heading down the wrong path. It was better to leave things as they were than fight for something that wasn’t supposed to be.”

Richelle rolled her eyes. “It’s more like you broke his heart, and he was too hurt to talk to you,” she said. “Everyone has to have their level of pride.”

“Don’t take his side,” Melanie said, pouting.

“This isn’t about sides, Mel. You’re my friend, and I love you, but I’ve never once told you that I agreed with you if I didn’t. Remember how I reamed you out for putting Nair in LaRita’s shampoo in tenth grade? I still loved you, but I told you that you were wrong to get revenge like that. You should have just reported her for bullying you.”

“She never bothered me again, now did she?” Melanie countered, smiling slightly with the memory of how the tables had turned on LaRita. Once half-bald, other students had started bullying her, and Melanie’s life had gotten a lot easier.

“You got what you wanted, but you didn’t do it the right way,” Richelle said. “Just like with Lawrence. If you didn’t want to marry him, fine. But you shouldn’t have stood him up at the altar like that. It was wrong. You can’t turn around and blame him for not trying to talk to you after that.”

Melanie swallowed uncomfortably. She knew that no matter what she said, Richelle was right. Melanie couldn’t shift any blame onto Lawrence for her actions.

It was just that she never expected to see him again. Least of all not here, in Fiji.

“What did he say to you?” Richelle asked.

Melanie sighed. “That he wanted an answer. That I owed him one for how I humiliated him on our wedding day.”

“And you said?”

Melanie hesitated. Then she shook her head.

“You avoided him,” Richelle surmised. “Of course.”

“It’s a big enough shock that he’s here in Fiji, for God’s sake. I’m supposed to have a serious conversation like that on the spot?”

“Mel.” Richelle tsked. “What are you going to do? Avoid him for the rest of the trip?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. I know you. You’re afraid to face him. And I understand why. But please, hon, don’t run scared while you’re in Fiji. If it’s truly over between you and Lawrence, what harm will come from talking to him? And what if it’s not really over....”

Richelle got to her feet, grinning devilishly as she did. Then she pulled off her bathing suit cover, dumped it on the lounge chair and jogged into the water to join Roy.

Leaving Melanie to ponder Richelle’s words.

* * *

“Was that Melanie?” Shemar asked when Lawrence slumped onto the lounge chair beside him.

“Yeah.” Lawrence’s tone was clipped.

“She’s here?” Shemar asked, disbelievingly. “We come all the way to Fiji and she’s here?”

“Tell me about it, bro. That about sums up my luck.”

“Unbelievable.” Shemar made a face. “Guess that’s why you didn’t get our beer.”

“Oh, sorry. I was distracted.”

“So, what’d she have to say for herself?” Shemar asked, his tone sounding cautious.

“That she’s here for a wedding. You remember how her friend Richelle started dating that quarterback who used to play for the Giants?”

“Vaguely.”

“Well, Richelle’s marrying the guy. Here. In Fiji. Of all places.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Shemar said. “If there’s a wedding happening, sounds like Melanie will be busy. And so will we. You probably won’t run into her again.”

Lawrence gritted his teeth as he stared out at the water. This was an island paradise, the exact type of place he would have loved to come with a special woman in his life. But he’d come with Shemar instead to golf, snorkel and scuba dive.

And now Melanie had appeared and had already turned this trip upside down. Lawrence had six more days here—six days he was supposed to be spending purging Melanie from his system. Yet how could that happen now?

Shemar stood and clamped a hand down on Lawrence’s shoulder. “I know that look, Lawrence. But like I said, don’t sweat it. It’s a big resort. You don’t have to see her again if you don’t want to. I’m going to get those beers. You need it.”