Hot Coffee (The Hollens) novel Chapter 59

Ethan's POV

We arrived in the Bahamas in the afternoon. I knew I should have looked at other options, but I loved it here and I always pictured me and Emma here instead of Sharon. Emma was happy regardless. She wasn't at first but when we got to the hotel and she saw the beach along side it, she was overwhelmed with happiness. She was too excited to even take a quick nap after the flight. She changed into plain jeans, a light jacket and sandals, and we went for a walk along the beach. We got coconut water and Emma drank it down quickly.

"It's beautiful here," she said as she hugged my arm like a teddy bear. 

We sat on the sand and watched the small waves crash on the shore. The evening sun made the sky look like a perfect work of art with orange painted all around it. The wind was blowing calmly on our skin.

"Ethan? Ethan Hollen is that you?" I heard a voice asking from behind us. 

We turned around to see a tall, medium built woman with tanned skin and long dark brown hair and brown eyes, making her way over to us. I stood, trying to place her face. She looked familiar.

"It's me, Stacy Westbrook. From high school."

"Oh my God, Stacy? Is that really you? Wow, it's been forever," I said and hugged her.

She looked so different, much more beautiful than she did back in high school.

"How are you?" she asked, wrapping her arms around my waist.

"I've been excellent."

"I see you're still handsome as ever. Wow. It's been ages for sure."

"Ah Stacey, don't make me blush."

"It's been like nine years Ethan. And we're being completely rude; hi, I'm Stacy," she said and extended her hand to Emma who shook it quickly and gave me an awful look. 

For a moment there, I did forgot about her.

"I'm Emma," she greeted, short and cold.

"Emma, this is an old friend of mine from high school," I told her, trying to break the icy face she was giving me.

"More like high school sweethearts," Stacy said, which wasn't helpful.

"Interesting." Emma gave a smirk, which made Stacy realized how unwelcome she was.

"So um, Ethan it was nice seeing you again. And you too Emma. You guys enjoy the rest of the evening."

I found myself walking after her as she walked away. "I'm sorry about that. But you and I should make time to catch up on things. There's so much we should talk about. How about lunch tomorrow with Emma and me and you and your husband?"

"Oh um, I'm actually divorced. I'm here by myself. I needed a vacation."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, how about just me and you like old times sake?"

"She wouldn't mind?"

"Uh, no. She shouldn't mind."

"Okay, tomorrow then. There's this hide away restaurant, they serve the best steaks I've ever tasted. You'll love it."

"Okay then."

She turned and walked back to the hotel. 

Wow. Stacy freaking Westbrook on the same island with me nine years later. She was the most popular girl in high school. Guys fought over her and she wouldn't even acknowledge them. We dated all of senior year and it was one of the best times of my life. She really knew how to make a guy feel special and she hadn't changed a bit. She was more beautiful though— her hair was much longer and her body more plump.

"Are you done staring after her?" Emma shook the memories from my mind.

"Oh, hey baby. Sorry about that; she's an old friend of mine."

"Yeah, you already said that," she snapped and headed back to the hotel without me.

She was upset. The way she hightailed it from the beach it was only right to go after her and calm her down.

"Emma, why are you upset?" I asked as she lay on the bed frowning.

"That's a really dumb question, don't you think?"

"What did I do to you?"

"It's only our first hour here and you've already tried hooking up with one of your exes while you ignored me. You didn't even introduced me as your fiancee and the mother of your unborn children!"

"Baby, why didn't you tell her that?"

"I was saving that for you to tell her. Not me!"

"Emma, calm down."

"I am calm! I'm just so sick of this. I can't catch a fucking break here! It's like one step forward then ten steps back."

"You're getting worked up over absolutely nothing Emma. Stacy and I were high school friends and I haven't seen her in nine years. There's nothing wrong with catching up with an old friend."

"Old friend? She's an ex!"

"And so what?"

"You know what, I'm not going to do this with you right now. Go to your date tomorrow! Hell, why don't you go and have one now? You wanna catch up with her, right?"

"When you calm down, I'll come back!" I found myself shouting back at her and slamming the door on my exit. 

I went down to the food harvest the hotel was having with live bands, music, dancing and all the food your stomach could hold. I couldn't believe how Emma was acting. She didn't trust me and that hurt. I admit, I wasn't expecting to see Stacy here, but we were familiar with each other. We lost touch when we went to different colleges. I heard about her marriage in the papers five years ago but I had no idea she got divorced.

"Hey," a sweet voice greeted behind me as I was downing a glass of Hennessy on the rocks. 

I turned around and saw Stacy. "Hey," I answered.

"You look overworked. You always drink Hennessy when you're under pressure."

"Aw. You still know me so well." 

She gave me a smile. 

"Where's Emma?" she asked.

"Mad at me. In her room."

"I'm sorry if I caused any problems already. I didn't mean to."

"I know that and it's not your fault. Emma just doesn't always trust me."

"But isn't she your fiancee?"

"You know that?"

"Of course. The two of you were really popular on television. She's just being a woman. I would get jealous too."

"Ha. Well, we had a fight, so that's why I'm here trying to clear my mind. There's nothing for her to be angry about. We're old friends, right?"

"Right. If that's how you put it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We're old lovers. You know I'm blunt."

"Yeah whatever. But there's still no need for her to act the way she did. She's going to be my wife, she's supposed to trust me."

"That's true. I'll stay away from you while you're here."

"No!" I held her hand in mine. "Don't go. Lets catch up."

"I think you should go back to your room with your fiancee. You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk. I only had one drink."

"Okay. So do you want us to ditch this place and head to the hide away?"

"Lets ditch like we used to ditch classes."

"Ha ha! You were a bad influence on me, Ethan Hollen."

"It's actually the other way around."

"Come on, we'll take my car."

She drove a Mercedes Benz to a neat, tiny restaurant about a mile away from the hotel. 

It was dark out now.

"This restaurant is called La Petite Belle. It's French and the food here is amazing," she said.

"This place is nice," I said, looking around. 

It was small but neatly arranged. We took a table at the far corner and ordered from the menu. Everything was in French but I had no problem understanding or speaking it. I ordered a rib eye steak well done and a side of vegetable rice and mashed potatoes with red wine. Stacy ordered the same.

"This steak really is tasty," I said, having my third bite.

"I told you so," she said with a pleased smile. She always had a beautiful smile. 

After our meal we headed back to the hotel. 

"You can have the couch," Emma said when I entered and tossed me a pillow and a bed sheet and shut the bedroom door in my face. 

I crashed on the couch without argument.