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JOSH
I nodded absentmindedly as the hotel manager told me to wait, my fingers tapping against my thigh. “Sure, no problem,” I muttered, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.
Vivien was going to kill me if I was late for snorkeling.
The thought almost made me smile, but there was this weird weight in my chest, like my body already knew something was wrong before my brain caught up. The manager disappeared behind the desk, rustling through some papers, and I exhaled slowly, rolling my shoulders. This was probably nothing. Just Jess checking in.
Then the manager returned. He handed me a single piece of
paper.
A simple, nondescript sheet. Nothing special. Nothing alarming.
Until I read it.
And reread it.
And reread it again.
I stared at the words, my vision blurring for a second, my brain struggling to compute the message staring right back at me. My heart was pounding in my ears, my pulse a jackhammer against my ribs.
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11:01
BIG NEWS
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No. No, this has to be a mistake.
Maybe I was hallucinating. Maybe I got too much sun. Maybe a coconut did hit me in the head, and this was some kind of heatstroke–induced fever dream.
I read it again.
Every single emotion flitted through me all at once, tangling into one big mess that I couldn’t make sense of.
“Fuck.”
I had no idea how I made it back to the bungalow. I was in a daze, the message balled up in my fist, my feet moving without me telling them to. My mind raced, grasping for answers, for some way to handle this, to process what this meant.
How the hell was I supposed to tell Vivien?
How was I supposed to deal with this?
I stopped in front of the door, my hand hovering over the knob, fingers tightening around the crumpled paper.
I needed a second.
Just one goddamn second to breathe.
I closed my eyes, inhaled deep, exhaled slow, and then finally, I turned the handle and stepped inside.
And froze.
Vivien’s voice drifted through the space, low and hushed.
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But that wasn’t what made me stop dead in my
She was on the phone.
A phone.
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tracks.
We weren’t supposed to have any fucking phones here. No reception. No contact with the outside world. That’s why they had to write the damn message down for me.
So, how the hell was Vivien talking on the phone right now? It didn’t make any sense! Why would she lie and convince the hotel to take all my messages?
The daze I’d been in shattered.
But then-
Then I heard her next words.
And everything inside me stopped.
“Things with Josh are getting serious,” she said, her voice light, casual, like she was talking about us to a friend.
But then she laughed.
And the sound of it sent ice–cold nausea rolling through me.
“No, no, no,” she continued, her voice lowering again, “she’s not waking up. Those doctors in Germany are literally just waiting for Josh to give the go–ahead to donate her organs, basically.”
I blinked.
I couldn’t have heard that right.
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I had to be hearing things.
But she kept talking.
“I told you, if I played dumb, he’d come to me.” Another laugh. Carefree. Effortless. She sounded different. “And he did. I can;t believe he made me wait a whole year before we finally slept together and now that I know what I was missing out on, I’m even more upset!” Vivien laughed.
My throat was dry. My body felt like it didn’t belong to me anymore.
I wanted to move. I wanted to confront her, to demand what the fuck she was talking about. But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe.
Vivien kept going.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I can’t believe it either.” A giggle. A fucking giggle. “Josh Saunders. Right? Saunders has a nice ring to it.”
The world around me blurred.
What the hell was happening right now? Maybe this whole day isn’t happening, and I am currently passed out with sunstroke in the clinic or something. Vivien doesn’t sound like Vivien. Laura… fuck. I shook my head and heard Vivien again. “Wait. I think he’s back. Got to go. Get a dress ready, girl! Wedding bells incoming!” Then she called for me down the hall.
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