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and squeezes my hand and Tiffany tells me, “You did good.”
    I watch Tyler and the stunning redhead. They are very comfortable with each other. She drapes herself over him like it’s the most natural thing in the world. He turns to look at me a few times, but I pretend not to be watching him, hiding behind my dark sunglasses.
    Tyler and his friends leave the pool after about an hour, likely going for an early lunch. With the pool clear, I tell Paige and Tiffany I’m going for a swim. I let the water rush over me as I swim a few laps. I stretch my muscles, still achy from traveling yesterday, and decide to take a run later. The water feels good.
    Paige and Tiffany want to ride the water slide. The crowd around the pool is starting to thin out thanks to lunch so we leave our things on the chairs and climb the stairs to the top of the slide.
    By the time we get to the top I’ve almost forgotten about Tyler. It finally feels like vacation with my girls. Paige sits on the top of the slide first, waiting for the attendant to tell her she can go. I follow her, with Tiffany behind me. I crash into the water at the bottom of the slide, plunging under the surface. My eyes fill with saltwater and I drop my feet to push my body to a standing position.
    I wipe the water from my face and wait for Tiffany to splash in behind me. The three of us exchange a look and run back up the steps to slide again.
    Exhaustion and hunger settle in after another hour and we search out lunch. The pool has started to get crowded again, but Tyler isn’t back. After lunch we have massages booked so at least I know I won’t run into him there.
    I wish we could stay in the spa the rest of the day, but I want to go to dinner tonight. Hiding from Tyler the entire trip will let him, and the bitchy redhead, win, and I’m not going to let that happen. Not that we’re in a win/lose battle, I hope. We drag ourselves from the spa pool and go back to our room. Tiffany heads to the shower first and Paige and I drop into chairs on the balcony.
    Paige fills the silence with news about her and Dante. She quit her job as a paralegal before we left and she’s really excited to be working full time making jewelry. Paige always made all my jewelry in college, and even now I beg her for things. She’s never let me pay her, giving me the best friend discount.
    I feel a pang of jealousy as she talks about her life. It’s wonderful that she’s so happy, but I wish I had a small piece of her happiness. She’s got a great guy, a career she loves, an amazing condo with Dante, and enough money to do anything she wants. What more could she ask for?
    My thoughts drift back to Tyler. I thought I finally had a great guy of my own. Grad school means I’ll be waiting for the career part a little longer, but the guy part would have been nice to figure out now. Especially someone like Tyler.
    Last semester I got to know him well, or at least I thought I did. When we agreed to be study partners, he jumped right into getting to know me. I noticed him checking me out in class, but during one of our first conversations he told me about his college girlfriend.
    I never found out the girlfriend’s name. We didn’t talk about her much, almost like she was part of a different life. But I wouldn’t ever let myself get too close to him because she did exist. Tyler told me about his family, growing up in Texas, and his goals for the future. His mom suffers from depression, which is what drove him to study psychology. He has a very kind heart, and always wants to do the right thing, even if it means he’s unhappy.
    The night before one of our finals in the fall I flipped out. I felt like I had forgotten everything and called him in a panic. He was sleeping, but insisted on meeting me out for a drink and talked me down. We didn’t study, just talked. I felt so much better after that, and I aced my exam. It was my first glimpse of Tyler putting someone else before himself. He should have