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the pictures. “I met a sunfish.”
    “So cool,” Henry said.
    “Is that a shark in the background?” Nancy asked.
    Sydney rolled her eyes. “Yes. And no, he didn’t try to eat us.”
    “I assumed…” Henry laughed.
    Sydney flipped through the pictures until she found some that weren’t taken outside. “Uh…” She tried to filter through them.
    Henry cringed. “I’m never going to get that naked picture of Coen out of my head.”
    Coen drank his beer. “As long as you didn’t see my wife I don’t care.”
    Nancy looked away. “Maybe you should delete those before you show people…”
    Sydney moved the pictures to another file. “Okay. Now we’re good.”
    “You’re sure?” Henry had his hand over his eyes.
    “Yes,” Sydney said. “This is a barracuda we met.”
    “Aren’t those aggressive?” Henry asked.
    Sydney shrugged. “He was nice to us.”
    “Snorkeling with this girl was torture,” Coen said. “She’s fucking crazy.”
    “You just noticed that?” Henry asked. “She and I went swimming with whales and she didn’t blink an eye over it.”
    “Whales aren’t going to hurt you,” Sydney snapped.
    “If their tail hit you it would knock you out,” Coen snapped.
    Nancy cringed. “I feel a war coming on…”
    Coen rolled his eyes and grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator. “I need alcohol.”
    Everyone gathered around and looked at the pictures. When they were all seen, Sydney sighed sadly. “And now it’s over…”
    Nancy rubbed her shoulder. “There will always be other vacations, especially when you guys are done with school.”
    “You’re right,” Sydney said.
    “Thatcher and I have a gift for you,” Nancy said.
    Thatcher grabbed the frame from the ground then handed it to her. It was heavy so Sydney had to put it on the ground. Then she tore the newspaper off. Coen stood beside her and looked at the picture.
    It was a painting of the shack, exactly as it looked in real life. But standing in front were Sydney and all her friends. She stared at it for a long time, unsure what to say.
    Coen looked at Thatcher. “You painted this?”
    Thatcher nodded, humble. “I didn’t have the honor of attending your wedding, but I still wanted to give you something.”
    Sydney’s eyes watered. “Thatcher, this is beautiful.”
    His cheeks blushed slightly. “Thank you.”
    “Coen, we have to hang this up.”
    “We will. Where should it go?”
    “Right above the couch so everyone can see it.”
    “Good idea, Seahorse.” He kissed her forehead and continued to stare at the painting.
    Sydney didn’t want their honeymoon to end because it was so magical. She didn’t have a family to go home to because Coen was all she had. But she was wrong. Her friends were her family. Every single one of them.

Chapter Four
    Work was uneventful. Cheyenne noticed it was another slow night. She kept checking the time, wondering when she would get off. She hoped she would run into Gray again but he never made his appearance. She wanted to thank him for teaching her coworker a lesson.
    The end of her shift finally arrived and she left the hotel, reaching the entryway. Bryce stood off to the side, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He wore flip-flops and a green t-shirt. His chest was prominent and his toned arms were noticeable. She stared at him for a second before she came to him. “Thanks for picking me up.”
    “Not a problem.” He looked at her gray dress then into her eyes. “I’m glad I can help.” He walked with her to his truck in the parking lot and then they drove to his house.
    “Why are we going to your place?”
    “Your car is there. I couldn’t leave it at the taco shop because I thought it might get towed.”
    “Oh.”
    They arrived at his house in a small neighborhood. Kihei was near the beach and he lived at the edge of it. Her car was in the driveway. He parked the truck then got out.
    “All it needed was a new battery,” he said. “Now she’s as good as