Free Private Pleasures by Jami Alden

out.
    He had her there. "He did," Wendy snapped.
    "But if he'd been more interesting," Julie said, "you would have made more of an effort to spend time with him and plan your own wedding."
    Wendy's teeth clenched. "You have no idea how hard I have to work—"
    "I get it," Julie interrupted. "I work hard too, but I still have to find time for Chris and Mathilda-—"
    "What I do is a little more demanding than helping a bride pick a china pattern or helping her choose between Cristal and Veuve Clicquot for the reception," Wendy snapped. And immediately regretted it when Julie's full mouth pulled tight like it did when her feelings were hurt. "Crap, I'm sorry," she said. "All I mean is that I've had to work really hard to get this far, and this year it's all coming down to the wire. I didn't—and I don't"—she said with a pointed look at Drew—"have time for anything else."
    "Okay, I see your point." Julie said quietly. "But if that's true, even with your schedule, if Alan had been the right guy for you, he would have supported you instead of screwing his admin."
    Wendy couldn't stifle a soft laugh, even if she could feel Drew's eyes boring into her as Julie essentially echoed everything he'd said the night before. How could he know so much about her even  in the limited time they'd spent together?
    Drew had a way of guessing at her secrets. She didn't like it. "Well, thanks for that, but I still say I should have known better than to get involved with anyone when I have so much going on. Speaking of which," she said, reaching for her cover up as she stood up from the lounger, "I need to go check messages and get some work done."
    "Work?" Julie cried and grabbed at her arm. "You promised you wouldn't do any while you were here."
    "I tried," Wendy said, guilt settling like a wet wool blanket over her shoulders. "I really did, but some stuff came up—"
    "You're working on that merger right?" Drew offered.
    "Yes," Wendy said, flashing him a grateful smile.
    Drew shook his head. "I don't know all of the specifics, but that situation's a mess. You're lucky she made it at all," he said with a pointed look at Julie.
    "Can't you do it later?" Julie asked beseechingly. "You have to come on the snail and snorkel outing. You told me you were so excited to finally try it!"
    "I'll have to do it another time," Wendy said, hoping Julie wouldn't hear the note of relief in her voice. Yes, she'd been willing if not exactly eager to go snorkeling when she thought it entailed swimming right off the beach. Someplace where she could easily retreat to the shallows if she started to freak out like she had the last time she'd tried to swim in open water more than six feet deep.
    But when she'd found out she'd have to jump off a boat in the middle of the sea, Wendy had been happy enough to skip the outing to catch up on work.
    "You can work tonight!"
    "Right, after my brain is sun-fried and I've got a buzz on from the drinks I know you'll force on me. At least this way I'll be able to join you for the pig roast tonight."
    Julie's shoulders slumped, her mouth pulling into a pout. "Why don't you work tomorrow?"
    "Because that's my day with Mathilda. No way am I missing that." Wendy wasn't baby crazy by any means, but she adored Chris and Julie's little terror. When Julie had made it clear that this was a grown ups only weekend away from the family, Wendy made her disappointment in not seeing Molly clear. After much prodding, Julie had finally told Wendy if she wanted to take the ferry over to the other resort to visit her daughter, she could knock herself out, but Julie, who hadn't had a night away with Chris since her daughter's birth nearly two years ago, wasn't going home until the very last second.
    "Oh, so she gets to see you but I don't?"
    Wendy gave Julie a look over the rims of her sunglasses.
    "Fine," Julie huffed and straightened up in the lounger as she drained the last of her margarita. She gave Chris's leg a little tap. "We should probably