Free Modern Girl's Guide To Vacation Flings by Gina Drayer

out to be warm and inviting.
    The trouble was, half way through the dinner, Beth started to forget that it was all pretend, and that was dangerous. The last thing she needed to do was to get emotionally invested. Especially with a guy like Matt Carver. After Robert, she was done with the nice guys that had picket fences and golden retrievers in their future. What Matt needed was a nice woman who'd stay at home, have his two point five kids, and go to Sunday brunch with his parents. And that woman wasn't her.
    And though she hated lying to Matt, she wanted to regroup. Most importantly, Beth had to keep telling herself that this was all pretend. If she could do that everything would work out fine for both of them. All the pieces were in play now, and they just had to keep up the act for another twelve days.
    Not that it would be a hardship. She really did like his family. Everyone in his family was overly candid and assertive. And if they hadn't been so open and accepting of her, Beth would have thought they were just being rude. But as lunch progressed, she discovered it was just in their nature.
    She almost felt sorry for Matt. The poor guy couldn't get in a word, not that they seemed to listen to him when he did speak. His introverted nature was probably a defense mechanism earned over years of living in that family. She could see how much easier it was for him to let everyone around him continue their chatter, instead of fighting his way into the conversation.
    So it would be easy to spend the rest of the cruise pretending to be his girlfriend. But after they reached Spain she needed to continue with her plan; two weeks with her cousin, back in time for the wedding, and then to her next job. After the boat docked, she'd keep this trip and Matt filed away in the past. She didn't need any more complications in her life. There were plenty of things on her plate already. The survey in Costa Rica alone would tie her up for months, and after that… Well, there was always another assignment. She might even sell her apartment now that there wasn't anything holding her to the city.
    Thinking about Costa Rica, Beth decided to check her email, just to make sure everything with her next project was being handled. Normally she'd spend the weeks before leaving conferring with the planning team by phone, but they knew she'd be unavailable, so email it was.
    For the next two hours, Beth immersed herself in work, pouring over maps and satellite photos, making notes. She had a few questions, so she'd opened her messenger, hoping to catch someone working late. But just her luck, Sophia was on.
    Sophia: I wish you were here. Are you still mad at me?
    Great. Just what she didn't want.
    Beth: No, I'm not mad at you. I don't have a lot of time to chat. I'll call you when I get to Spain and we can talk. Promise.
    Sophia: My wedding is less than a month away. I never imagined doing this without you. You're my big sister. Tell me what I need to do to fix this.
    The cursor blinked while Beth contemplated her response. What could she say? Sorry, but I don't feel like helping you plan a wedding to a guy I used to sleep with?
    The messenger chimed with another notice.
    Sophia: Please just tell me Robert won't always be between us.
    Sophia wasn't as oblivious as Beth had thought. After months of dancing around things, she finally brought up the issue neither of them was willing to talk about.
    Beth immediately typed HE WON'T with several exclamation marks, but deleted the message before sending it. That wasn't exactly true. Her issues with the wedding were because of Robert, but not him specifically.
    How could she explain to her baby sister that her engagement to Robert made Beth realize she couldn't be the women she was now and a wife. She was just coming to terms with the idea, and for now, it was too hard watching her sister get married.
    Beth: We can't talk about this over messenger. I'm not upset at you or Robert. I promise. Things are complicated