{Wattys Shortlist 2022}
A one night stand is turned inside out when two strangers discover their shared past.
After a skydiving excursion that ends in a whirlwind one night stand, Camilla writes off ever seeing her handsome instructor again. That...
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I was currently running through all the advice my siblings had given me earlier today.
Nora had chastised me for being a caveman while sitting in her cushy apartment in D.C., while Easton and Luis laughed from their honeymoon in Paris.
"Do you even know the first thing about romance?" Nora had asked. "Women want to feel special. Not reused. I can't believe you showed up at her office like a sweaty mess!"
I rolled my eyes. I never met a woman who didn't like me sweaty before.
"I hate to admit it, but Nora's right," Easton added. "Give her a reason to pull out the good panties."
"That's not what she means at all, East. Come on, babe." Luis snatched the phone out of Easton's hand. "Okay, here's what you're going to do. Do you have a pen?"
West shoved a notebook and a pencil in my hands and I wrote down all of Luis' advice. Including his demand that I order this particular bottle of Pinot Noir.
Before I'd left the house, West shook my hand. "Just show her the real you."
The real me. I'd thought about who the real South Tenney was the whole way to the restaurant.
Camilla and I made small talk through a pile of oysters on the half shell and a plate of clam cakes. Another bottle of wine came with dinner, and, I was feeling less awkward and more comfortable with me—the real me. Talking to Camilla wasn't like talking to other chicks. I didn't get the sense she was just saying things to impress me or agree with me.
"You look like there's something on your mind. Or there's something you want to say," Camilla said, running her finger along the rim of her wine glass.
Understatement of the year.
"Well," I said, swallowing a mouthful of red wine. "I want to know something about you—something no one else knows."
She let out a little laugh, then turned a look towards the water. The sun had long since set, and the first stars were just visible in the night sky.
On our last mission, before the incident had happened, I remember staring up at a sky full of constellations. The stars as bright as I'd ever seen them.
I shook off that night and the unadulterated terror and pain that'd followed.
"I don't have many secrets. Ever since I was little, I shared everything with my older sister." Camilla's attention shifted back to me, a sadness lingering. "Lydie knew me better than I knew myself."
