Meet Me in Barcelona by Mary Carter Page B

finally gotten him to do it. It’s a free trip, and I’m practically family, she had said.
    Then why not go through Grace? Or her parents—
    Because then Grace might figure it out. Carrie Ann didn’t tell him the real reason—that Jody Sawyer had lost her mind. Actually, it was kind of nice to see her. Especially since Jody didn’t remember how much she hated her. Carrie Ann didn’t stay long enough to talk to Jim. When she realized how sick Jody was, she realized she couldn’t drag them into this—not even unknowingly. So Dan was her only other option. But he just wouldn’t quit.
    A surprise wedding, huh? Does the groom even know?
    They were here. Grace and Jake. Carrie Ann felt that familiar tug of jealousy that she felt when she saw all the pictures of the two of them. So in love. Laughing in almost every single picture. Nobody laughed like that all the time—did they? And there was some fat, drooling dog in almost every picture too. Grace was a cat person. Always had been. She’d loved that fat orange cat named Brady like it was her own child. “Our thirtieth in Spain. Just like we always said,” Carrie Ann whispered to the picture. “It’s going to be a doozy.”
    Rafael’s phone rang. Carrie Ann jumped. He snatched it out of her hands, then picked up the joint and took a drag before answering. He spoke in rapid Spanish. When he hung up, he was grinning.
    â€œWhat?” Carrie Ann said.
    â€œWant to go to the beach?” he said.
    â€œI said no,” Carrie Ann said.
    â€œThat was Stefano. He said Grace and her amigo are off to the beach.”
    â€œWho is Stefano?”
    â€œ Mi amigo, he who sits in the lobby.”
    â€œRight.” He who sits in the lobby . Who would she be? She who lies on the sofa? Rafael: He who plays with knives . “He’s like the doorman or something?”
    â€œIt is the time of summer. When all the young foreign girls to come and stay.” Rafael wiggled his eyebrows. Carrie Ann stood. She raced to the window and glanced out. As usual, La Rambla was a mass of writhing bodies. She couldn’t spot Grace or Jake.
    â€œHow does he know it’s her?” Carrie Ann asked.
    â€œI showed him the picture.”
    â€œHow does he know they’re going to the beach? Did he talk to them?”
    â€œWhy are you so worried about everyone talking to them? He says they come down, and they are carrying towels, and wearing swimming suits, and he says, ‘Hola,’ and they say, ‘Hola.’ And he says, ‘Donde está,’ because all tourists understand ‘Donde está,’ and they say, ‘We are going to the beach,’ in English, because they only know how to say ‘where is library’ in Spanish.”
    Sarcastic Spaniard.
    Rafael took a last pull on the joint. He had smoked it down to the nub. When he looked up at her and smiled, even Carrie Ann had to concede there was something about his oddball personality that was a tiny bit sexy. Or she was getting a contact high? She’d have to watch herself. Another entanglement was the last thing she needed. “Would you like to go to the beach?” he said. “I wash my face and away we go?”
    â€œSí,” Carrie Ann said. “Me gustaría ir a la playa.”
    Rafael clapped his hands like she was a seal who had just delighted him with a trick. She wanted to throw her head back, open her mouth, and bark for a fish. “Your Spanish is good. You are so surprising me.”
    â€œYes,” Carrie Ann said. “So is your English.”
    â€œYou think?”
    â€œOh yes. You are so surprising me.”

CHAPTER 7
    Grace and Jake placed their matching towels so that Grace could catch a bit of shade from a neighboring umbrella while Jake took the full brunt of the sun. Despite working long hours at his veterinary clinic, Jake was always tan. Grace had a light toasting as well, but too