‘This isn’t a hotel,’ Chester says with a laugh. ‘This is my rentals’ place.’
I know he means parents but Ethan looks puzzled.
‘This is your parents’ house?’ I reply.
‘Yeah, we’re having the wedding here,’ he replies. I notice him beckon a woman and a man from the porch, indicating for them to take our cases. ‘And we’re all staying here.’
‘Oh, I thought we’d be in a hotel,’ I can’t help but say – because I did think that.
‘Lana, don’t be rude,’ Bea tells me off. ‘The whole family is staying here.’
Still biting my tongue.
‘Mum and Dad are getting ready for this evening – actually, we should too, Seph,’ Chester says.
‘So, Mum and Dad –mymum and dad – will show you to your room,’ Seph adds. ‘Catch you later.’
I can’t help but notice that she said room – as in one room. I mean, why would they give us two rooms, they thought I was bringing a date.
‘Is it possible for us to have separate rooms?’ I ask. ‘We’re, erm… we’re old-fashioned.’
‘Oh, Lana, don’t be ludicrous,’ Bea replies. ‘And don’t make fun of us. It’s quite all right for you to share a room, isn’t it, Walter?’
Dad pulls a face.
‘Quite all right,’ he replies.
‘My love, go prepare for the evening, I will show Lana and Ethan to their room,’ Bea tells him, patting him gently on the cheek. ‘You two, do follow me.’
‘You asked for this,’ I whisper to Ethan.
‘So did you,’ he replies with a cheeky smile.
This house is huge. It’s dark grey, with columns that give it a real sense of grandeur, and super modern so there are huge glass windows with balconies on almost all of them. We must be near the ocean because I can hear it roaring, so I’m guessing we are really close to the beach right now – if not on it.
‘Wow, this is some house,’ Ethan says as we step into the hallway with Bea.
‘It’s not a house, it’s an estate,’ she corrects him.
The hallway has brilliant white walls and shiny black marble floor tiles. The décor is clean but opulent, mixing minimalism with what I can only describe as big chunks of gold and silver. I’m talking cabinets, sculptures, frames – the place literally looks like it’s made of money.
‘This is the ground floor,’ Bea explains. ‘The living space is downstairs, on the lower ground floor – which is how you access the gardens, pool and the private beach. This floor has bedrooms, as does upstairs, which is where the two of you are.’
God, I can’t believe we’re going to have to share a bedroom. I know what you’re thinking, we’ve literally slept together, but that’s the problem. We’re comfortable together – give us a bed and a closed door and we might slip into old habits (I don’t even think we’d need the bed to be tempted, or the door for that matter, but you take my point).
‘You’re late, so I’ll show you straight to your room,’ Bea insists.
‘We’re late?’ I reply. ‘The plane was the plane – we couldn’t have got here any faster.’
She selectively ignores this as she leads us up the stairs and along the hallway, finally stopping outside the door.
‘This is your room,’ she says. ‘You will find your en suite inside, just around the corner. I’ll leave you both to settle in but, Ethan, I’m looking forward to getting to know you much better.’
Bea says this almost suspiciously. Okay, fair enough, this situation isn’t what it seems, but she should respect me enough that if I turn up with a man and say he’s my boyfriend then that’s that, right? There’s nothing to be suspicious of.
Ethan and I head into our room, closing the door behind us.
‘Holy fuck,’ he blurts. ‘Look at this.’
