9
Mari
Music rattled the windows in Pierce’s old home and I danced around in his living room, two songs away from getting my own reality TV dancing show. Man, it had been years since I’d had good speakers and a reasonable sound system. In San Francisco I was too stuck up to listen to loud music. If anyone asked, I told them I only listened to NPR News and for music, I enjoyed a classical selection.
Lies. Lies. Lies.
In reality I sported a thing for Britney Spears. Justin Timberlake was my man. Anyone who carried a beat in the nineties was still singing me along into the new millennium. With the no one around to judge me once Pierce and Oliver had left for the day, I was free to partake in whatever music I wanted. My life lacked this freedom for way too long. Now that I had it, I didn’t want to let it go.
I clutched the speaker mount in one hand and did a quick moon walk back into the kitchen, ready to grab a glass of water when my back hit something solid but not hard.
I screamed and jumped in a circle, facing whoever had caught me at my most embarrassing moment. Let it be someone here to stab me and put me out of my misery rather than live through this awkwardness. Please not Oliver.
A woman, tall with blonde hair and green eyes stared at me as if I was the one breaking and entering into her home.
I switched off the music and stepped back, trying to gather my breath while holding the speaker up, ready to throw it at her if she made one wrong move. “Who are you?” I asked as soon as possible when it was obvious she wouldn’t shoot me on sight.
“Crap,” the woman said as she fiddled with her hair in a high ponytail on top of her head. “I thought Pierce would be here. I was just delivering the rent check.”
“You just normally walking into your landlord’s home without knocking?” Sure, I had the music loud, but I would have heard a knock. More than likely.
Her eyes widened with my question and she took a step back as if she was getting ready to flee.
“The door was unlocked,” she said with a quick shrug. “Usually, I just leave it on the table for Pierce with a note.”
What town did he live in that people left the doors to their mansions unlocked and let their renters drop off checks whenever they wanted? Pierce said people in this town hated him, but he definitely did not take any precautions for a man receiving death threats.
“So you’re the woman who is going to marry Pierce?”
Game time. “Yup.” I smiled but only lowered the speaker a bit. I’d still chuck it at her if this conversation went south.
She cocked her head to the side and stared at me deeper. “Why?”
Pierce prepared me for questions and even warned me to grow thick skin for what people in this town would say about him, but for whatever reason her simple question caught me off guard. “Excuse me?”
She shook her head, as if clearing the fog away. “Sorry, I guess I just assumed you were fake, but you look normal.”
I laugh. “I am, real as can be.” Even the boobs were what God gave me. “I’m Mari. I didn’t catch your name.” Mainly because she hadn’t given it.
“Right,” the strange woman said sticking her hand out for me to shake. “I’m Katy. I rent one house across the street.” We’d met her my first day in town when Pierce took me to the bakery. No way I’d forgotten the cookie dropper.
“Another one on the beach?” The coast of Pelican Bay was dotted with large homes.
Katy laughed and in that moment all the times I heard her name in the past came rushing at me. I leaned away from her, trying not to look alarmed. This woman sent Pierce death threats. She led the opposition of his buying the bed-and-breakfast? Why would he rent her a home so close to his own? Although after meeting her in person, I saw why he didn’t take the situation as seriously as he should.
No one would describe Katy as skinny, but she wasn’t big either. With her bright kind eyes and friendly expression, she didn’t resemble a threat.
“No, one of the small ones across the road from the water. It still has a magnificent view. Pierce owns like seventy-five percent of the town, so he rents out most of the places.”
“I was under the impression it was just businesses downtown and he owned a few rentals here and there?” We visited and bought something from every single oneon my introductionto Pelican Bay.
“Nope,” Katy said popping the P in the word. “It’s pretty much everything.”
I itched to ask her questions on the bed-and-breakfast to see if the reason she didn’t want Pierce to own it was because she assumed he owned too much as it was. But we were having such a pleasant conversation, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
“I’m still learning the city and figuring out Pierce’s schedule,” I said. It sounded like something a dutiful fiancée would say about the man she’s getting ready to marry. Wouldn’t I be wrapped up in all things Pierce?
It was the best I could come up with in my limited time restraint. I didn’t have much experience with being in a relationship. My last relationship was with Trey in San Francisco, and we did whatever we wanted until we had to come together for an event or the odd chance we both had a night off together. I thought it was the perfect relationship, but I’d been confused. It wasn’t a relationship at all, just both of us filling in for a play we didn’t audition for.
