I stopped at the edge, looking at the water, and contemplated going back in the house to change into a swimsuit to take a swim when I spotted a leaf floating on the other side. The pool was still yet somehow the leaf bobbed up in the water as if was floating on invisible waves.
I stopped to watch it for a moment, entranced by the motion, until a presence at my back shadowed the water in front of me.
“What are you up to?” Oliver asked, invading my space.
I turned, getting trapped between the edge of the pool and him. “Just watching a leaf. Nothing. I was thinking about going inside and changing to lie out for a bit.”
“We can always go back to my yacht.”
Oliver offered more than once to take on his boat, but my feelings for him the last two days had only grown, and I worried about spending more unsupervised time with the Kensington man who made me ask many questions.
I was Pierce’s fiancée, if only a fake one, but I had a job to do with two million dollars on the line. The pressure to get this right hit me every morning when I woke up. I couldn’t muck up Pierce’s plan by falling in love with his cousin.
“Is everything okay, Mari?” he asked, grabbing onto my elbow so I couldn’t turn away. “You’ve been quiet lately.”
More like avoiding him.
I’d spent the last two days trying to figure out exactly what I felt for Oliver. I liked Pierce’s cousin too much. It felt weird to be back in the states after being gone so long, and now I was wrapped up in a plot to lie to an entire town. I’d vowed no more lying in life. It didn’t help that I genuinely liked Pelican Bay. The women at the bakery were nothing but nice, even though they believed I was Pierce’s fiancée, and Pierce somehow thought the whole town hated him.
In the process I’d lost the person I thought I’d become after two years in Guatemala. And I was disappointed in myself that I had so easily slipped back into the old Mari of the United States.
The day before I considered asking Pierce where in town I could buy a mineral water. It was such an old Mari thing to think that I gasped when the thought crossed my mind.
We didn’t have mineral water in Guatemala, and it wouldn’t do me any good to get used to enjoying it now. I might have been living in Pierce’s estate, but I needed to remember where I would return to soon. This town is just a stop—not my ultimate destination.
With all the lies and life changes, I forgot who I wished to be, the woman I’d worked hard to become. The last two full days I’d wandered Pierce’s home thinking about my life now but hadn’t come to a definitive answer on what it meant.
“Sorry, I’ve just been doing a lot of thinking.” A large portion of it regarding him, then about life, and how many lies it would take before I erased the good I’d accomplished in Guatemala.
Oliver smiled, completely oblivious to the turmoil eating away at me. His hair swept back in the breeze as it scattered the strands against his forehead and ruffled the collar of his baby blue polo shirt. The khakis clung to his hips and fell at the perfect height on his bare feet, and if there was ever a model for the East Coast yacht-sailing rich man, Oliver could fill it.
Even though I knew it was wrong, I still salivated looking at him. If only the world was different and I stood a chance with Oliver. But the world wasn’t and because of my past failures and current commitments, I didn’t belong in Pelican Bay, and I surely didn’t get to have a man like Oliver.
“You’re too serious. You’ll be in the states for six months on Pierce’s dollar. Have a little fun. Drive into Portland and make use of his credit card.” He said it so lackadaisically, but Oliver was just as hard at work in this town as his cousin.
I laughed. “You would not believe how many times I’ve heard people tell me I needed to relax.”
The sentiment usually came from a well-meaning person who didn’t understand the constraints of my life.
They were always, “Eat the cake, Mari.” But then I would gain ten pounds and lose contracts because in America women had to be more than good business people. They had to look the part too.
And if word got out I was gettingchunkymy mother would call. A call in which she would talk incessantly about dieting trends and how sugar and processed carbs would be the death of us.
Nothing in life was so easy as relaxing.
I shook my head clearing the memories. “Truthfully, Oliver, I have no idea how to loosen up.”
For as long as I remembered I’d always gone 110 percent in life. Whether it came to running the board room of my family’s company or helping the people in Guatemala, I hadn’t taken a vacation day in years, which was why wandering Pierce’s estate bored me to tears.
At first I thought a few days off would be a good idea, but I was downright uninterested. I needed a hobby, but I didn’t want to get too comfortable in my current location because soon I wouldn’t be here.
Oliver smiled. “Let me help.”
I almost rolled my eyes before thinking better of it. “How are you going to help me?” If he suggested buying more clothing, I’d scream.
Even in San Francisco I was more than a pretty face who liked to spend money. Most people didn’t see that side of me because they didn’t earn it, but I tried to show Oliver I wasn’t only something to look at. I once kicked ass.
Oliver reached out his hand and pushed me on the shoulder. My footing slipped, and I stepped back to gain my balance, but had no place to go. The concrete ended, opening up to the pool. I spread my arms wide, waving them around like a lunatic. Rather than flying off like a graceful bird, I fell.
