“I’m fine.” I lie back and close my eyes. “Just a little tired.”
“I owe you an ‘I told you so,’” he says. “About how sponsoring the contest was a good idea, because nothing even remotely bad happened. I’m not going to say it because I’m above all that, but you could say it.”
I’m briefly at war with myself—the temptation to tell him about what Paz did versus my need to protect Nora’s family and keep Kat’s secret battle it out for a couple of moments. In the end, I go with, “You were right. It was a good idea.”
“Thank you.” The next sound I hear is a splash as he starts his laps. He’ll be at that for at least twenty minutes, which means no talking. Nowthere’sa relief.
I spend the entire time allowing the self-pity to really flow, thinking about the life I started to want and how being with Nora cracked open a door to a part of myself I didn’t want to meet. The guy who’s a dreamer, who wants to start something of his own and watch it grow, instead of being a caretaker for the dreams of my great-great-great-grandfather. I told myself if I could only have Nora, I could handle the rest of my life, but that’s not going to happen. And so, I’m doomed to spend the rest of my days unfulfilled and alone.
I hear Markos climb out of the water, his feet slapping against the pool deck, and the sound of him settling onto the chaise next to mine. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m filled with envy,” I tell him without opening my eyes.
“You could learn to swim like me, Theo. You just have to set aside time to practice.”
I can hear the smile in his tone. “Not of you. I envy our great-great-great-grandfather Alvaro. He had a dream, and he went after it. He didn’t inherit one.”
I expect some sort of ass-y remark, but he says, “So? What’s your dream?”
“To start something that’s my own.”
“Like a family with Nora Cooper?”
Hearing her name out loud is like a kick to the solar plexus. “While we’re being unrealistic, why don’t I start wishing for a horn to grow out of my forehead so I can stab people who irritate me?”
“All right, no need to get stabby. What is it you want to start on your own?”
“I’d like to open a small distillery. Maybe just bitters or something.”
“Bitters would be good. It’s an emerging market. It also has a much higher profit margin than liquor.”
I glance at him, surprised he’d know that. “Yes, they do.”
After a moment of silence, Markos says, “You could do that. Start your little distillery, watch it grow from the ground up. But you won’t be happy without Nora.”
“Pfft… that’s crazy talk.”
“I don’t think it is. You’re in love with her, and you’re moping because you can’t have her.”
“That’s not true. I barely know her. Even if I was in love with her, it wouldn’t matter because she hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you.”
“Sure she does. I ratted her out about the alcohol order, which she thinks lost her the big promotion. It didn’t, but—”
“That was a very bad move on your part, but that’s not why she turned you down.”
Opening my eyes, I turn to him. “Okay,hermano, since you seem to know so much about the inner-workings of Nora Cooper’s mind, why did she turn me down?”
“Carolina told her you two were getting married.”
I roll my eyes. “Old news. I already set her straight about that. She could never respect a man who was just handed”—I gesture to the house and the estate that surrounds it—"all of this, when she’s had to work so hard for everything she’s got.” Letting out a sigh, I add, “And there’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Hmph, that is tricky.”
“Not just tricky. Impossible. I’m going to forget about her and get back to my regularly scheduled program of being the CEO who works sixteen-hours-a-day until I die alone behind my desk.”Oh boy, now I really sound like a whiny brat.
“You could do that, or you could quit and start that distillery.”
