Need? I need you now!I wanted to shout at him.
But I didn’t.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe,” he said.
He locked the door and closed it behind him, as promised. I lay there reflecting on the night’s events, but it was too much for me. I didn’t want to keep seeing Blake’s smug smile whilehe hadme cornered like his weak prey. I didn’t want to think of Maggie or Landon and the scheme they had going on. But I mostly didn’t want to think about Colin… Colin, who’d saved me tonight from the freezing cold and warmed me up and later left me when the slightest hint of vulnerability came around.
Just as I was having these thoughts, Colin came in through the door, the key in his hand. I sat straight up, anxious to learn what had happened.
“He’s gone. Try to get some rest,” he said as he took off his clothes. Again.
I wanted details. He’d been gone for half an hour. Anything could’ve happened in thirty minutes.
Then I reconsidered. It was obvious from Colin’s silence that despite his help this evening, we werenoton good terms.
I lay back down and settled in for the evening. After a minute, Colin slid in next to me. There was a flicker of guilt that he was missing his brother’s wedding reception to babysit me, but I didn’t voice that either.
We didn’t say anything else to each other that evening. I told myself his distance meant regret. That whatever had passed between us (ifany of it was real) was something he’d already contained and filed away. Colin seemed like the type of guy who knew exactly how to shut a door once it no longer served him.
Despite all the noise of the wedding reception downstairs and my circling thoughts, I eventually fell asleep.
I wokeup the next morning to a knock on the door. I looked beside me and saw that Colin was gone.
I opened it warily to see a stern-faced Malia.
“Good morning, Miss Donovan,” she said, and I opened the door all the way for her to come in.
“Good morning, Malia. Have you seen Colin today?”
“He left the house early this morning. He said you might want to leave as well? Should I arrange for the helicopter to take you back to the city?”
I tried to hide my disappointment that Colin had left without saying goodbye. We hadn’t really come to a good point of closure, but he must have been too upset at my initial ulterior motives.
And what abouthisinitial ulterior motives? I wasn’t the only one who’d been suspicious!
I sighed. “Yes, I’ll go home.”
A thought came to me. “Wait! Is there somewhere the helicopter can land near the Golden Cliffs Retirement Community?”
Malia pulled out her phone, tapped away at it, and said, “Yes, it can be done. 10 o’clock is your departure time. Can I bring you something for breakfast? Colin said you wouldn’t want to go down for the family brunch.”
Oof. I was uninvited to the family brunch. That stung. But it was true—I didn’t want to face them all, especially Landon, who’d obviously been the one who’d invited Blake to the wedding.
“Yes, I’d love fruit, yogurt, and a bagel with cream cheese, if it’s not too much trouble.”
She tapped away at her phone again, looked up at me when she was finished, and said, “No trouble at all. It was nice to meet you, Miss Donovan.” She was backing out the door when something else occurred to me.
“Malia, can I ask you something? Is Margaret Flame coming to the brunch?”
“Yes, as Landon’s guest. She’s also a close friend of the family.” She seemed to wait for me to do something with that information.
“Colin might like to know if Maggie comes here often,” I said, hoping the house manager might divulge some more information. If not to me, at least to Colin. Whatever happened from here on out was none of my business. I was clearly being invited to leave, and with that, I understood I’d never step foot on Brightwater Island again for the rest of my life.
Whatever the fallout would be at work, I decided in that instant it would have nothing to do with me. I would do my job and go home. In fact, I’d start looking for other jobs so that I’d avoid the inevitable run-ins with Colin.
“Only the week she spent here with Landon last month,” she said after eyeing me carefully and walked out. My mouth dropped open as I stared at the closed door.
Maggie had been here the week she vanished!?
