Page 28 of Once Bitten

Chapter Twelve

The water finally turned ice cold after over an hour and I reluctantly pulled myself out of the decadent bathtub. “One day, when I’m rich, I’m going to get one just like it,” I promised myself as I dried myself with the thick lush creamy white towel Finn had thoughtfully hung by the tub for me. I reached for my clothes before I saw the bathrobe hanging on the back of the door. I didn’t think we were going to go out that night so I slipped on my underwear then put on the silk robe, enjoying the sensual feel of the fabric hug tight around my body.

I opened the door and stepped back into the bed room.

“Finn?” I thought I’d heard him moving around while I was in the bathroom but he wasn’t there.

“In here, Kara.”

I followed his voice and found him sitting on the floor on a blanket in the living room, a delicious and amazing picnic spread in front to him.

I let out a laugh, impressed. “Wow! Did you do all this?”

“Yes. Of course. With my bare hands!” He nodded, proudly. “Well, I carried it up here and spread it out with my bare hands. The rest was done by Doris’ bare hands, Patrick’s wife, she runs the restaurant and catering for the hotel. Sit down,” he gestured to the floor around the picnic blanket.

I sank to my knees on the blanket opposite him, eyes scanning the collection of plates and bowls in front of us. There were olives and cold cuts, rustic bread and fruits and salads. My stomach rumbled loud, reminding me it’d been empty all day.

Finn laughed and handed me a plate, “dig in!”

I smiled with gratitude, “do you have a fork?”

“No! Just use your fingers, it’ll taste better that way. Don’t tell me you’re one of those shy eaters?”

I grabbed a handful of grapes and shoved them into my mouth and loaded up my plate with bread and the potato salad, trying to draw in breath around my full mouth.

“Er, yeah, ok, my mistake, nevermind,” Finn chuckled as he watched me lose all sense of shyness.

I ignored him as I devoured the delicious food. “Oh my god, Doris is a genius, can we bring her home with us?”

“No, because then Patrick would follow and it took me forever to find someone I trusted to run this place,” Finn handed me a glass of wine.

“How did you end up with this hotel, anyway? I never knew you had any interest in hotels or business? You even scoffed at me when I told you I was going to NY Stern for a business degree.”

“No, I didn’t, I congratulated you. I just didn’t think it was right for me.”

“You remember that?”

“I remember more than you know.” He sighed.

“Maybe it’d be better if we didn’t remember so much.” I mumbled to myself.

“Anyway, I bought this about 8 years after Dad died. He used to bring us here all the time when we were kids.”

“He what?!”

“You didn’t know?”

I just shook my head in shock. I knew something must’ve happened for Mrs. O’Reilly to remarry, but I never imagined that it was because Mr. O’Reilly had passed away. I couldn’t believe it.

“Um, yeah, about 6 months after, um, after our prom, we were just having a swimming training session and he went under. His heart just exploded. By the time we got him out he’d stopped breathing and never came to. He was 42 year old.”

“Oh my god! Finn.”

“It was so surreal, um, there he was one minute, diving into the pool, making some lame Dad joke. We’re all doing our own thing with our laps so we don’t even notice anything’s wrong until the life guard jumps in, and, um, you know he, um...he blows on his whistle...”

I got up from my spot and moved over next to him, and squeezed his shoulder, completely blown away by the tragic news.

“... so, I stand up and I see them pulling him out. Mom’s already there and Heather’s still lost in her own world swimming away. I’m all the way down the other end of the pool and...” he just shakes his head, years later still haunted by the memory, “I remember just standing there, I couldn’t decide whether it would be faster to run or to swim. And then I hear my Mom scream and I just jump out and run over, just hoping I don’t slip.”