Beautiful Code (5 page)

“Sarah’s cousin’s best friend lives in LA and she auditioned for
Glee
and said Lea Michele was totally not that pretty in person,” Molly was telling her father with authority.

The car hit a pothole. Patty fell back onto Chad.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s okay,” he blushed.

“And I
totally
believe it,” Molly went on. “I mean, she’s got good hair, but everyone would if they spent as much time on it as she does.”

They were on a dirt road now, the car bumping and Patty bumping along with it. She tried to stay forward on Chad’s knees, tried not to slide back to where his…parts…were. That’s just what she needed: to ram into her future brother-in-law’s balls the day before his wedding.

But she kept sliding back. “Here,” he said, and he lifted her by the waist, opened his legs, and shifted her weight onto one thigh, pulling her legs between his. “That better?”

“Yeah,” she said, noticing that he’d left his hand around her waist, his other arm resting on the top of her thighs.

“Besides, I bet her voice isn’t even that good. They can edit everything on TV.”

Chad glanced at Patty who, between Molly’s jabbering and the stomach-turning bouncing, looked miserable. He poked her side with his finger and grinned at her in silent commiseration. Patty met his blue eyes—unhappy as she was, she couldn’t resist returning his grin.

CHAPTER 5:

Dinner Table Confessionals

M
r. Bristol had made a reservation at the fanciest seafood restaurant in Maui for a family dinner on Friday night. Between the wedding and the conference, he knew he’d be running around all weekend and needed to schedule some family time if he had any hope of not pissing off his wife. Of course, he’d had to book a 5 p.m. table to make it to the eight o’clock conference demo, so the family was seated at a center table in an empty room, the sun still shining brightly through the restaurant’s large, ocean-facing windows and the pianist on the baby grand in the corner playing chipper Christmas carols that sounded totally out of place.

Ted had even been so generous as to invite Lisa’s boyfriend, Sundeep, a young Indian guy who was working on some medical device with Tom Fenway’s incubator. He wasn’t sure what Lisa saw in Sundeep; she was so beautiful that she could have any guy she wanted, especially now that she was in college. Sundeep was a nice guy, sure, but he was a little…dull. He didn’t play or watch any sports, had no interest in Scotch or cars or cigars, and, frankly, Ted was at a loss for what to talk to him about. But young love was young love, he reasoned, and inviting him along for the weekend had made Mrs. Bristol very happy.

After the waiter took away their entrée plates, Sundeep cleared his throat and lifted his wine glass. “I’d like to make a toast,” he said, looking around the table and landing on Lisa. Lisa smiled at him nervously. Her relationship with Sundeep was the biggest stress in her life, and she had no one to talk to about it. Her feelings for Adam had grown so much that every time she smiled at Sundeep, or kissed him, or accepted his affection, she felt like a liar and a cheat. She had tried to get her parents not to invite him to the wedding, but her mother had insisted—she thought she was doing Lisa a favor, and how could Lisa tell her the truth?

T. J. took a large sip of his wine. Oh, God, he wasn’t going to propose, was he? He liked Sundeep well enough. He was so friendly that you couldn’t dislike the guy, and he thought what Sundeep was doing for India was really impressive. But for his sister? He didn’t seem to fit.

“I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you,” Sundeep said. “For welcoming me into your family and letting me be a part of this very special weekend.”

Mrs. Bristol was making a pouty, isn’t-he-so-sweet face at Ted, squeezing his hand under the table. Ted had stopped counting, but he was pretty sure the glass of wine in her hand was her third, after downing two daiquiris and a glass of champagne before dinner. He’d had his assistant book the presidential suite for the two of them at the Four Seasons and was starting to worry she was going to spend the night hunched over the toilet.

“You see,” Sundeep kept going, “I’m not on good terms with my own family right now.” He looked down at the table, nervously wiping the perspiration from his water glass with his thumb. Lisa’s eyes got wide: was he going to tell them? Mrs. Hawkins gasped and pressed her hand over her heart in excessive concern. Yes, she was definitely wasted.

“When I decided to pursue WorldSight, I turned down an opportunity to attend Stanford Medical School. It’s so competitive there, and they don’t let you defer, so I gave up my spot and my fellowship. My father was furious. He’s a doctor and always assumed I’d follow in his footsteps to become a cardiac surgeon. My mother was angry too, but she reasoned that my work on this company was just a phase—something I needed to get out of my system—and I told her I’d consider reapplying to medical school this fall.”

Yes, he was telling them. Lisa’s mind raced: was it good or bad for them to know? She took a sip of her wine. Did it matter? He was going for it.

“But I didn’t reapply. How could I? The more I work on this, the more I’m certain it’s my calling. In response, however, my father officially cut me off. My mother was helpless to do anything, and I haven’t had any contact with anyone in my family since.”

It was true, and hearing him say it made Lisa’s heart heavy all over again. He was such a good person, such a kind soul, and his family was treating him so unfairly. She thought back on the first time he’d told her. She’d just been to see Adam in his new dorm room, and her heart was fluttering with her attraction for him. She thought about Adam’s mismatched socks and the dimple in his left cheek that always appeared when he smiled at his own jokes and the way he didn’t even try to contain his excitement at seeing her when she’d come back from her family vacation in France. She thought about all these things and her cheeks got hot and her whole body felt light and she texted Sundeep to ask him if they could talk, because she knew that she had to break up with him. He’d said yes and they’d agreed to meet that night. But when they’d met, right as she started to tell him she’d found someone else—that it was her, not him—he’d broken down, put his head on the table and explained what had happened with his family. He was devastated. She couldn’t tell him.

That was over three months ago and she still hadn’t found the strength to be so cruel. Sundeep didn’t have a lot of friends. He spent all his time working on his company or admiring her. What would happen if she broke up with him? She didn’t know, and it worried her horribly.

So Lisa felt trapped. She loved one guy and felt duty-bound to another. And now he was eliciting the sympathy of her mother, which was going to make this whole thing even more difficult. No, it was not a good thing that he was telling them, she decided.

“So, in conclusion, I’d like to express my gratitude and admiration to the Bristol family for your extraordinary kindness and hospitality.”

Everyone clicked glasses and smiled politely at Sundeep. He nodded sheepishly and looked longingly at Lisa. “Thank you,” he whispered. She hoped he couldn’t pick up on the fakeness in her reassuring smile. She looked around. Some family he’d just gotten himself involved in, she thought. Mrs. Bristol was taking a long swig of her wine, Mr. Bristol was focused on getting the waiter’s attention to order dessert and another Scotch, and T. J. was checking his text messages under the table.

CHAPTER 6:

Waterfalls

“W
e should let the young athletes go ahead of us old fogeys,” Chad’s father said cheerfully. Chad and Patty had been silent for the half hour the families had been on the trail, and the adults naturally assumed it was because the hiking pace was too dull.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Patty said, smiling politely.

“Are you afraid I’ll beat you?” Chad smiled at her.

Chad’s mother laughed. “I’m glad to see the sibling rivalry has already begun!”

Patty glared at them both. She was fiercely competitive and, especially when it came from Chad, a challenge was too much to resist.

She chuckled coolly. “Please. I could take you any day. I’ve got nothing to prove.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Chad smirked.

Patty stopped, held his eyes for a minute, and took off, dashing up the hill.

Forty strenuous minutes later, Chad and Patty were both in a full-on sprint, jumping over roots and dodging branches until they finally burst into a clearing where an enormous waterfall plunged into a pool of crystal-clear water. A bright, red sun rested on the horizon opposite the waterfall, its light reflecting off the water in a brilliant mix of colors.

“Totally beat you!” Chad gasped.

“Did not,” Patty panted, looking up at the sunset. “Oh, my God, this is the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”

They stood for a moment taking in the beauty. It was the kind of moment that you know is rare and aren’t quite sure how to take in.

Patty’s tanned face dripped with sweat, her clothes wet from the run. Chad pulled off his sweat-soaked shirt and Patty tried not to pay attention to his perfectly chiseled abs. She wished she were a guy and had the option of taking off her sweaty top, too.

“I know how we can decide,” Chad said. “See that rock in the middle of the water? First one there wins.”

With her hands on her hips and her gaze set on Chad, Patty used her foot to force one shoe off the other. “You realize I was recruited to swim for Stanford, right? The best swim team in the country?”

“Yeah,” he said, slipping off his own shoes, “but you’re still a girl.”

She slapped him playfully on the stomach and dove into the water, easily beating him to the rock with her flawless freestyle.

She climbed up and watched the sun slip toward the blue-green sea. Chad clamored onto the rock beside her and rested his elbows on his knees, shaking his head to release water from his shaggy blond tresses. “Okay,” he conceded, out of breath. “You are a goddess and a champion. You win.”

Patty laughed. “That will teach you.” Her cheeks were flushed with the exercise and the beads of water made her skin glisten in the dusky light. Her searching eyes were captivated by the setting sun, and she looked like she was deep in her own world, deep in thought about something only she could know.

“You are so, so beautiful,” Chad said slowly, his voice honest and raw, born out of a reflex, as though she was so beautiful right then that he couldn’t
not
say it.

Patty turned her head toward him, pulling her knees into her chest and swallowing hard. “You can’t say that, Chad,” she said with a twinge of anger in her voice. “It isn’t fair to me.” She glanced back at the horizon, surprised by her own vulnerability. She knew, logically, that it wasn’t fair to Shandi, but if she was being honest, she was more upset by how unfair it was to
her
, the way he led her on and made it impossible not to love him.

Chad touched her arm. “I know. I know, Patty.” He closed his eyes as if to gather his thoughts. “I know it’s crazy, but if you only knew how much I think about you—I can’t get past it. Ever since that party when I saw what we might be able to have. I mean, when I felt the
chemistry
between us…I just don’t know what to do.”

Patty pulled her shoulder away from his touch. “What you do is
forget about it
! You marry my sister and you stop saying things like that and you stop stroking my arm like this and you stop looking at me with those eyes,” she hissed, her heart sinking at how much she didn’t really want him to stop any of those things.

The sun was melting and the sound of the waterfall roared behind them.

He leaned into her, their noses barely three inches apart. She could feel his warm breath hit her lips. His eyes looked into hers, searching, and he whispered, “But what if I’m marrying the wrong sister?”

“Who won?” Mr. Hawkins called out from the shore. Molly splashed into the water as the rest of the hiking crew clambered up the trail to the clearing, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at its beauty.

The sun slipped below the horizon, and the magical moment was gone.

CHAPTER 7:

You Can’t Stay On
Top Forever

T
he conference expo, where all the start-ups were demonstrating their products, was about to start. Amelia bent over, her hand resting on the table behind the Doreye booth, taking deep breaths with her eyes closed. Adam rubbed her back. “Are you okay?” he asked.

She shook her head, not looking up. “I don’t want to do this anymore, Adam,” she moaned.

“It’s going to be okay.” He tried to console her, but he wasn’t sure how. She’d been devastated ever since the morning session when the journalist had brought up her time in jail. “Tonight’s all about the product. No one’s going to be asking you about our past.”