No Take Backs (3 page)

“Hi, Shannon. Good to see you again.” You
reach between us and pat her arm. “Heidi, where are the kids?” Your
fingertips glide up and down between my shoulder blades before you
lead Heidi toward the lounge giving me time alone with my best
friend.

“Do you like your room? Which one are you
in?”

Shannon shakes her head glancing around.
“Girl, this place is in-fucking-credible. I don’t know what you did
to that guy in the sack, but Jesus, teach me.”

I can’t help but to crack up laughing.
“Please. This isn’t due to any sexual prowess. But just in case,
stay away from him. He’s mine.” I give her a fake glare and untwist
one of the thin straps of her shimmery pale blue dress. “You’ve got
Seth anyway. Where is he? How’s it going? Teaching him how things
are done?”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s over. He wasn’t
very receptive to my techniques. I swear to God, that man can’t
find a woman’s clit with his ten fingers and mine together. It was
hopeless. He had to go.”

“So you’re living in the apartment alone?” A
pang of guilt prods my chest. “I’ll pay half of the rent until you
find another roommate. It wasn’t fair of me to leave.”

Shannon juts one hip out and props her hand
on it, smirking. “Why would you ever leave our little shithole
apartment in Cleveland for this? Please, Rachael, I would’ve
ditched you so fast you wouldn’t even remember my name.”

I shove her hand off her hip. “Is that
supposed to make me feel better, knowing you wouldn’t hesitate to
ditch me?”

She laughs. “You know what I mean.”

Riley emerges from the kitchen with two red
daiquiris. “Ladies,” he says, handing them to us, “I hope you don’t
mind that I took the liberty of bringing you drinks. It sounded
like a celebration out here.”

“Thanks, Riley. That’s nice of you.” I
notice his eyes are nowhere near me. He only has eyes for Shannon
now. There goes the cute, virginal crush. “This is my best friend
from home, Shannon Piper. Shannon, this is Riley Webber, Merrick’s
assistant.”

“Thanks for the drink, Webster.” Shannon
doesn’t even make eye contact with the poor guy.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Piper.”

She lifts her glass in acknowledgement that
doubles as a gesture of dismissal.

“I’ll check back with you later, Rachael,”
he says, and bolts down the hallway toward the doors.

“What was that about?” I ask Shannon.

Her eyes go wide over the rim of her glass.
“What?”

“You wouldn’t even look at Riley. He’s a
nice guy, and he definitely noticed you.”

She runs her finger around the rim of her
glass, filling her fingertip with crystal sugar. A devilish
expression crosses her face and she purses her lips. “I already
have my eye on someone here. Built like a Greek God, black tribal
tattoo, blond hair tied back and some kind of crazy energy behind
his eyes. That guy would know what to do between a woman’s
legs.”

I close my eyes, overwhelmed by the pounding
in my head that’s suddenly returned. “Shit. Beck.”

“Yeah. Beck.”

I open my eyes to see her licking the sugar
from her finger seductively, deep in fantasy. “He’s with
someone.”

She pulls her finger from her mouth and
arches her eyebrow. “He’s with me tonight.”

I take a deep drink of my daiquiri. At least
Joan will have someone new to hate.

Shannon and I step out onto the patio to
loud music, animated chatter and the setting sun. The work crew and
their guests crowd around tables that fill the tiled patio and
spill out onto the lawn. The faint sound of splashing can be heard
from the pool, along with kids laughing. Your niece and nephew.

Since you’re nowhere to be found, you must
be with them.

“I should mingle,” I tell Shannon. “Do you
mind?”

“Of course not! You know I have the gift of
making myself at home anywhere. Don’t worry about me.”

Her eyes are already trained on Beck leaning
against the wrought iron fence at the end of the patio.

She’ll be the death of me yet. “He’s off
limits.”

I leave her to her seduction plans and make
my way across the patio, table-by-table, shaking hands and trying
to remember names. Almost to the gate, a man sitting alone just
beyond it catches my eye. He sips a beer and studies me like I’m a
math problem he’s trying to figure out.

While saying hello and making small talk
with the remaining guests, I can’t stop my eyes from wandering to
him to see if he’s still watching. He is. Every time.

I start to fidget under his relentless
examination. Why is he studying me so critically? Who’s he
with?

Finally, I’ve exhausted my introductions
inside the gate and step out onto the lawn. Stopping in front of
him, I extend my hand. “Rachael DeSalvo. And you are?”

“Roger Kildare, Merrick’s brother-in-law.”
He stands and shakes my hand. “I apologize for staring. You seem
so…normal. Nice. I’m surprised.”

Roger stands only a couple inches taller
than me. He adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose and
slicks a hand back through his dark hair faintly streaked with
gray. He reminds me of a young college professor. Reserved. Proper.
Judgmental.

“
Surprised that I’m normal and nice?
Why?” You’ve already told me your brother-in-law isn’t your biggest
fan, and because of that, I’m struggling to follow the number one
bit of advice I gave you for dealing with people: You win more bees
with honey than vinegar.

“Merrick’s never wanted normal. It’s beneath
him.” His eyes shift somewhere behind me as he takes a sip of beer
from his bottle.

“I think you might project that onto him.
He’s very down-to-earth actually.” I can’t stand here one more
second with this man who is clearly jealous of you. “It was nice
meeting you. I have some things to check on.”

“I hope you’re right,” he says, before I can
escape. “For your sake. Like I said, you seem like a nice
woman.”

“Thank you, and I am right.” I force a stiff
smile onto my lips and turn from Roger. What a jerk. Why is Heidi
married to him? She’s so warm and full of life. How does he not
drag her down?

Maybe he does. You have just as much dislike
for him as he does for you. I’m sure you’d rather see your sister
with someone less…him.

I take the path of sidewalks paved with
colorful pebble mosaics leading to the pool. The chef and his team
in white jackets are set up near the tree-line. A fat pig rotates
on a spit, and large fish are being steamed in a pit of hot rocks
and wet palm fronds. It smells like Heaven and makes my stomach
growl.

The splashing gets louder as I step under
the covered cloister. The sky is a dark, navy blue with only a hint
of sun left. Torches light the courtyard around the pool. The
swim-up bar is lit with rows of white lights under the awning. A
few couples sit sipping drinks.

I catch sight of you and stop in the shadows
to watch without you seeing me. You’ve changed into your swim
trunks and sit on the side of the pool with your legs dangling in
the water. A young girl holds on to one and a young boy the other.
They’re trying to pull you in. All three of you laugh loudly,
without a care in the world.

I’ve never seen you like this. Free of
worry—free of everything. My heart lodges itself in my throat, and
I press my fingers against the lump there. I want you this happy
always.

Without warning, you jump in and dunk them
both underwater. They pop up sputtering and squealing. You swim
backward luring them to charge, to team up and retaliate.

Heidi steps up beside me. I don’t know where
she came from. I didn’t even hear her approach, I was so entranced
watching you with the kids.

“I wish they saw him more often,” she says.
“They miss him.”

“He misses them, too.” I’m not sure you’ve
ever said as much, but seeing you with them, there’s no denying it.
“I met Roger.”

She takes a deep breath. “That wasn’t a very
subtle transition, Rachael, but I guess I know why the conversation
took that abrupt turn.”

“He doesn’t like Merrick.”

I can’t pull my eyes from you. The kids are
on you now, pulling at your shoulders and climbing up your back.
You’re saying something to them, but I can’t make out the words,
just the deep timbre of your voice.

“No,” she says without apology.

“He’s jealous of Merrick.” There’s no
apology in my voice either.

Heidi crosses her arms. “Roger knows what
would happen if he ever made me choose. That thought makes him
crazy. A husband has to feel like he’s number one in your life, but
it’s never been the case with us.”

Now I turn to her. Her eyes are piercing in
the dark. “But you did choose.”

She shakes her head with such force, her
long curls swing out around her head. “No. Merrick made the choice
for me. He backed away, stopped visiting, didn’t return my calls.
I’d never turn my back on him, Rachael. Never.”

The low rumble of your laughter draws my
eyes back to you. You have your niece held high by her waist, and
she starts counting. On three, you launch her in the air and she
splashes down in the pool holding her nose.

“He didn’t want to come between you and your
family.”

“He
is my
family. I refuse to let go of him or Roger.”

We stand side-by-side watching, reluctant to
step out from under the covered walkway and break the spell. “You
love him,” she says.

It’s not a question, but I nod anyway. I
love you. If I wasn’t certain of it before, watching you with your
niece and nephew sealed the deal. This is love I feel for you.
Absolutely.

Heidi puts a hand on my back. “Good, because
he loves you too.”

She steps out onto the lawn and strides
toward the pool while I stand frozen in place running my fingers
over my throat where my heart still clings for dear life.

~~~

Everyone’s seated at the round tables on the
patio and lawn. Platters of pork and fish and bowls of rice and
grilled vegetables make the rounds. Drinks are refilled, and the
music changed to a low-key dinner selection.

Heidi, Roger, and your niece and nephew,
Holly and Sam, sit at our table. Holly can barely keep her big,
brown eyes open and leans against Heidi who holds her little girl
to her side and strokes her hair. Sam’s still wound up from
swimming and has an ornery glint in his green eyes. When he picks
an olive out of his salad and aims it at you, Roger grabs it from
him and shoots him a stern look.

You share a conspiratorial smile with Sam
before standing and clearing your throat. “Can I have your
attention, please?”

The talking and laughing dies down as people
nudge each other and eyes turn your way.

“I’d like to thank you all for coming. If
you would’ve asked me six months ago if I’d be here right now with
Turtle Tear Resort renovated and all of you celebrating the grand
opening, I would’ve said there was no chance. Because there was no
chance.”

You look down to where I’m sitting beside
you. “The one person who I knew could pull this off had turned down
the job. It was a lost cause without her.”

Surely, you’re not going to tell them what
you did to bring me here, that you drugged me and kidnapped me from
a nightclub. That secret dies with us. I stand and take your hand.
“Fortunately,” I say, taking over the speech. “Merrick can be very
persuasive and charming.”

The crowd laughs, and Joan glares from a
table across the lawn. An empty chair sits to her left. Where’s
Beck? Shit. Where’s Shannon? She’s supposed to be sitting at our
table.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” you say, and kiss my
hand, “I’d like to introduce you to the woman who took charge of
this project and gets all the credit for its success, Rachael
DeSalvo.”

You lead the applause, then take your seat
beside me. I suppose this means I really have taken over the
pre-dinner speech.

“Thank you. I can’t think of the renovations
here at Turtle Tear as a project or a job though. This place has
become my home and my heart. I couldn’t imagine leaving it in the
shape it was in, to never reveal and share its beauty. And I can’t
take any credit for what was accomplished here under an insanely
tight deadline. Beck Tanner and all of you on his crew who spent
the past few months here away from your families pounding nails
from dawn until dusk are the ones who deserve the applause.”

Hoots and whistles accompany the cheers and
clapping hands.

When it dies down, I wrap things up. “To say
thank you will never be enough. I hope you enjoy your stay here,
relax and think of this place as your home-away-from-home too.”

“Now let’s eat!” Beck calls from the far
corner of the patio.

At least the mystery of his whereabouts is
solved. Now, if I could only spot Shannon.

I take my seat, and your hand finds my thigh
like it’s magnetized. “Do you see Riley anywhere?” you ask,
fiddling with your phone. “I haven’t been able to reach him for the
past hour.”

“No, I ̶ ” It hits me. “I haven’t.”

Shannon wouldn’t. Would she?

Dessert is served, Fresh Fruit Pavlova with
Passion Fruit Sauce, and you’ve still got your phone in your hand
checking email and sending text messages. I lay my hand on your
forearm. “What’s going on?”

“Max gets here in the morning and wants to
get business out of the way early. I need Riley to get the
paperwork organized, or I’ll have to excuse myself from the party
for a short time to get ready.”

“What paperwork? I thought everything was
done—all your properties sold.” I’m not looking forward to seeing
Max again. He seems to like me about as much as Joan, but I guess
it would be rude to not invite your lawyer who you’ve trusted with
your business for so long to our celebration.