The Lake (The Lake Trilogy, Book 1) (30 page)

I nod again, screaming out in my head,
“
There’s no way in hell I’m going to be caught out here or anywhere by myself with you again!”

“It was lovely to see you again, Miss Weston.” He nods his head and continues his walk.

I stand there and close my eyes.
Breathe,
I chant to myself. My heart is racing and my hands are trembling. Oh, my god. I have seriously underestimated Gregory Meyer. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

I make my way swiftly back through the winding trail and join everyone for breakfast. Before I have a private moment to tell them, Claire tells me the rest of the kids are meeting to go hiking later and wondered if I was planning on joining them. Of course I am. These group gatherings are my only chance to spend time with Will. There’s no time to tell her about what just happened with Gregory Meyer now so I’ll have to tell her later. At least the group activity will provide some relief. I look up and see Tyler waving to me. I am so happy to see him that I practically throw myself into his arms. He laughs and tells me Will asked him to come collect me. He and Chris are going to provide a sense of normalcy in the midst of all the insanity this week.

“I’m so happy to
see you Ty. I’m trapped across the hall from future cast members of the Real Housewives!” I say, knowing he knows exactly what I mean.

“No problem! Will asked me and Chris to keep and eye on you,” he says.

“Great! I’m glad I get to hang with you.” Tyler puts his arm around my shoulder as we walk to meet up with the rest of the group. “I ran into Will’s dad this morning,” I tell him. I need to get it out. It’s like when you have a terrifyingly real dream and you want to relay it to someone so you can prove to yourself it wasn’t real.

“What? How did
that
go?” he asks, shocked.

“It was…awful…but don’t tell Will. It’ll just freak him out.  I couldn’t sleep and was up early, so I got up and took a walk on the nature trail. I was just standing there and he came right up to me. He was so creepy
, Ty.” I think about telling Tyler the disgusting once over Mr. Meyer gave me but decide it’s too embarrassing. Since Will said the others didn’t know about the threats his dad made to Holly’s family, I decide I shouldn’t tell Ty about this morning’s intimidation.

“I’m so sorry, Layla. Chris and I will make sure you’re never alone with him…or any of
the others
,” he says, making a spooky voice. We laugh. “We’ll rescue you should you get cornered,” Tyler says, giving me a nudge.

I’m used to Will being the one to rescue me, but will gladly take Tyler as a hero any day.

Will and Chris are already there and join us.  “Hey Layla,” Chris says. I haven’t seen him for a while, so I’m glad he’s here.

“Hey, Will,” I say. I’m nervous and afraid to tell him about my encounter with his father. I’m taken off guard when he comes close and hugs me and whispers in my ear, “I’m happy to see you.”

“Me, too,” I whisper back as I scour the crowd for informants.

Another group suddenly surrounds us. We break our hug and work to make small talk about getting settled into our respective rooms, and how I like the mountains. The four of us hike together, with Will insisting that I walk between him and Tyler. He razzes me about my two left feet and says that I’ll have a lower risk of injury if he and Tyler both kept watch. Plus, he doesn’t want anyone having easy access to me. He’s still determined to protect me from as much as he can. If only he had been there this morning.

“Did you tell him yet?” Tyler asks.

“Tell me what?” Will says.

“About this morning…” Ty continues.

“What part of,
don’t tell Will
did you not understand, Ty?” I say, shooting Tyler a deadly stare. “I ran into your father this morning.”

“What? How did that happen? I’ve been with him all morning? Are you ok?” Will is in shock and almost trips on a rock.

“I’m fine! I woke up super early and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I went out to take a walk. I was just standing there and he came right up to me.” I try to mimic Claire’s calming tone. It always soothes whatever the message is.

Will grimaces. “How…did it go?” He speaks slowly.

“Actually, I think it went fine,” I lie. “He asked how I was enjoying Asheville. I told him it was great and thanked him for being a gracious host,” I say, trying to sound very matter-of-fact, without emotion. I don’t want to tell him the details of what scared me to death and made me realize that I’m in much deeper than I realized.

“Oh, ok. Well…it sounds like it went…well.” Will says breathing a sigh of relief.

“It did, so, no worries, ok,” I say. I don’t like lying to Will, but now is not the time to go into just how right Will was about his father not buying our story. Now I don’t even have Marcus as a backup. I give Tyler another deadly stare and he just shrugs. I’ll take issue with him on this later.

Will makes a hard-lined smile and we leave the conversation there. There will be little chance of me running into Mr. Meyer alone again, so I’m not worried about a repeat of this morning. I’ll just do my best to enjoy these days I have in the mountains. The four of us hike along watching the rest of the group blatantly work hard to prove which one of them spent the most on their high-end outerwear. It’s sad really. They don’t have a clue what real happiness is. I do. I’m experiencing it at this very moment as I walk between my best friend and our trusted confidants.

By Friday there have been only a few opportunities for me to exchange words with Mr. Meyer – mainly
hello
,
good-bye
,
please
and
thank you
– and someone was always with me, usually Luke or Claire. I only feel slightly as scared and creeped out as I had been on the trail. I don’t spend any time alone with Will because I don’t want to add fuel to Gregory Meyer’s fire. My imagination goes wild any time I think about what
consequences
means to him, so I do my best to keep myself distracted.

I told Claire what happened on the trail and she told me not to be too worried. “He’s just trying to make sure your feathers are sufficiently ruffled so that you stay scared.”

Mission accomplished.

I’m spending quite a bit of time with Tyler though. He retrieves me from my room in the morning before anyone else has a chance to intercept my day.
While Will is entertaining others at his father’s instruction, it’s Tyler who keeps me company.

Today is one of those days. Mr. Meyer is meeting with a prospective client whom he invited to bring his family to the resort for the day and it’s Will’s job to make sure the client’s kids are occupied.

When we’re not with everyone else for the few organized activities Tyler plays cards with me in the common room, picks pine cones with me on the nature trail, and makes sure I’m never left alone. Luke and Claire are going to dinner with Mr. Meyer and the other partners and their wives, so Tyler and I sneak away and fend for ourselves. We find a great little local place where I try fried pickles for the first time…and love them.

“Why did you rat me out to Will?” I ask, shoving his arm in disapproval.

“Wouldn’t it have been worse had his father told him? Layla, you can only protect Will so much. You have to be honest and up front with him.” Tyler puts his arm around me and gives me a squeeze.

“You’re right. I just don’t want him to worry.”

“He loves you. He’s always going to worry.”

When we get back
to the resort we pop into the game room so I can crush Tyler in another game of hearts. It’s quiet when we approach so we assume the room is empty, but when we enter we discover that isn’t the case. Will is there with the person he’s been entertaining all day. I’m caught off guard but ok for the first five seconds. The remaining seconds that drag out like hours are another story.

The catalyst to my spiraling decent into an emotional wreck is
sitting unreasonably close to Will. The blonde he’s been entertaining all day is the same girl from my dream.

I gasp and they both turn to see Tyler and me entering the room. Will’s head actually makes a snapping sound from the jerk of motion he makes. He jumps up, but before he does I take better note of how he and the mystery girl are sitting: facing each other, close enough for their bodies to touch,
his arm resting on the couch around her, her hand on his knee. I try to be reasonable, logical, but I can’t. My mind is racing and I don’t know what to say or do.

“Hey…guys! What are you doing here?” Will asks nervously, only this time his nervousness is not cute.

I’m speechless. My eyes dart between Will and the mystery girl and all I want is for this to be a dream too. It’s not a dream, it’s a nightmare; the kind where you want to scream as loud as you can but when you open your mouth nothing will come out. You try to move, but your feet are like blocks of cement.

“Uh…hey Will. Who’s your friend?” Tyler asks, seeing I am going to be no help in the conversation department.

“This is Carrie. Carrie, this is Tyler…and Layla,” Will says gesturing between the three of us.

“It’s very nice to meet you. You two look like you’re on your way back from a date that I’m sure you don’t want to end
, so don’t let us interrupt you.” She stands up and slides her arm through Will’s. With her perfectly coiffed blond locks, beautiful facial features, and a killer body, she is exactly Gregory Meyer’s type. There she stands, next to Will, the perfect picture of arm candy.

My mind is flooded with questions.
Are they together? Is this why Will didn’t want me to come? How long has this been going on? What exactly
is
going on? How could I have been so stupid?

Tyler puts his arm around me and kisses my cheek. “Yep, that’s us! We both love long walks on the beach and moonlit nights. We were just on our way back out. See you later!” Tyler
is a smart-ass, but sometimes it works. Keeping his arm around me he takes me out of the room and to the garden that leads to the vineyard. When we reach the trail I’m still shaken. Tyler takes my hand in both of his and tells me it’ll be ok.

As we walk, I let Tyler keep my hand. It’s comforting. We walk to the far end of the vineyard, within the boundary of the light posts, and sit in silence for a long time. My mind is still racing, and now I’m crying.

“Layla, it’s going to be ok. She’s nobody,” Tyler says, doing his best to diffuse my tears.

“Tyler, this is going to sound insane, but I’ve seen that girl before,” I say through my sobs.

“What? Where?” Tyler puts his arm around my waist and lets me put my head on his shoulder.

“I…had a dream…and she was in it. I told you it was crazy.” I say in between sobs. Tyler doesn’t speak. He just listens with a furrowed brow as I continue. “I had a dream that Will’s dad welcomed me to the family, but was really welcoming me as hired help. Then I was standing in a beach house, in a maid’s uniform, with everyone looking at me. I looked up and saw Will standing there…with Carrie…his father’s arm around him in a show of approval. And now she’s here!”

“Layla, it was just a dream. She’s a generic blonde who probably has a hundred doppelgangers out there. You don’t have anything to worry about.” Tyler’s tone is sweet and comforting as he strokes my hair. “I’ve known Will a long time and I can tell you without reservation that he is as loyal as they come. I know how he feels about you and he would never do anything to hurt you.”

“Thanks, Ty. But…” I say, laying my head back on his shoulder. This is so silly. Will doesn’t belong to me anymore. “
There’s no reason for me to act like this. Will and I aren’t even together. He can see whoever he wants. Right?” I say solely in an effort to convince myself.

Tyler kisses the top of my head. “It’s going to be ok, Layla. Technically together, or not, Will loves you. I’ve never seen him love someone like he
loves you.”

“Ty!” a voice calls out.

It’s Will, and he’s approaching quickly. Before I know it he’s right up on us, looking distressed.

“Will,” Tyler says, jumping to his feet.

“I need to talk to Layla, alone, please,” he says looking at me intensely. “Can you go up the lodge and watch out for us?”

“Layla?” Tyler says, asking me for permission to leave.

“It’s ok. Thanks, Ty,” I say. I wipe my face and try not to look as upset as I am.

“I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am,” he says.

“For what? I have no rights to you anymore, so there’s no reason for you to apologize.”

“You looked pretty upset when you found Carrie and me. I…I’m under orders to entertain her, remember?” Will reminds me. His eyes are wide and hopeful.

“It’s ok, Will. We’re not together. You can be with whoever you want,” I say.

“Really?” He sounds surprised, and maybe a little disappointed.

“Really. You…want me to be jealous?”

“Well, I guess I thought it would bother you,” he says.

“Of course it bothers me, Will, but I have no right to be bothered by it. You don’t belong to me.”