by Sophie Lark
“Well, maybe not,” she said, touching her own cheek lightly with the palm of her hand. “But I’m not young. See, this is why you shouldn’t travel alone—that Chapel of Bones made me morbid. Knowing that each of those skulls was once a person who felt like their life would go on and on forever...and now they’re just a brick in a wall. Oh well, don’t mind me, it’s too beautiful out here to talk like that. Let’s talk about more pleasant things. Your father told me you’ve been seeing Marco Moretti?”
“Yes,” Anika admitted.
“He’s a good boy,” Aunt Molly said. “Good family—Dominic is a wonderful man.”
“He is,” Anika agreed.
“That would be a good choice for you, Anika,” Aunt Molly said. “I know he has a bit of a checkered history—that nasty business with the crash in Monaco. But he seems on a good path now.”
“What crash?” Anika asked.
“The race in Monaco,” Aunt Molly said. “Where the other driver was killed. But that was an accident, and it’s old news now.”
“The other driver was killed?” Anika asked.
“Yes,” Aunt Molly said. “There was a scandal about it, because some people said that Marco ran him into the wall deliberately. They said there was a rivalry between them, over some girl. And some people thought Marco had been drinking that morning. None of that was proven in the inquiry, though.
Marco hadn’t told her any of that. In fact, she was pretty certain that he told her the other driver was just fine.
“I don’t think you can blame Marco, really,” Aunt Molly said. “It’s a horribly dangerous sport.”
Anika was quiet. She knew Marco was probably embarrassed to tell her the truth. Even if it had been completely accidental, it was still tragic. He might not have wanted to ruin the mood so early in their relationship. But still, the deception bothered her.
“Bennet said he’s been very ambitious at Bennet Knight,” Aunt Molly went on. “Not that your father is entirely happy about that, but I’m sure he’ll come around when he sees his finances back in the black.”
“Yes,” Anika said slowly, thinking.
“And he’s good to you?” Aunt Molly asked.
“Yes,” Anika said, “Marco is very kind.”
“Well that’s perfect then. Those connections between his family and ours, they go back a long way. That counts for something.”
“Then why did you invite James here today?” Anika asked, confused.
“Oh,” Aunt Molly looked uncomfortable. “That was Liam. He seemed to think there was something between you two still. I told him it was nonsense—isn’t he dating that girl from your office? The pretty blonde one?”
“Yes,” Anika said, “Hannah.”
“Hmm,” said Aunt Molly, with an expression that showed she didn’t think much of that.
“James and I are just friends now,” Anika said.
Anika changed the subject to the seafood in Portugal, and Aunt Molly happily prattled on about Cataplana de Marisco while they jogged the horses up and down the gentle, grassy hills.
They had been riding about an hour and a half when the first few drops of rain patterned down on their shoulders.
“We’d better go back,” Aunt Molly said. “I hate getting rained on.”
“It’s only a little,” Anika said hopefully. “There isn’t any wind—I doubt it’s really going to rain.”
“Well, you go on,” Aunt Molly said. “I know you haven’t been riding as fast as you like. Why don’t you go another half hour or so, and I’ll make sure lunch is ready when you get back?”
“You don’t mind going back alone?” Anika asked.
“Of course not!”
Aunt Molly turned Domino and let her canter back across the grounds at a leisurely pace. Anika turned Goliath in the opposite direction, at last letting him have his head. Goliath knew that she wanted to run as much as he did, and he gladly took off across the turf.
The rain wasn’t falling yet, but the air smelled delicious, the wind was just starting to blow in their faces. Goliath knew every inch of the grounds as well as Anika did. With one mind, they easily leapt the small streams in their path, avoiding any hollows in the grass, and ran hard across the flat, open stretches that they knew to be safe of any obstacle.
Anika’s hair whirled around behind her. She knew she would be completely wild and sweaty when she came back for lunch, but at the moment she didn’t care.
Why had she not wanted to tell her aunt that Marco had taken her to Aruba this week? When Aunt Molly was telling her about the sea caves by Lagos, that would have been the perfect time to tell her about the waterfall they’d seen, or the snorkeling they’d done. But for some reason she hadn’t wanted her to know.
It had been a perfect trip—Marco had been kind, attentive, charming, utterly devoted to her. In the moment, she had been quite swept up by him. That’s why she had slept with him, not once, but twice. She had done that in the full knowledge that it would solidify their relationship. That was clearly what Marco wanted, and wasn’t it what she wanted as well?
So why had she been so happy to see James today? Why did the sight of him make her feel the way she used to when they were together? Because they weren’t together anymore, and then weren’t going to be.
As Anika was thinking, the rain began to fall in earnest. She was sorry to feel it. She would have liked to keep riding much longer. Goliath seemed to feel the same. He only reluctantly turned back toward the stables.
She slowed him down slightly. The rain was coming down hard, and the grass would be slippery. There was a clap of thunder off beyond the house, and Goliath shied just a little. Anika leaned forward to pat his neck reassuringly.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s a long way off.
Tom came out of the stable to take the horse. As he took the bridle from her hand, the thunder rumbled again, and the rain seemed to redouble in intensity. Looking out at the paddock, Anika could see some of the other horses were still outside, including Copper and her new foal.
“We’d better bring them all in,” Anika said. “It’s getting windier.”
“I’ll get them,” Tom said, grabbing his hat.
“No, don’t worry, I can do it!” Anika said. “I’m wet already—you take care of Goliath, and I’ll grab them.”
Tom didn’t like to agree, but Anika was already heading outside again. In moments she was completely soaked. The rain fell as hard as a showerhead turned up to full blast. She clipped leads onto Jinx and Biscuit—she would bring them to the stable, and then come back for Copper and the foal. They were huddled up against the fence and might take more coaxing.
As she turned toward the stable again, she saw a tall male figure coming toward her—she thought it must be Tom.
“It’s alright—“ she started, but then she realized it was James come out to help her. He was already soaked to the skin, his hair hanging down in his face.
“I can bring them back!” she said over the noise of the wind. “No need to get wet!”
“I think I already am a bit,” James said as the thunder cracked again. He took the lead for Jinx while Anika pulled Biscuit toward the stable. When they had handed the two horses off to Tom, they headed out to the paddock once more.
The wind was blowing hard in their faces.
“Good thing you came back,” James said. “You wouldn’t want to be riding in this.”
“You should have stayed inside!” Anika said.
But she was glad he hadn’t—the little foal was becoming more nervous by the minute, pacing back and forth against the fence, and her mother didn’t want to let them near. She obviously wanted to go back to the stable, but not without Penny. Anika calmed Copper as best she could, then James helped Anika block the foal into the corner so they could slip on her lead. As soon as they had done so, Copper became much calmer and allowed them to do the same to her.
As they came close to the stable, the lightning cracked, and Penny tried to b
olt off across the field. Anika kept hold of the lead, and James rushed to help her keep her grip. Even in the frigid rain, his hand was completely warm as it closed over hers. James looked down at her. Her shirt had become totally transparent in the rain, clinging to her chest. Her nipples stood out hard against the thin material. Water streamed down her face, her throat, her arms.
She caught him staring, and he tore his eyes away, embarrassed. They stood rooted in the yard, the rain pouring down on them, the wind blowing, the electric potential of the storm making every hair on their arms stand up, making their hearts beat as if they’d been sprinting, making their every muscle tremble as if they were as full of nerves as the horses.
Then Copper pulled toward the shelter of the stable again, and the moment broke. They took the horses inside, helping Tom to towel them dry, to make them comfortable in their stalls with fresh food and straw and everything they could want.
Anika and James went back inside the house, not speaking.
Liam brought them warm robes to wear while their clothing dried, and Aunt Molly made them drink hot tea while they all ate sandwiches in the study.
“I never actually use the dining room,” Liam said apologetically. “The table is so long, I feel like Louis the sixteenth.”
“These chairs are much more comfortable anyway,” Anika said. She had her feet curled up under her in a tobacco brown leather armchair, eating her sandwich off the plate balanced on her knee.
James was amusing them all with stories of the some of the worst business decisions he had made when setting up his company.
“And of course, there was the first time I asked Liam for investment advice,” he said. “Honestly, I’m surprised he’s willing to do anything with stocks with me ever again.”
“Oh,” Liam scoffed, “we all have to learn our lesson there—we’re all gamblers at first.”
“This was right when the financial crisis hit,” James said. “Washington Mutual was on the ropes, the stock had dropped all the way down to two dollars. There were rumors they’d be bought by JP Morgan, which should raise the stock up to four to six dollars minimum. I had eight hundred dollars in the bank—that was every penny of my savings. So I called Liam and I told him my plan. I said the famous last words, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’”
“And what did I say?” Liam laughed. “I don’t even remember this.”
“You said, ‘It could go to zero’.”
“Ah! And you see, I was wrong too.”
“Why? What happened?” Aunt Molly asked.
“Well, what I didn’t know—because this was a classic example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, I was too stupid to know how ignorant I was—what I didn’t know was that there was another party at the table with WaMu and JP Morgan: the FDIC. And they decided instead of JP Morgan buying WaMu, the FDIC was just going to seize all WaMu’s assets and hand them over. So the eight hundred dollars I had invested evaporated in a moment. Less than zero.”
“At least it was only eight hundred dollars,” Liam said. “That’s a cheap lesson.”
“Absolutely,” James said. “Of course I was devastated at the time. I had wanted that money badly for…for something I wanted to get.”
Unconsciously, he had glanced for a moment at Anika’s bare left hand where it rested on the arm of her chair. And though he was still smiling and chuckling at his own foolishness, Anika wasn’t laughing anymore, because like a bolt she recalled the timing of James’s story and she understood why he had wanted money so badly.
The financial crisis had happened in 2008. James had been saving every penny because he wanted to buy a ring for her. And perhaps after the disastrous dinner with her family, he had thought that what he had saved wouldn’t be enough to get a ring that would be good enough in her eyes—or in the much more critical eyes of her father and sister.
But no ring of any kind had ever come, and not just because he’d lost the money. Because she had abandoned him shortly thereafter.
“Anyway,” James went on, “I did learn my lesson. I don’t invest in single stocks anymore, unless it’s my own company. And I always listen to Liam.”
“I’ll hold you to that when we’re partners!” Liam laughed.
“So what is this fund you’re making?” Aunt Molly asked.
“James wrote an algorithm,” Liam said. “You know most trades are made by computers these days.”
“What about AI?” Anika asked suddenly.
“AI?” Liam said curiously.
“Yes,” Anika said to James, faltering a little, “you used to say you wanted to make a true artificial intelligence—not just a program but an actual personality.”
“I’m surprised you remember that,” James said, looking slightly ruffled.
“Well, trading algorithms are a type of artificial intelligence,” Liam said.
“But it’s not a full brain,” Anika said. “It’s not an independent intelligence.”
“Who would want that?” Aunt Molly said. “Isn’t that the start of a Terminator movie?”
“That would be pretty fanciful at this point,” James said. “We’re a long way off killer androids.”
“Didn’t Einstein say that imagination is the precursor to progress, to evolution?” Anika persisted. “You told me that.”
“Well, I used to be idealistic,” James said shortly. “I’m more practical now. The algorithm is for making micro-trades, that’s all.”
Aunt Molly sensed the tension in the room, though she didn’t quite seem to understand its source. Still, good breeding taught her that she ought to change the subject.
“Liam!” she said. “Did you end up getting that Ortega sculpture we saw in the city? I’m anxious to see it!”
Liam, far from looking confused or disturbed at the turn of mood between Anika and James, instead looked quite placid. But he always seemed in a zen state, as if he thought everything would work out the way it was supposed to in the end.
“It was delivered on Tuesday,” he said. “Let me show it to you, they placed it over by the solarium, though I’m sure you can give me a better suggestion of where to put it.”
Aunt Molly followed Liam out of the room, leaving James and Anika alone. James seemed irritated still, and he immediately said, “So how’s your father’s protege coming along?”
“I wouldn’t call him his protege exactly,” Anika said. “He’s pretty much got control of the place, and as you can imagine, my father isn’t liking that very much.”
“Well that’s alright,” James said. “I’m sure Marco won’t do anything too terrible—as long as he’s trying to impress you.”
Anika stiffened. “I don’t tell him what to do at Bennet Knight,” she said.
“Well, it’s a match everyone can be happy about,” James said bitterly.
“I don’t care if they’re happy or not!” Anika cried. “If I do…if I am with Marco, it will be for my own reasons, not to please my family.”
If anything, James looked even more unhappy to hear this.
“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment. “It’s none of my business.”
“And how about Hannah?” Anika said, trying to keep the tears from her eyes, trying to force her voice into a semblance of calm, of friendly inquiry. “How are things with you two?”
“Hannah is great,” James said dully. “Hannah is fun.”
That was true. Hannah was always bubbly and energetic and infallibly fun. Almost no one would describe Anika as fun.
“I’m glad,” Anika forced herself to say. “She’s a really lovely person.” That part was true at least.
Aunt Molly came back into the room, still praising the beauty of Liam’s new acquisition.
“The simplicity!” she said. “Everyone wants to do too much, Ortega always knows when to stop. Anika, you have to see it, it’s just what you like.”
“I’d better save it for next time,” Anika said. “I have to catch the one o’clock train. Thank you so much for lunch, Liam
.”
“Wait,” Molly said, “I thought you had papers to show me?”
“Right,” Anika said, flustered. She had completely forgotten.
“Do you mind if we use the study?” Molly asked Liam. “It shouldn’t take too long.”
“Of course,” Liam said. “James and I can—”
“Actually, I’ve got to go, too,” James said.
He looked as red in the face as Anika.
“Sorry!” Molly said. “We can go over to my place instead, we don’t want to be in the way.”
“No, it’s not that,” James said. “I have to…”
But he trailed off, not saying what he had to do.
“We can talk tomorrow,” Liam said to him, patting him on the shoulder.
“Nice to see you all,” James said, not looking at Anika.
“Bye James!” Aunt Molly said, friendly but still confused as to what exactly was going on.
Once James was out the door, she turned to Anika and said, “Is something—” but Anika cut her off.
“Let’s get to work on this,” she said.
“Sure,” Molly said, shrugging, “whatever you want.”
16
The following weekend was Labor Day, the day Hannah had set for their hike up the Blue Ridge trail. Anika hadn’t seen James at all that week—he’d come to pick Hannah up for lunch once but had only texted from his car when he arrived instead of coming up to the office.
Anika hadn’t seen Marco either, since he’d been especially busy at Bennet Knight. They’d had plans to meet mid-week for dinner, but Marco had to cancel them last minute when his father took a turn for the worse. She had planned to ask him about the lawyer he’d sent to meet with Gwen, but that question was lost in their concern for Dominic.
Anika called to check in while Marco was at the doctor’s office with his father.
“How’s he doing?” she asked.
“We won’t get the blood results back until tomorrow,” Marco said, “but they think it was just a flare up.”
He sounded like he was moving to another room, perhaps away from where Dominic could hear him.