by Liz Madrid
“Who?”
“Whoever this woman is you fell in love with,” I say. “The woman who made you this cold. Natasha, maybe?”
“Definitely not her,” he says, chuckling drily. “And as much as I wish I could say that there was someone, unfortunately I can’t, not when I’m running two companies and chasing my brother half-way around the world just so I can talk reason with him. But you are right about one thing.”
“What?”
“I’d much prefer one Miss Right, even if I have to wait forever, than ten Miss Right-Nows.”
17
Mi Casa Es Su Casa
It doesn’t take me long to learn that the Santa Barbara I know from my one-time vacation with my family, based on tour guide books and a limited budget, is nothing like the Santa Barbara that Heath knows. Immediately upon landing, we’re greeted at the airport by two bodyguards working for Tyler Crow, along with a driver standing next to a limo right there on the tarmac.
From there, we’re driven to Montecito where Tyler owns a chateau high above a hill. Though we have full use of the main house, Heath chooses to stay in the detached guesthouse that’s separated by a pool and a lush garden. He doesn’t want staff fussing over us, he says, though they do anyway, each one of them familiar with him as they welcome him back with warm smiles until he bids them all good night and shuts the door.
“I hope you don’t mind we stay in for the night and tomorrow we go to the country club,” he says as he shows me to my room. “My body clock is saying it’s one in the morning, and I’m exhausted.”
“You also barely slept.”
He covers his mouth with the back of his hand as he yawns. “True. Anyway, Tyler always says, mi casa es su casa, so this house is your house, too. Feel free to roam the grounds in the morning. You can’t miss the view.”
It’s not till the following morning that I see what Heath means, though it’s the ringing of his phone at 5:30 that first wakes me up and gets me out the door to watch the sunrise. From the detached meditation house where I force myself to do some stretches and breath work, the view of Santa Barbara from the Pacific ocean to the west and the Santa Ynez mountains to the north and east of me is so breathtaking it makes me cry. I wish my parents were alive to experience all this with me, and not have to settle for the cheap motel and picnics in the park because of our tight budget when Blythe and I were kids.
By the time I make my way from the meditation house back to the guesthouse, I see Heath doing laps in the pool between the main house and guest house. As I stop to watch him from the guest house patio, I watch his body sluice through the water effortlessly. It’s the first time I see him with hardly any clothes on, and I’m struck by how tanned his body is, and toned. Perfect.
“I hear he was captain of the water polo team in college,” says an older woman coming towards me, her sandaled feet crunching against the white pebbles that line the path from the pool and the garden. Wearing a white summer top and pants ensemble, she’s tall and lean, a row of perfect white teeth against luminous dark skin and her hair is pulled back in a bun. Large hoop earrings frame her exotic features and her hazel eyes hypnotize me. They seem hard and intense and I feel like she’s been watching me for some time.
“I’m Tyler, by the way. Tyler Findley-Crow, although I like going by Crow these days,” she says, extending her hand. “I just got in minutes ago and wanted to welcome you personally, and I gather you’re Billie Rose. Very nice to meet you.”
“Same here,” I say as I stare up at her and shake her hand. I wonder if she was ever a fashion model because she could have very well floated towards me on her very own traveling catwalk.
“I just came from your meditation house,” I say. “You’ve got an amazing home.”
She beams. “Thank you. My mother hired Feng Shui experts to make sure that chi flowed effortlessly throughout this property before she passed away nine months ago.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” she says, smiling as she admires the jasmine flowers growing along the trellis. “This guest house just happens to be in the relationship corner, so hopefully it will be smooth-sailing for you two lovebirds-”
“We’re not dating.”
“-while this whole thing involving Blythe and the embezzlement situation settles down,” she continues, without missing a beat. “Word’s gotten around that Heath is dating someone new so I have warn you — all eyes will be on you. It always is the case whenever Ethan and Heath show up anywhere — siblings who always show a unified front to show the world while behind that front is-”
“A lie?”
“Pretty much, though not all the time,” she says. “But it’s no different from some sibling relationships, I believe, though I wouldn’t know since I’m an only child.”
Tyler must be about forty, though she doesn’t look a day over thirty. And behind her almond-shaped eyes and her friendly smile, I can sense there’s a razor sharp woman underneath the facade. I can see now how she totally fits into Heath’s corporate world. Even with her casual wear, she exudes confidence, though I’m not too thrilled about her knowing way too much about Blythe and the alleged fraud. I wonder if she knows about the letters, or is that just between Heath and Ethan?
“How close are you to Heath?” I ask.
“Close enough,” she says. “I met him when we did our Masters together. He was pretty young, straight from a BA in Business Management and I, from a few years of working at a credit company but needing that MBA on my CV.”
“Is an MBA really that important?” I ask, realizing too late what an inane question it is. Of course it’s important, but she’s unsettling me, eyeing me like a hawk from behind what seems like a carefully placed smile.
“Of course, it is,” Tyler says. “It’s hard enough to get anywhere in the corporate world with just a Bachelor’s degree these days, especially when you’ve got your eye on the highest rung of the ladder. Harder still when you’re a woman and you know that the only reason you’re being considered is because they need diversity on the board — that is, after you’ve beat out every other man first with your track record.”
“Is that how it really is out there? At least for women?”
“Behind closed doors, yes. It’s also what I tell myself each morning when I wake up so I never let my guard down, not when there’s always someone else gunning for whatever position I have,” she replies. “I’m on the board of companies, Billie, for two reasons — first for my brain that gives me the drive to go after what I want, and then the plumbing between my legs, because God knows they’re in desperate need to get caught up with the times, and it looks good to the public. And while there’s nothing I can do about the second, there’s much I can do about the first. After all, I wasn’t born rich like some people.”
Like Heath, you mean, I want to say but keep my mouth shut. I have a feeling that it’s best not to get on Tyler’s bad side.
“You make it sound so bad, being around people like him,” I say, forcing a smile.
She chuckles drily. “I didn’t mean to, not when I’m now one of those people. But the point I was trying to make is that I got here through hard work — very hard work and a lot of sacrifice, like setting aside having children just so it won’t interfere with my current work trajectory.”
Her expression hardens then. “And the last thing I want is to see everything I’ve worked so hard for crumble because Heath decided to protect his brother’s girlfriend when his first duty was to the company. I hate to be blunt here, Billie, but I’m not a fan of your sister at the moment, not when I risk losing everything I’ve worked so hard for.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You look so much like her, it’s so uncanny,” she says after neither of us say anything for a few minutes.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not bad. It’s just uncanny,” she says, shrugging her shoulders.
“So is that where your loyalt
y lies, with the company?” I ask. “Are you going to throw my sister under the corporate bus because you don’t want anything to ruin all the hard work you’ve put in to get where you are now?”
“Wouldn’t you, if you were me and you start off from nothing?” Tyler asks, her eyes narrowing. I don’t know why but I seem to making enemies instead of friends these days.
“No, I wouldn’t, but that’s only because I’m not you,” I reply, tired of playing nice. I just have to accept that through no fault of my own, I’m on Tyler’s bad side and there’s nothing I can do about it. “And I definitely won’t do it to my own sister, not unless she really is embezzling all that money. But until then, while everyone else is busy protecting their own rich asses — now more than ever because Heath decided his loyalty was more to his family than his father’s company — I’ll do what I have to do to protect my own sorry ass, and my sister’s.”
I’m so angry that I don’t notice that Heath has emerged from the pool, and that as water slicks down his body, he’s like Greek god come to life. I should admire it, after all I’m supposed to be his girlfriend. But the last thing I want to do is pretend Heath and I are a couple in front of Tyler Crow, who probably would rather call the Ethics Committee and Feds herself than spend another minute with the doppelgänger of the woman who could cost her everything.
“I can see now why he likes you,” she says softly. “You’re nothing like all the women who go after him, every one of them just after his money and his name — Ettinger and Kheiron.”
In the distance, Heath sees us and waves as he dries himself with a towel.
“Oh, please,” I scoff. “What could I possibly have that someone as gorgeous as Natasha doesn’t have?”
“Not to sound trite or overly romantic, but you’ve got a heart, Billie. And in our business, it’s usually the first thing to go on our way to the top,” she says as her phone beeps and she glances at it briefly.
“You mean you don’t have one — considering that now you happen to sit on the Board of Directors of this and probably other companies?”
“Oh, I do have one,” she says, smiling as she gets up from her chair. “And right now, her nanny just texted to let me know that’s she awake from her morning nap. Feel free to go anywhere you please, Billie, even the main house. Anyway, I need to get back in and say hello to my little Cara. I just came by to welcome you personally.”
If that was Tyler rolling out the welcome wagon, I’m afraid to find out what her farewell party would be like. One minute she’s cold and the next, she’s not, though I can’t exactly blame her for being angry at Heath and his decision to delay informing the board of Blythe’s embezzlement.
Still, my meeting has left me in a bad mood and I huff back into the guest house and almost slam the door behind me. It’s not until I lean against the door do I realize I’m shaking. Tyler Crow is not a woman who beats around the bush and she sure made her point clear.
By the time Heath enters the house, I’m a lot calmer. I’ve decided to look at things from Tyler’s point of view and see what she’s set to lose if Heath’s plan — finding out who is really is behind the embezzlement before doing any official action — fails. What would it cost her if the board finds out that after learning about the embezzlement, she did nothing to inform them? Surely, she’d be the first one to suffer the consequences, most likely a casualty of her plumbing. Harris is on his way to a cushy retirement as chairman emeritus so he probably wouldn’t care if they ushered him out sooner. Heath wouldn’t stand to lose a thing, not when he owned majority of the stock to begin with. And as for Blythe and I, nothing would change there. We’re still expendable.
“I see you’ve met Tyler,” Heath says when he walks past my bedroom, the door ajar. He’s got a towel draped around his hips and droplets of water glisten from his damp hair. He’s carrying a small package in one hand.
“I did, yes,” I say, forcing a smile. “She’s really nice.”
“She can be rough around the edges, but she means well,” Heath says, though he’s looking at me curiously. “But I’m glad to hear you both got along.”
You call that getting along? I almost sputter. ”So what’s the plan?”
“Breakfast first,” he says, rubbing the towel through his hair. “Then to the country club for the afternoon tea. I hear that Ethan and Blythe will be there to meet sponsors.”
“Can we have breakfast outside?” I ask. “I know Tyler’s got an amazing house and there’s staff to make us whatever we want but I was thinking of exploring Santa Barbara for a bit. I also need to get a new phone.”
“That’s already been taken care of,” he says, handing me the bag he’s holding. “It was delivered this morning and it just needs to be set up.”
It’s a brand new phone just like Blythe’s and while Heath takes a shower and gets dressed, I call Customer Service to help me set it up. Then I input Blythe’s phone number as well as the shop’s into the phone directory, before getting dressed in a pair of jeans along with a sleeveless top and an airy eternity scarf. As I look at my reflection in the mirror, thanking Alicia’s eye for what works for my skin tone and my hair, I think I look decent enough.
I could even pass for Blythe.
18
Afternoon Tea
From the moment Heath shuts the door to the passenger side of the Ferrari that Tyler loans him, I feel like I’m in a movie as we head downtown for breakfast. He’s casually dressed in jeans and a blue henley shirt and he’s happy. Even the dimples are making their appearance, and with the convertible top down, we look just like any Santa Barbara couple, enjoying their day together.
We have breakfast at a cafe right on State Street known for its southern-influenced dishes. The place is packed but after a few minutes of waiting, we’re led to a table outside.
He tells me that Ethan and Blythe are staying at the Mariposa, a brand new resort that he and Ethan had invested in years earlier.
“It’s also where we’ll be staying for the rest of the trip,” he adds as I grin from ear to ear. No matter how beautiful Tyler’s property is, I’d rather stay in a ratty motel than spend another night at her guesthouse, whether it sits in the relationship corner on the bagua or not. In fact, my suitcases are already packed right next to the bed, though I don’t tell him.
“What made you change your mind about staying at Tyler’s?”
“It was only just for last night,” he says, “I needed to touch base with her in person and let her know what happened with my meeting with Harris.”
“Do you trust her?”
“I do — when it comes to the company,” he replies, nodding his head. “But she’s not happy with my decision to delay informing the board of the alleged embezzlement, not when it cost her everything she’s worked hard for. And she’s right.”
“Do you think she’ll tell someone?”
“If she does, it’s going to be soon, but she’s willing to give me a few more days before she does — unless I do it first,” he replies, looking up as the waitress arrives with my mimosa served in a mason jar.
“And Harris?”
He shrugs. “It won’t affect him either way if he does or doesn’t, though his priority will be to shield his godson from scandal.”
“And you? Who’s shielding you?”
“Just Wally and Fred,” Heath replies, stroking the back of my hand, a move I find myself welcoming. His guard is down, and as hard as it was hearing what he said on the plane about me needing to move on, I’ve long accepted the fact that he’s right. No matter how harsh his words sounded then, someone had to say it out loud.
“Who are Wally and Fred?”
”They’ve only been following us since we left Tyler’s.”
“Are they Tyler’s men? Like from last night?” I ask, looking around. Other than people who are dressed casually and probably a combination of locals and tourists, I don’t see anyone who could look like bodyguards — if that’s what Heath means.
&nbs
p; “They’re the company’s,” he says. “Kheiron Security was not happy to learn that I had traveled to Saint Lucia, and neither was my own personal security company through Ettinger Holdings. And Tyler is pissed as hell that I took that risk.”
“So everyone’s pissed off at you, you mean?”
“Yes.”
By the time our breakfast arrives, we stop talking about business. I don’t realize how famished I am till I’m faced with poached eggs on top of crab cakes and a side of avocado salsa, while Heath digs into his order of rib-eye steak and two fried eggs, grilled asparagus and potatoes. We take a few minutes to just eat, and I can’t help but notice how, even through his sunglasses, I can see his eyes watching my every move.
“How come you never told me that Tyler’s a woman?” I ask, taking a sip of my mimosa. Between my coffee and this, I have a feeling I’m going to be on a happy caffeine high for the next few hours.
“Because her being a woman shouldn’t be an issue,” he says.
“Where did you meet her?”
“At Harvard,” he replies. “We were both doing our Masters and we became close.”
“So how did Tyler end up on your board? Did you work with her before?”
“I threw her name into the pool of other names they were considering for Co-Chair,” he says, “though she was already on the list on account of her performance with Credit Suisse. She’s been on other boards before — and she is on one other board as well.”
“Did you ever date her?”
Heath gazes at me for a few moments, a slight smile on his lips. “What if I say yes?”
I shrug. I don’t know why I’m feeling a slight tug in my chest, but maybe it’s just my bra. “Then you said yes.”
“No, I never did,” he replies, chuckling. “I was too engrossed in making my mark in the corporate world to date anyone for that matter — at least seriously. Though it doesn’t mean I didn’t date.”