Saving Wishes

by GJ Walker-Smith

  ***

  The oval dining table seemed too small and intimate. I found it difficult to make eye contact with either of them and was grateful for the beautiful view of the ocean from the large window. I silently wished the last few minutes of daylight would hold just long enough to get through dinner. Staring into the darkness might have seemed a little odd.

  “The view is perfect isn’t it?” asked Gabrielle, passing a bowl of salad so perfectly arranged that it could have been mistaken for a piece of her art.

  I forced a smile. “You have the best beach. We come here a lot.”

  Gabrielle’s house was just south of the Cove. The stretch of beach below her cottage was the straightest stretch for kilometres, popular with surfers in the winter and overrun with tourists in the summer.

  “With Alex?” Her accent made her words musical. It also made it impossible to decipher her tone.

  “Yeah, mostly,” I replied casually.

  “You swim down there?” asked Adam incredulously. He stared through the window at the dark sea, blackened by the low light.

  “Of course,” I said, confused. “You like to swim too, don’t you?”

  “Sure, in a pool. A nice clean pool where you can see exactly what’s underneath you.”

  “This is one of the best surf beaches on the south coast, Adam,” I said, a little too defensively.

  “Ugh. Surfers,” groaned Gabrielle.

  I fought the urge to scream my words at her. “Do you have something against surfers?”

  “She thinks they have no sense of self-preservation. And they mess up her view. She calls them penguins,” he said, seizing the opportunity to rib her.

  “Well that’s what they remind me of,” she grumbled. “Sitting out there on their boards for hours on end, huddled in a group.” Her tone was irritated, as if the hours the surfers spent on the water cut in to her own personal time.

  “You should give it a try. You might understand it better,” I said.

  Gabrielle absently ran her finger around the rim of her wine glass.

  “I couldn’t imagine Gabi venturing out there,” said Adam, his smile wide.

  I looked to the window, seeing nothing but my reflection. The light had completely disappeared and sombre blackness was in its place.

  “They wouldn’t have her out there,” I retorted. Braving the nasty glare that Gabrielle threw at me, I maintained eye contact. “Surfers are very territorial.”

  Gabrielle’s usually porcelain cheeks turned crimson. Now seemed like the perfect time to throw Alex’s name into the mix.

  “Alex is the penguin king. He’s out there every morning.”

  “I know,” she replied. Maybe she really did study them.

  “You should ask him to give you lessons,” I suggested.

  Gabrielle brought her napkin to her mouth, making a small coughing sound. I wondered if I’d made her choke. Adam looked torn, like he wanted to slap on her on the back but wasn’t sure if he needed to. “Are you okay?” he asked finally, sliding his glass of water across the table to her.

  “Fine,” she replied, recomposing herself. She glanced at her watch. “I actually have to go. I’m sorry to leave so early.” Her voice was surprisingly sincere. “I’m very pleased you came, Charli. I hope you know you’re welcome here always. And now I really have to go.”

  Adam sat motionless at the table long after Gabrielle had left.

  “Maybe I should put them both out of their misery and set them up on a date,” I said at last.

  “And what happens if they fall in love, get married and have five children?”

  “I would slash my wrists.”

  “What am I going to do with you?”

  “Can you take me home?” I asked.

  “Already?”

  “Yeah. I’ve done enough damage for one night,” I replied sheepishly.

  “You haven’t damaged me.”

  “I have, you know. One of these days you’ll wake up and realise how horrible I truly am.”

  He read the distress in my face and pulled me to my feet, holding me tight. I didn’t feel the usual rush of blood to my head. I was safe in the arms of someone who didn’t care how wicked I could be or how positively unreasonable I was at times.

  “Never going to happen,” he whispered.

  9. Secrets and Lies

  The illuminated clock in the car held my attention for much of the drive home, reminding me that eight o’clock was a ridiculously early time to be returning from dinner.

  Nearly a whole week without rain had worked magic on our driveway. The deep puddles had dried into muddy potholes that cushioned the blow of driving over them. Despite the pitch-blackness of the night, Adam negotiated them perfectly.

  The house was in darkness when we arrived, meaning Alex wasn’t home. He probably wasn’t anticipating me screwing dinner up so badly that I’d be home that early.

  “Adam, will you wait with me until Alex gets home?” I asked.

  “Of course I will.”

  He held my hand and I clung to the back of his coat with the other as I followed him up to the veranda. Reaching into my coat pocket, he grabbed my keys, unlocking and opening the door so quickly, I barely had to slow my walk. I flicked the light on, flooding the lounge room with light.

  “Okay?” asked Adam.

  “Fine,” I replied as I made a grab for his lapels, pulling him close to me.

  He kissed me just long enough to get my heart racing before mercilessly freeing his lips from mine. I groaned in protest and he chuckled. “I need to let Gabi know I might be late home,” he said, reaching for his phone.

  He punched buttons on his phone with one hand, inches from my ear. I continued kissing his neck, wondering how he’d slow his breathing when she answered. It was a thought that lasted only a few seconds, soon replaced by confusion and shock.

  We stood as still as statues, listening to the muffled sound of a phone ringing from the kitchen. My head snapped up to look at Adam. He looked as surprised as I felt. He pressed a button to end the call and the phantom phone stopped ringing.

  Gabrielle’s phone was in my house.

  I heard Alex before I saw him. His bedroom door burst open and closed quickly. Judging by the way he practically fell through the doorway, he must have run down the hallway.

  “Charli,” he breathed. He was dressed only in a pair of jeans, still dragging one arm through his white T-shirt.

  My reply was choked. “Hi.”

  The look on his face was familiar to me. We shared the same genes. I shouldn’t have been surprised that his trying-to-come-up-with-a-plausible-lie face was exactly the same as mine.

  “Ah, Gabrielle’s phone is here,” said Adam, pointing vaguely towards the kitchen. “Is she here?”

  My brother glanced at me but couldn’t hold my gaze. He looked back to Adam.

  “Yes.” His voice sounded strained, like he was confessing to a murder or something equally as heinous. Perhaps he was.

  That was Gabrielle’s cue to enter the room. I was perfectly positioned to see her breeze down the hallway, every bit the runway model. Unlike Alex, she had the decency to make sure she was fully dressed. She nervously raked her hand through her bedroom hair, looking everywhere but at us.

  “Art Class, Gabrielle?” asked Adam. Her burning cheeks answered for her. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

  Alex seemed more concerned by my reaction. He tried to speak but I cut him off.

  “How long has this been going on?”

  I wanted him to tell me it was a one-off, a sordid little one-night stand. That would be the easiest scenario to deal with, but the minute I noticed that his pinkie finger was linked around hers, it was game over. This was no one-night deal. He loved her.

  He spoke hesitantly. “Over a year.”

  I sucked in a breath as if I’d just been hit.

  “It will be okay, Charli,” promised Alex.

  He was foolish to think I�
��d be so easily placated. “You lied to me. How is that ever okay?”

  The reality was that this wasn’t as simple as him telling me one little untruth. Alex would have had to string a million lies together to keep his affair with Gabrielle a secret for so long.

  “It’s not okay,” he said, backpedalling.

  I tried to work out whether to stay or go. If I wanted answers, I had to stay. “Just tell me why!”

  “I’ll tell you everything,” he replied, without actually telling me anything.

  “Well, speak!” I demanded. “Please, just tell me something, anything!”

  I scowled across the room at him but he was looking at Gabrielle. He wasn’t answering me because he was protecting her feelings.

  I was suddenly thankful I’d left my coat on. “I have to get out of here,” I blurted.

  “Charli, stay,” urged Adam. I shrugged him away.

  “No. I can’t be here.”

  I half-expected him to joke about my flee-itis flaring up but he didn’t. No one was in the mood for jokes. I pulled open the drawer of the hallstand searching for my car keys. My dramatic exit was hampered by the fact that I couldn’t remember where I’d left them.

  “Take my car,” offered Alex, pointing at his keys. “It’s in the garage.” That explained why we hadn’t seen it when we arrived. I imagined her sporty little Mazda was hidden next to it. Thinking about how far they’d gone to conceal this was making me nauseous. The guilt must have been killing him. Never before had he offered me the use of his car.

  “Don’t let her go while she’s angry,” mumbled Gabrielle, tugging his arm.

  “If you want to leave, I’ll come with you,” offered Adam.

  I shook my head but didn’t reply. My moment of rebellion was lost. I couldn’t even remember the point I was trying to make. The bunch of keys sounded like a much larger object as I slammed them down on the hallstand.

  “Why did you cook salmon for dinner?” I asked, aiming my extraneous question squarely at Gabrielle. If I had nowhere to run, she certainly didn’t either. I was going to make sure of it.

  “I told her it was your favourite,” Alex admitted.

  “So it was all part of the plan, pushing me to go to dinner? The interest in my photography was a nice touch, Gabrielle.”

  “I am interested in your photography, Charli,” she insisted.

  “How uncomfortable did it get when Adam came into the picture? Oh wait...it probably made things easier, didn’t it? I have a distraction now. You get to spend more time with Gabrielle. In fact, things are probably much easier...” My voice trailed off as I came to a horrible conclusion.

  Alex got there before me and was shaking his head before I’d finished. “No, no. Adam knew nothing about this.”

  “Not a thing, Charli,” assured Adam, flatly. His voice was void of emotion. Maybe he was in shock too – or maybe I’d been right all along. He was too good to be true. I searched his eyes for the truth. He looked as confused as I was.

  I saw no more point in talking, wanting nothing more than to disappear. Without another word I pushed past Alex and Gabrielle and marched to my room, slamming the door so hard that I expected it to fall off the hinges.

  I leaned my back against the closed door and without much grace, slid to the floor. I sat quietly for a long time, dazed. I could hear muted conversation coming from the lounge room but I couldn’t bear to listen. Alex wouldn’t give me answers when I stood before him, begging like I was the one who had done something wrong. Too scared of what I might hear by eavesdropping, I covered my ears with my clenched fists to make sure I heard nothing.

  ***

  It didn’t surprise me that Alex was already up when I woke the next morning. I trudged into the kitchen as if my shoes were made of concrete blocks. I wanted to pretend nothing had changed, that the whole night before was a bad dream. The minute he turned to face me, I knew it was impossible.

  “I’ve cooked breakfast.” Alex never cooked breakfast. Looking at the plate of food that vaguely resembled eggs I remembered why.

  “No thanks,” I mumbled, wondering how eggs could be burnt black and yet be runny at the same time.

  “Please, Charli,” he pleaded. “Consider it a peace offering.”

  He pushed the plate towards me and I slid it straight back. “A peace offering would be a big, fat chocolate cake Alex, not...scrambled eggs,” I said, hoping I’d guessed right.

  “It’s an omelette,” he corrected, allowing a smile to creep across his face.

  I pretended to retch. “Well, assuming you’re not trying to kill me, I’ll give it a miss.”

  The smile disappeared from his face and he was suddenly serious. “I’d never intentionally hurt you, you know that.”

  “Keeping your girlfriend – or whatever she is – a secret from me hurts a lot more than a few bad eggs ever would.”

  His expression was irate but resigned. “I just couldn’t tell you. The longer it went on, the more difficult it became. You, better than anyone, knows what this town is like, Charli.”

  “Don’t make this about me.”

  “I didn’t want to complicate things. Gabrielle is your teacher.” His tone implied he was doing me a favour.

  “She’s not my girlfriend, she’s yours. It makes no difference to me. You’re the one who would have to put up with the stupid gossip, not me. Don’t pretend you were protecting me. You were protecting her,” I said contemptuously.

  Alex spoke too quietly. “I protect you, Charli, always you.”

  “Look, she makes you happy. Don’t you think I want you to be happy?” I asked, annoyed that he’d made it about me again. Alex held his palms out. “Am I that horrible?”

  “No, of course not.” He replied without hesitating, which reassured me just enough to keep me in the room.

  “Why her? You could have any girl in this town.”

  “I only want her.”

  I believed him.

  “Jasmine Tate is in love with you.”

  He smiled. “Jasmine Tate frightens me. Both the Beautifuls do.”

  “Yeah, well, Gabrielle Décarie frightens me,” I muttered.

  Alex sat down. Looking at the plate of eggs in front of him, he grimaced. “Look, how about we do something today? Just you and me.”

  “I have school,” I reminded him.

  “I know. Sometimes you just need the day. I think we need the day.”

  “Are you worried that I’ll go to school and create a scene? Blow your little charade to pieces and embarrass your witch?” I snarled.

  “No. I know you would never do that.” He sounded certain, and I suddenly felt guilty for suggesting it.

  “I have to go,” I said.

  “I’ll drive you if you can wait a few minutes. I just need to –”

  “It’s okay. I’m going to take my car. It needs a run.”

  “You are going to school, aren’t you?” asked Alex, looking at me through narrowed eyes. He knew me better than I knew myself at times.

  “Do you want me to lie?” I asked.

  He shook his head, grimacing.

  “I won’t lie, then.”

  In the rear vision mirror I saw Alex watching me as I drove away. I could only imagine what he was thinking at that point. I hoped he trusted me enough to know that I would never be the one to tell the Beautifuls that Alex Blake was off their list of most eligible bachelors. I also knew I’d said nothing to convince him of that.

  10. French Attack

  School was the last place I felt like going, and Alex’s offer of spending the day with me was practically an invitation to ditch. I considered going to see Adam but talked myself out of it. I’d almost accused him of being Alex and Gabrielle’s accomplice – their aide-de-camp. Even Adam had to have a limit. I was sure I’d pushed him beyond it.

  I watched monstrous dark clouds rolling in across the bay. The approaching storm matched my mood perfectly and I decided to make the most of it. I grabbed
my camera bag from the passenger seat. I’d found my calling for the day. I slung the bag over my shoulder and ventured up the steep hill.

  The top of the paddock was relatively flat, at least level enough to sit comfortably while I steadied my camera on the small tripod. I was still setting up my equipment, trading glances between the viewfinder and the angry sky above when something I wasn’t expecting caught my eye.

  “No freaking way,” I mumbled, looking through the viewfinder to be sure it was actually her.

  Climbing through the wire fence by the road was Gabrielle – not an easy manoeuvre in a pencil skirt and the most beautiful black heels I’d ever seen.

  I considered lying down in the long grass – watching her staggering around in heels while she searched for me did have its appeal – but decided that seeing her stumble her way towards me like a drunk beauty queen was pleasure enough.

  She was halfway up before she gave up on preserving her pretty shoes. I giggled as I watched her pull them off one at a time, futilely dusting them off as she stumbled closer to me.

  Finally she was close enough to hear me speak. “If you were planning to drag me to school, you might have considered wearing more sensible shoes,” I told her, fighting the urge to snap a picture of her.

  “I’m not planning to drag you anywhere,” she replied, still breathless from her trek.

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “I was passing and saw your car.”

  “Your house is that way,” I said, pointing south. “Were you on your way back from my house? Did he let you stay over and sneak you out after I left?”

  She overlooked my sarcasm, dropped her shoes on the ground and replied without skipping a beat. “No, he snuck me out the window before dawn.”

  I had to hand it to her; she was playing the game to perfection.

  “What do you want, Gabrielle?”

  She pointed to the grass. “Can I sit?”

  “Sure. Pull up a blade.”

  Her usually flawless demeanour faltered as she flopped on the grass beside me, tugging at her tight black skirt. Turning my attention back to the viewfinder on my camera, I studied the black clouds rolling in.

  “It’s kind of fitting, don’t you think?” she asked.

  “What is?”

  “The weather. The calm before the storm.”

  “Are you expecting a storm, Mademoiselle Décarie?” I asked, feigning disinterest.

  “I am expecting nothing less,” she revealed smugly.

  “Is that because I am malevolent and full of animosity?” I asked, reciting one of her previous descriptions of me.

  “No, it’s because you’re hurt. And when you’re wounded, you do what you need to in order to protect your heart.”

  “You don’t know me,” I scoffed, annoyed that she was right.

  “I know you adore Alex.”

  “So do you, apparently.”

  “I’m glad that you know that, Charli. I truly do love him.” There was no mistaking the sincerity in her voice. “I wanted to tell you months ago but Alex was nervous. He knows what you went through last year. He was worried about the gossip flaring up again.”

  “Why would it? It’s nothing to do with me. Imagine every girl in town finding out that he was off the market because you’d stolen him.”

  The bright smile she gave reminded me of Adam. “Alex loves this town but he doesn’t trust it. He tells me that the small-minded gossip has been viral for years. I was always under the impression that that loathsome Jasmine Tate was at the root of it.”

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “I knew everything, Charli. I teach at that school. I tried to protect you.”

  “What do you mean you tried to protect me?”

  “Don’t you remember spending every afternoon for two weeks in detention?”

  Of course I remembered. That was the fortnight I’d decided that she was a witch. I couldn’t understand why she’d been so hard on me.

  “I just wanted to give you a break from them, Charli. But I ran out of excuses to keep you there after a while so – ”

  “So you started keeping Jasmine back after school.”

  Gabrielle pulled a disgusted face. “For three weeks. I was so glad when that wretch finally graduated.”

  Looking back, spending afternoons hiding out in detention had been my salvation. At the time, dealing with the wrath of Mademoiselle Décarie was so much easier than dealing with the rest of the world.

  “She very nearly broke me.” It was an admission I never intended to make to her.

  “I know,” she said gently. “Alex knew that too. We started seeing each other around that time. He was terrified of making things worse for you. By the time it all blew over, too much time had passed. It had turned from a secret to a lie.”

  “It’s not an excuse.”

  “No, it’s an explanation.”

  “Don’t you think I have I right to be mad at him?” I asked. “He lied to me, for a really long time.”

  “You lie to him all the time,” she accused.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised that Adam confided in Gabrielle. He saw no reason to keep anything from her.

  “Do you report back to Alex?” I quizzed suspiciously.

  “Absolutely not.” She answered with complete certainty.

  “Why?”

  “We’re not that different, you and I. I think that’s why you despise me so much.”

  I frowned. “I don’t despise you. And we’re very different.”

  “You’re not as bad as you think you are. You should never believe your own press,” she said, grinning wryly.

  “Do you believe my press?”

  “How tragic it would be if I did.” Gabrielle spoke more formally than Adam at times.

  “Very nasty things were said about me. They thought I was trash.”

  “You’re not the first girl to make an error in judgement, Charli. Don’t let it be for nothing. And I find it bizarre that certain girls in this town could consider you to be trash. I assumed that wearing sequins in the afternoon would make one trashy.”

  She made a valid point. Jasmine, Lisa and Lily’s fondness for short, sparkly clothing was questionable to say the least.

  “It sounds like you find this place just as suffocating as I do.”

  “Yes. That is true.”

  “So why don’t you leave?”

  Gabrielle absently picked at blades of grass. Her face seemed strained.

  “I can’t just yet. I have been fortunate enough to find the man who loves me.”

  I frowned uneasily. It was strange to hear her speak of Alex that way. The longest relationship I could remember him having was over and done with after just a few weeks. Thinking hard, I couldn’t even remember her name, and then wondered if he could.

  “Despite what you might think, I want him to be happy. You make him happy.”

  Gabrielle gave a tiny smile. “Thank you.”

  I started packing away my equipment. “The rain is coming,” I said.

  We looked to the sky. The black clouds had taken on an angry purple tinge. Faint rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance and I could see she was starting to feel anxious.

  “Your pretty shoes are going to get wet.”

  “I don’t care. I fear that if we don’t have this conversation now, it might never happen.”

  Gabrielle was definitely a girly girl. Imagining her voluntarily sitting in a field in the middle of a storm was a stretch. I, on the other hand, lived for days like this.

  “When you leave Pipers Cove, where will you go?” I asked.

  “I want to go home to Marseille. I left when I was eighteen and it’s been a long journey, nearly nine years.” Her voice was thoughtful, as if she was digging deep for the right words. “I’m ready to go home…conditionally.”

  Instantly, I knew what the condition was. “You want Alex you go with you?”

  It wasn’t a q
uestion that needed answering. “Isn’t love a dreadful thing?” she asked, as if she was enjoying a private joke. “It makes you do all sorts of unreasonable things.”

  “Alex will go with you. He won’t have reason to stay much longer. He knows I have plans to travel,” I told her.

  It had always irked me that I’d kept him tied down for so long. Knowing I was partly to blame for Gabrielle staying much longer than she had planned made me feel even worse.

  “Are you planning to follow Adam back to New York?” she asked, shocking me to the core.

  The look I flashed her was so fierce that she should have burst into flames. “What? No! We’ve never even talked about that! Why would you ask?”

  My distress seemed to amuse her. “As I said, love makes you do all sorts of unreasonable things.”

  I allowed myself to dream for a second. I had honestly never considered going to New York. Perhaps I should have congratulated myself for being sensible for the first time ever.

  Gabrielle had asked me the question so casually that it sounded like a realistic prospect, except we both knew it wasn’t. Alex would lose the plot completely, probably locking me in the house for years, which in turn would put a huge dampener on Gabrielle’s romantic trysts with him. I lay back in the grass, staring at the sky, laughing at the absurdity of the idea.

  Gabrielle laughed too but in a much more demure way. “Don’t you think Alex would approve?” she asked between giggles. “New York is the perfect place to start an adventure. That’s where I started mine.”

  “Alex would hit the roof.”

  “He would, but I’m trying to get him to keep an open mind...just in case.” She looked at me from the corner of her eye. “I have an advantage because I can vouch for Adam. He’s the most decent person I know, and I’ve been telling Alex that every chance I get.”

  That explained a lot. Alex had been very lenient when it came to Adam – too lenient. Of course he wasn’t mellowing. It was all down to the Parisienne witch, who was shaping up to be more of an unlikely ally than my archenemy. It was becoming impossible to hate her.

  Finally, the sky gave out and we were pelted with rain. Surprisingly, she seemed unaffected by it. I shielded my camera bag as best I could but Gabrielle didn’t move an inch. Her ivory shirt clung to her skin as if it was painted on. The clip holding her hair failed under the weight of the rain and hung loosely at the base of her neck. Wiping streaks of black mascara off her previously perfect face was the only hint of vanity she showed. I couldn’t help smiling at her.

  “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” she asked. She stood up, brushing as much mud off her clothes as she could manage. “I’ve got to go. I have to go home and change before I go to school. Are you going to school today?”

  Her tone suggested I had a choice. I decided to push my luck right to the limit. “I should, but I’m probably not going to make it. I have third period French. My teacher is a witch.”

  She chuckled. “I have heard that. Maybe she’s just misunderstood.” She scooped her ruined shoes up. “Will you promise me something, Charli?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Resist the urge to follow Adam too soon. At least see out the last few months of school. Alex needs you around a little longer.”

  I nodded but didn’t reply. Skipping town and chasing Adam back to New York was a stretch by any imagination, even one as wild as mine.

  I watched as she made her way down the hill, stumbling on the uneven ground. I knew an unlikely truce had been forged between us. A desire to make one last iniquitous stand took over.

  I scraped together a handful of mud and flung it as hard as I could. To my delight, it hit her square in the back. The rain washed it all the way down her back. She slowly turned around to face me, holding her arms away from her body in a way that made me think she was about to sprint back to me and pounce. I considered running but wasn’t sure I could outrun her now that she’d ditched the heels.

  “What was that for?” she shouted.

  “For making Alex fall in love with you,” I shouted back.

  Gabrielle scooped a lump of earth into her hands, probably too angry to consider the damage it was doing to her perfect manicure. I flinched as she pegged the mud at me with the precision of an Olympic athlete. I felt the black muck ooze down the sleeve of my coat but didn’t look down to survey the damage.

  “What was that for?” I asked, failing miserably in my attempt to appear angry.

  “For ruining my shoes.”

  When the storm began to wane and the rain slowed to drizzle, I found it had taken my dark mood with it. I made my tentative way to my car, slipping on the muddy incline. I was relieved that Gabrielle wasn’t still there to see.

  I didn’t consciously make the decision to go to Adam but that was where I ended up.

  I expected things to be different between us. I sat in my car on the driveway, forcing the ridiculous memory of the night before to the back of my mind. Thinking about it only added to my vexation.

  Eventually, I summoned the courage to knock on the door.

  “Charli?” His voice was unexpected, making me jump. The only thing separating us was the screen door, but it might as well have been iron bars.

  I couldn’t place the emotion in his voice. For all I knew, I was about to be unceremoniously cut loose. I took comfort in the fact that he’d be painfully polite about it. Polite to the extreme. I stood silent, staring at him through the mesh.

  “Are you okay?” he asked finally.

  “I just wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me.”

  “I always want to see you but I’m not sure I should let you in.” He held the door open with his foot. I shied away. “Only because you look remarkably like a creature from the black lagoon,” he clarified, smiling the one-dimpled smile I loved so much.

  I looked down and realised what he meant.

  “Is that the only reason?” I asked cautiously.

  “What other reason would I have?”

  “I just thought...after last night –”

  “Last night was nothing to do with us,” he chided.

  “I thought you’d be running for the hills by now,” I said, making him smile.

  “Why would I leave? I just got here.” I shrugged but didn’t reply. “Maybe we should hose you down,” he teased.

  “Is that what you did to Gabrielle?”

  He smirked. “No, she had a plan. She called ahead and asked me to put her robe near the door. I think she stripped off in the garage.”

  “Did she tell you what happened?”

  “Not exactly but she warned me not to let you in the house if you looked like her.”

  “She said that? Wow. And all I really wanted to do was roll around on her white couches for a minute.”

  He laughed loudly. “I’m definitely not letting you in then.”

  “I’ll be good,” I promised.

  “I can’t be sure about that. I actually like it when you’re not good so that would make me an unwilling accomplice. I definitely think I should hose you down.”

  “No need,” I replied, kicking off my sodden shoes. I dragged off my heavy coat and dropped it to the ground. “Better?”

  “Marginally,” he replied, waving his hand to usher me inside.

  “You don’t sound too convinced,” I said.

  “I make it a habit never to trust a girl caked in mud.”

  “Oh, fine,” I huffed in mock annoyance. I started unbuttoning my shirt. Adam grabbed my hands.

  “I’d trust you even less if you were naked.” He grinned wickedly at me. “I’ll get you a robe.”

  He disappeared inside, returning with an oversized whiter-than-white robe. He winked as he handed it to me before turning his back. I stripped off my shirt and jeans, swapping them for the plush robe.

  “Okay. You can turn around now,” I said, waving the sleeves that hung well below the end of my hands.

  His lips pressed into a hard line as he f
ought against smiling. “I did.”

  I took an unnecessary step closer to him as he started rolling up my sleeves. “Does it take a lot of work to be so good all of the time?”

  “I wasn’t being good, Charlotte.” His voice was velvet. “Far from it, actually. I got a perfect view of you through the mirror over there.”

  He pointed to a huge bevel edged mirror hanging on the far wall. I should have been mortified. But I wasn’t.

  Grabbing the cord on the robe, he pulled me through the door and into the confines of a strong hug. I buried my head into his shoulder, breathing in his scent.

  “Do I have you for the whole day?” he asked, stroking my wet hair.

  “When one is truanting, it is usually customary for one to take the whole day,” I said, trying to mimic his formal diction.

  “So what are we going to do with this day?” he asked, smirking at me in a way that made me think he had a few ideas.

  “Wash my clothes?”