Live-In Position

by V. S. Tice

  During the first week I recognized how similar the vacation routine would be to life in Seattle. Allison and Ilene were often out of the house, shopping, having brunches, and the like. Larissa would join them sometimes, but she would also stay at the house and take Ryan to the beach or other areas of the island with Amber.

  The third day on the island, Victoria and I went down to the beach together.

  “Come on, Sophia. I want to build the tallest castle ever,” she yelled and skipped down the waterfront with her shovels and buckets.

  “I’m coming.” I dropped the beach bag containing sunscreen, water, and towels. Pulling out the beach blanket, I stopped when I caught sight of Dr. Bishop. He sat in the sand next to her.

  I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but I could see the excitement all over Victoria’s face as she used her hands to explain what she planned to do with her buckets. Instead of interrupting, I sat down on the blanket with my writing journal, giving them a very rare father-daughter moment.

  “Sophia!” Victoria jolted me out of my writing thoughts.

  “What’s up?” I placed the journal next to me.

  “Come see the castle Daddy and I built.” She smiled so wide my own excitement grew. She grabbed my hand, dragging me toward the castle and Dr. Bishop.

  “Well, it definitely is a big sand castle.” I walked a circle around it, evaluating their creation.

  “Look, it has shell windows and this right here,” she pointed to some rocks, “is the pathway that leads to the private pool.” She pointed with her finger to a hole she had dug in the sand and filled with water. “The water won’t stay filled up though,” she pouted.

  “I think it’s great.” I gave her a wink. “Good job.”

  “Daddy helped.” She shrugged and looked at him.

  He smiled.

  “Let’s go swimming!” Victoria dropped her shovel and ran toward the water.

  “Hey, wait!” I went after her.

  “What?” She looked back from the edge of the water.

  “You need some more sun block.” She rolled her eyes. “Come on.” I took her hand. Dr. Bishop followed us back to the blanket. I reapplied sun block on Victoria before rubbing some onto my own shoulders.

  “Can we go in now?” Victoria begged and pulled on my arm.

  “Yep,” I smiled and pulled my sundress off. “Let’s go.”

  Linking my fingers with hers, we headed to the water. I could feel the intensity of Dr. Bishop’s gaze and, as usual, I was unnerved.

  “Ah!” Victoria screamed when the water rolled over her toes. “It’s cold!”

  I smirked and grabbed her, pulling her into the water with me. She was right. It was freezing, but it was more hilarious listening to her laugh and yell at me for pulling her in.

  “Daddy, come in,” Victoria yelled and waved for him. I glanced in his direction and saw he was sitting on the blanket watching us. “Come on,” she yelled again.

  “Victoria, maybe he doesn’t want…” The corner of my eye caught motion. I looked toward the edge of the water and had to refocus my attention immediately to Victoria.

  It was only a glance at Dr. Bishop’s naked chest, but good god if it wasn’t perfection. Victoria jumped at me and sent me under the water. I emerged with a gasp listening to her giggle madly as I caught my breath.

  “Oh, that’s it, little girl!” I playfully threatened and moved to retaliate. I was silently thankful for the distraction.

  Once I had a hold of her waist I rolled us both and took her under the water. We both emerged and gasped for air. The water came to her shoulders and she started to walk in closer to the beach as she breathed deeply.

  “Are you okay?” Dr. Bishop asked quickly. I watched a flash of mischief cross her face and realized what she was doing.

  “Look out,” I tried to warn, but Victoria had already jumped. Dr. Bishop lost his balance and fell backward into the water with Victoria on top of him.

  Her head broke the surface, and she started to swim away from him as quickly as possible. I was in hysterics and had backed up to where the water was just at my waist. Dr. Bishop sucked in a large breath when he resurfaced.

  “I can’t believe you did that.”

  At first, I wasn’t sure if he was angry. I looked at Victoria and could see a mirror image of my emotions on her face. Dr. Bishop chuckled and started after her. She squealed. Before I realized it, she was heading straight for me.

  “Help me!” She wrapped her arms around my waist and I lost my footing. We were both falling back into the water when Dr. Bishop arrived, guaranteeing we went in. He grabbed Victoria’s shoulder and mine, pulling us both back. We both screamed as the water engulfed us. When we came up, Dr. Bishop was laughing at the both of us. It was an odd sight. The sound was so deep and warm.

  I splashed Victoria.

  “What was that for?” She splashed me back.

  “You got me involved,” I chuckled and splashed her again. A splashing battle ensued.

  Over an hour of swimming passed before we returned to the beach blanket and collapsed. Victoria sat Indian style, and I handed her a bottle of water, a sandwich, and chips. Not surprisingly, Dr. Bishop left the beach to return to his office.

  A few days into the second week of vacation, the Bishops were planning a dinner at a restaurant with family and friends. This was a popular weekend for the community – there would be fireworks over the water, boats everywhere, and the beach jammed with tourists. It was also my weekend off, not that I expected that to happen.

  Allison had made it blatantly clear I wasn’t required to attend the dinner. In fact Amber, William, and I had the evening free. Victoria looked at me sadly as they pulled away.

  We started our free night at Toby’s, a local bar, and moved around to a few other local places. Our last stop was at a karaoke bar called China City. It didn’t take long before we were ready to head back.

  “Let’s go down to the beach,” Amber clapped, slightly buzzed. “Go get your suits on,” she ordered and ran off. We obeyed her orders, stumbling toward the house to change.

  We swam until Amber decided it was getting too dark. As we wrapped ourselves in towels, the soft glow of a beach fire caught our attention. We sat watching the group that had formed. A couple of the people were pretty drunk.

  “I think I’m gonna go shower and relax until the kids return,” Amber sighed and stood to leave.

  “Me too,” William stated quickly. I had to bite back a chuckle at his eagerness.

  “I think I’m going too.” I was about to join them when someone interrupted.

  “Sophia?”

  “Dominic?” My voice was shrill.

  “Hey.” He held up one finger to me and turned to the group he’d been walking down the beach with. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.” He approached me quickly.

  “You don’t have to –”

  “Nah, it’s fine, I’ll see them all weekend,” he beamed at me. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh. The Bishop’s are vacationing, so here I am. What about you, vacation?”

  “Sort of. My grandparents own a house here and this is a big weekend so I came to visit with the rest of my family.”

  “You mean the fireworks and –”

  “Yeah, that, but it’s also my grandparents’ anniversary.” I always found his propensity for interrupting annoying.

  “That’s…nice. How long have they been married?”

  “Sophia, we’re going to head up, okay?”

  I nodded to William and Amber.

  “Yeah, I’ll see you guys soon. I’m heading up in just a minute.” I waved and turned back to Dominic.

  “So, how many years?”

  “You’re heading up? You aren’t going to stay down here?”

  “We’ve been down here for a while, and since it’s my free night, I kind of just wanted to go and relax. You know?” I shrugged.

  “Yeah,” I could tell his smile was forced, but then it
grew bigger and more genuine, “Unless I convince you to hang out with us for a while longer.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the fire.

  “Really, Dominic, I just want to relax,” I argued.

  “You can relax with us. We’re just sitting around the fire.” He objected and pulled me closer to him

  After uncomfortable introductions, I sat on a large log with Dominic next to me and listened to his family talk. When people started to disperse from the gathering I took it as my opportunity to follow their lead.

  “I should really get back.” I climbed to my feet and smiled at Dominic. “Thanks for letting me crash your gathering.”

  He popped up quickly. “I’ll walk with you.”

  I was going to argue, but the beach was dark and I figured it couldn’t hurt.

  “Okay.”

  Dominic was talking about himself as we walked down the beach – typical. Finally, I couldn’t take another second of his rambling so I kicked water at him. Shocked, he paused for a moment before an evil grin spread on his face, and he quickly carried me into the water.

  “Dominic, don’t!” I screamed but couldn’t help the bursts of laughter bubbling out.

  “You started this, Ashwood,” he yelled and threw me into the water.

  I resurfaced.

  “You ass,” I charged him, shoving him till he fell in.

  While he was under, I ran to the shore and started to squeeze excess water out of my long cotton dress. We were both laughing when we reached the wooden stairs.

  “Thanks, Dominic,” I hugged him. “It was nice.”

  I pulled back and watched his eyes drop to my lips. After the time I’d spent with Dominic, I realized we wouldn’t be anything but friends, ever. I lightly patted his shoulder and quickly turned before he got any ideas. Three steps up, I looked back.

  “Good night.”

  “Yeah. Good night, Sophia.” He smiled dejectedly and walked back in the direction of the fire.

  I sighed, wrung more water from my dress, tied it into a knot at my thigh, and continued with my head down. I stopped short when I realized there was a figure on the first landing. My head snapped up with a quick intake of breath.

  “Miss Ashwood.” Dr. Bishop’s tone penetrated my ears and my body.

  “Dr. Bishop.” His piercing gaze stilled me. It looked like anger. I swallowed. “Is there something you –?”

  “Is this how you behave when you’re with my daughter?” he snapped.

  “Excuse me?” Then things fell into place. Dominic, water…crap. “You were watching me?” I blurted without thinking.

  He stiffened. That’s a big yes.

  “I came out to get some air and just happened to witness…your behavior.” Disgust saturated his words and infuriated me.

  “What I do on my personal time is none of your business,” I argued and started to walk by him.

  “When it involves my daughter –”

  “But it didn’t.” I whirled around. “She wasn’t with me tonight, was she?” It was his turn to receive an icy glare.

  He didn’t speak or move.

  “Good night, Dr. Bishop,” I stomped toward the house.

  The next morning, Dr. Bishop left a message stating he’d taken Victoria down to the park. I enjoyed the idea of him doing something with her. I went down to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down at the empty breakfast nook off the side kitchen to eat and look out at the ocean. I’m not sure how long I sat there lost in my own head before shouting brought me back to reality.

  “What the hell is this?” Dr. Bishop’s voice was harsh, worse than I’d heard before.

  “What?” Max exclaimed. “Isn’t that for your custody hearing? It’s from your lawyer’s –”

  “This isn’t mine,” he sneered.

  Victoria was sitting with Amber and Ryan on the living room couch. I moved toward her.

  “What’s going on?” Larissa interjected when Max and Collin appeared in the living room, Jonathan close behind.

  “Well, what is it?” Jonathan snapped, irritated.

  “What’s all this shouting?” The hypocritical Ilene shouted from the balcony before descending the stairs with Allison in tow.

  “This –” Dr. Bishop snapped the papers in his hand. “What’s this about?”

  Max grabbed the papers and looked them over.

  “Is this for real?”

  “What are you two going on about?” Allison grabbed the papers and looked. I watched her face shift from annoyance to anger. “Mother?”

  Ilene sighed, defeated, and plopped down into a large overstuffed chair in the living room.

  “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Larissa whined. I was afraid to move with all of the tension thickening the air.

  “It’s true,” Ilene announced and held her chin up high. My eyes flashed to Allison. Tears were welling and threatening to spill.

  “Why in the hell are you and Dad getting a divorce?” Max’s voice was laced with disbelief. Larissa appeared at his side and put her arms around him.

  “Perhaps you should talk to your father,” Ilene spat. “He’s the one who filed, not me.”

  “But…I don’t understand…you and Dad…” Allison was beginning to sob.

  “Why in God’s name would Dad file for divorce?” Dr. Bishop eyed his mother closely.

  “Because your father has been seeing another woman for years,” Ilene blurted with years of pent up hurt and anger.

  “An-another woman?” Max gasped.

  “For years?” Dr. Bishop furrowed his brow.

  “Yes, for years,” she answered in her all too familiar high and mighty voice.

  “You’ve known for years, but you never –” Larissa started.

  “I knew, but our marriage was important.”

  It was hard for me to think she stayed simply because her marriage was important. Obviously it wasn’t important to Connor, so why would she stay?

  “You allowed him to be with this other woman all these years, and you did nothing?” Allison shrieked.

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” she admonished Allison. “You should be talking to your father! I’m not having an affair. I would never do such a thing, especially with such a low –”

  “Who is she?” Max asked.

  “It doesn’t matter.” A flash of fear passed over Ilene’s face.

  “Amber, why don’t we all go into the other room?” I leaned down and whispered. Amber nodded in agreement. We collected the kids, moving toward the kitchen.

  “I can’t believe you’ve allowed this for all these years. You just sat by and allowed another woman to break up our family. How could you?” Allison was shrieking.

  “Maybe we should go upstairs instead,” I motioned toward the steps.

  “Allison, I told you, I have tried to save this marriage. He wanted to leave years ago, but I stopped him. I’ve held on for as long as I could. He wants the divorce,” Ilene yelled as Victoria started up the stairs.

  “Who is she?” Allison yelled.

  “Al, calm down.” The bastard, Jonathan, actually sounded concerned.

  “To hell with you. You’re no better than my father with your damned cheating! Hell, I practically walked in on you screwing Sophia!” She flipped one long pointed fingernail toward me.

  My head spun around, eyes widened.

  “What?” Dr. Bishop shouted. “What the hell happened between you two?”

  “Nothing happened,” Jonathan shouted. “She’s being delusional!”

  “Delusional? So was I delusional when we had to get rid of Mary because you were fucking her?” she shouted. “You and Sophia left the house at the same time our first night here. Both of you had guilt written all over your faces.”

  How did this go from their parents divorcing to Jonathan and I having an assumed affair? Eww…As if I would let that creepy ass-

  “Miss Ashwood?” Dr. Bishop screamed furiously. He rounded the corner into the kitchen. I wa
s standing on the bottom step. “Did you and…were you with…?” His eyes searched me for any kind of answer.

  “Of course not,” I spat.

  “I told you,” Jonathan seethed, “nothing happened!”

  “I don’t believe you for one second!” Allison shouted from the other room.

  “What happened?” Dr. Bishop grabbed my arm and pulled me into the conflict. “Did you sleep with Jonathan?”

  “No!” I shouted.

  “You’re a liar,” Allison snapped, “Like you would admit it!”

  “That’s it,” I growled. “You want to know what happened.” Dr. Bishop tensed next to me. “Your skeev husband tried to force himself on me in the hallway before I pinned him to the wall by his arm. I told him to leave me alone. Nothing happened!” I rubbed my face with my hands before plopping down into a chair with a groan.

  “You lying bitch!” Allison came toward me, but Dr. Bishop took a defensive position stopping her.

  “Jonathan?” Max growled.

  “Did you do that?” Larissa gasped. “Is it true?”

  “Nothing happened,” Jonathan’s eyes glared hatred in my direction.

  “Who is it?” Dr. Bishop repeated the unanswered question to his mother.

  Ilene’s eyes filled with tears and one escaped. I thought tears were impossible for the Antichrist’s mother, but obviously I was mistaken. She wiped the tear away and looked into Collin’s eyes.

  “Juliet Pierce,” she said in a disgusted tone.

  “Who?” Allison looked around for an answer.

  “Juliet?” Max gasped. “Th-that’s why she left?” Ilene nodded.

  “I thought she left to have her child...? Is her child...?”

  Ilene broke down into sobs. Holy crap! Either she was delivering the performance of a lifetime or she actually had feelings.

  “Oh. My. God.” Max looked like he was going to hyperventilate.

  “We have a brother or sister from their…relationship?” Dr. Bishop spoke robotically.