by Claire Adams
“Brian, stop it. It’s starting to sound like you’re groveling. We should just go our separate ways, okay? If that means you go back to Shannon, go for it, I don’t care.”
“But I love you. It took me almost losing you to realize it, but I really and truly love you.”
I laughed. “Seriously? That’s probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. The reason you ‘lost me’ to begin with is because I walked in on you fucking another woman. So you’re saying it took you fucking another woman to make you realize that you loved me? That’s not going to win you any boyfriend of the year awards.”
We’d reached my driveway. I should’ve just walked right in, but I stood there for a moment longer. Maybe there was a part of me that was enjoying hearing him grovel. That liked knowing he realized he’d made a mistake, and that he wanted to do something about it, but it was too late.
“We had some really good times together,” he said. “I can’t believe you’re just going to throw that away. That it’d be so easy for you to walk away from that.”
“Are you forgetting an important detail? That detail being the one where you slept with someone else?”
He waved me off. “Could we just forget that even happened? It was a huge mistake. It wasn’t even that good, okay? It really wasn’t—I’m not just saying that. In fact, I—” He stopped abruptly, his eyes widening, looking at something over my shoulder.
I turned. Levi had strolled out the front door, wearing nothing more than a pair of navy blue boxer shorts, his hair tousled, his muscles flexing and relaxing as he glided down the walkway toward us.
“Hey,” he said. “I thought I heard you out here.” He looked at Brian. “What’s up, bro?”
Brian made little attempt to hide his disbelief, though what he was so surprised about, I wasn’t quite sure. That I had a man over? That I had a man over who looked like Levi?
Levi casually draped an arm over my shoulders.
“This is Brian,” I said. “I don’t think I mentioned him before. But here he is. His car is actually parked down the road. He should probably get it, seeing as he’s leaving it unattended.”
“Nice to meet you, man,” Levi said.
Brian seemed at a complete loss for words. He started to say something, stammered a couple times, and then finally just stopped. He really couldn’t get over the fact that I’d been able to find someone else besides him, and that the person I found was a thousand times hotter than he would ever be.
“I better get back to my car,” he said finally. “Nice to see you again, Isla.”
Levi and I stood there, watching him walk off. “Do men usually follow you home like that?” he asked.
“Uh, no, usually not.”
“Abandoning their cars on the side of the road and shit. You’re just irresistible.”
“He just happened to hear that I might have come into some money, and suddenly I’m the best thing going.” I looked down the road in the direction Brian had just walked off. “What a dick.”
“Come on,” Levi said, taking my hand and leading me back toward the house. “You better get used to it. There’s going to be a lot of people coming around like that once they hear about it. Maybe we should skip town for a while. Assume new identities.”
“Is that an option?”
“It could be.”
We went back inside. I kicked off my shoes and peeled my sweaty running clothes off and then got into the shower. I stood there underneath the stream of hot water, and a second later, heard the shower curtain pull back as Levi got in with me.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked.
I opened my eyes and stepped toward him, pressing the length of my body against his. “I don’t mind at all.”
25.
Levi
I’d never been to Bel Air, where Isla had grown up, and where she’d ended up moving back to after her mother and my father got divorced. I’d never actually spent much time in a small town like this before; I asked Isla what the population was and she said it was around ten thousand people. I rather liked it here, though, I began to discover, after our first two days here. I had thought I’d be itching to get back to Manhattan, or better yet, back to San Antonio, but there was actually something rather calming and . . . well, nice, about being at Isla’s.
It was the exact sort of simple, well-kept home you would’ve expected her to live in. Two bedrooms, one-and-a-half bathrooms, no frills but comfortable and orderly.
“So, I’ve got to go downtown for a little bit and meet up with Kelly,” Isla said. It was morning, and I was stretched out on the couch, drinking a cup of coffee.
“Want me to go?” I asked.
“Only if you want to. It’s not going to be that interesting; we’ve got to talk about the next steps for the gym.”
“What do you think you’re going to do?”
“I don’t know. Part of me would like to re-open; the other part of me just kind of wants to walk away from it all. Whether or not we re-open, it’ll be in a different location, that’s for sure. I don’t want to have to deal with the possibility of mold. And then I’ve got a few errands to run after that, but it shouldn’t take me too long.”
“I can just chill here,” I said. “We can do something when you get back.”
“Okay. That sounds good. Just give me a call or a text or something if you need anything while I’m out.”
“Like a booty call?”
She smiled. “No, not a booty call.”
“That can happen when you get back?”
“Maybe.”
She walked around the couch and gave me a kiss, and then she left. I lay there, thinking that maybe I could get used to this sort of domestic way of life. Which was crazy, because I never thought I’d be the type to settle down. I liked life in the fast lane, with few responsibilities, and even fewer things tying me down. But I felt different with Isla. I felt as though I’d be perfectly content if it were the two of us, and we didn’t sleep with other people. That itself was a bit of a shock. I’d never been in a real relationship; not one that required monogamy, anyway. It just wasn’t my way, it didn’t make sense to commit to just one person, with there being so many people out there.
Yet it felt as though something had changed.
Had my dad known this all along? It almost felt like he had, like he’d orchestrated this, knowing if Isla and I got around each other again, things would happen this way. How would he know such a thing, though? Had he seen something between us when we’d been younger, something that I had missed completely?
I was still considering this when the doorbell rang. I got up and went to answer it. “Oh, hi,” I said. Sharon stood on the front step, carrying what looked to be most of the shopping bags that Isla and I had brought over there when we stopped by to visit. “Isla’s not here right now, but come on in.” I held the door open. “Can I take some of those bags for you?”
“No, I’ve got it,” she said briskly. She stepped in and walked past me, depositing the bags on Isla’s spotless dining room table. After she’d done that, she turned to face me, crossing her arms over chest. “Where’s Isla?”
“She had some stuff she had to take care of.”
“Are you expecting her back soon?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure when she’s getting back.” I looked at the bags piled on the table. “Those were for you. Do you not like them? We can return them and get you something different. Or a different color or something, if that’s what the problem is.”
“No.” Sharon shook her head. “That’s not the problem at all. I don’t need this stuff. While I can certainly appreciate a kind gesture, I don’t need you two showing up on my door step with all of these things that I never asked for. Return them, if you’d like, or give them to someone who needs them.”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you want.” I held up my hands. It had always surprised me that my dad had married Sharon; she was really the only person he’d ever dated when I was growing up, a
nd I still couldn’t quite figure out what drew him to her. Yeah, she was attractive, but her demeanor had always been a little prickly. She wasn’t the type to defer, not even to my father, and he was used to that, so maybe that’s what it was. Maybe he liked the idea of a woman who wasn’t completely enamored with his wealth. I did respect that about Sharon; she wasn’t the sort of person who was going to go completely gaga for someone just because they had money.
“And there’s something I’d like to ask you,” Sharon said. “I’d like to know just exactly what it is you think that you’re doing.”
“That I’m doing?”
“Yes.” She uncrossed her arms and put them on her hips. I suddenly felt as though I were back in school, about to get scolded. “What is it you think you’re doing here with my daughter?”
“I’m here because she asked me if I wanted to come back with her. I’ve never been here before.”
“And before that you just skirted her off to some tropical island.”
“Ibiza,” I said. “It’s a lovely place. We’d be more than happy to have you come out there to visit some time, if you wanted. I have a house out there. A villa, is what they call it.”
“I’m not interested in that,” she said. “What I’m interested in is why all of the sudden you’re back on Isla’s radar. No good is going to come of this.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. What the hell was she talking about? “Things have been going pretty well, as far as I’m concerned.”
“That’s the problem. You are the problem. Don’t you have enough money of your own as it is? I’m sure Alex left plenty for you, too.”
I frowned, trying to process what she was suggesting. Well, I knew exactly what she was suggesting, but it seemed ridiculous she’d think that. “You’re saying I’m just here with Isla because I want her money?” I said. I couldn’t help but laugh. Did she really believe that? Or was she just trying to think of anything she could to give me a hard time? “I can assure you, Sharon, that I do have plenty of money of my own and that has absolutely nothing to do with why I’m here now.”
“Then what is it then? Because you certainly couldn’t have been bothered to give her the time of day when you two were younger. Your father might have been oblivious to it, but I overheard plenty of the things you used to say about her when your friends were around.”
I nodded. “I’m not saying I wasn’t an asshole. I was.”
“And have you talked about that with her? Apologized?”
“Well . . . no, not really. It hasn’t come up. Would it make you feel better if I apologized, Sharon? What can I say—I was younger then, I was being a jerk. I guess you’ve never made a mistake in your life before.”
“Oh, I’ve made plenty,” she said. “But they didn’t involve putting someone down for other people’s amusement.”
“Listen, Sharon. I don’t want to be on bad terms with you. And I promise you that I’ve been nothing but kind to Isla, and that I’m not the same person I was when I was a teenager. I mean, come on. I was a teenager. What teenager doesn’t do or say some stupid shit at some point during their lives?”
I could tell she wasn’t going to relent on this, though; she wasn’t going to accept anything I had to say, unless it was to declare that she was right and I’d leave immediately and never get in touch with Isla again.
“Do you want me to have her call you when she gets back?” I asked.
“You’re not kicking me out of my own daughter’s house,” Sharon snapped. “Who do you think you are? Do you live here now or something? Because let me tell you—”
“What is going on?”
Sharon and I both turned. I hadn’t even heard Isla come in, but there she was, her eyes going from me to her mother.
“Mom,” she said. “I didn’t know that you were coming by.” She looked at me. “I forgot my phone, so I came back to get it. Good thing I did, too, I guess. What is going on?”
Sharon pointed to the bags. “Don’t worry; I’m not going to stay long. I’m bringing these back to you. Like I told Levi—I appreciate the gesture but I don’t need all these gifts. Return them or give them to someone who does.”
“Yeah, sure, okay, Mom,” Isla said. “But that doesn’t really answer my question: What are you two fighting about? And don’t for a second try to tell me that you weren’t because I can feel the tension in here.”
“I just find it a bit odd to come over to your house and be greeted by him.”
“We came to Bel Air together,” Isla said patiently. “And if I’m not here and he is, and someone comes to the door, why wouldn’t Levi answer it?”
“I’m just not sure what it is you think you’re doing, Isla. Anyway, you’re an adult, so I suppose it’s not my place to tell you how to live your life. I’ve got some more errands to run, so I’ll show myself out.”
I stepped back so Sharon could pass and she shot me a glare as she did so. I tried to give her a I’m not your enemy smile, but she just continued to glare until she was past. Was all her hostility really because I’d made a few jokes about Isla when we’d been younger? I supposed that was possible, but it seemed an awfully long time to hold onto a grudge.
I looked at Isla once her mother was gone. “That was unexpected,” I said.
“What part?”
“I don’t know—all of it? She’s clearly no fan of mine.”
Isla waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t let it bother you. She just wants what’s best for me, and she’s also not someone who deals with change very well, so this combination of things is equaling a situation that she’s not going to have a very easy time dealing with. At first, anyway. But she’ll get used to it.”
“I didn’t realize she hated me.”
“She doesn’t hate you.”
I gave her a skeptical look. “I don’t know about that. She seemed pretty pissed.”
“Like I said, she doesn’t deal with change well, so showing up on her door step with a new duvet and all that stuff probably wasn’t the best idea.”
“It wasn’t that, though. Well, maybe a little, but mostly she was pissed at me because of what happened before.”
“What do you mean?” Isla said. Now it was her to turn to look skeptical.
“How I used to . . . how I’d made fun of you, when we were younger.”
I watched Isla’s face closely when I said that, but her expression didn’t really change. Yes, I had teased her when we’d been younger, and looking back now, I realized that it probably wasn’t the kindest thing, but I wasn’t trying to be outright mean. It was more funny than anything else, and it never seemed to bother her. “I was being an asshole then,” I said. “I know that. And I guess I owe you an apology. So: I’m sorry. I’m sorry I made fun of you like that. I shouldn’t have. I guess I just thought it was funny, and it never really seemed to bother you.”
“It didn’t bother me at all,” she said.
“Well . . . good. I’m glad to hear that. I’m still sorry, though.”
She shrugged. “We were teenagers. Kids do dumb stuff like that a lot. Now, where did I leave my phone?” She turned away from me and started looking for the phone. I helped her look; we found it on the counter in the bathroom, and since she didn’t seem to want to talk about the past anymore, I didn’t say anything else. I was just happy to hear that there were no ill after effects because I had made fun of her when we’d been younger.
26.
Isla
I left again, this time with my phone, hoping that I wouldn’t return to find my mother fighting with Levi. I met Kelly over at our gym, which hadn’t reopened since the flood. It had been dried out, and we still had fans and dehumidifiers going, but I thought I could detect the faint smell of mildew, or mustiness, similar to that of a basement. We sat on the steps outside to talk.
“Listen, Isla,” Kelly said. “I know that I fucked up. I let myself get totally caught up with Wes, and I wasn’t thinking clearly at all. If
the roles were reversed, I’d probably be pretty pissed that you had done something like that, especially if it was for a guy.”
“You don’t even know him that well,” I said.
“I know.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but he told me the other day that he thinks it’s better if we’re just friends. He promised he’d still pay me back, but I doubt I’ll ever see that money. Don’t worry though; I’ll pay it back myself if I have to. I just feel like an idiot, I really do. If I could go back and change it, I would, but I can’t. So all I can say is that I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Kel. And don’t worry about paying the money back.”
“No, I want to. I don’t want you to think that I was just using it as my personal bank account. I mean, I was, but I was always going to pay it back.”
“Okay,” I said, because I could tell that she’d already made her mind up. “I’m sorry to hear that, though. About you two. Don’t feel like you can’t tell me that stuff.”
“I know I can. The whole thing is just humiliating. Aren’t I a little old to be going through all this shit? Falling head over heels for a guy who really couldn’t give two shits about me?”
“I saw you guys together; he seemed like he was really into you, too.”
“Guys are dicks.
“Most of them.”
“Speaking of,” Kelly said, “Sophie told me about Project Revenge. How’s that going?”
“Uh . . . it’s fine.”
She laughed. “I think that’s pretty awesome you’re doing that. He was such an asshole to you. I’d love to be there to see the look on his face when you tell him to fuck off.”
“Geez, it sounds like Sophie gave you all the details.”
“Well, she did say it was her idea. Which I believe—that totally sounds like something Sophie would think up. The whole thing must feel pretty surreal, huh?”
“Yeah,” I said. “It does.”
