The Dahlia Trilogy (The Gilded Flower Series)

by Winslow, Vivian

“If I’d have known he was so cute, I would’ve called in a few complaints to get him over here.”

  “Well, if you do, his name is Kai. And let me have some warning so I can give you some privacy,” Dahlia says smirking. “Where’s Lily?”

  “In her room packing,” Vi sighs. “Alejandro’s meeting her in New York for a few days. Then it’s off to Miami for good. I can’t believe she’s ditching me to live there.”

  “Don’t forget, Vi. You were considering a move to Dubai at one point. That would’ve made you the ditch-er. Which would you have preferred?” Dahlia makes her way to the balcony and sits down, propping her leg up on a small table. “It’s always easier being the one to leave. Those you leave behind are the ones who have to pick up the pieces.”

  “Oh my God, D. What the hell happened to you?” Vi points to the patch on Dahlia’s ankle.

  Dahlia shakes her head and leans back into the chair, wishing she could disappear into it. Talking about Lily leaving New York only reminds her that she has no idea what she’s doing with her life, let alone where she’s going to live. Being in the same city as Lily always seemed to ground her—something that Dahlia took for granted until now. But it’s not as if Miami is an option—not now, especially since Rodrigo is there. Dahlia closes her eyes to push out the memory of when she saw him last—a reminder of giving up one love only to lose another. “Later Vi. I’m not in the mood.”

  A loud knock on the door wakes Dahlia. Dusk is falling over the beach in the distance, painting the horizon in beautiful vermilion, orange and purple hues. She pauses to breathe in the colors, promising herself to capture it on canvas tomorrow. Not that she’s drawn anything since Shane died. Tomorrow, she sighs. The word, the very idea pregnant with so much promise, yet it only fills her with dread.

  “D?” She hears Lily call through the door.

  “Yeah?” Dahlia doesn’t move.

  “Mind if I come in?”

  Before Dahlia can answer, she hears Vi say, “Enough treating her like she’s going to break.”

  Vi storms in and announces, “Get up, wash that smelly shit off and get dressed. We’re going out tonight.”

  “Vi!” Lily comes to Dahlia’s defense. “She didn’t just go through a break-up. Tough love doesn’t help someone get through their grief.”

  “Perhaps not,” Vi replies, nonplussed. “But she does need the occasional reminder that there is a world outside of her pain, and eventually she will need to find her place in it again.”

  Dahlia turns her back on the view and crosses her arms. “Where are you suggesting we go? Have some drinks down at the village with the local fisherman? Throw back a bit of their moonshine?”

  “As a matter of fact, while Lily and I were waiting for the catamaran this morning, we met a nice couple staying on the island as well.”

  “Please don’t tell me they’re on their honeymoon,” Dahlia groans.

  “No. They’re the young and beautiful type. Usually people like that annoy me. Flashing their money and connections everywhere. But I can tolerate them for a night. The guy’s a super hunky Aussie,” Vi winks. “The woman’s absolutely stunning, a Malay mix of some sort. But they have some friends coming over from Bali or whatever to stay so they invited us over to meet them.”

  “Guys or girls or both?” Dahlia grills. Not feeling up for socializing at all.

  “All of the above. Let’s hope the guys are as cute as the man from Oz. What I wouldn’t give . . .”

  Lily slaps Vi’s arm playfully. “When is sex not on your mind, Vi? It sure isn’t on Dahlia’s.”

  Vi laughs. “No, but a good fuck could be great therapy. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with a good lay, darlings. Clears the head.”

  Chapter 15

  “Another glass of champagne?” The young woman asks Dahlia eagerly, holding a bottle of Krug Private Cuvée. Dahlia smiles at her sweetly and holds out her glass. Vi’s description of her didn’t do the woman justice. Naomi is one of the most stunning women Dahlia’s ever seen. Standing at almost six feet tall, her skin is dewy and smooth as porcelain. She has large gold green eyes, and thick dark hair that’s gathered elegantly at the nape of her neck. Her long arms and legs give her a swan-like quality.

  Dahlia couldn’t wait for the requisite two hours to pass before she could politely leave the party. She looks around the house, which is twice the size of the one she’s staying in. The décor is ultra-modern sleek with poured concrete floors and stainless steel everywhere. The only hint of color and warmth are on the walls, with vibrant artwork adorning each one.

  The gathering feels more like a boarding school reunion than a party. Naomi and her boyfriend, Ethan, invited twenty of their closest friends they introduced as friends from his boarding school days at Charterhouse in England and her years at Le Rosey, a top boarding school in Switzerland. It was like a who’s who of fashionable twenty-something’s from around the world that would be featured in Tatler. It only serves to make Dahlia feel more like an outsider.

  She glances over at Vi who’s reclining comfortably in a corner of the white sitting room with a rugged Australian surfer who lives on Bali, a childhood friend of Ethan’s. Vi homed in on him the moment they arrived, whispering to the twins that she had yet to bed someone who looked like Gerard Butler. So much for any hope that Vi could rescue her from the awkward conversation she was having with a group of young women from Hong Kong, all of whom are in relationships, and talking about impending engagements and nuptials. Talk of future and marriage begins to grate on Dahlia who has no interest in either. She excuses herself and escapes to the nearby kitchen that’s bustling from energy with the cook and servers working at a frenetic pace.

  “I can see you’re having a good time.”

  Dahlia turns toward the voice. Kai is standing on the other side of the counter top, a beer in hand. His washed-out blue t-shirt fits him so perfectly that Dahlia can’t help but notice his well-defined chest and abs.

  She returns his smile, relieved to see a friendly face. She scans the group of people behind Kai and notices Lily talking to Ethan and a few of his friends out on the terrace wearing a strained smile. She must be equally miserable.

  “What are you doing here?” Dahlia asks.

  Kai takes a pull on his beer. “I was here earlier in the day supervising the set up and the kitchen staff.” He nods at the spread of food covering every inch of space in the kitchen. “They invited me to stay on a bit, but I can’t say it’s my scene.”

  “Can’t say it’s mine either,” Dahlia replies dryly.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be a young jet-setter or something?”

  “Says who? I don’t see myself the way these people do. They buy into their image, but it’s all just surface.”

  “So why are you here then?”

  Dahlia shrugs. “Vi wanted to socialize a bit. I think she was getting a bit tired of just hanging around us.”

  Kai laughs. “Yeah, I see she’s met Ollie.”

  “You know him?” Dahlia’s curiosity is peaked.

  Kai nods. “Surfs out in Padang over on Bali. Knew him when I lived out there.”

  “How’d you end up here?”

  “Too hectic over on Bali. I like the peace and quiet of the island.” Kai pauses to speak to the cook. When he turns back to Dahlia he says, “Let me show you something.”

  Chapter 16

  Kai leads Dahlia away from the party to a small, non-descript door on the other side of the house. It could easily be mistaken for a coat closet, except it opens onto a narrow footpath. “This is the service entrance,” he explains. “As you know, the houses are mostly glass, but the owner built this one a bit differently.”

  “Why?”

  “For his mistress.”

  Dahlia laughs. She can’t help herself. Sneaking around the side of the house reminds her of the many times in high school when she’d slip out of their apartment through the maid’s quarters. Not that she really needed to since her parents weren’t home muc
h. But there’s something about breaking rules and defying expectation that always gave her a bit of a rush.

  “Where are we going?” She asks.

  “You’ll see,” Kai replies, turning back at her and smiling, his high cheekbones and chiseled jaw illuminated by the Moroccan lanterns hanging from the trees.

  “Does the owner still come here with his mistress?” She asks, stumbling over rocks on the path that’s become steeper.

  Kai shakes his head. “He was some Singaporean billionaire who bought the island as a retreat for his family. Every member got his or her own house. Turns out he was sleeping with his wife’s sister. Needless to say, she caught them out here. His wife got the island in the divorce.”

  Dahlia stops cold in her tracks. The story’s an uncomfortable reminder of what she had done to Lily. While she could justify sleeping with Lily’s fiancé, Jack, to get her sister to see what a cheater he was, it was still a betrayal that broke her sister’s heart. Thankfully Lily forgave her. Dahlia shakes her head to rid herself of the memory. She laments the reckless person she’d been the past several years.

  “Are you okay?” Kai asks. “We’re almost there.”

  Dahlia smiles and nods. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She takes a deep breath, realizing they must’ve been walking for at least fifteen minutes. “You’re not bringing me out here to kill me or anything?”

  Kai laughs. “I’m not sure why you seem inclined to think the worst of me. I don’t see how I could’ve given you the impression that I’m some nefarious guy.” He holds out his hand to help her over a deep crevice.

  “I don’t need any help,” Dahlia insists, leaping over the crack. Just as she’s about to land, her right foot slips out from under her. She reaches out her hands to try to catch herself. Luckily, Kai grabs hold of her arm and reaches for the other one to pull her up.

  Dahlia lets go of his hand and smoothes out her blue silk Isabel Marant dress. Adrenalin from the near fall courses through her, making her hands shake. “If I’d known I was going to go hiking I would’ve worn better shoes,” she notes, taking off her gold Prada sandals.

  Without replying, Kai turns around and shakes his head, clearly exasperated by Dahlia’s stubbornness. He continues to lead her up the steep path until they reach a clearing. The view takes Dahlia’s breath away.

  In front of them lies a waterfall unlike anything she’s ever seen. Buried within the tropical forest, the approximately forty-foot waterfall drops into a beautiful pool. A sliver of moonlight over the water gives it an iridescent quality.

  “It’s stunning,” she whispers.

  Kai smiles. “Worth your near-death experience?”

  Dahlia laughs quietly and nods. “Totally worth it. Why did you bring me here?”

  He shrugs. “You strike me as someone who would appreciate something like this.” The sincerity in his voice stirs a longing in Dahlia. She feels her heart begin to race.

  “We should go back,” he says, a few minutes later. “The mosquitoes will eat us alive if we stay out here too long.”

  Chapter 17

  “D, don’t get up,” Lily whispers to her sister. “You were asleep by the time I came back last night. I just came to say good-bye.”

  Dahlia rolls over and rubs her eyes. “I thought your flight wasn’t until later.”

  Lily smiles. “It is later, you slacker. You’ve been sleeping in a lot.”

  “Yeah well . . .”

  “Don’t worry, D, I get it,” Lily reassures her.

  Dahlia props her head on her elbow. “Get what exactly?”

  Lily sighs. She doesn’t really want to get into this. Dahlia’s made it clear she doesn’t want to talk about Shane and life without him.

  “That you’re depressed, D. You’re grieving. If you need to sleep to cope, so be it. You don’t need me to talk to you about being productive or keeping busy or planning your future. I just want you to start embracing life again, whatever that means to you.”

  “I think it’s time you go back to New York, Lil. You’re starting to sound like Vi.” Dahlia falls back onto her pillows.

  “You asked, D.”

  Dahlia looks away in response.

  “Anyhow,” Lily says, “Take care of yourself. I’ll call you as soon as I land in New York. Hopefully you’ll come visit me in Miami when you get back to the States.” She leans in to kiss Dahlia on the cheek then closes the bedroom door softly.

  Dahlia doesn’t go back to sleep. Lily’s words are like a marble rolling around in her head. Depressed . . . grieving . . . coping. Dahlia’s never appreciated or accepted labels. She always fought to defy them somehow, perhaps because she feared that they would box her in and eventually suffocate her. She hated living in New York for this reason, which made being in California so appealing. But now, California will always remind her of Shane. And with Lily out of New York, she has nothing to tie her to the city. Will I ever find a place that feels like home? She wonders.

  The sound of Vi shouting forces Dahlia out of bed. She rushes downstairs, so focused on the expletives coming from outside that she doesn’t register the tall, half-naked muscular guy descending the stairs ahead of her. She crashes into him, catching herself on the rail while he tumbles the rest of the way.

  “Oh my God,” Dahlia screams. “I’m so sorry, I d-didn’t see you.”

  He quickly stands, looking as embarrassed as Dahlia. “No worries,” he replies.

  Her eyes linger a bit too long on his bare sculpted chest. She instantly recognizes him from the party last night.

  “Oliver, right?”

  “Ollie,” he corrects. “And you’re Dahlia.” He gives her a wide smile.

  Vi’s yelling distracts Dahlia. She spots her friend outside on her phone, pacing and smoking a cigarette. “Did you post bail?. . . Why the hell not?. . . Where in the fuck is the lawyer?”

  “Your friend always this high-strung?” Ollie asks Dahlia.

  She turns her attention back to him and shrugs. Vi’s one of the most unflappable people she knows. But what she’s hearing doesn’t sound like the same woman who’s been lecturing her about finding internal peace.

  “This is your goddamn mess!” Dahlia overhears.

  “You didn’t stay long,” Ollie says, leaning forward and closing the distance between them.

  “I came home early. Didn’t feel like hanging out,” she replies casually. Dahlia steps backward to get a bit of breathing room.

  “Vi,” she calls out, heading toward the terrace. She glances back at Ollie, who grins at her as he puts on his t-shirt. “What’s up?”

  Vi holds up a finger as if to say, “Give me a minute,” then walks to the gazebo at the edge of the infinity pool to continue her conversation.

  Dahlia sighs. She’s never seen Vi so tense. She stands there another minute, not wanting to go back into the house. By his body language and too friendly personality, Dahlia could tell Ollie wouldn’t mind seeing if he could hook up with her as well, or maybe even go for a threesome. The thought makes Dahlia nauseous.

  “Good morning, Erica.” Dahlia jumps when she hears Kai’s almost too cheerful voice call out.

  She spins around to see Kai approaching them through the kitchen. Dahlia smiles a bit too brightly, relieved to have an excuse to get away from Ollie.

  “Ready for the beach?” He asks.

  Dahlia nods, playing along. She’d gladly be anywhere but here. Vi is about to combust, and Ollie seems to want to get a bit too friendly.

  “Two minutes,” she says, racing up the stairs.

  Chapter 18

  “So that’s twice you’ve helped me when I’ve been confronted by snakes,” Dahlia says as she follows Kai down to the beach.

  He looks back at her and laughs. “At least you weren’t barefoot or underdressed this time.”

  Dahlia raises an eyebrow. “Not to sound ungrateful, but why’d you show up at the house? I thought you were supposed to be a ghost or something.”

  “The housekeeper saw Ollie
walking around naked and called me. Made her nervous not having a guy around. She just asked that I come around and check things out. She’s from a small village and isn’t used to women with, umm, you know, male guests.” Dahlia could only imagine her horror if the woman took care of her New York apartment.

  They continue in a comfortable silence. Eventually, Kai moves aside a large palm frond for Dahlia, and they emerge onto a small stretch of empty beach. She digs her feet into the cool white sand and closes her eyes. After a deep breath, she opens them to take in the view, captivated by the way the sun glints off the water.

  “It’s breathtaking,” she whispers. The calm, crystal blue water crawls slowly toward the shore, only to be swept out in a perfectly, unhurried fashion. It’s not the intense rush of waves of the Pacific Dahlia’s used to. “And I thought the waterfall you showed me last night was spectacular. I’ve been to a lot of islands, but I’ve never seen a beach quite like this. There’s so much beauty in this one place. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to notice it.”

  Kai smiles, showing his two deep dimples. “On Maui, we have beautiful beaches. I’ve seen plenty of islands as well, but this is by far my favorite.”

  Dahlia nods and slowly walks toward the water, kicking off her sandals. She wades in up to her knees, the water lapping up her legs and soaking the bottom of her sundress.

  “You know you could surf out here. In the afternoons, the waves break about thirty feet out. They’re not huge, but you can have some fun.”

  “Why would I want to do that?” Dahlia asks bitterly.

  Kai crosses his arms across his broad chest and shrugs. “Why not? Your own private beach. What could be better?”

  Dahlia turns around and fishes her sandals out of the sand.

  “Like I told you, it was a lifetime ago.”

  “Just something the Old Woman said, that’s all,” he replies innocently. But Dahlia recognizes something in his deep brown eyes. Pain? Pity? No, but it’s eager and intense.

  “What did she say?”