“Did Gabe leave?”
“No. He’s still on the island.”
“So,” Lia said slowly. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you with him?”
Nicki said nothing.
“Everyone knows now. Even your father knows. And you’re not a little kid. If your man is on the island, and he came here, risking—at a minimum—his job, and probably his pride as well … why wouldn’t you …” Lia shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you be with him right now? I mean, Nicki, you and he are in this together.”
For a long while, Nicki said nothing.
“Aren’t you?” Lia prompted. “Because if you’re not, then you should still go to him and let him know that this is not something you want to …”
“Of course, I want to!” Nicki said. “I love him.”
“Then you should go tell him that. At least that.”
After a few moments more, Nicki nodded. “You’re right.”
Shoving herself up from the bed, she slid her feet into the closest pair of shoes, which happened to be Lia’s sandals. Then raking her fingers through her hair, she took a deep breath and headed for the door. Hand on the handle, Nicki glanced over her shoulder.
“Thank you,” she said, before opening the door and slipping out into the night.
Kingfisher Key, FL, Wednesday, 7:57 a.m.
“Nicki and her drama saved all our asses last night,” Blake whispered as he slid into the chair next to Lia’s. “What the hell were you and Kev doin’ so late?”
“The weather was bad,” Lia said, barely looking up from her eggs.
Blake gave her a long, searching look.
“Well it messed my plans up. No way am I going to be able to get away to the mainland today,” he said sourly. “Not with everyone on edge like they are, and y’all goin’ off on a twelve-hour joyride.”
“Sorry,” Lia said half-heartedly. It didn’t matter how much Blake sulked. She couldn’t make herself regret a second of the time alone she’d spent with Kevin.
Breakfast was a quiet affair. Everyone was pretending to be interested in their meal, but they were all giving at least part of their attention to the three-person conference of Gabriel, Nicki, and Edward Morgan, about some hundred-and-fifty yards away on the beach.
Lia had arrived at breakfast at seven a.m. to find Nicki already there with a tall, well-built man, with the tell-tale upright and alert posture of a former military man. Nicki hadn’t returned to the cabana when she left in the wee hours of the morning, so Lia concluded she had spent it with him, Gabriel.
He nodded and attempted a smile as he introduced himself. But Lia could tell that he would hardly register her name—there was the difficult task ahead, of convincing his employer that he was an appropriate suitor for his daughter, and Gabe was clearly preoccupied as he prepared himself for it.
Lia watched him with Nicki as they ate a table few feet away, noting the protective arm Gabe rested on the back of Nicki’s chair, and the way her body leaned ever-so-slightly toward his. Occasionally, he rested his free hand on Nicki’s knee under the table and she looked over at him, answering the contact with a smile. But then Edward and Jessica Morgan arrived for the morning meal, and all the smiles had disappeared. Now, father and daughter, and Gabe were on the beach, talking, all their faces solemn.
Kevin hadn’t yet made his appearance, but Lia was afraid to ask Blake where he was, especially with the nosy, catty cousins nearby. Justin Morgan, their younger brother, too, was watching Blake and Lia with interest, a tiny smirk on his face.
“It’s great to see the happy couple together again,” Kim Morgan said, without looking up from her breakfast. “After that long separation yesterday afternoon.”
“Yeah,” Tanya chimed in. “What was it you left at the condo again, Lia?”
“My charcoals and sketch pad,” Lia said evenly.
“Oh, that’s right,” Tanya said dryly. “You’re an … artist.”
“Are you?” Kim and Tanya’s mother looked up, interested. “I used to paint, myself.”
“Mommy, you took one watercolor class,” Kim said.
“One semester doing watercolors at the local college,” the older woman corrected, looking at Lia, her face growing slightly pink. “But I enjoyed it very much.”
Kim and Tanya exchanged an exasperated look and Lia felt herself despising them even more. Apparently, they didn’t even spare their own mother their disdain.
“It’s very meditative,” Lia said smiling. “Art, if you enjoy it, isn’t like work at all.”
“I bet it isn’t,” Kim said. “So, what work do you do make your money, Lia?”
“Kim,” Blake said sharply. “Shut up.”
His cousin’s mouth fell open and she was poised to respond, when Kevin appeared. Wearing baggy shorts and a damp t-shirt, he seemed slightly out of breath.
“G’morning everybody,” he said. “Went for a run. Hope I’m not too late for breakfast.”
Lia tried not to look at him, pointedly paying attention only to her remaining two strips of bacon.
Just as he grabbed his plate and went to look through the warming trays, he caught sight of the trio on the beach and his eyes widened slightly.
“Hey,” he said to no one in particular. “Is that …?”
“Gabriel Wynne,” Tanya supplied. “Yup. Nicki’s … bodyguard.”
Then she and Kim exploded into twitters.
“Girls.” The other Mr. Morgan, Edward Morgan’s brother and Kim and Tanya’s father, spoke up for the first time, his tone a warning.
Both women stopped laughing immediately. But ‘girls’ was the right way to address them, Lia thought. Because that was what they were – spoiled-to-the-core-rotten, little girls. No matter their chronological ages, Kim and Tanya Morgan were like the meanest of mean girls Lia had encountered during adolescence—vapid, selfish, and probably devoid of anything resembling empathy.
“I was sleeping when you got in last night,” Blake said when Kevin finally sat at their table. “Or I would’ve told you. Brother just showed up last night, took the old man to the side and …” Blake shrugged. “Told him he wants to be with Nicki or whatever. Told him he’s been with her, actually. All this time.”
Kevin grunted as he buttered his toast. Blake leaned in and lowered his voice.
“You knew?” he asked.
Giving a half-shrug, Kevin nodded.
“And you didn’t tell me,” Blake said.
“Wasn’t my business to share.”
“And you think that’s cool? Both of you keeping something like …”
“Blake, she only told me yesterday,” Kevin said in an impatient whisper. “And it’s not like you don’t have plenty of your own shit to keep under-wraps.”
For the first time since meeting them, Lia felt something like open animosity flare between the two. Clearing her throat, she made as though to stand, but Blake put a firm hand on her forearm holding her in place.
“Nah,” he said, his eyes still fixed on his brother. “I’ll only be a minute. Then you and me can go … hiking. We’ll be gone all day.”
At that, Kevin stared back. His nostrils flared slightly. Sniffing, he looked back down at his plate.
“Y’know what Blake?” Kevin said, his voice deceptively light. “There’s no reason we need to be all up in each other’s … crap all the time. You get to have a life, Nicki gets to have a life, and shit, maybe even I get to have one too. Maybe we’d all be better off, keeping each other out of our mess, and cleaning them up on our own. You feel me?”
Blake opened his mouth to respond but Lia spoke up, loudly enough so that everyone could hear.
“I like hiking,” she said. “I think that’s a cool idea. It’ll help me work off all this breakfast. C’mon Blake, let’s get ready.”
She stood, extending a hand to him, hoping to lure him away from the impending blow-up. After a few beats, he tore his angry gaze from Kevin’s face and stood as well, taking her hand, and allowing her to lead
him away from the dining area.
Blake dropped her hand as soon as they were out of view from the others and strode ahead in the direction of his cabana.
“Hey!” Lia said.
He stopped and turned to face her, his face still rigid.
“Are we actually planning to hike, or were you just trying to piss your brother off?”
Blake sighed. “We’re actually going hiking,” he said. “Might as well, since I can’t escape the island today. And I need to get away from all the bullshit. I just …” He ran a hand over his head.
“Hey,” Lia said again, moving closer to him. She put a hand on his arm. “Why were you so mad? Just because Kevin didn’t tell you …”
“Kev and Nicki are close,” Blake said. “I mean, we all are, but they’re much closer. Sometimes it just …”
“Makes you feel left out?” Lia finished.
Blake gave a short laugh. “Stupid, right? Like we’re little kids.”
Lia shrugged. “No one likes to feel left out.”
“But it’s not just that,” Blake said. “It’s …” He shook his head and exhaled. “All my life, even though I’m the eldest, I’ve been like, the problem, that Nicki and Kevin felt like they had to solve. They share that—‘what should we do about Blake?’—and it makes it easier for them to share other stuff too. Stuff that neither of them always shares with me.”
And for just a few seconds, right before Lia’s eyes, the handsome Blake Morgan, was transformed into a shy, uncertain, little boy.
Taking his hand once again, this time Lia walked alongside him.
“Let’s go … take a hike,” she said.
Then Blake was laughing again, and for a moment, it sounded almost as though all was right with his world.
~12~
Fisherman’s Bluff, Wednesday, 10:59 a.m.
“This is pretty,” Lia said, standing atop the rock, overlooking the inlet below. “I’m glad we came up here.”
“No, you’re not,” Blake said from a few feet behind her. “You whined the entire way.”
Laughing, Lia turned to look at him. He was wearing boots and cargo pants, a white t-shirt that hugged his firm and muscular torso. Across the bridge of his nose and his cheeks he was turning a little pink because he had turned his fitted cap backwards. His caramel complexion glowed with a light sheen of perspiration.
There was no doubt about it, Blake Morgan was a beautiful man.
“Getting up here wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had,” she admitted. “But now that we’re here, I’m glad.”
Blake sat on a nearby rock and reached into his backpack, pulling out two bottles of water. One, he extended to her. Lia took it and sat next to him. It was still chilled, so she rolled it across her forehead and sighed at the contact of the cool plastic against her skin.
“In a few minutes, we can head down to the beach down there,” Blake said. “Sometimes, on a good day, you see dolphins playing. When we were kids, Kevin and I used to try to swim out to where they were.”
“Did you ever succeed?”
Blake shook his head. “Nah. Let’s just say, they were a lot farther away than they looked. It’s hard to judge distance on water. One time …” He stopped talking and instead opened his bottled water, taking a swig.
“One time…?” Lia prompted.
“I almost drowned,” Blake said. “One time I almost drowned trying to get out there. Got a cramp in my leg and it felt like lead. I went under, and … Kevin saved me.”
“I know you said that he and Nicki are really close, but you two are as well. Anyone can see that.”
“Yeah. He’s like my … minder,” Blake said shaking his head and taking another gulp of water. “Makes sure I don’t mess up. At least that’s the way our father sees it.” Then he looked at her. “What do you think that would feel like? Being the … caretaker of your older sibling?”
“If you’re saying that Kevin resents it …”
“He does. How could he not resent it? Remember those pictures I showed you? The ones he took?”
Lia nodded.
“One minute he was serious about photography, and the next, after a long talk in my father’s study, he was joining the family business and helping me stay on track. That’s what the old man said, ‘Kevin’s just going to be helping you stay on track, Blake.’.”
“If he didn’t want to, he could’ve said no,” Lia offered. “Maybe …”
“Lia. He didn’t want to. He didn’t say no because none of us do. None of us say no to the old man. So, what Kevin does? Even now? Is keep me from drowning. Still. He’s the family hero and I’m the family fuck-up. And Nicki, she just hides in the corner, hoping no one notices that she’s actually trying to live her own life.”
Lia took a deep breath and stood, reaching down to have Blake take her hand. “Let’s get down to that beach. I want to swim.”
The path to the beach was steep and rocky, and they had to hold on to branches as they made their way, slowly and carefully. There was a faint pathway, evidence that others had taken this route before, though not very often. Most of the way was overgrown, and moss covered the rocks, making things slippery and precarious in places.
Blake went first, often looking over his shoulder to help Lia over the trickier spots. It took them almost an hour, but soon they were shoving their way through a wall of bramble and out onto the most pristine and beautiful patch of white sand Lia had ever seen. And even the water looked bluer, purer than the other side of the island where the cabanas were.
Smiling, she shed her pants and shoes, shrugging her t-shirt over her head and turning to wait for Blake as he did the same. Then they both ran toward the waves, taking a dive under them when they were far enough out. They surfaced next to each other, the water bobbing around them. Blake’s hair was slicked back and he was grinning. The water was chest-deep for him and just at Lia’s chin.
“You don’t know how good it feels to be back down here,” he said. “I hated DC. Hated it. I’m a Florida boy, through and through.”
“You definitely are,” Lia agreed, noting how the sun looked on his skin, and how the seawater-soaked hair suited him.
Pulling her closer, Blake smiled and then before she realized what was happening, he was kissing her. He tasted salty, and briny and fresh. Rather than wrench away, Lia simply waited out the kiss, neither resisting nor participating. When he pulled away, Blake gave her a wry smile.
“So … nah?”
Lia shook her head.
He dipped his head backward to soak his hair again and then shook it.
“Maybe it would be different,” she said quietly. “If I thought you really wanted me.”
“How do you know I don’t?” The question sounded like a test.
“A woman can tell when a man wants her. And when he’s just … going through the motions.”
Blake’s eyes became watchful. “Some can.”
“Well, I can. And I know you don’t really want this.”
“So why would I kiss you then?”
“To get back at Kevin. Or … to distract me.”
“From?”
“From figuring out something that you aren’t sure you want me to know.”
Blake gave another odd smile. “But you already know,” he said slowly. “Don’t you?”
“I guessed. Yes. Is there … someone?” Lia asked carefully.
“No. Not anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be. Let’s go back in.” Turning, Blake swam ahead toward the shore and Lia followed.
Once on the beach, he lay back, near the edge of the water, reclining on his elbows. Collapsing next to him, Lia turned in his direction.
“So, Kevin and Nicki know you’re gay?”
“Yup.”
“But your father doesn’t.”
“Nope.”
“And there was someone.”
“Yeah. Someone who doesn’t want to be a secret. Like Gabriel and N
icki.” Blake looked at her. “So, you see why I was pissed off this morning? Nicki had the same kind of deal going on. And she didn’t tell me. And Kevin didn’t tell me either. We Morgans … we’re good at our secrets.”
“What would happen if you just … told him?” Lia suggested gently.
“My father? I don’t know, honestly. It’s not like he’s a self-righteous homophobe or anything. Hell …” Blake laughed. “He’s a liberal Democrat. But that doesn’t mean he wants a gay son.”
“But you can’t live like this,” Lia said. “I mean, having me here, pretending … that’s just crazy, Blake.”
He looked at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. “You sayin’ you don’t appreciate the gig? And the dough?”
“I appreciate both. But the more I get to know you? And know your sister … and Kevin? The worse I feel about taking it.”
“Nah. Don’t. It’s just …” He broke off and didn’t finish his sentence.
“Your Dad? He doesn’t seem so bad. I mean, I don’t know him, of course. And he’s not my father. But he doesn’t seem uncaring. He seems like a man who loves his family. And maybe sometimes does it in the wrong way. Maybe if you just talked to him …”
“Maybe,” Blake said, sounding unconvinced. “Anyway …”
Lia could tell he had grown weary of the topic. And she had, too. Her head felt like it might explode from the information overload. Between Kevin, and Nicki and now this, she was could almost feel the sense of being stifled that Nicki had talked about the night before. The weight of all the secrets and lies. How could they all stand it? How could they live like this?
The family togetherness, the jokes and exuberance … all of it seemed different now that she saw it through the lens of the pretense. The money, the planes, the private island, the clothes, and the privilege all masked what was clearly a deeply lonely group of people, isolated together on a bedrock of deception.
“Another hour swimming and then we head back?” Lia suggested.
Blake nodded and grinned at her. The happy-go-lucky mask back in place.
“Sounds like a plan.”
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