4

The warm, wet sand molded to Aida’s bare feet, leaving perfect footprints as she walked beside Marlow until they reached the jetty. There, she wrapped the long red scarf she was wearing over her swimsuit around her head and tossed the tail over one shoulder as she turned to look back at the house. “It’s so beautiful here,” she said.

Marlow was wearing nothing except a pair of sunglasses and a bikini, the small triangles of white fabric creating a beautiful contrast with her golden skin, which tanned without any effort. She hadn’t bothered with a hat or scarf, hadn’t even put on sunblock because she was allergic to some of the chemicals in the various lotions. She said she’d pull on a T-shirt when she started to burn. “I’ve always loved coming to Teach, especially as a child,” she said, facing the same direction. “It was the only time my father was really present. He was so busy when we were in Virginia. Even at home, in Georgia, he had people coming to the house all the time. But here it was different. He was able to leave his work behind and truly relax—be a father.”

“I’m sorry you lost him.” Aida had known Marlow for years. They’d met at the Toluca Lake Tennis and Fitness Club in Burbank when Marlow first moved to California—which wasn’t too long after Aida had moved there herself—and had played tennis together ever since. But she’d never met Marlow’s family.

“So am I. He was intelligent and kind, always fair—and honest. That’s what I loved most about him. You could rely on what he said.”

“Sounds like he would’ve made a good judge.”

“That was a possibility for a while, until he decided to go into politics.”

“Did your mother ever want a career of her own?”

“I think she was happy to be a politician’s wife and a mother, which is a good thing, since her health would’ve made it difficult to do much more.”

“How long ago was she diagnosed?”

“It’s been twenty-six years. I was only eight at the time.”

“That must’ve been a bad day.”

Marlow slid her aviator-style Ray-Bans higher on the bridge of her nose. “It was.”

“You’ve been really worried about her since your father died. Now that you’ve seen her, how do you think she’s doing?” Eileen had seemed a little frail and not as mobile as other women her age, but she was still beautiful. To Aida, she looked exactly like her daughter.

“Okay, I guess. She has good days and bad days. Today was a bad day, but I’ve seen worse.”

Aida gazed up at the house, which had been built on short pilings to protect it against hurricanes and had a whole wall of windows that faced the ocean, with expansive wooden decks on both levels and a spiral staircase descending from the top deck all the way to the sand. Ceiling fans turned slowly in the afternoon heat above the brightly colored cushions of the patio furniture. On the lower deck, there was a bar at one end. Aida had had money after marrying Dutton. Like his father before him, who was also a doctor, he made a good living. But nothing like this. This was a whole other level of wealthy. Even the guesthouse—painted white to match the main house and detached garage—had a stunning view, although it sat back a little farther amid the palm trees and other exotic flowering plants Aida wasn’t familiar with. “Have your parents always had money?” she asked. “Or is all this the result of your father’s time in the Senate?”

“Believe it or not, legislators don’t make that much. Both my parents inherited quite a bit. My father was an attorney before he got involved in politics. He did pretty well for himself, too.”

“Obviously.” Aida peered up and down the exclusive beach. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like growing up the way you did.” As the daughter of an oil rig operator in North Dakota, she’d been in a much lower socioeconomic class. Her mother, Dottie, ran a day care out of the house to help cover the bills—something she did to this day—and now that Jim, her father, was too old for the oil fields, he worked as an auto mechanic. Her childhood home, where her parents had lived for almost forty years, wasn’t even as big as the guesthouse here at Seaclusion.

A gold bracelet jangled around Marlow’s thin wrist as she pulled her long dark hair off her neck, twisting it into a knot before letting it fall around her shoulders again. “Nothing about my childhood was normal. We had a housekeeper, a gardener, a driver—and three residences that we moved between. We were invited to important events, like presidential inaugurations. I enjoyed feeling as though I was somebody because of my father. I’m guessing any kid would. But...it could get lonely.”

“Because you were an only child?”

“The only child of a woman who was often ill and a father who was extremely busy.” She moved the string on her bikini top to check for color before moving it back again. “Plus, I skipped a couple of grades when I was seven, so my school years weren’t quite the same as other kids’.”

“You’ve never mentioned that before. Was it that the older kids wouldn’t accept you or what?”

“They didn’t treat me badly,” she said. “I just never fit in. So I sort of withdrew, became aloof, as my father would say. Fitting in was easier as I got older, of course. But even my college experience was different, since I had to have a chaperone for the first two years.”

“That would suck,” Aida said. “I think you know I didn’t get my degree, but I attended for a year, and that year wouldn’t have been the same if I’d been only sixteen.”

Marlow chuckled at Aida’s expression. “I’m guessing a lot of alcohol was involved.”

“Too much.” She adjusted her scarf again. “So how long did it take you to get through college and law school? Did you do that faster than most other people, too?”

“It took six years.”

“Instead of the standard seven.”

“Yeah. But then I took a year off to travel and prepare for the bar.”

Aida had never felt particularly smart. While Marlow had received attention for her brains, Aida had received attention for her looks. When she was a child, her mother had been obsessed with putting her in one beauty pageant after another. But once her two younger brothers came along, her parents couldn’t afford the expensive dresses and the travel anymore. By then she’d had enough trophies to cover her entire dresser and then some—she’d won almost every contest she entered—but she didn’t mind quitting the pageants. There’d been a lot of pressure to pose a certain way, walk a certain way, smile a certain way and not mess up on her talent, which was usually tap dancing. And although she’d never really applied herself in school, she’d always been well-liked and popular. That, along with the many compliments she’d always garnered, had made her feel destined to become a movie star. So it had come as a huge disappointment when she relocated to Hollywood but couldn’t seem to land anything other than bit parts and commercials.

Maybe she would’ve succeeded eventually. But then Dutton came along, and he’d seemed like the perfect Prince Charming. Not only was he clever and sure to be successful, he was handsome and fit, with a great personality. He wasn’t funny, exactly, but he had a dry quip or a one-liner for almost anything that often made her chuckle.

Never would she have guessed the fairy tale she’d been living with him would come to such a terrible end.

“Don’t think about him,” Marlow admonished.

Apparently what was going through Aida’s mind was reflected on her face. She managed a smile but couldn’t help glancing down the beach at Claire, who was lying on a towel with her hat covering her eyes, seemingly asleep. “It’s hard not to.”

Marlow’s eyes wandered to Claire, too. “Does it upset you that he’s been in touch with her again?”

“I’m trying not to let it bother me. I love Claire. Our friendship has been the one silver lining to this past year. I don’t want Dutton to come between us. But...”

Marlow tilted her head to look more directly into Aida’s face. “I hope Dutton isn’t still calling you, too.”

She grimaced. “No. He’d never be that stupid. He knows we’re here together, that we’d find out he was two-timing us again.”

“Not many men would attempt what he did, let alone get away with it for months and months.” Marlow bent to pick up a shell, which she tossed back into the sea. “I’ve been curious—did you ever talk to his hairstylist?”

“Tori Valens?”

“Yeah, that was her name. I’d love to know why she finally came forward. She worked right next door to Claire and must’ve seen them together long before she blew the whistle.”

“I wondered about that myself. She was his stylist, not mine—we’d never met—so I tried to chalk it up to that and the fact that losing Dutton as a client would cost her at a time when her business was already suffering because of COVID. But after a couple of glasses of wine one evening, I looked her up on Instagram and DM’d to thank her for being willing to step forward at all.”

“Did she respond?”

“I’d given her my number, so she called me the next day. She said she saw Dutton at the yoga studio a couple of times right after he met Claire, but he told her he was signing me up for yoga lessons and was thinking of taking them, too. Then both businesses had to close in the shutdown, so she didn’t see either of them anymore. She might never have caught on, except an employee at the salon, one who stayed in touch with Claire, told her that Claire was involved with someone named Dutton and asked if it could be the same Dutton that Tori had as a client.”

“I can see why she might ask. It’s an unusual name.”

“Exactly. She didn’t think there could be two Duttons in her small circle of acquaintances. And sure enough...it was him.”

Marlow adjusted her bracelet to bring the clasp around. “I wonder how long he would’ve tried to continue living a double life.”

“So do I. He was working longer and longer hours. He was so distracted, so different toward the end. But I really thought it was the pandemic. I never dreamed he was pretending to be single, buying another woman gifts and trips, and putting her up in an apartment.”

“That’s bold,” Marlow agreed.

“You know what hurts the most?”

Marlow caught and held her gaze. “What?”

“That I wasn’t enough. That the love he felt for me could disappear so easily. Once someone who’s supposed to love you forever abandons you, it’s hard to explain what it does to your self-esteem, how you start to doubt whether you’re even worthy of love.”

“Don’t say that! You’re so beautiful and have so much to offer.”

That was just it. Everyone mentioned her beauty. But what else did she have to offer? Maybe Marlow didn’t get more specific because there wasn’t anything else to say.

“Believe me, I’ve seen what it does,” Marlow continued, oblivious to the fact that her comment had actually hurt more than it had helped because it triggered Aida’s most troublesome insecurity. “Not only to you but to all my other clients who’ve had an unfaithful partner.”

Aida dug a hole in the sand with her toes. “I almost wish he’d been a serial cheater instead of...instead of this. Then I could assume he’d done it for the excitement. Or the adrenaline rush of being so daring. Or to stave off the fear of getting old and undesirable.”

“Not that any of that is justifiable,” Marlow said wryly.

“No, of course not. But this...this is a far greater betrayal.”

“What he did says much more about him than it does about you.”

Aida heard the sympathy in Marlow’s voice as she gazed down the beach again at Claire. She and the woman with whom her husband had an affair were so different—almost exact opposites. She was the blonde who loved high heels and fake eyelashes, had straight white teeth, big blue eyes and breast implants. Claire was the dark-haired, dark-eyed earthy girl who wore little or no makeup, dressed in yoga pants most of the time and demanded that everything be natural and organic. Aida knew Claire wasn’t any prettier than she was. But Claire had a creamy complexion and a wide, easy smile. Her beauty was more wholesome, natural.

Apparently, that had appealed to Dutton.

“Earlier, when the three of us were walking to the guesthouse, I said he was too much of a narcissist to love anyone,” she said to Marlow. “But what really bothers me is that he might truly be in love with her.”

“It just seems that way because he’s trying to salvage some semblance of the life he had prior to the divorce. He doesn’t want to wind up alone.”

Aida couldn’t buy it. The fact that Dutton was in touch with Claire again meant he hadn’t given up on her the way he’d given up on their marriage, and that terrified Aida. Would he and Claire end up together?

If so, she’d lose her friend as well as the man who’d promised her forever.

Walker sighed as he looked down at the new text on his phone. His mother wanted him to go back to Seaclusion. Eileen had some food to give him—those chocolate-covered strawberries and little sandwiches he’d had earlier—but he wasn’t keen to return. Just being around Marlow made him feel the way he’d felt while they were growing up—like a second-class citizen.

He wished he could say he no longer found her attractive. That would make things a lot easier. But when he’d walked into the house and seen her sitting at the table earlier, he’d had to admit that she’d only gotten prettier. It wasn’t just her appearance he liked, anyway. She was so damn smart. While some guys would’ve been intimidated by her intelligence, he found it incredibly sexy. It was her complete and utter indifference to him that got under his skin. He’d never had trouble getting a woman’s attention—except hers. And that only made him want her more.

At least, that was how she’d affected him back then. He wasn’t going to allow her to affect him that way now. Maybe his ego would tempt him to try again, to see if he could finally convince her to want him in return, but he wasn’t going to fall for that. His ego could only get him in trouble if he let it.

Can’t Reese bring them by? he texted back. He’d just gotten home from work and was looking forward to taking a dip in the ocean before having dinner and a glass of wine while sitting on the beach, watching the sunset.

He glanced at his SUV. He was standing on his front porch, hadn’t even gone inside yet. He could easily drive a couple of miles, grab the food and make his mother and Eileen happy. And why not? Why let Marlow have any influence over what he did?

He told himself he’d be quick and probably wouldn’t see Marlow, anyway. So, of course, she and her friends were coming up from the beach, crossing the lawn to the guesthouse, when he pulled in.

To make matters worse, she wasn’t wearing anything except a tiny white bikini.

His mouth went dry the second he saw her, bringing back all the longing he’d felt, and he was tempted to back out again. There was something about her, and he couldn’t seem to outgrow the way it made him feel.

But leaving wasn’t really an option. She’d already spotted him. So had her much friendlier companions. As all three women stopped and waited for him to get out, he muttered an expletive under his breath and opened the door.

“Hey!” the one named Aida called as he started toward them. “Welcome back.”

He managed a smile. “Thanks.”

“Don’t tell me you’re still working,” Marlow’s other friend, Claire, said.

He hadn’t had time to change out of his uniform. “No, just got off. My mother texted me to swing by and pick up some leftovers from earlier. I guess you ladies didn’t do your part, so I have to take up the slack.” He kept his focus on Claire, who’d spoken to him last, while pretending he wasn’t supremely conscious of Marlow standing next to him, almost naked.

God, she was beautiful.

“It’s nice of you to do us such a big favor,” Aida teased.

“Have you had dinner yet?” Claire asked.

“Not yet. I—”

“Great,” she broke in before he could finish. “Because we were talking about building a fire in the pit on the beach and roasting some hot dogs and marshmallows. Maybe you’d like to join us.”

“You should,” Aida agreed. “You can’t eat all those strawberries on an empty stomach.”

As arrogant as Marlow had always been, her friends seemed much more open to his companionship, but he knew better than to get involved. Assuming a pained expression, as though he regretted refusing, he said, “I was planning to throw a steak on the grill back home.”

Aida’s bottom lip jutted out in a flirty pout. “You’d rather eat alone?”

“Maybe he’s not planning to be alone,” Marlow said, speaking for the first time.

Walker couldn’t tell if she was fishing to see whether he was currently seeing someone, offering him an easy out because she didn’t want him to accept the invitation or simply stating that they shouldn’t assume too much. “Maybe next time,” he said, ignoring the comment. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll just grab the strawberries and get out of your way.”

“We’re going to hold you to that,” Aida said.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he told her with a nod and continued to the house.

He could feel their eyes on his back as he went inside, but when he came out again, he figured they were in the guesthouse, getting ready for their bonfire on the beach, because he didn’t see them. He was relieved about that; he’d purposely chatted with his mother and Eileen for fifteen minutes to give Marlow and her friends time, hoping he’d be able to leave without running into them again. But his brother was now leaning against his police SUV, waiting for him.

“I thought you were gone,” Walker said.

“I was,” Reese responded. “Had to run to the store.”

“For what?” Walker asked curiously.

Reese grinned. “Nothing.”

Walker swiped the small brown sack he was holding.

“Hey,” Reese complained and grabbed his arm, but Walker resisted his attempts to take it back while he peeked inside.

“Condoms?” he said in surprise. “Why would you want to keep that from me? I’m the one who’s been on your ass to always use one.”

Reese yanked the bag from him. “Because it’s none of your business,” he mumbled, but it wasn’t too hard to put the puzzle pieces together.

“Wait a second. You got these because—” Walker glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were still alone but lowered his voice anyway “—because of the women who are staying here?”

“Have you seen them?” he responded. “They’re freaking gorgeous!”

“They’re at least ten years older than you,” Walker said, pointing out the obvious.

“What’s that to me?” Reese asked. “Age is just a number.”

“No, it’s not,” he said. “You start messing with them, it could threaten your place here. It might even cause problems for Mom.”

Reese checked the yard before saying, in a low whisper, “The blonde wants me, dude. I could tell almost immediately. So...is there any way I could borrow fifty bucks until I get paid? I’d like to take her to dinner or something.”

“I’m not going to loan you any more money,” Walker said. “Especially for that.”

His brother scowled. “Come on, man. It’s just fifty bucks.”

“You have to learn not to blow your whole paycheck. You won’t do that if I keep bailing you out.”

“You’re not my father,” he said, “even though you’ve always tried to act like you are.”

“I’m about the only father you’ve ever had. And I’m not giving you any more money. But I will offer a piece of advice—stay away from Marlow and her friends.”

“Yeah, yeah. I knew you’d say that. That’s why I wasn’t going to tell you.”

“Reese—”

“I’ve got to go,” his brother said, skirting around him. “They invited me to a bonfire tonight, and since I’m now prepared—” he lifted the sack with the condoms “—I need to shower up.”

“Hey!” Walker called after him.

He stopped and turned.

“You’re not going to listen to me, are you?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Walker sighed as he watched his little brother climb the stairs to his apartment.

Reese looked back before going inside. “Whatever happens, I’m going to have a much better time than you are tonight.”

“It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt,” Walker muttered and climbed into his SUV.