9. Jack
The sunlight dances in the water as Amber stretches her toned legs out on the large-sized pool bed. Her auburn hair is tied in a messy bun on the top of her head, dark sunglasses shield her face and her tan skin resplendent against her skimpy white bikini.
She holds a romance book in her hands, reading to herself. She looks like a goddess.
Is it possible that anyone could be any hotter than my wife?
With the palm trees waving in the breeze behind her, she stops for a moment, sits and crosses her long legs as she leans back and watches people swim in the large pale blue pool.
Her attention turns to me as I watch her from the other side of the pool.
My wife smiles.
My wife.
That thought thrills me a little more than it scares me, but I’m not sure what’s going through my head. Soon we’ll be leaving each other. This isn’t real.
It isn’t.
But it’s been three days, and it feels like it is. Considering we only need to put on a display of affection when my friends are around, we do it whenever we are with each other. And right now, I want to get out of the pool and lie on top of my wife and kiss her gorgeous face, and make love to her slow and quiet.
Then I want to drag her back to our room and fuck her until she screams.
I love the feeling of being buried deep inside her body and I don’t know how I’m going to live without that once she leaves for the UK.
This is our last day together in Vegas. Today we’re leaving for New York because Amber agreed to meet my grandfather. He, as expected, isn’t easy to convince of this marriage.
But we’ve composed a plan. Once it’s over and my grandfather believes what we tell him, then we’ll end.
It’s for the best in the long run.
I just don’t know why it doesn’t feel like it.
“I’m happy to meet you,” my grandfather says, holding out his hand to Amber while flicking me a look. We’ve already had a heated discussion about how convenient he finds everything.
By everything, he means meeting someone in Las Vegas, and now I’m simply married. But I stuck to his terms, and he never said there were any more stipulations.
“Thank you, me too. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Amber says.
It’s a lie. What she’s heard is the quick version. About my family, a little about my life, and anything else for my grandfather to believe we are together.
“When will I hear of the next generation being born? Your marriage will be hard living in England when Jack is here,” my grandfather asks Amber.
I try not to splutter my drink, but I wait to hear what she says before I jump in.
“We’re going to wait until I move here, and I can’t do that until I’ve got more experience at work. I’m not long qualified,” Amber explains.
“Work here, work for the company. We need lawyers,” my grandfather says. I swallow. “Maybe the visa would be quicker if it’s a work visa. I’ll get my staff onto it.”
“I don’t need a visa; my biological father is an American. But for now, the UK law system is what I’m qualified in,” she says, not telling my grandfather she’s been working in the US for the past year.
“Your father is American?” I ask.
She nods, and a small smile lifts on her face. “Somewhere on the west coast, apparently.”
“Did you try to find him while you were here?”
She nods her head. “Prior to this trip, I tried to find him around ten years ago, then I gave up.” She shrugs. ”I’ve decided he doesn’t want to be found and, to be honest, sometimes I want to find him, but other times I’m too angry that he doesn’t try to find me.”
My grandfather takes her hand and leads her to the outside sitting area, and I follow. Still worried about what else he’ll ask her. “What happened?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “He abandoned me when I was a baby.”
“Oh. And your mother?” he asks.
“She remarried a few years later, but my mother and stepfather left me with my grandparents when I was seven, said it was for a month but it turned into much longer. That was lucky for me because they died in a car crash a few months later, both drugged up.” She exhales as she looks into his eyes. ”But my grandparents couldn’t cope with me.” She sighs, looking up at the ceiling. “I suppose I went off the rails, and when I was twelve, they finally had enough and put me into the care system.”
My grandfather stands, pulls her to him, and gives her a hug. She tries to hold it in; her shoulders shake as my grandfather whispers to her, and suddenly she sobs like a baby on his chest, and my eyes lace with tears.
I turn around as I blow out a breath.
“I’ve got a very similar story,” my grandfather says when she stops crying and sits. His words take me by surprise. “I was abandoned on a church doorstep when I was a baby. The pain of it never left me.”
A conversation ensues between them; they both cry and both smile. He holds her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand.
I feel so bad this moment. They both like each other, and I’m telling lies to them both.
She smiles, rubbing her fingers over her sodden cheeks. “Would you mind if I freshened up?”
“Not at all,” he says, pointing in the direction she needs to go. “The bathroom is through that corridor, the third door on your right.”
My grandfather turns to me and grins when Amber leaves the room. “I’m impressed you picked someone with class,” he says. I think that’s funny, considering what she just told him. “Beauty and brains. In fact, finally, you found someone who is your equal and not a piece of fluff you can rule over,” he finishes.
He’s right with everything, but she isn’t mine.
“We need to leave soon; she wants to do some sightseeing while she’s here,” I say.
My grandfather sighs and stares at me. “You need to fight for her. Your marriage won’t survive if you live on different continents. I’m surprised she even agreed after her father abandoned her. I thought she’d be concerned about future children.”
“Don’t worry about the relationship,” Amber says as she walks into the room. “We’re going to make sure we are solid and living on the same soil before any children arrive.”
I smile at her, taking her hand and kissing her cheek.
“And you’re welcome here whenever you want,” he says to her.
Tears coat her beautiful eyes and I know she’s feeling bad about lying about the marriage to him.
She gives him a hug and steps back. “Thank you.”
She did a fabulous job with my grandfather, but the car ride back to the city is silent. I really want to know what she’s thinking, but I keep it to myself, not ready to hear what she has to say.
Inside my apartment, I show her around, but she’s not interested. I suppose there’s no point when she”s leaving soon.
“I feel really bad that we deceived him,” she says as she stares out of the window.
“It’s the only way,” I reply. “Just doing this, you’re helping to get him to retire and enjoy his final years on the golf course and not in the office.”
“It still doesn’t feel right,” she whispers.
“Amber... it’s nothing for you to worry about. It’s me who’s deceiving him. I’m the one who will pick up the pieces when he finds out.”
“I wish I never met him,” she says quietly. “I wouldn’t feel so bad.”
“You’re right; it was a mistake.” The words are harsh, and I feel like a piece of shit in the moment, but that’s how I’ve always been.
Her face turns to me. “We’re a mistake?”
Yes.
“No, meeting my grandfather. I shouldn’t have pushed you.”
She nods, but I think she knows what I mean. “You knew he wouldn’t believe you unless he met me,” she states.
I nod.
I’ll never change; I didn’t have it in me, and probably the reason why my grandfather challenged me like he did. He never believed I’d change either.
Luckily, I knew he’d believe Amber.