31. Jenny
JENNY
We returned to the boat and snorkeled all afternoon, laughing, talking, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Cole and I were in love: it was official. The water seemed more turquoise, the sun seemed to shine brighter, and the tropical fish seemed more tropical.
It was the best day of my life.
I’d been dying to talk to Audrey and find out what had happened with Celia Preston. We hadn’t had a chance to be alone all day, but when everyone else was in the water, and the captain was out of earshot, we finally got to talk.
“What happened with Mrs. Voldemort last night?” I asked.
Audrey shuddered. “It was bad. She hired a private investigator to find out about me, Jenny! She knows that I’m an escort. She knows about you, too.”
Oh fuck. This wasn’t good news. I didn’t care that Mrs. Preston knew about me, but Audrey was another matter. “She’s the devil!” I said, crossing myself. “I can’t stand to be in the same room with her. What’d she say?”
“She threatened me and offered to pay me off to go away—right after she called me a whore,” Audrey said as she stared out at the water. “You know. Pretty much what you’d expect.”
“That bitch!” I snorted. “Did you tell James?”
“I did. He’s furious,” she said. “He told her this morning that I’m moving in with him and that he loves me.”
“Yes, James!” I fist-pumped. “I’m officially rooting for him.”
A smile broke through Audrey’s tense expression. “Thank you, Jenny. That means a lot. I love him.”
“I love that he stood up for you. That’s the way it should be.” I beamed at my friend. “What’d Celia say?”
“Not too much. I don’t think she wanted to make him any angrier,” she said. “But just watch out for her. She’s a barracuda.”
“I can handle her.” I tossed my curls. “It’s just too bad I can’t use a spear gun on her bony ass.”
“I wish you could, too,” Audrey sighed. “She’s honestly scary. But it seems like James handled her well this morning. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but…”
“I do.” I grinned at my friend. “You and James are going to live happily ever after. No matter what that bitch says!”
“Ha. I hope so. But speaking of happily ever after… Are things better with you and Cole?” she asked. “You two seem like you’re being veryromantic.”
She’d probably noticed that we’d been holding hands, kissing, and making goo-goo eyes at each other since our walk.
“I decided to talk to him. Like you said.” I took my sunglasses off and stuck them on my hat. I wanted my friend to see how truly happy I was.
“Being brave was your idea if I remember correctly,” she said.
“That’s right—because I’m so wicked smart,” I said and laughed. “He told me helovedme just now, Dre. He said he wants to move in with me when we get back.”
“That’s so awesome!” Audrey’s eyes filled with tears.
“It is pretty frickin’ awesome,” I agreed. “We can double date, and it’ll be box seats all the way, baby.”
“It’s crazy, right?” she asked. “Who’d have thought?”
“Me,” I said proudly. “This is where I get to say I told you so!”
“You did,” Audrey admitted, then sighed.
Cole and I talked that night about what happened with Celia Preston. He agreed—James’s mother was a barracuda, stealthy and dangerous. “Stay away from her for the rest of the trip,” he warned.
I wholeheartedly agreed. “You don’t have to tell me twice! Bitch scares me!”
I was so happy in my little casita later that afternoon with Cole. Now that we’d declared our feelings, we could luxuriate in being together. So we did our usual things—made love twice and ate snacks. You couldn’t beat it! I also left out little fruit tidbits for the birds and the lizards. We spent an hour sitting side by side, watching the wildlife enjoy their treats.
If there was a heaven, it just might be the Caribbean.
“We should come back here every year,” Cole mused. “All of us.”
The fact that he was talking about us in the future didn’t escape my attention. I grinned at him. “You don’t have to ask me twice,” I said. “I’m in!”
But things got a little crazy at dinner. We were all eating at the outdoor restaurant again when Audrey and James showed up. We’d had such an awesome day snorkeling, but now they both looked stressed. They sat down next to James’s parents, which I thought was odd, given Audrey’s conversation with Celia Preston the night before.
What was even more bizarre? After dinner, James and Audrey led his parents out to the foyer.
And then they…left. I didn’t see them for the rest of the night, and I didn’t get any texts from Audrey.
The next morning, Todd told us they’d left the island.
“What do you mean, they left ?” Cole asked Todd.
Todd raked a hand through his hair. “My mother said James and Audrey had some sort of a blowout. James was bringing her back to Boston.”
“That’s crazy.” Cole scowled at him. “They were having a great time yesterday.”
“I know.” Todd shook his head. “Something doesn’t seem right. But maybe they just had a fight and wanted to be alone. It happens.”
I checked my phone all day. I didn’t hear a word from Audrey; Cole didn’t hear from James.
“I don’t know, Coley. Something about this really seems off. They’ve been on the love boat ever since the wedding. She just agreed to move to California with him. And Dre isn’t the type to have some silly fight,” I said.
“I know.” Cole looked thoughtful. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Something seems fishy,” I agreed. “I guess we’ll hear about it when we get back.”
“Speaking of when we get back.” Cole turned to me. “Would you do me a favor?”
“Anything,” I cooed.
He picked up my phone and handed it to me. “Would you call Elena and quit? I want to make it official.”
I winked at him. “I’ll call her, don’t worry. And then we’ll be officially official.”
“I like the way that sounds, Jenny.” He took my hand, sat back and relaxed. “I really like the way that sounds.”
“Elena, don’t get mad at me, okay?” I clutched the phone.
“Mad at you for what? Don’t tell me you ran out on our billionaire client!” she wailed.
“Nah, it’s nothing like that.” I took a deep breath. “The thing is, Cole wants to buy me. He’s getting me a South End Condo and a Range Rover. He wants to be exclusive, Elena. No more Fat Vinnie or Loopsy!”
“Wow, Jenny…” The silence stretched out as Elena processed the news. “I’m really happy to hear that.”
“You are?” I scratched my head. “I thought you’d be pissed!”
“Absolutely not. I’m a CEO, so for me it’s always business first,” the Madam explained. “But every once in a while I get to see a happy ending for one of my girls, and it’s satisfying. You deserve the best, Jenny. I’m glad that Mr. Bryson can see that.”
My eyes filled with tears. I hadn’t expected this kind of response from her. “That’s real nice, Elena.” I reached for a tissue and blow-honked my nose. “It means a lot.”
“Tell Mr. Bryson to send me his friends,” she said, switching back to CEO-mode. “You know I’m always looking for referrals!”
We didn’t hear anything from James or Audrey for the next two days. Worrying about them made the rest of our vacation less fun, but it made packing up and getting on the return flight easier.
When it was time to go, I kissed Iggy the iguana goodbye, which Cole thought was totally gross. “He’s like my adopted baby,” I argued, giving the giant iguana one final beet green. “I’m going to miss him.”
What I wasn’t going to miss was Celia Preston. Since Audrey had left, she’d been busy focusing her evil eye on me. In response, I wore only thong bikinis all day, every day, including to meals. Old Celia’s evil eye was getting an eyeful, all right!
The flight home was quick, but my nerves were jumpy. What would it be like being back in Boston with Cole as my plus-one? What would it be like to live in a fancy apartment and not have to “date” Johns to make rent? To not have to struggle? What the heck was I going to do ? I had zero idea.
Still, I was excited as we landed at Logan and entered the terminal. Boston wasn’t as gorgeous and sunny as the Caribbean, but the gray skyline and puffy white clouds were still home.
Todd and Evie were the first ones off the plane, followed by us. I couldn’t believe it—James and Audrey were waiting in the terminal.
“Yay!” I said to Cole, squeezing his hand. “Look who’s here!”
Todd reached them first. James grabbed his shoulders and appeared to be talking to him about something real important, judging by the look on his face. Audrey stood beside them, listening intently, her face drawn.
James motioned to an older couple standing behind them, and then Todd shook their hands.
“What the heck’s going on?” I asked Cole. “Who’re those people?’
“I don’t know—let’s go see.” He hustled me closer, and we just caught the end of James and Todd’s conversation.
“Mother has been implicated in Danielle’s death,” James was saying. “She threatened Audrey, and we started putting the pieces together. The police are here to bring her in for questioning, and maybe Dad, too. And Danielle’s parents are here to see them face-to-face.” He motioned to the older couple standing behind them.
Cole and I looked at each other, gobsmacked.
“Holy shit,” Cole said under his breath. “The police ?”
Todd went white. “Are you kidding?” he asked James.
“No. I’m sorry, I’m not,” James said. “It happened so long ago, but Mother needs to be held responsible for what she did.”
“I’m so sorry,” Todd said. “I had no idea.”
“Me either.” James clapped Todd on the shoulder. “We’ll get through this. I’m sorry to drop it on you.”
“It’s okay.” But Todd looked pale.
Evie put her arm around her husband. “Come and sit down,” Evie said, her voice gentle. She led Todd to a nearby seat, talking to him softly and rubbing his arm.
Todd looked like he was in shock, and I didn’t blame him. James’s mom was responsible for Danielle’s death?
She was being arrested ?
“Holy wow,” I said as I reached James and Audrey.“Are you guys okay?”
Audrey pulled me in for a hug. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving the island,” she said. “But we were trying to convince Celia that we were breaking up. We needed a cover—we had to come back to Boston to talk to Danielle’s parents and meet with the police.”
“I can’t believe it. Celia killed James’s girlfriend?” I asked, careful to keep my voice low.
“Not exactly.” Audrey grimaced. “We think she might have paid someone.”
“I’d say I didn’t believe it if Mrs. Preston wasn’t such a c-word.” I shivered. “She just kept looking at me the whole flight, like I was going to infect her with hooker cooties or something.”
Audrey gave me an exhausted smile. “I’d say I was surprised, but?—”
“Ho my frickin’ God, Audrey!” I excitedly whispered, interrupting her. There was something very huge and very sparkly on her left ring finger. “Is that an engagement ring?”
Audrey nodded, and I grabbed her, squeezing hard. I wanted to holler and jump up and down, but being that James’s mother was about to be arrested for murder, it didn’t seem appropriate.
So instead, I whispered, “It’s not even a rock! It’s a frickin’ boulder !”
“Jenny,” Audrey said calmly, “let’s talk about it later. We have some bad stuff to take care of right now.”
“Right,” I said. I stopped squeezing Audrey. “But wow. Just wow.”
James’s mother swept off the plane in a green polo shirt with the collar turned up, immaculate khakis, and white loafers. Beneath the Botox, her face managed to move enough to register shock when she saw James and Audrey.
“James?” she said. “ Audrey? ” She stopped dead in her tracks, Mr. Preston bumping into her from behind. “Watch it, Robert,” she snapped.
“Mother, be polite—we have company,” James said, motioning to the Andersons. “You remember Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, right? Danielle’s parents? And this is Detective Gordon and Detective Fisk from the Boston Police Department. I believe they’d like to ask you and Dad some questions—downtown.”
Celia Preston looked confused, then pissed, then outraged as several photographers sprung out and started snapping pictures, their flashes going off.
“And that’s the Tribune . Andthe paparazzi.” James smiled tightly at her. James said a few other things, mainly about Audrey’s mom, but I was so overwhelmed by all the photographers and the look of hatred on Celia’s face I missed them.
“Oh—and one more thing,” James said. “Audrey and I are engaged.”
“Mr. Preston! You’re engaged?” called one of the photographers, whizzing around and aiming his huge lens at James and Audrey. “Let me take a shot of the happy couple!”
I stopped myself from cheering, it being an otherwise solemn occasion and all. But inside, I was clapping and jumping up and down. Sometimes, I thought, the good guys actually win.
“Let’s get out of here,” Cole said. He put his arm protectively around me as he steered us away from the crowd. I slapped Audrey a surreptitious high five on the way out. I told you so, I mouthed.
She managed a smile at me. She knew I was right—I was always right. It was another one of my secret weapons. I’d said Celia Preston was Mrs. Voldemort and it was true. I’d also said James and Audrey were going to live happily ever after together and that was true, too.
Now, I just had to see if I was right about me.
I glanced up at Cole, and he smiled at me.
I smiled back.
Sometimes, I thought again, the good guys actually win.