Epilogue
Nine Months Later
“This gall darn thing. Dani, sweetie, can you adjust my umbrella? It keeps on closing.”
Dani smiled and stood from her beach chair. The air smelled of salt and sunshine, coconut sunscreen and sweat. It had been a long time since she had enjoyed a beach vacation, and she couldn’t have asked for a better travel partner than her aunt.
She adjusted Lisa’s umbrella and clicked the lock in place. “There. Better?”
“Yeah, but my drink could also use a refresh.” Lisa held up her empty margarita bucket and smiled. “Be a doll and get me one?”
“You got it.” Dani chuckled, grabbed her aunt’s ridiculously-sized margarita mug, and turned toward the tiki bar.
It was the beginning of summer and a cool breeze kicked off the Pacific Ocean, fluttering through her hair with the promise of seemingly endless lazy days and nights.
It was only their first day of vacation at the Costa Rican beach resort, but Dani couldn’t relax.
Even all this time later, she still felt herself looking over her shoulder.
Her phone rang as Dani stepped up to the touristy looking tiki bar. She slid into a stool and caught the attention of the young man mixing drinks. “Two margarita buckets please. For room 302.”
“You got it,” the bartender said.
Dani glanced at her phone. A smiling screensaver of her and Ethan wrapped in an embrace stared back at her. She smirked and answered the phone. “I haven’t even been gone for twenty-four hours.”
“I know, but I still wanted to hear your voice,” Ethan said, a hint of a smile in his voice. “How’s the weather?”
“Perfect. Just what me and Aunt Lisa needed,” she said. “Got all of your finals graded?”
“Yep. I’ll be on my way up to the cabin to see you next week,” he said. “How many students did you finally sign up for the fall workshop?”
“We had over a thousand applications. Only have room for twenty though,” Dani said. “Matt Vickers ended up being better free marketing than we could have imagined.”
“Probably a bunch of weirdos to filter out huh?”
“Yeah, Janet is helping me with background checks,” Dani said. “You can never be too careful. People aren’t always who they say they are.”
“That’s true,” he said. “Dani. I wanna say something.”
“Don’t do it,” she groaned.
“Oh come on,” Ethan said. “I just wanted to say that I hope you have a great vacation, and I can’t wait to see you.”
“Thanks,” Dani smiled into her phone. “I’m excited to see you, too.”
“Tell Lisa I said ‘hi’. You two enjoy yourselves.”
“We will,” she said, the ‘L’ word heavy on the tip of her tongue.
Neither of them had said it yet, though she knew he felt the same way too.
Ethan’s kneecap was still healing after being shot, and some days, Dani still didn’t entirely feel like she deserved his friendship or the romantic moments they shared.
But Ethan was proving to be a devoted, helpful and sensitive partner.
She did love him, even if she was still scared to say so.
“Call you tomorrow. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Dani hung up, and like magic, two margarita buckets appeared at the tiki bar. She frowned, expecting to see a ledger for her to sign so that she could add the tip. She gave the bartender a confused glance. “Don’t I need to sign somewhere?”
The bartender gave her a look of disdain and rolled his eyes in the opposite direction. “You have an admirer. They’re on him.”
A warm breeze whipped off the ocean, carrying the melange of spice, musk, and cigar smoke to her nostrils.
A familiar, sick sensation tugged at her gut as she met the gaze of a heavily sunburned middle-aged man.
He stared at her with glassy grayish blue eyes, his lips pursed and set in a way that told her he was pleased with himself.
“Thanks,” Dani said. “Do you know that guy?”
“His name is Jens Bergen. He’s stupidly rich. Buys any woman that comes up here a drink if he thinks they’re attractive,” the bartender said. “Want my advice? Run.”
“Will do.” Dani lifted the drinks in the air and gave the man the fakest megawatt smile possible.
Dani returned to her beach chair and handed Lisa the margarita. “Here. We’ve got a friend.”
“Oh yeah?” Lisa glanced over her shoulder.
Jens stared daggers at them. His cheeks were flushed, eyes glazed and his mouth set in a sloppy, pouty smile that was supposed to look … sexy? In the past, this sort of situation would have made her feel uncomfortable. After all she had been through, the situation felt nothing short of hilarious.
“He bought our drinks,” Dani said. “The bartender didn’t think too much of him. He gives me a bad vibe.”
“Don’t let him ruin our vacation. Enjoy your drink and the landscape. If he comes over and doesn’t take a hint, I’ll kick him in the balls.”
“Lisa!” Dani said, snorting margarita up her nose. “You’re going to get us kicked out of Costa Rica.”
“Worse has happened.” Lisa shrugged and sipped on her drink.
Dani glanced at her phone and thought about Detective Owens. In the past nine months, she and the now-retired detective had grown even closer. She considered shooting her old friend a text asking to look up this Jens Bergen guy, but let it go. She was on vacation and deserved to be unbothered.
Dani stared out at the ocean and sipped on her drink as the events of the last year washed over her.
The media circus that ensued after her attack.
The exclusive interviews and book deals.
Old friends from back home coming out of the woodwork.
She was happy to be able to disconnect from all that for a change, and she would be even happier to resume whatever was brewing between her and Ethan when the time was right.
There was also the matter of her screenplay, now finished and being optioned by a major motion picture company.
Everything should have felt settled and done. And yet …
“‘S’cuze me, ladies. I just wanted to come over and see if you were enjoying your drink.”
A shadow passed over Dani and the blood in her veins slowed. She sipped the bottom of the cup and shook the ice. “It was delicious.”
“I’d be happy to buy you another round.”
“We’ll buy the rest of our drinks. Thank you.” Dani stared up at the man, flashing him her fakest, most impatient looking smile.
“Bitch.” The man scoffed, wobbled a little, and turned back to the bar.
Bitch.
Yes, she was. She was an alive bitch, and she was going to stay that way.
Dani watched Jens saunter back to his seat and bark an order for another rum runner to the bartender.
He tried to sit and slid off his stool, crashing to the ground and cursing all the way.
From behind the bar, the nice young man who had served her whispered something to the resort manager and pointed at Jens.
The resort manager nodded and locked eyes with Dani before walking over to the sloppy patron.
“Ha! Looks like someone bit off a little more than they could chew.” Lisa sipped the last of her margarita and chuckled to herself.
The two women watched as the security guards took the drunk, indignant man away. So much for a restful vacation.
Dani leaned back in her chair, wondering what the future would really be like for her.
No matter where she went, there would be men like Matt and Jens who thought they could just have anything they wanted.
She took solace in the fact that there were good people like Detective Janet, Ethan, and the bartender out there too.
The old Dani was too afraid to make connections with people; too afraid to show her real self.
She reached down and touched the scar on her ribs where Matt’s knife had pierced through her flesh and remembered the price she paid for her freedom.
She was changed by it all, for better and for worse.
Now, she had nothing to hold her back, nothing to hide behind.
What she made of her life from here on out was all up to her.
“I’m gonna go for a swim,” Dani said. “Be right back.”
“I’ll be right here,” Lisa said. “Go on. Have a good time.”
Dani stood, stretched and walked toward the shore.
A sparkling infinity laid out before her, brilliant and blue and full of promise.
She walked into the ocean, enduring the muck of the sea floor until she couldn’t touch the bottom and let the briny water support her.
She dove beneath the surface, free and fearless and ready for whatever else the future would bring.