Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Present day
Taormina, Italy
I lie next to Nyota on her bed and let out a slow exhale when she asks: “What do you mean, you left them alone and went off by yourself ?”
On the one hand, the question is whispered, and given that her room is right across from Avery’s, I should be very grateful for the courtesy. Unfortunately, Nyota’s whispers seem to have the acoustic power of a sperm whale.
“I don’t know, Ny. I don’t…Conor and Avery—she said that they still like each other. And he slept in Tamryn’s room, I think. I don’t get what’s happening, but I’m not going to compete against women for a guy who clearly—”
“Listen, Maya—he doesn’t want Tamryn, or Avery. He wants you .”
Nyota’s expression is adamant, which is not unusual. It’s the contrast between what she just said and the degree of self-assurance that has me asking, “Did the staphylococcus take a bite off your brain?”
“I’m serious.”
I press the back of my hand against her smooth forehead, looking for signs of meningitis.
“Goddammit—I’m not sick. Or, I am , but—I was sitting next to him for dinner, and I guarantee you that that man has zero interest in Tamryn or in Avery. He looked at you the whole time.”
“Sure he did.”
“Seriously. Not in an obvious way, he’s smarter than that. But he’s constantly checking on you. He keeps track of where you are.”
I scowl. “He’s just controlling. And protective. Mostly because he infantilizes me—”
“Believe me,” she says darkly. “There is nothing infantilizing about the way he looks at you.”
“Right, yeah. How was your day? Do you want to—”
“He’s just good at hiding it from you , I’ll give you that. But while you were playing with the baby boy—”
“Kaede’s a girl.”
She waves her palm, dismissive. “I refuse to acknowledge the existence of children unless it’s absolutely necessary. They produce terrible noises and even more terrible smells, but society lets them get away with it just because they’re cute. It’s obscene how whipped they have us. Anyway, Hark looked at you and the child the whole time. And he glared at Paul.”
“He glares at everyone, Nyota.”
“Okay, yeah, I’ll give you that.”
“Conor does care about me. But not that way.”
“Are you put your hand on the fire and burn your fingerprints sure? Because that’s not my read at all, and so far I’ve been able to predict with one hundred percent accuracy not only which partners at my firm are currently cheating on their spouses, but also with which clients—”
“I got you something,” I interrupt, briefly rolling around to retrieve the little paper bag I brought with me. After sneaking out of the theater, I spent a couple of hours wandering down Corso Umberto while sipping on a delicious drink made of water and sweet mint syrup. I visited a medieval palace, walked in and out of boutiques and souvenir shops, and decided to buy Nyota a present she would love.
“Wow. Nice attempt at distracting me. I am totally not a skilled litigator, and I will absolutely fall for— Oh my god .” She does the sign of the cross. “What in the seven seas is that monstrosity, and why is it breaching the sacrosanctity of my bedchamber?”
“A magnet,” I say innocently, forcing her to accept it. “Of the flag of Sicily. You’re welcome.”
“Is this the lady with snakes for hair? Who turns people into stone?”
“Yup, Medusa.”
“Why is she staring into my soul? And above all, why are three legs and two wings growing out of her neck?”
“The true question is, why not?”
“Terrifying.” She holds the magnet in her palm. “I need a priest. And a rabbi. And a doctor. Is this thing going to chase me at night?”
“It certainly has enough limbs to do so.”
“Wait. If I put it on my desk, will it keep my boss away?”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Thank you for blessing me with this indispensable object, then.”
“You’re welcome. There were lots of other magnets, but this just called your name.”
“With the same voice as the kid from The Exorcist ?”
“How did you—”
A knock interrupts me, and a moment later Rue and Tisha walk in. It’s almost 9:00 p.m., and they’re both already wearing their pajamas. Or still. Aside from Conor, Avery, and me, I don’t think anyone left the grounds of the villas.
“We heard gossiping voices,” Tisha says, pretzel-legged at the foot of her sister’s bed. “Decided that we wanted to be part of it.”
Nyota gives her a skeptical look. “I’m sure Rue was a focal part of this decision. She loves slumber parties.”
“I don’t mind,” Rue says, taking a much more composed seat next to me.
“Anyway. What were you two talking about? The curse?”
“Curse?” I ask. “What?”
“Well, Rue and I have been joking that only a cursed wedding can start with a vomitorium.”
“The wedding is not cursed,” I reassure Rue, who seems mostly amused by my concern for her concern. “We were not talking about a nonexistent curse.”
“About what, then?” Tisha asks.
I cast a panicky glance at Nyota, who quickly holds out the magnet. “About this thing.”
“Oh, my.” Tisha lifts a hand to her chest. “Now that I’ve seen it, will I die in seven days?”
“Probably. Also, I was updating Maya on my vacation sex life, and how I had to stoop to downloading some weird Italian dating app.”
“You usually hunt among the wedding guests,” her sister points out.
“Hard pass. Axel is obviously an idiot. Paul shares genes with Axel, and I refuse to copulate with him under any circumstances, Hark is not my type—”
“Hark is totally your type.”
“—so unless you want me to seduce your nerdy boyfriend, I’m going to have to be proactive about this whole thing, and—”
“How was today?” Rue asks me, leaving Nyota and Tisha to bicker.
“Fun.” I smile. “I got you something at the market. Here, in the bag.” It’s a packet of seed mix—Sicilian wildflowers. “I checked. You can bring them to the US, just have to declare them.”
She smiles, wide, and the rarity of it makes my heart glow with warmth. “We should put it in the backyard. Next to the prickly pears.”
We . Rue always talks about Eli and her home like it’s mine, too.
“We should. And by we , I mean you’ll do the work, and I’ll stay away to avoid withering them with my aura. Do you think that if I ever move from Austin, the garden will finally feel safe?”
“What do you mean, if ?”
“When,” I correct myself. “I mean, when.”
Rue cocks her head, a small frown on her forehead. I’m intensely relieved when Nyota screams, “She’s his step- what ?”
Rue and I both turn.
“Step mother ,” Tisha is saying. “Did you really not know what?”
“Are you for real , now? As in, she was married to his dad? She’s his dad’s widow ?” Whatever Tisha just told Nyota, it seems to have resuscitated her and imbued her with the energy to finally lift her head from the pillow. “Did you know, Maya?”
“Know what?”
“That Tamryn is Hark’s stepmother .”
“I…” I shake my head, disoriented. Remembering the way he disappeared into her room last night.
The groan Nyota lets out is nothing but appalled. “ God . I can’t. I—she has to be around Hark’s age.”
“A few months younger,” I say reflexively, still reeling from the news. Because Conor has talked to me about Tamryn countless times. He just never used her name.
“Dude, this is what I hate about rich old white men.” Nyota sags forward. “They never fail to embody the stereotype, and they’re so damn boring. They have their little midlife crises, and do they decide to invest in sustainability projects? Do they publicly advocate for women’s reproductive rights? Nope, they get married to a girl who was barely potty trained by the time they’d embezzled their first million.” Her gaze sharpens. “It wasn’t a love match, was it?”
“I highly doubt it,” Tisha says.
“Then, please, tell me that she did it.”
“Did what?”
“Killed him. Tell me that stepmommy sprinkled arsenic and cinnamon on musty grandpa’s oatmeal.”
Tisha snorts. “From everything I’ve heard about the guy, he had it coming.”
“Then I hope it was slow and painful and undignified. And I hope her name was all over the will. Being a trophy wife should always be a well-remunerated job, but being a trophy wife to a dickhead? I need her to be filthy rich.”
I scratch my head. “She wasn’t a trophy wife. Or, not only. She was actually an exec.”
They all turn to me. Nyota blinks, accusing. “You said you didn’t know that she was—”
“I know a bit about Conor’s stepmother. I just never connected her to Tamryn. She was actually part of Finneas Harkness’s business. Instrumental in growing some aspects of it. I can’t recall what, though.” I swallow. “She and Conor are very close.”
Nyota’s eyes nearly bulge out. “Are they fucking? Because that would be the real problematic summer fling.”
He’d point out that she’s more age-appropriate than me , I don’t say.
“Tamryn needed to get out of Ireland,” Rue says quietly. Like always when she talks, everybody listens. “She’s good friends with Eli and Minami, too, not just Hark. And…she owns this place. She and Hark are the reason we’re having the wedding here.”
“Is that a yes to the ‘Are they fucking?’ question?” Nyota asks.
Rue smiles. “No, they aren’t. They are more like siblings.”
Nyota says nothing. But the second Rue and Tisha are distracted, she whispers at me:
I told you so.