Chapter 69
I run to the front door, praying against all odds that I’ll see Dom waiting for me on the driveway. But, just as I feared, the driveway is empty. There’s no sign of his car anywhere.
He’s gone.
I run back inside, grabbing my phone off the counter where I left it when I rushed out. No missed calls, no new messages.
I hit his name in my contacts list, my heart pounding, but the call goes straight to his voicemail.
I hit Call again, but his voicemail picks up without a single ring.
“I guess he wasn’t the man for you after all,” Rex mocks, bitterly. The back door is still slung open, and he’s sitting on a lounge chair silently watching me. He looks like a villain, hiding out in the dark, and my heart pounds even harder knowing that he has a front row seat to all this.
I slam the door and pull the blinds across the glass so he can’t see me. Then I type a quick text to Dom.
That wasn’t what it looked like. I swear. Come back
Three little dots appear, then disappear.
“Fuck!” I ignore the urge to throw my phone, and I start typing again.
I saw you typing, so I know you have your phone in your hand. Please call me. Rex was out of line. I don’t know how much of that you saw, but it wasn’t what it looked like. Please come back.
I wait to see the three little typing dots appear again, but this time there’s nothing.
I toss the phone onto the cushion next to me and slump down on the sofa, putting my head in my hands.
A few hours ago, I saw my whole life falling into place — only to have everything stripped away in one fell swoop. This entire trip I’ve pleaded, begged, and questioned my fate. But all I can say for certain, in this exact moment, is that fate, the universe, or whoever is pulling the strings of my life — none of it makes any sense.
* * *
After sleeping hardly a wink, I take the first available Uber to Dom’s house the next morning. My redeye flight back to New York takes off at eight thirty tonight, but I’m not leaving this island until I’ve had a chance to set the record straight.
Abby is giving me a pep talk on the way over.
“Don’t leave until Dom agrees to talk to you in person,” she says.
“You’ve never dealt with people like Quinton and Selma,” I tell her. “The way they are on-screen is nothing like who they are in real life. And after the way Dom left here last night, it’ll be a miracle if I can get past them.”
“First rule of negotiation,” she coaches. “Don’t let the conversation end on your side. Keep it going. As long as they’re listening to you, there’s still a chance.”
“I can’t believe this is happening,” I whisper when we pull up to the driveway. “They’ve got to have cameras all over this place. I’m sure they already know I’m here and they’re all just watching me from inside.”
I feel like I might be sick.
“Just go up there, head high. You didn’t do anything wrong and you’re going to help them figure that out.”
“Thanks, Abs,” I say, wishing she was here.
“Call me after.”
My heart sinks when Selma answers the door.
“Oh. You.” She looks stripped of all patience. “Olivia, Dom isn’t here this morning.”
She starts to shut the door.
“So you do know my name!” I blurt out, holding the door open. It’s a bold move to entice her into talking to me, so she’ll tell me where he is, or at least not immediately slam the door in my face.
It seems to work — she rolls her eyes but doesn’t shut the door quite yet. “Of course I know your actual name. Believe it or not, I was excited to meet you last night. At first. Congratulations on your engagement, by the way.”
I try not to imagine how upset Dom must have been when he got back home. Selma and Quinton will probably blackball my name all over Hollywood after this.
“He needs to give me a chance to explain. I’m not engaged. Dom walked in on something he should never have seen last night. Something that shouldn’t have happened at all. My ex was out of line.”
“Quinton told me about you pitching him down by the pool after I went to bed.” She raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me. “If you weren’t just using Dom to get to Quinton, then how do you explain that part?”
“Can you tell me where he is? Just give me a chance to explain.”
“Sorry, honey.” Just as the door is about to click shut, another hand curls around the edge to stop it.
When it swings back open, Dom is standing on the other side. His hair is mussed and his eyes look exhausted. He must have slept as poorly as I did.
“Oh, thank God,” I say. “Talk to me. Please.”
He looks over at Selma, who shrugs at him and walks away. “Was she acting like I wasn’t here?”
“Honestly, I would probably do the same thing if I was her right now. But you have to let me explain.”
Finally, he steps outside and shuts the door behind him. “I’d rather not walk you through the house right now. Quinton and Selma are nasty when they’re pissed. Let’s go around out back.”
I shudder, imagining them both inside like chained guard dogs, waiting to shred me.
We silently walk around the garden, past the stone table where I’ve been writing, and out to the water’s edge. It’s a crystal-clear morning, with the waves lapping gently at the shore. We settle into the powdery white sand, and I take a deep breath, letting it all come out.
I tell him about the conversation I had with Rex when I got home. How he was waiting for me with a bottle of wine and two glasses. How he and Juju broke up, and how he used that to segway into a proposal.
When I get to the part about Rex getting down on one knee, he stops me. “I don’t think I need to hear this part.”
“Please just let me finish. You’ve had us both stuck in a moderate panic attack for the last six hours, when you should have just let me tell you what happened last night!”
He presses his palms into the sand, taking a deep breath like he’s trying to calm down. “Go on, then.”
“Juju broke up with him yesterday. She found out that Rex and I used to be together. Her friend showed her the video after recognizing me. Then Rex used that as an excuse to propose to me, but it was all wrong.” I stop and speak more slowly, so he has no choice but to listen to this part extra close. “Dom, I stopped loving Rex a long time ago.”
“You didn’t run back to be with him as soon as your pitch to Quinton went sour?”
“I know exactly how this must feel. Especially since your old fiancée did something like that to you. Used your family, then devastated you. But I’ve done nothing to deserve that.” My voice is firm. I know, deep down, I haven’t done anything wrong.
He studies my face. “No? Then explain how you left here after completing your pitch to my brother, and immediately found yourself in the arms of your ex. Down on one knee, for Christ’s sake. You two weren’t secretly together this whole time, were you?”
“With me pretending to fall in love with you, just to get to Quinton? You can’t be serious.”
He stays quiet.
My voice cracks. “I found out that Rex was cheating on me with Juju last night. For six solid months before we broke up. She texted me that Rex was planning on leaving me the week I proposed to him. He already had his ticket purchased to come out here.”
His jaw locks — his eyes burn into mine. Just seeing him this upset makes my eyes fill with tears.
“Dom, I would never do that to you.”
“I fucking hate that guy,” he growls.
His hand finally slides over mine, but the tiny grains of sand stuck to our skin feel like sandpaper between us.
“So that’s right when I stormed out, leaving you to deal with that news all alone?” he asks, putting the pieces together.
I nod, my eyes filling with tears of relief that he’s finally understanding what went wrong.
“Jesus Christ, Liv. I really had no idea. From my perspective, all I knew was that you left in a hurry after Quinton rejected your script. Then I walked in on the guy you swore was your ex proposing to you.”
He brushes the sand off between our hands, so our skin feels soft and smooth pressed together. Then he scoots an inch closer to me.
“Selma and Quinton were acting so strangely last night. I kept letting them have it, every time you left the room to go to the bathroom or sneak more ginger ale—”
“How did you know I was sneaking ginger ale?” I crack a smile.
“Everyone in the room knew you were sneaking it.” He leans into me with a smirk. He kisses me for the first time since I arrived. “I was trying to figure out why they were acting so weird. Selma’s whole thing about calling you Veronica or Olive, and basically asking you to cook the meal like that. I was just trying to keep the peace and not call them out for it in front of you. I didn’t want to embarrass you even more.” He sighs. “After talking to them today, they really did have the best intentions at heart. Even if it was in an effort to protect me, they shouldn’t have acted like that toward you.”
I sigh. “I understand. I really do. Your brother cares a lot about you.” Then I lean over to kiss him. It’s a short kiss, and nothing to write home about, but he allows it. I scoot even closer to him, resting my head against his shoulder. “I’m so sorry you had to walk in on that with Rex. I should have never even gone out on the deck to talk to him. I shouldn’t have made that mistake.”
“I believe you.” He gives me another kiss. This one feels more sincere. “And I’m sorry about leaving angry last night. I should have given you a chance to explain.”
Then he pulls out his phone and clicks open his Airbnb app, scrolling through multiple screens until he comes to Rex’s original reservation record. He reads the fine print, then lets out a shaky breath, holding it out to me so I can see what he’s looking at. The app shows the date Rex’s reservation was made, confirming it was done long before I proposed to him.
Juju was right.
I turn away from the screen and stare out at the water.
“I can’t believe all that was going on behind my back. I somehow managed to propose to that asshat and throw my entire career into turmoil, while he was already making plans to leave me.” I take a deep breath, reliving the rollercoaster of my last few months. Then I turn to Dom and climb onto his lap, straddling his hips in the sand, with our faces just inches apart. I cup his face between my hands. “But I would go through that a thousand more times if it meant that you’d be waiting for me at the end of it, like you are now.”