Chapter 23
I jump in the canoe and shove offshore, my grip tightening with each paddle stroke.
I detect a vein rising near my temple and the pounding of my pulse.
Olivia sits in the canoe’s front facing me, watches me, but says nothing, waiting patiently for me to spill the tea.
But I’m at that point in the anger spectrum where talking about it won’t help; it will only spin me out into a full-blown rage.
I drive the paddle deeper into the water, rowing faster and faster.
The burn in my arms dissipates the anger. A speedboat zooms by us, the engine roaring, sending a wake. I attack the waves head-on. The canoe rocks, and water splashes around us.
Finally, Olivia can’t take it any longer. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. He is just literally the worst person on earth.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Maybe later. Not right now.” I accelerate my strokes, sweat rising on my face.
Olivia nods knowingly. She gets me. She gestures to the lake. “Well, this is a terrific place to forget about him.”
I temporarily push my angst to the side and soak in the scene.
The sun rises over the trees, sending flocks of mourning doves hopping from one oak to another.
Cottonwood leaves shimmer in the breeze like sequins.
Now that the speedboat is gone, the water lies still, and a faint mist hovers along the shoreline.
The quiet won’t last. In an hour or two, the vacationers will arrive, music blaring. But for now, everything holds.
The memory of Vivek spoils the tranquil scene like black ink on a watercolor canvas. His smug smile. His condescending tone.
Olivia catches my eye but says nothing. She just offers a soft smile, then turns her gaze back to the lake, letting the silence stretch between us like a warm blanket. No questions. No sideways glances. Just presence.
When we were kids, that’s what set her apart.
Most girls treated each other’s lives like chewable gossip, something to gnaw on and spit out when the flavor ran dry.
They had finely tuned gossip radars and could sense when you had something titillating.
They poked and prodded until you spilled the beans, reveling in sharing the news.
But Olivia ignored all of it. She floated above it all.
If you wanted to talk, she would happily listen, but if you didn’t, that was okay too.
Still, I can’t shake Vivek. He’s lodged in my brain like a shard of glass. That’s his gift—no, his weapon. He doesn’t scream, doesn’t shout. He studies you. Waits. Watches for the moment your guard drops and then slips a verbal scalpel between your ribs.
He knows exactly where to make the incision.
My thoughts spin, a frantic, roaring engine that refuses to catch, building to a suffocating heat behind my eyes.
“I just can’t fucking believe that guy,” I shout, ripping my oar out of the water and slamming it on my thighs. I let out a loud growl that echoes through the treetops.
Olivia perks up, her eyes coated in sympathy.
I continue ranting like I’m arguing a case in front of a judge.
“I mean, first of all, he’s responsible for this mess yet acts like I’m harassing him.
Second, I’m one of the top consultants in The Firm.
I’m on pace to be one of the youngest Winthrop partners ever, and he acts like I’m some underachieving intern. And then…”
“Girl, don’t do this to yourself,” says Olivia.
“And then…he follows me to Big Island. Could be he’s stalking me.
Could be The Firm is watching me. God only knows why.
And he has the audacity to imply I’m stalking him.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined someone who could take the truth and twist it like that.
And then his fucking wife is just standing there, oblivious to it all, talking about the psychopathic girl at work who harassed poor Vivek.
It’s like I’m living in some kind of bizarro world.
” I jab my oar into the water and resume paddling.
Olivia places her hand on my knee. “You can’t think like that. This is what he wants. He wants you to question yourself. You can’t forget. You know what happened. You know who he is.”
I paddle faster, trying to create distance between me and Vivek, between me and the memories. “Yeah, you’re right. I know. It’s just so infuriating.”
“The question you have to ask yourself is, what are you going to do about it?”
“That’s another thing. Right now, I can’t do anything.
I’m waiting for Winthrop to complete its investigation.
Obviously, I could press charges, or I could sue him.
But I’m trying to make partner, and that’s definitely not going to help my case.
For now, all I can do is wait and hope they do what’s right. ”
“But will they?”
I think back to what Vivek said. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”
Olivia bites a hangnail off her thumb. “You should think about whether you want to leave your fate in their hands.”