Chapter 33
Now it was coming together for real. Sheridan’s cat sitter might be a little loose-lipped, but she was not selling stories to the press, and she certainly had nothing to do with all that money Phil couldn’t figure out.
Genesis, for all his good-natured charm and movie star looks, was behind all of it. Of course he was.
Gabby was so close to wrapping this up, she could taste it.
Now she just had to ensure Naomi would give testimony so that Jasmine would.
It reminded her of when Kyle would only go to camp if Sierra went, and she had to call the camp and make sure they were in the same group, which, in retrospect, had been a lot of effort to accommodate some whining.
But at any rate, she had managed to get Kyle and Sierra to camp, and she could get both Jasmine and Naomi immunity.
Then take down the cult, get Markus’s and her jobs back, and everything would go back to normal, which wasn’t perfect but was better than not normal.
Gabby wanted to talk to Naomi before Jasmine had a chance to warn her, so she went directly to Naomi’s cottage.
Naomi was on her way out, striding purposefully toward the beach in a bikini and wielding a paddle.
Naomi might be older than Gabby, but she had the look of a lifelong athlete, someone who was so confident in her own body that she was just as comfortable naked as in a fancy dress.
Gabby still hadn’t worn any of the swimsuits the EOD had forced her to pack.
“Naomi, can we talk?”
“I’m getting on my paddleboard. You’re welcome to join me, but it’s probably not the best place to talk wedding details.” It was a polite way of saying, “Bye bitch. I’m busy.”
Gabby groaned. On a normal day, Gabby would say, “See you later. Have fun.” Today, she was on a deadline. She had gambled big, offering immunity to Jasmine, and she needed to lock down the deal before her fake wedding to Markus.
“Sure.” How hard could paddleboarding be?
“Do you have a suit on under that outfit?”
“No, I don’t mind.”
Naomi was just looking for excuses to leave her behind. Gabby would go swimming in full athleisure if she had to.
“Gia, put on a swimsuit,” Naomi commanded. “You’re being weird.”
“Maybe I am weird,” Gabby responded.
“Suit yourself.”
Gabby just wouldn’t fall in. They weren’t going swimming. A paddleboard was essentially a boat. She’d seen Kyle’s friends on them at a birthday party once. Naomi waded out into the water with her paddleboard. Gabby grabbed another one of the boards. There were plenty to pick from.
Gabby scrambled to get her board in the water to catch Naomi, but when she climbed on and gave a strong push, it wouldn’t budge.
“Your fins are stuck in the sand,” Naomi yelled. “You’re still on the beach.” Hands on hips, she said, “Gia, if you want to talk to me about the wedding, I’ll meet you in my office in an hour.”
“I’ve always wanted to go paddleboarding,” Gabby said with a smile that probably came off as maniacal.
After she dislodged the fins from the ocean bottom and pushed the board to deeper water, she tried to climb up the back, but its nose popped up.
The whole thing slipped out from under her like she had just tried to catch a greased hog at the county fair.
“Get on in the middle.” Naomi frowned. “Have you ever done this?”
“Just a little rusty,” Gabby lied.
“The middle, Gia. That’s where it’s most stable.” Naomi frowned and reoriented the board for Gabby.
Once again, the board slid out from under her, and she flopped in the water.
As if she were having so much fun, Gabby laughed.
Really, she couldn’t think of a worse way to spend time.
Why did people torture themselves like this?
With another fake peal of laughter, she said, “I can’t believe I forgot how to do this. ”
“Don’t lie. This is your first time.”
“It is not!” Gabby smiled big.
“Were you airlifted onto the paddleboard last time?”
Gabby laughed again. After about ten more tries and a lot of direction from Naomi (put your left foot here; no, I mean here; grab the board in the middle; yada, yada), she was on her knees in the middle and trying not to breathe lest she tip the thing again.
“When you get a little momentum, rise to chair position.”
“What is that, yoga?”
Naomi glared at her. “Gia, this is a yoga cult. Chair pose is second only to corpse pose in simplicity.”
“So it is a cult?”
Naomi flashed a cagey smile. “I call it a cult with affection. It’s no more a cult than Peloton.”
“What makes something a cult?” Gabby was asking for personal reasons at this point. Naomi seemed pretty smart.
“A lot of things are cults,” Naomi said, “but I don’t think they’re dangerous unless they take your money, harm you, and won’t let you out.” Naomi gestured to the surroundings. “This is just a fancy spa in the tropics.”
“Jasmine wants out of Inner-G,” Gabby said. It was now or never. “I know you’re together. She wants to be with you.” Gabby was trying to paddle to keep up with Naomi.
Naomi’s poker face was solid.
“And I know Inner-G isn’t harmless. I think it’s more of a cult than you think it is, or that you’re letting on.”
The waves lapped over the front of her board.
“Genesis kidnapped Sheridan and brought her here. There are some real problems with his finances.” Gabby hedged her bets there because she wasn’t sure what “dumb” thing was going on. “If I’m right, you helped Jasmine sell stories through an illegal media group.”
Naomi shrugged defiantly.
“This place is going down. If you talk, you will be protected. So will Jasmine.”
If she got testimony from Jasmine and a member of the inner circle, plus the financial records, Genesis would be toast. Job back. Ka-ching!
Naomi shook her head. She didn’t look surprised. With a half shrug, she said, “Men,” in a very matter-of-fact, what-did-you-expect tone. “I’m a lesbian for a reason.”
“There are some good guys out there still, right?” Gabby implored. “My guy… George.”
“Lil’ G?” Naomi raised an eyebrow in judgment. “You mean Big G’s sidekick?”
Gabby’s ire spiked. Instead of jumping to Markus’s defense, she schooled her expression.
“So how are you going to help me?” Naomi said. “Are you CIA or something?”
Gabby stiffened her spine, but it threw off her balance, and a wave sloshed over her legs. “Yes.”
She stopped paddling and said, “You know what pisses me off?”
“What?”
“You’re here, ready to save the day, but you’ve missed everything.” Naomi looked sincerely upset.
“What’d I miss?”
“Are you listening?” Naomi’s expression was intense, even though she appeared to be having zero trouble balancing.
“I’m listening.” Gabby listened as carefully as she could over the lapping waves and raucous water birds. “How’d you know her?”
“I was a political correspondent, and she worked for the Post. We met, got to be friends.” A big duck landed right next to Naomi, and she swatted at it with a paddle. “I brought Amanda down here a couple of times.”
Gabby nodded. “How does that tie into Sheridan? Does Sheridan know something about Amanda’s death?”
Without answering the question, Naomi smiled sadly and said, “She was better at paddleboarding than you.”
“Wouldn’t be hard, huh?” It was time to give up the lie that she knew what she was doing.
Gabby held her breath and braced her knees, trying to keep her balance on the damn board. Just as Naomi was about to speak, someone from the shore yelled, “Gia!” and Gabby looked while trying not to jerk her head too rapidly and tip the whole thing over.
“Is that your fiancé?”
It was. Markus was standing on the beach, interrupting just when she was starting to get answers.
She waved like she was excited to see him. She wasn’t. This is what happened when partners weren’t communicating.
Gabby yelled to shore, “I’m busy! I’ll see you later.”
Markus frowned back, clearly wondering what was going on.
She was solving everything on her own—that’s what.
And Markus was not giving Glen Powell vibes at the moment.
Gabby might not be able to kneel on a paddleboard or have washboard abs, but she was about to take down the president of the United States, if Naomi’s story agreed with Jasmine’s that is.
This is what happened when you gave a woman a week to do her job without kids.
Or maybe she’d end up in prison. Gabby was rapid-cycling between visions of triumph and despair at this point.
Naomi, apparently done with the distractions, was gliding away looking like some sort of Athleta cover model. Gabby tried her best to keep up, but she was putting a ton of energy into going nowhere, a move she was familiar with in and out of the water.
“Naomi, wait up!” she called. “Geez, how are you going so fast?”
Naomi glanced over her shoulder. Even without seeing her expression, Gabby could tell she was annoyed.
“You know I’m not some vapid girl who will spill everything for love. Love—” She let the word hang in the air, not sounding convinced. Had she been burned? Or maybe she was too practical to be guided by softer emotions.
“Isn’t love worth it?” Gabby said. “Sure, it’s not perfect, but don’t you want someone you can weather the storm with? We all need a safe harbor.”
Gabby glanced at Markus onshore. A day ago, she would have fantasized about Markus as hers.
“I might love Jasmine, but I’m not silly enough to think this is our ticket to happiness. The timing isn’t great, Gia. She’s still married, and I don’t understand fully what’s going on, but if I need an immunity deal to be with her, that’s not a good sign.”
Gabby didn’t want to hear it. “Maybe it’s right person, wrong time currently, but I’m fixing all that. It’s going to be the right time as soon as you testify.”
Naomi laughed. “What are you, a matchmaker?”
Gabby wanted Naomi to have it all. “Naomi, just testify. Get immunity and run away with Jasmine. You don’t even have kids to worry about.”
“George is waiting. You can go have it all with him.” Naomi smirked. “Or try to, anyway.”
“Maybe I will,” Gabby said.
Gabby’s dream was slipping away. It’s not like she expected an all-you-can-eat buffet-size portion of having it all, just a small slice of everything.
A career to be proud of and someone to watch Netflix with after the kids went to bed.
Also, how had Naomi twisted this conversation to make it about her?
Gabby was supposed to be working Naomi. Instead, Gabby was questioning her love life and choking on salt water, barely staying on a paddleboard.
She had lost the upper hand, if she’d ever had it.
Was this what happened when you tried to have it all? You ended up drowning under your own expectations while the men in your life watched from the sidelines?
“Jasmine needs help. If you offer testimony against Genesis, Jasmine could leave without worrying about him.”
Gabby, who had been on all fours, rose to her knees and tried to balance. She wasn’t doing chair pose, but at least she was on her knees. Maybe if she were in a pool instead of the ocean, she could stand up.
“What do you say? Will you talk? Get off this ship before it sinks, Naomi.”
Naomi looked back. Her expression wasn’t hard or defiant anymore. She looked lost and unsure.
“Naomi, if you know what’s going on, tell me. Make sure I get it right,” Gabby called.
Naomi began paddling. Gabby tried to stand to follow her. “I’ll take care of you!” Gabby tried one last plea.
“I’ll be fine, Gia. Have fun with your choices.” And she was off. Conversation over.
Gabby dug into the water with her paddle, but the board went right out from under her, leaving her dog-paddling.
Markus came up behind her. “You’re supposed to use a leash.” He pointed to a curlicue phone cord that was attached to his ankle and clipped to his board. “And a life jacket.”
“I’m never getting on one of these again,” she sputtered.
Markus narrowed his eyes. “We need to talk, Gia.”
He needed to talk? That was rich. “Great, because I need to talk to you too.”