Chapter Ten
Ilie in a sun chair on the beach, the warmth of the sun soaking into my aching body.
It’s my favorite kind of ache—full of first whimpers and sighs and whispered promises I want to keep forever.
No more secrets, Owen knows everything and he wants to be mine.
My phone buzzes. I reach into my bag and grin when I see Eloise’s name, but my elation quickly turns to panic. I know Eloise only agreed to marry Owen as part of a business deal, but would she see this as a betrayal?
I let out a steadying breath and answer the video call. “Hey.”
“Hey Char…, I mean… me? This is weird. Are you alone? Can you talk?”
I chuckle at her awkwardness. “I can talk.”
“Oh good.” Eloise lets out a huff of relief. “The job interview was amazing. Oh my gosh—I need to tell you everything about the location and the hot mountain climber I spent two nights with.”
She fans her face, then stops. “Actually, we probably shouldn’t talk about that with me being kind of a married woman, I guess.”
My stomach knots with nerves, but I take the opening. “About that… Owen knows.”
Her face falls. “Shit.”
I smile, trying to reassure her, but my grin must be too big, because she gasps. “You had sex with him!”
She barks out a laugh, and the screen turns wobbly like she’s jumping up and down. “I can’t believe it—my big sister finally busted the v-card, and with a stud like Owen Phillips. I’m a little jealous.”
The sun isn’t the only thing warming my skin now. “How did you find out Owen was the groom? Did Dad tell you?”
“No, it was on the report for the resort expansion. He sent it to me the day of the wedding, but I only just checked my email today.”
“How is he expanding the resort?” There’s a road on one side of the resort and the villa on the other.
“I only had a quick glance, but it looks like it’s going to be built up right down to the waterfront. It’s an awesome idea for appealing to a younger crowd like he wants.”
My pulse is racing so fast it’s hard to breath. “To where the villa and Seaside Serenade are?”
Eloise shrugs on the screen. “I don’t know what they are.”
“Can you send it to me? Now?”
“But I wanted to hear all about your week. What did you mean when you said Owen knows? Are you two a couple now?”
“I promise we will talk, but I really need to see the file. It’s important.”
“OK.” Eloise sighs. “I’ll send it now, but you better call me back. I need to know if I’m married or not.”
We end the call, and I refresh my email again and again until the file shows up in my inbox. Clicking it open, my heart sinks.
It’s a plan for a project Owen’s father started, set to begin construction this year. I scan the map, and the locations of the villa and restaurant are filled in with sketches of multistory condos.
Emotion wells up inside me.
I storm through the sand, onto the deck, and into the villa to see Owen standing by the printer, papers in hand. “Are those the plans?”
He frowns at me in confusion. “What plans?”
“The plans for the resort expansion.”
His eyes widen in shock. “Charlotte, I…”
“You talked about this place like a second home, but you’re too stuck in the past trying to fill your father’s shoes to see that you’re taking something beautiful and destroying it for profit, just like my father.”
Hurt flashes on his face, but it’s quickly replaced by anger. “You think I’m destroying something beautiful, yet you’re the one not being honest with your father, letting his expectations chip away at your confidence to the point where you have to hide your art and who you want to be. You are beautiful, and it’s awful to waste that in trying to be something you”re not.”
His words hit me like an arrow, straight to the heart, cracking open the shell I’ve been hiding behind, leaving me feeling exposed.
I need my sketch pad and pencil, but they aren’t here because Owen is right; I’m a liar.
I storm out of the villa and onto the beach, then walk until my feet ache and the familiar weather-worn planks of Seaside Serenade come into view.
The comfort I feel when I walk inside disappears when I see Amy.
She spots me and stands straighter as she looks over my shoulder. “Where’s Owen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to call him? I have his number.”
Jealousy is the last thing I should feel right now, but it’s there, churning up my emotions.
Because Owen is right; my entire life is a lie.
I dropped out of art school even though creating is a part of my soul.
I let my father box up my mother and move on because I didn’t want to upset him by admitting that I missed her every day.
I lost my virginity to the husband I’m not technically even married to.
And to top it off, unlike Amy, I don’t even have his phone number.
I close my eyes and try to take slow, even breaths. I don’t know if I want to laugh at the absurdity of my life or burst into tears.
Neither.
I open my eyes and look at Amy. I hold up the hand sporting a giant diamond ring. “Owen is mine. Lose his number.”
She gapes at me.
I turn and walk out of the restaurant to see Owen leaning against the building, smirking.
“I’m yours, am I?”
All the conflicting emotions swirling inside of me can’t compete with one growing stronger with every thump of my heart. “Yes.”
His smirk drops, replaced by a shy smile. “You were right about me living in the past.”
“You were right too.”
He walks toward me and gently takes my hand. “I think we’ve both spent too long trying to make other people happy.”
He pulls out a folded sheet of paper—the same one he was looking at earlier by the printer—and hands it to me. “It’s time to make ourselves happy.”
It’s an application for art school.
Heat prickles my eyes.
He wipes away a tear and cups my cheek. “I’m also not following through with my father’s plan for the resort. I’m thinking we can come up with a plan of our own that includes a few bed-and-breakfasts and family artwork on the walls.”
The tears fall heavier now, but I’m smiling. “That sounds perfect.”
The End