Page 36 of Fake Dark Vows
“What are you saying, Rose?” He stops on the edge of the beach and turns his back to the beautiful foamy ocean and golden sand. “Come on, I’d love to hear it.”
Tears well in my eyes and I look away. I should’ve jumped ship back in Key Largo. I should never have allowed myself to get swept up in his competitiveness after the first challenge, but I was riding high on the glory of playing the conch, and allowed myself to believe that it would be okay.
More than that, I convinced myself that spending the day together might actually spark a common ground so that we could at least pretend to get along for the rest of the week.
Wrong, Rose!
The man has no interest in getting along with anyone, not on a personal level anyway. He thinks he’s an island. Well, good luck with that. The lyrics of the Simon and Garfunkel song pop into my head.
And a rock feels no pain.
And an island never cries.
“Come on, Georgie.” I offer the child my hand and run with her across the beach to paddle in the water.
It’s warm in the shallows. I peer across the ocean until my eyes water from the diamonds playing across the surface. Part of me hopes that he’ll leave us here. He’ll have to go home and tell Kelly where we are, and why he finished the treasure hunt without us, and perhaps the other guests will see him for the obnoxious, self-absorbed asshole that he is.
Meanwhile, Georgie and I will build the biggest sandcastle we can manage, complete with turrets and a moat, and shells for windows. We’ll even use seaweed to make a flag on top and give it a name. And when Kelly comes to get her daughter, I’ll ask her to take me straight to the nearest airport.
But forgetting Brandon and the treasure hunt isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Maybe I shouldn’t have put the sombrero back. If I’d let him buy it, he wouldn’t have been in such a foul mood; he’d have taken his selfie when we got here, and we’d be on our way to the next challenge.
But could I have listened to him gloating and remained silent about his cheating? I don’t even have to ponder the answer to that question.
Laughter penetrates my thoughts and my eyes drift to a large family higher up on the beach. They’ve come prepared. Sunshades have been set up to shelter the youngest kids from the afternoon sun, folding chairs have been arranged in a circle, and a couple of cool boxes are filled with food and drink.
Two dads are playing frisbee with their kids—the ones I heard laughing. But my gaze is instinctively drawn to the sombrero one of the women is wearing.
A sombrero!
I scan the beach for Brandon and realize that he has spotted it at the same time. He’s striding towards the family, a dark scowl on his face, and even though I’ve seen the Weiss charm at work, I’m not sure Brandon fully understands how to employ it outside of the boardroom.
I grab Georgie’s hand, and we run, barefoot, towards the family to intercept him.
The woman wearing the sombrero holds on to her hat as she tilts her face upwards when she sees us approaching.
“Hi!” I yell from a distance, getting in first. “My name is Rose. Where did you get your sombrero?”
“Oh, honey,” the woman drawls with a Southern accent. “I brought it on vacation with me. Sombrero Beach. It had to be done.” She and her friend both laugh, and I spot the empty beer bottles on the sand between their seats.
Brandon joins us and stands next to me, keeping a small distance between us. First mistake, I think. These people would be a lot easier to convince if they believed we were a family.
“We’re taking part in a family treasure hunt.” I say, omitting the fact that we’re staying on a private island. I shuffle closer to Brandon, so close, our shoulders are touching and try to ignore the warmth of his skin on mine. He doesn’t flinch. “One of the challenges is to take a selfie on Sombrero Beach wearing a sombrero. Would you mind if we borrowed your hat, please? All we need to do is take a picture.”
“A family treasure hunt.” The woman turns her attention briefly to Brandon and back again. “What a brilliant idea. We should steal that for our next vacation, Pam,” she says to her friend.
“Love it,” Pam says. “So, what, you’re visiting the Keys collecting selfies?”
I notice the tic on Brandon’s jawline. He’s still clock-watching, and the last thing he wants to do is stand around on a beach with the sun beating down on the top of his head, and swap game strategies with a couple of strangers.
“Yes,” I say, intervening before he snatches the hat from the woman’s head. “We’ve already taken a selfie with Betsy the lobster, haven’t we, Georgie?” I inch Georgie around in front of me to diffuse Brandon’s abrasiveness.
It works every time. Especially when Georgie says, “Betsy the crabby, Rose.”
“Aw, isn’t she adorable?” The woman wearing the hat Brandon is so desperate to get his hands on, hauls herself out of her seat and grabs a popsicle from a cool box which she offers to Georgie. “There you go, honey.”
“Thank you,” Georgie says politely, sealing the deal for their affections.
The woman pulls the hat from her head and gives it to me. “Put it on, honey, and your fella can get a selfie of the two of you with the ocean in the background.” She smiles widely and gestures for Brandon to move closer.