They spent the day playing at the beach. Several times, Adrienne felt like pinching herself to make herself wake from an amazing dream where there was nothing but warm water, hot sand, and a clear blue sky. It was as if Seattle and Seb belonged to a different world—a soggy and rain-drenched universe where she had to wear black suits and make arguments for other people’s problems while her own concerns festered beneath the surface.
She watched Nick swimming in the tide, moving away from her with strong, sure strokes. The first time they’d met, she’d been twenty and he sixteen—almost seventeen, but still just a kid. He’d looked like Seb, but less confident, less substantial. He’d been wiry then, with a shock of dark hair that fell over his forehead. He’d jerk his head back to keep the hair out of his eyes. He’d been quiet, watchful, reserved, but a surprisingly fierce competitor when it came to a game of any kind—cards, soccer, or basketball. Not that she had ever played the latter two with him, but she’d seen him go toe to toe with Seb many times on the basketball court. Seb, being bigger and stronger, had usually won, but Nick had put up a challenge. Idly, she wondered who would win if they should play today.
A shudder passed through her as her thoughts turned to Seb. She had promised herself and Nick that she wouldn’t think about him, but at some point, she would need to reach a decision. She couldn’t hide out at her sister’s indefinitely. Briefly, a cloud shrouded the sun and the air cooled. Could this phase of her marriage be like the passing cloud? Cold and dark momentarily? Sunny and warm in the future? Or would there always be another Therese on the horizon?
Adrienne dove into the tide and tried to let all thoughts of Seb go. Closing her eyes, she swam hard, enjoying the rush of water against her skin. She stopped when she bumped into someone.
“Hey,” Nick said. “I caught you.” He stood before her, the water glistening off his tanned skin, his hair slicked back, his dark eyes shining.
Adrienne’s feet sought solid ground, but she couldn’t find it. Nick reached out, snagged her wrist and pulled her closer to the shore.
“I’ve been thinking about your idea,” he told her. “Come on, let’s go back to the café and make it happen.”
#
Nick set up his laptop while Adrienne took a shower. Because Tio Jose lived in an apartment behind the café, Nick could hear the shower running while he waited for his computer to boot up. He steered his thoughts away from Adrienne. That way lies madness, he told himself as memories of the slippery smoothness of her skin as they played in the tide tormented him.
His phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket. Seb. “Hey, I was just thinking about you,” he told his cousin. In a roundabout way.
“How’s it going?” Seb asked. “Are you two coming home soon?”
“In a roundabout way,” he said, echoing his thoughts.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’ll get there, eventually.”
“That’s good.”
“What do you mean?”
Seb cleared his throat. “Listen, I know I told you that I wanted you to bring her home, but I was wondering…”
Nick’s throat tightened and his breath caught. “Spit it out.”
“Well, do you think you could try and keep her down there for a while?”
“Why?”
Seb grunted. “Abuelo is going to Rome for a month.”
“Rome? That doesn’t sound like something a dying man would do!”
“He said he wants to see the Vatican before he dies.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with Adrienne, or me?”
“I have some things I need to work out. They require some…finesse.”
“What sort of things? Therese-type things?”
“Ah, so you know about her?”
“I think everyone does.”
“Not everyone,” Seb said grimly.
“Seb, tell me, if it wasn’t for Abuelo and the business—” Nick had a dozen questions he wanted to ask, but he pressed his lips closed when Adrienne appeared in the doorway, backlit by the afternoon light. Even with her hair wet and her face scrubbed clean of make-up, her beauty took his breath. A faint sunburn touched her cheeks and nose. Her dress clung to her damp skin. “I gotta go,” Nick told Seb in a strangled voice.
