Page 55 of The Heiress
However, I was too late. Phoenix was already in the pool. I berated myself for taking too long in tying my hair up in a secure bun. With my thick hair in desperate need of a cut, I’d snapped a hair tie and had to hunt for another one.
“How’s the water?” I asked, debating whether I should leave my kimono on the lounge chair or at the side of the pool.
Phoenix smiled, his eyebrows lifting. “So you found a swimsuit?”
“I’m improvising,” I said, suddenly no longer shy. I took off the kimono and draped it on the chair with my towel, standing there in full view in my workout gear. “Luckily I never travel light.” I had no idea where the flirtatious tone came from, and mortified by it, I plunged myself into the pool without checking the temperature. Phoenix said something, but with the splash I’d made, I didn’t hear him.
“Ahhhh,” I groaned, my skin embracing the warm temperature. It reminded me of the hot springs in Banff, a magical place where we’d sat in the warm water watching snow fall on the surrounding peaks after a day of skiing. “Heaven,” I said as I sunk lower and the ripples died down. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
Phoenix’s eyes rolled with subtle sarcasm—ah, that’s right, he had—it was me who preferred to spend the night in my room studying. Foolish me! Several seconds passed in silence as I settled myself opposite him in the two meter wide pool. For some reason, seeing his bare upper body sent me into a fluster. Of course in a pool he was going to be topless! And it was only his shoulders, yet my stomach was fluttering as if I’d ingested a swarm of butterflies.
“Feels good, yeah?” Phoenix asked.
“I think I did more exercise today than the whole time I’ve been here,” I joked.
“You did do a lot of walking,” Phoenix said with a laugh, which was quickly replaced with a frown. “Hey? What’s the story with Bianca? Were you supposed to stay with her this weekend?”
I wasn’t surprised by the question. It was apparent that Mrs. Pritchard hadn’t given Laura the full version of events, the full version of my deception.
“Well, when my Dad said I’d have to stay with a homestay family, I panicked because I didn’t want to stay with strangers and I asked him if I could pick someone to stay with. Bianca had been my student ambassador so I made it sound like we were friends. And I told him I would organize it, and I told Mrs. Pritchard I was staying with my cousins.”
“But you booked intoLa Maison?”
I smiled. “Yes, atLa Maison,”I mimicked the way he’d pronounced it with a French accent.
His eyebrows dipped and he playfully splashed water in my direction.
“But I didn’t count on Dad contacting Bianca’s father and checking it out. Stupid me,” I berated myself.
“And Bee obviously had to tell Addison all about it.”
“And the whole senior class probably,” I said with a wry smile. “Can’t wait for school on Monday.”
Phoenix gave a sympathetic smile, dropping his shoulders beneath the water. His legs fluttered, brushing against my feet. In a bid to pretend it hadn’t happened, I blurted out, “Uh, why did Addison assume I was staying with Taylor? What did she mean?”
I hadn’t meant to be so nosy, because whatever Addison had meant about Taylor’s finances wasn’t my business, but a surge of all things wonderful had sent my heart out of rhythm and my brain into a fog.
“You never saw that article in the Covington Times?” Phoenix asked. I shook my head. “Do you know Tay has a tennis scholarship?”
“Yeah, I heard that.”
“She lives over in River Valley,” Phoenix said.
“So?”
“So some people call it Poverty Flats and Addison found out where she lived, and let’s just say she tried to shame Taylor about it,” Phoenix said, his voice laced with both anger and sadness.
My heart jigged on hearing that. She’d tried to shame me about my watch, inferring it was fake. “What’s her problem?” I asked.
“Pure evil?” Phoenix quipped. “Honestly, I don’t spend a minute thinking about her. She’s not worth it.”
“I’m sorry about what she said about your mom.”
Phoenix shrugged again, his neck tilting back to look up at the night sky through the slatted roof. “It is what it is.”
I drew in a steadying breath, directing my eyes upward too. A sliver of moon peered back, and in the moment of peace, I wished I’d listened to Beth Van der Wal and knew whether the moon was waxing or waning, new or old.
Light, dark,
