The next morning, she sat down on a local talk show wearing sunglasses and implied that I’d removed her—physically—from my house. The police paid me a visit and set the rumor mill spilling.
My lawyers advised me to settle. Gigi wanted me to fight back. But, I didn’t want a court battle. She just wanted my money. And that is the one thing I have plenty of. It kept the foundation’s and family money out of her reach.
“Don’t let it get you down,” Gigi says. She mistakes my silence for sadness.
“I’m not down. I’m glad she’ s gone,” I say honestly. It’s true. I hope our paths never cross again.
“Most people aren’t so calculating,” she says. “You had one bad experience. You can’t stay single forever because of it.”
“Why not?” I say it like I’m joking, but I’ve actually considered it.
“Don’t say things like that! People will start thinking you’re like that ridiculous George Clooney,” she says.
“He looks like he’s doing all right,” I say frankly.
“Hayes McGregor Rivers,” she says sharply, and I laugh at how riled up this topic always gets her.
“I know I got Renee wrong. But, in my defense, I didn’t think you’d marry her a week after you met. If you let me leave this earth without grandnieces and nephews, I’ll will haunt you forever,” she says.
“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. I like having you around,” I retort. She lets out a pained, long-suffering sigh.
“You’re thirty. You need to start thinking about it again. Especially if you’re going to make a successful transition back into Houston’s society.”
I can’t suppress my groan. We’ve been having this argument for the last year.
“Gigi, let me do one thing at a time. The foundation needs my attention right now. The wife hunt can wait.”
“Well, there are lots of eligible girls from very nice families in Houston,” she says.
“Gigi—”
“Oooh, if I’m here more often, I could be your matchmaker,” she says hopefully. I start to quip that she’s done enough by introducing and encouraging my liaison with Renee. But, it goes beyond whatever her hopes are. I have watched one marriage of convenience after another fail and fall apart. It’s the last thing I want. So, I level with her.
“I’m not interested in being with anyone who would use a matchmaker. Especially not if it’s any one of the women you’re talking about. They wouldn’t care if I was eighty, sterile, and impotent. They want my money and they want to secure themselves a lifetime of monthly checks in the form of child support when they birth little Rivers heirs, and they would sleep with our gardener to make sure they got it even if I couldn’t give it to them,” I say.
She’s completely quiet.
“Gigi?” I call her name.
“You need to think about who you’ll move on with,” she says finally. Her voice is completely normal. I put her silence down to a bad connection.
I’ve already moved on. To a place where choosing a wife will never be an impulsive, uninformed act again. I’ll never put Kingdom at risk like that again. “I will. If you will drop this conversation,” I say.
“Deal. I had lunch with Henny yesterday,” she says perkily, and I relax a little. Rivers Wilde gossip, I can deal with.
“How was that?” I ask.
“She looks wonderful. Retirement agrees with her. We ate lunch in her pool and drank an entire bottle of wine. Her friend Sally made lunch. It was grand,” she giggles to herself. “I was sick to my stomach when I got home, but it just made me think about how much I miss living here,” she says dreamily.
“Perfect, I’ll buy you a house and you can move with me,” I say.
“I-I couldn’t leave Positano, but I’m thinking with you gone, it won’t feel like home. I spent the first twenty-five years of my life in Houston. Being back here, especially in Rivers Wilde … I’m tempted to start spending part of the year here. It’s charming,” she says happily.
“Charming isn’t how I would describe it, but I think you being there would make it feel less like hostile territory,” I say.
“I wish your brothers would come home. You need them. Though, with that dreadful mother of theirs, I can understand why they scattered the way they have,” she says ruefully.
“They will,” I say with more confidence than I feel. I certainly hope they will. So far, their responses to my request have been less than promising. But, Gigi’s right, I need them. They’re all the real family I have left.
Houston doesn’t feel like home anymore, and I have to find a way to make it so. Having them around might make that easier.
“Oh, dear.” My aunt sounds dismayed. “I shouldn’t have mentioned Renee. She always spoils the mood.”
“She’s good for that,” I say.
“Just goes to show how money can’t buy you anything that matters.”
“Right,” I say shortly. Talking about Renee and money are two things I’d always rather not do. But when I think about all the money I spent to book this particular suite in the hopes of finding quiet, and how that, too, has managed to elude me, it makes me downright antsy.
“All right, baby, you go on. Just promise you’ll try to have a nice time,” she says.
“I promise,” I say and hang up.
I walk back to the door and open it.
The corridor is empty. Oh, I plan to have a very nice time.
GOLD DIGGER
HAYES
“This is paradise.” A female American voice drifts into my ear as if carried by the light sea breeze and interrupts my afternoon nap. Reluctantly, I open my eyes slowly and sit up. I squint against the afternoon sun’s glare and sweep my eyes over the huge veranda. I’m as alone as I’d been when I first came out here to lie down.
I listen and don’t hear anyone talking. I walk over to the ornately-carved stone wall and rest my forearms on the smooth, sun-warmed cement rail and stare out at the view.
The sweeping green and blues of the sea, sky and verdant, lush landscape seem endless. The light breeze isn’t stiff enough to do more than ruffle the very fine hairs on my arms. But it carries with it the smell of lemon and pine. The salt of the sea spray gives the air a bite that’s softened by the sound of the sea’s lazy current.
The sea stretches and disappears into the curve of the horizon. I gaze at it and understand why people thought the world was flat. From here, I can imagine falling off the illusion created by the glancing kiss it shares with the sky.
The mossy cliff that runs along this stretch of beach surrounds the villa making it feel secluded even though there are neighboring villas on either side. My room is one of only two massive suites on the fourth floor. I thought it would be quiet. I hoped that if I had neighbors, they would be people who wanted to be as far away from the festivities’ noises as possible.
A cacophony of excited women’s voices tears a hole in that hope. Laughter and unintelligible shouts of delight spill through it and splatter all over my mood. It was good while it lasted, I tell myself. I pull out my phone and scan my emails.