I stood in the kitchen and watched Jake scowl at me for a minute before he finally turned on his heel and headed up the stairs without another word. I knew I shouldn’t have said something but Dominique Gerard was about to drive me over the edge with her accusations and I couldn’t quite help myself! She seemed so sure of herself and I just wanted to knock her down a peg or two… It wasn’t really going to cause any trouble in the grand scheme of things, right?
Sighing to myself I poured a glass of wine and then wandered upstairs for an early night. Slipping out of the blue dress I hung it on the back of the wardrobe door in the bag from the department store, and then I pulled on some shorts and a t-shirt. Grabbing my book I went and sat on the balcony, sipping my wine as I picked through the book some more. It was a French classic, Les Miserables, dumbed down for school children. It was a story I knew well, but reading it in French just made it all the better.
A loud splash startled me from my slow progress, a figure down in the pool. I peered over the edge of the balcony to see Jake swimming strong, careful strokes across the length of the pool and then turning and going back. Back and forth, back and forth. I felt the smile on my face before I’d even realized what I was doing. He used to do this every night it was warm enough, getting the kinks out from sitting in the truck and lifting crates all day. It reminded me of the old days.
Shaking my head I stopped myself. I was engaged to another man now, my chances with Jake a distant memory. And it was all my fault that things had ended.
“Are you just going to sit up there and watch me?!” he yelled from the pool, shocking me out of my thoughts.
“What?” I asked, a bit embarrassed to be caught out.
“Come swim!”
“I’m in my pajamas!” I called down.
“Whatever, it’s a perfect night for a bit of a splash around,” he shouted back.
Huffing to myself I gave in, scampering into my room and changing into one of my bikinis. “I’m coming!” I called from the balcony before heading down the stairs and out to the pool. “It better not be too cold,” I warned as I made my way outside, the soft lights of the pool illuminating Jake’s face.
“Its fine,” he said, “The sea is way colder.”
“Still, I was comfy in my PJs.”
“Shut up and jump in,” Jake scoffed, swimming off to the far end.
Carefully I put a toe in, shivering as I pulled it out. “Just gotta jump,” I mumbled, holding my breath and launching myself off into the pool.
“See it’s not so bad,” Jake grinned as I emerged from the water, my lips going blue and my body practically convulsing from the cold.
“It’s awful!”
“Such a baby!”
I rolled my eyes at him, splashing underwater as I tried to warm up. It took a bit of getting used to, but eventually I got to a point where the water wasn’t so bad. Still cold, but bearable.
“So…” Jake said.
“So?”
“What are you really doing here?” he asked, “Because I feel like there is more going on than you’ve told me.”
“No, what I said is about it,” I replied, “I got fired from another stupid finance job and decided I needed a mental break, as far away from New York and Wall Street as I could get myself.”
“Why did you pick Eze?”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I mean, you could go anywhere in the world,” Jake said, “Why did you pick somewhere you’d been already?”
