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As time passed, and I reunited with my friends, I realized that although I’d loved her, we’d been wrong for each other. I needed someone who would love me as I was—a vampire with friends who were close as brothers.
Rose hadn’t been that woman.
She’d left, moved to London and married an aristocrat there. Now she was Lady Rose Hartley and was pregnant with her second child.
She was happy, and I was joyous for her. But it had left me invisibly wounded. Would I ever love again? Would I ever find the woman of my dreams? A woman who could stay with me for life as long as my life was likely to be—possibly hundreds of years?
Then the others had come up with the idea of a woman we could share. One for all. A woman who we’d love equally and she us. I sometimes wondered if the fact we could afford anything, ask for our heart's desires, meant that some of us were unable to see when their request was impossible.
I didn’t think we would ever find one woman.
The sooner this ridiculous proposal was kicked into touch, the better.
Difficult as it was, we needed a woman each, and those women needed to get along and accept each other and us. I was sure it would happen eventually. My parents had found each other, and it was two hundred and sixty years later when they finally got fed up of each other and divorced. My father was now married to one of the models he painted and my mother had taken up with an Elder.
This image of perfection was deluded.
I didn’t have a regular job. It was too complicated, leaving paper trails of employment when you never aged. Instead I’d taken up photography, inheriting my father’s keen eye for detail. Usually I took photos around Carbon Beach. My highest paid work so far selling for a cool $1.6 million was a photo of Carter in the surf. You couldn’t tell it was him, only I knew that, but the rays of the sun caught the surf as it hit the board and a renter here took the photo home as a reminder of paradise. My father had asked me if I’d take some photos of the Malibu Dream for them. They wanted to overhaul their website and brochure. The owners were family friends, so it was a given I would not only do it, but there would be no charge. In all fairness, I could take a room there when I liked, and we were allowed to use the facilities so I could hardly complain.
So camera and equipment packed away, I headed from my home to the hotel to get these photos underway.
I’d dressed simply in beige chinos and a white tee. I walked into the hotel lobby and one of the receptionists greeted me. “If you make your way up to the first floor and head for the Conference Suite, Miss Ripley is waiting for you.”
“Thanks, Arianne. How are the kids?” I asked the middle-aged woman as she smiled at me from behind the reception desk.
“Teenagers, don’t ask.” She replied before chuckling.
I skipped the elevator and headed for the back stairs. It was two flights to each floor, and easier than waiting for a car. From exiting the stairwell, I walked to my right where the main conference room was and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Pushing the door open I was
hit by the smell of new carpets and paint. The conference room had been overhauled and my feet bounced across the plush carpeting. I didn’t know a lot about technology but knew enough to know that the equipment Miss Ripley was looking over with Ted Johnson, the Manager of the hotel, was state of the art.
“Hey, Flynn. We’ll just be a sec.” Ted yelled from the front of the room as I made my way toward them.
“Flynn - Serena Ripley; Serena - Flynn Kelly.”
“Pleased to meet you, Flynn.” Serena said extending a hand. I took it and shook, “Likewise. I hear you are the new Conference and Events Manager?”
The blonde narrowed her green gaze at me. “News sure travels fast around here.”
“It’s Malibu. Gossip travels like the blood in our veins. You’ll not headline long though. Bound to be an overdose or sex scandal by Wednesday latest.”
That brought a small smirk to her lips.
I appraised her while she and Ted finished up their conversation about the new equipment. Serena was around five feet seven, with a curvy figure. Her skin was pale as if she’d spent too much time indoors. Malibu would soon bring a dash of gold to her cheeks. She held herself straight, but her posture was relaxed showing her utter confidence in her abilities. Wallflower she was not.
God, that was refreshing. I looked forward to spending time with her while I took the photos. I could tell that Serena was no simpering pathetic female who was going to be all, ‘Yes, Flynn, no, Flynn’. My heartbeat picked up in something I’d not felt in a long time—excitement. From doing my father a favor, I now was champing at the bit to get started on this project.
“This is amazing, Serena. The business people of Carbon will be fighting to book in here.”
Serena nodded at him. “That’s the plan.”
“Well, I’ll leave you two to sort out the photos. The quicker the website is updated the better, but of course you already know that, hence Flynn being here in the first place.” Ted told her. “You’re already making a difference, Serena. You’re a breath of fresh air to the hotel. Thank you.” He shook her hand.
“Flynn.” He nodded at me and then left.
