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"Leo ... Leo ... I said, 'Oh, Leo," Jacqui explained, peppering his face with kisses. "I said, 'Leo ... meu amor..."
Leo settled back down next to her, even though he wasn't quite sure that Jacqui was thinking about him. Jacqui lay there, thinking of how Leo was a bad idea she couldn't shake. Jacqui couldn't help herself. She was the type of girl who always had a boyfriend, and she needed to do something to stop herself from crying all the time, and finding solace in Leo's skinny arms seemed to do the trick.
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After the scene at the polo match Jacqui hadn't had the heart to continue working. Who could work when your heart was stomped on and thrown to the dogs? Instead she holed up in Leo's room, watching bad television and raiding the fridge. She had gone back to the Perry house to pick up clothes when she knew Eliza and Mara were out with the kids.
She didn't want to face them. They had been so nice to her at the match, but she just wanted to be alone, or at least alone in the only way she knew how to be. She knew she was going to get in trouble, but she was in a foreign country, in a place that only meant something to her because of the guy she loved, and somehow everything that she knew was actually important--like her job--just ... faded away. She thought about maybe just getting on the next plane back to Sao Paulo and forgetting all about the Hamptons. She hadn't even spent any of the money she'd made so far. That morning, she'd looked up ticket prices on Leo's laptop. But right now, she didn't even have the energy to leave the shelter of Leo's bedroom, and she had a feeling that feeling wasn't going to go away anytime soon.
Anna would probably fire her when she got back, but Jacqui was too far gone to care.
How silly of her to think that anyone could really love her. Their two weeks in Sao Paulo were nothing but a mirage. What had Eliza said? He was a "player." Someone who pretended to be in love with her, but he was really only in love with her body. Just
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like every other guy on the planet. No one ever got past her looks to bother with the real person inside.
Leo seemed different, though. Yeah, he was always telling her how beautiful she was, but he was also always mentioning how lucky he felt. When she looked at him, she didn't feel any butterflies, and when he kissed her, she didn't close her eyes and see fireworks. But she could pretend. She was good at that.
He was sweet. He was a nice guy. And right now, he would have to do.
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mara finally orders the right Kind of drink
She could get used
to this life, Mara thought as she sipped on her second frozen star fruit margarita. The cool, sweet, and tart concoction tasted like liquid heaven, and she was getting a nice buzz from the pure agave tequila. Better yet, Ryan had asked her to come with him to the party--as friends of course-- it wasn't a date or anything. But Mara had been flattered enough that she was trying very hard to put the weirdness of that morning behind her.
The two of them shared a prime outdoor table with an ocean view, underneath a heat lamp. Lucky Yap had swished by and taken yet another photo of the two of them. By now it was such a common occurrence, Mara knew how to pose to show off her best side.
Ryan explained it was some party for an old friend of his. Whoever it was, he must be really important, Mara decided. Around them assorted glitterati mingled and table-hopped. Mara had already spotted the teenage star of the summer's hit movie,
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the game-winning shortstop of last year's World Series, and a slew of quasi-famous reality TV stars, from the twenty-something socialites who had shipped themselves off to boot camp to a couple who had met and married on a dating show.
If Megan could see me now, she thought, feeling a little homesick at the memory of her funny older sister, who worked at the local beauty shop and spent her days giving the local clientele her approximation of the latest Hollywood looks. Mara promised herself she would remember every detail so she could tell her sister all about it.
But her mind kept wandering back to the scene in the kitchen. So Ryan had a girlfriend, so what? She kept reminding herself that she had a boyfriend, too.
And so what if Ryan liked redheads? Who didn't? Mara thought as she unconsciously pulled on her own dark locks. The girl was cute, Mara would give her that. Too cute. She could surf, too. Mara was a flop at athletics. Always the last picked on any team. Cute and could surf. And blessed with a hot little body that filled out her string bikini top. Speak of the devil...
"There you are!" the girl said breathlessly, giving Ryan a quick kiss on the lips before she sat down.
Mara tried to curl her lips into a smile, but they wouldn't obey.
"Hi! I'm Camille!" she said, sticking her hand in Mara's face. "Mara."
Camille leaned forward to whisper something in Ryan's ear.
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The two of them started to laugh, and Mara felt extremely uncomfortable.
"Sorry! We're being so annoying, aren't we?" Camille asked.
"How did you two meet?" Mara asked. She and Ryan had avoided talking about this--her--until now, but Mara was above all that. At least, she would try to be.
