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The party was less ostentatious than the previous one, with maybe fifty friends and family rather than the big three-hundred-person bash at David’s client party. It would be difficult to avoid Amelia altogether, especially when she looked at me likethat. I had an immediate reaction to her, my heart rate shooting up and my mind flooding with the memory of her hot body in my car, her sweet kisses and her soft skin.
David spotted me just then, and I hoped it hadn’t looked like I was ogling his daughter. He hurried over to meet me, all smiles and energy.
“You made it just in time for the surprise, Nate. Come on over, grab a drink before I make the big announcement.”
I followed David over to the small bar that had been set up and ordered a bourbon. David made his way across the slate patio to Colleen, who was sitting with a group of her friends, all wearing copious amounts of jewelry, drinking bright pink martinis of some sort.
David clapped his hands together once and asked if everybody would listen up for just a minute. The DJ cut the music and the various conversations quieted down to a hush. David raised his glass to toast his wife, saying a litany of lovey-dovey things to her–about how sharing each birthday with her through the years was so special–and Colleen smiled placidly through his speech.
Then David pulled out his phone and cast his photo app to one of the outdoor TVs, and a picture of a large Cape Cod-style home with white shingles and blue trim filled the screen. A banner on the bottom of the photo read, “Colleen’s Beach Cottage.”
“Happy Birthday, honey,” David said with an enormous smile. “I know you’ve always wanted a beach house on the ocean, so I bought you a vacation home in Newport Beach.”
Colleen hopped up from her seat, mouth agape, with her hands pressed to her cheeks in glee. Her friends squealed in delight, cheering her on as if she had won a game show. She gave David a little hug and a peck on the cheek, then reached for her glass and lifted it in the direction of her girlfriends while they all lifted theirs, toasting and dancing as the DJ brought the volume up once more.
A photo slideshow started playing, featuring pictures of the beach house and its coastal decor that opened up onto the sandy shoreline. The home was far from a cottage–David must have spent several million dollars on a piece of prime real estate in Newport.
All three of David and Colleen’s daughters’ eyes went wide in excitement, and they started clinking their glasses, too. They’d also be the beneficiaries of such a significant gift, after all. The family would now have a second home in one of the most exclusive beach communities in California.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off Amelia. She looked so happy about the surprise, giggling and smiling with her sisters. She was gorgeous when she smiled. That perfect mouth, those soft, full lips, her bright white teeth framed by sexy red lipstick.
I needed to distract myself from her presence. Fill the time until I could reasonably leave the party. So, I found a colleague I recognized, and walked over to chat. It wasn’t long before more platters of gourmet appetizers were being offered by waiters, and people started to move around, finding small tables to sit and eat. After catching up with my colleague, I busied myself with some canapés and made dull conversation with one of Colleen’s vapid friends.
Colleen made her way over, hair in a bouffant and her skin overly fake-tanned, holding a freshly poured pink-hued martini. She whispered something to her friend, who then walked in the other direction, leaving the two of us alone.
“Happy Birthday, Colleen. Congratulations on the new home.” I was glad to get a chance to greet the birthday girl; I’d be one step closer to leaving for the night.
“Thank you, Nathaniel,” she said, her voice syrupy, obviously tipsy. “You’ll have to come spend some time up in Newport, soon.”
I chuckled.
She wouldn’t be inviting me there if she knew I’d deflowered her daughter a week ago.
“I’m sure you’ll be taking the whole family,” I said.
“Hmm. We’ll see. The girls are usually busy with work and their little friends, so I’ll probably be all alone in that big, empty house most of the time.”
“You must be so proud of them.”
“Who?”
“Your daughters.”
“Oh, I guess so. We’ll see if any of them makes anything of themselves.” Her speech was slurring, just slightly. I had a feeling those pink martinis were a little too strong. She rambled on, as if I was her gossip buddy. “Amelia does have a decent career, I suppose. But Larissa spends all of her time at the gym, even when she’s not meeting with personal training clients. She’s putting on too much muscle if you ask me. It’s not feminine! Although Melinda could take a tip or two from her, frankly.”
At first, I thought I misheard her. Was she suggesting Melinda needed to lose weight? Melinda seemed naturally curvy–built differently than slender Amelia and athletic Larissa–but perfectly healthy and fit. It was an awfully insensitive thing for her mother to be saying behind her back. Colleen and I weren’t close like David and I, but she seemed to be growing more and more superficial over the years.
I cleared my throat, looking away awkwardly.
“Anyway,” she elbowed me, “enough about the girls. Nathaniel, you really do have to come up some evening and visit me at the new house.”
There was something in Colleen’s tone that didn’t sit right. As if she was insinuating something; like she was flirting with me.
Then again, she was drunk. A lot of folks get flirtatious when they’re drunk.
“I’m afraid I can't get away from work these days,” I said, deflecting. “Your husband keeps sending eager clients my way. I have to thank him again for the latest introduction. Very motivated buyers.”
Colleen opened her mouth to say something, glassy-eyed and slow to react, but she was interrupted by two of her friends who sidled up to where we were standing.
