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“We’ll let you know as soon as we’ve set a date,” I said, and then before I knew it, I’d been carried off in a sea of people, who were all cheering and congratulating me on getting engaged to Lena Chambers.
As I was bundled off by the crowd, I turned back and saw Lena, in the middle of the throng. There was nothing on her face but pure shock and complete outrage at the lie I’d just told to everyone in the lobby.
Eventually,thefussdieddown. When the crowd of well-wishers had finally left, I was halfway across the hotel. It wasn’t even midday yet, so I went looking for Lena.
Why did I do it? I can’t explain myself, even now.
Was it that I saw an opportunity, an opportunity for publicity, for notoriety, and took it? I don’t think so. That’s not my way. I’ve always hated being in the public eye and had done my best to stay out of it as much as a man in my position could.
Anyway, there was something about the way this situation looked—its ‘optics’, as they say in Washington—which appealed to me. Alex Alson, the family man. Alex Alson, the romantic head of Honolulu Hotels Ltd., who’d proposed to his future bride on a tropical island, the woman who was the public face of his hotels.
It was perfect, and I couldn’t deny it. Jim was already muttering about how to market the whole affair, his eyes wild with possibility. It was a dream in terms of publicity. The hotel wasn’t even officially welcoming guests yet, and already it was a place where Hawaii’s most famous billionaire had gotten engaged.
I wondered what Lena thought of the little stunt I’d just pulled. Hell, I knew deep down exactly how she felt. How could I ever make it right?
I had to get to her, I had to talk to her. I felt sure she has secluded herself in her room, so when the coast was clear, I rode the elevator up to her floor.
When I got there, the door had been left open, and I stepped into Lena’s room.
She was sitting on her bed, in total shock. I stood there in the doorway, almost afraid to speak, and gently closed the heavy oak door behind me.
“Well,” I said. “That didn’t go too badly.”
Lena looked up at me.
I’d seen people parachute out of planes and look more composed than the beautiful woman sitting next to me. Her hands were trembling, closed into white-knuckled fists over her long, bare legs. She’d kicked off her shoes and let down her hair from the ponytail it had been in that morning.
“I guess you must be in shock,” she said.
Then Lena looked up at me, and despite the stress she was under, her face was clear: a mask of pure contempt, without even a trace of excitement.
“What have you done?” she said, and only then did I discover that there were consequences to my actions.
“Bullshit,”saidLena.
“I mean it,” I said. “This could be good for us. For you, I mean.”
“For us?” she said. “There is no us. I was supposed to be leaving today. And now you’ve just told the entire corporate division of your company that we’reengaged.”
“Like I said,” I repeated. “This could be good for us. It’s an opportunity, at least.”
“An opportunity?” said Lena, her cheeks red. She wasn’t an angry or argumentative person by nature. I was well aware that I’d made an awful mistake by confirming the rumors when we got back to the hotel.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to front it out and stay calm, even though I knew that I should be apologizing, that I should be trying to get us out of the mess I’d gotten us into.
“For what? To pretend like we’re engaged, when we’re not? To make more money?”
“That’s part of it,” I said. “I was also thinking about your career. Imagine how much more in demand you’ll be once the news breaks that we’re getting married?”
Lena laughed. It wasn’t a happy-go-lucky type of laugh. It was a laugh of pure despair.
“You’re unbelievable,” she said. “As if people are going to believe this when they see us together. As if anyone would think I’d get married toyou.”
That hurt my pride deep down. If I was talking to anyone else I would no doubt have gotten angry then, let my temper slide and flown into a rage. But some part of medidunderstand the gravity of what I’d done. The trouble it was going to cause for both of us.
“Think about it,” I said, coming to her side and dropping down to one knee, to meet her at eye-level. “This is going to be pretty big news when it breaks. Your career’s going to take off! You can have whatever job you want. And in a few months, say, maybe we call it off. Tell people we weren’t compatible, or whatever. Those folks in Hollywood do it all the time.”
“You’re evil,” she said. “Pure evil, you know that?”
