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The rules aren’t the same here. And she’s so close, the warm sun drawing out red highlights in her hair, copper-golden strands that glimmer in the light. I want to tangle my fingers in those waves of hers and pull her in close to me. This is so fucking dangerous, but this is what I want.
I brought her here for a reason. And not just to keep her away from my brother.
That’s only part of the story… and I can’t lie to myself.
“Eva?” I ask and she’s blushing, and then lifts her chin a little, settling her shoulders.
“That would be nice,” she says, and she perches gingerly on the wooden lounge chaise, glancing at me as if expecting me to yell at her for sitting in my presence. When I don’t, she slips off her shoes and tucks her feet underneath her, curling up on the chaise to watch Maddie swim.
My daughter cuts through the water like an otter, under the careful eye of the lifeguard who stands on the dock, waiting to dive in at the first sign of trouble.
I pour Eva a tea, and she eyes me with hesitant suspicion as I bring it to her, taking to the chaise next to hers.
She sips it slowly, a frown on her face.
“Is the view not to your liking?” I ask, amused. She shakes her head, turning to me.
“How do you know how I like to take my tea?” She asks.
“You use a criminal amount of sugar,” I muse, and her eyebrows arch. I sigh. “A good employer knows what makes his staff happy,” I reply. “Four sugars and heavy cream, it’s more dairy and sweet than it is tea. Unusual. I took notice.”
She buries her nose in her cup and drinks deep.
I swear her mutter,
“It’s notthatweird.”
A smile lifts the corners of my mouth and I watch Madeline, the water spraying up from her hands as she flips her in the water, her legs flashing through the surface. My breath slows in my chest, in and out, as the peace of our surroundings sink into me.
And beside me, Eva sits, quiet and still, her chin lifted, eyes glued to Maddie, not able to look away despite the lifeguard on duty. My chest tightens.
Yes.
She is absolutely perfect.
Which is completely, thoroughly a problem.
26
Eva
If the great house was a monument to wealth and historical importance, the lake house is the opposite but no less luxurious. I do have the room next to Madeline’s, but that’s an understatement. It’s got its own sitting room that leads onto the front deck, a stand-alone bathtub in the bathroom with floor-to-ceiling windows so that even when bathing you’re reminded that you’re in the wilderness. I’d worry for peep-toms, but I get the feeling that this enclave, despite the lack of fencing, is well protected and secluded enough that the only way someone could spy is from the waters itself.
And from what I recall, Lake Tahoe is heavily patrolled by security. There are too many high-profile titled people who own property here.
The house is all wood and stone but modern, built sometime in the last twenty years, and it doesn’t have the weight of the ages rooting it into the ground. It feels airy and light, and as I get Madeline showered off and dressed for dinner, she begs for a simple sundress with not even an undershirt, the straps hugging her thin shoulders. We don’t even dry her hair, and I french-braid it wet.
“You’ll sit with us,” Maddie asks, eyeing me in the mirror. “The usual rules are not the same here.” I smile, not able to help myself.
“When I was your age, it was all I could do to hold my fork and then not even properly. And here you are, knowing all the etiquette.”
“Lack of manners is to ask for death,” she replies, so solemn that I stop, fingers pausing in mid-twist.
“That’s awfully serious,” I comment lightly. She shrugs and smiles.
“I don’t think they actually meandeath-death,” she says. I tie off her braid and pat her on the shoulder.
“Well, yes, if your father is alright with it, I’ll sit with you at dinner.”
