Page 35 of Broken Butterfly
“What was that all about?”
“Girl stuff.” Elizabeth does a belly flop onto the bed and props her chin in her hands to look at me. “Are we good, Fallon?” She’s referring to everything that was said last night.
“We’re good.”
“Good,” she says.
“Yep.”
“Glad that’s settled.”
“Yep,” I repeat.
“I meant every word,” she says.
“What was it you told me? No take-backs.”
“No take-backs.” She grins. “Now, let’s put on our swimsuits and go down to the pool. Have you ever played ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ before?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Well, then, Mr. Montgomery, let’s go have some childish fun.”
“I’ve decided that you have to convince your sister to adopt me. How long does it take to get Spanish citizenship?”
“What are you going on about?” Fallon mumbles, eyes closed behind his sunglasses as he floats beside me.
“Tatiána has alazy river, Fallon,” I emphasize like it’s the most important thing in the world.
We’ve been enjoying the pool while waiting for Tatiána and Eduardo to come out. Once I saw there was a lazy river, I was done for. I mean, who actually has a lazy river as part of their backyard pool? Filthy rich people, apparently. And it’s heated, otherwise it would be too cold to go swimming this morning.
“Yeah?” He still sounds perplexed.
I’m lying stomach-down on a float. Not the round ones that you usually see at water parks, but a proper one that I can stretch out on. Fallon is floating beside me on his back, one hand holding on to the side of my float, his toes poking up out of the water.
“She has a lazy river. That’s a good enough reason for me to move to another country and beg her to let me live in her house.”
Fallon chuckles and sinks below the surface of the water. I don’t have time to ask where he’s going before my float is flipped over from below and I tumble into the water. When I resurface, Fallon is swimming away from me at a fast clip, laughing his ass off.
“Coward!” I yell.
I notice Tatiána waving at me from the patio. A tall, dark-haired man is at her side. He looks every bit the distinguished older businessman, except he’s not wearing a suit. Eduardo is tall and lean, dressed casually in a crisp blue dress shirt and fitted black dress pants. His hair is ebony black, where it almost looks deep purple when the sun hits it at just the right angle. He leans over and places a kiss to Tatiána’s temple, and she melts against him like ice cream on a hot summer’s day. I wave back to acknowledge that I see them and swim over to where some steps lead out of the pool. Just when my foot hits the bottom step to climb out, Fallon grabs me from behind and lifts me up high above his head. A tiny squeal escapes and I have to brace on his forearms so I don’t slide right out of his hold, our bodies still wet and slick from the water.
I hear Tatiána tell Eduardo, “See what I mean,” and his deep, masculine chuckle follows in answer.
I give up my futile attempts to wriggle out of Fallon’s grasp and just go with it. If he wants to carry me around like a sack of potatoes, so be it. As we get closer to his sister and brother-in-law, I see the age difference between Tatiána and Eduardo that Fallon was talking about yesterday. He had told me she married very young and that Eduardo was about two decades older than she was. I regard the silver gracing his temples and the crinkles around the corners of his eyes. But I also notice the warmth of his smile when he looks down at Tatiána, the love shining in his deep, brown chocolate eyes, and the way his hand possessively wraps around the curve of her waist. This is a man completely in love with his wife and it shows.
Eduardo is first to greet Fallon when we stop in front of the happy couple. Of course, Fallon doesn’t put me down, and my cheeks heat with embarrassment.
“Fallon, so good to see you again. Tatiána has been most happy that you are here. And you as well, my dear,” he says to me with a genteel bow of his head. “My Tati has had nothing but wonderful things to say about you, Elizabeth. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I regret that I wasn’t here to welcome the both of you when you arrived as I had some business to attend to. But let me offer you a formal welcome to our home.”
“Fallon,” I hiss out between gritted teeth, trying to get him to put me down. He finally gets the message after I pull his arm hair.
“So sorry about him,” I apologize and hold my hand out to Eduardo. He takes it and brings it up to his lips. “It’s nice to meet you. You have such a lovely home,” I tell him.
Fallon kisses Tatiána’s cheek, then mine, and excuses himself. “Sorry, I need to make a phone call. I’ll be right back.” I hadn’t thought too much about the fact that he hasn’t called anyone or received any calls that I know of the entire time we’ve been on our trip.
“You make him happy, Elizabeth,” Tatiána says, bringing my attention back to her.
