found my unicorn.” She pointed at the pool, where the inflatable unicorn floaty I’d bought for her years ago was floating. They must’ve dug it out of some closet in the poolhouse.
“Go on in,” I said. “You still fit in that thing?”
“Of course,” she said, handing Xander her cooler. He followed her to the pool, where she flopped onto the floaty. He handed her cooler back to her. She screamed when he grabbed the unicorn by the horn and jerked the floaty like he was going to flip her.
He didn’t.
She splashed him and called him a very nasty word, smiling the whole time. He laughed, flashing his teeth and taking a swig of his beer.
My sister was in love with my best friend. I still couldn’t quite digest that.
I’d just never known either of them to be in love before, maybe. And really, I couldn’t remember what it was like to be in love. Witnessing it in action felt foreign to me, like most human experiences based on emotion and connection with other humans.
“No rest for the wicked, huh?” Taylor said.
I looked over at her.
“You don’t take Saturdays off?” she asked me.
“Not usually.”
She was wearing a sort of see-through pink cover-up thing over a black bikini. I tried not to look too closely, pretending to watch Xander and my sister goofing around. But I couldn’t help noticing her toes, wiggling a little to the music. Some old school No Doubt was playing now, which could’ve been Xander’s pick or Courteney’s. Or Taylor’s, for all I knew. Maybe she sang Gwen in the shower, too.
She sipped her beer and grinned as she watched them. She looked comfortable here, and I liked it. Already, I liked having her here. Definitely improved the scenery.
I’d told myself many times this last week, since I made the decision to hire her, that I was doing this for my sister, and maybe for myself, in the healthiest way. That maybe I was finally listening to what Court and Xander had been trying to tell me for years. That maybe this would help me grow or something.
But the truth was I was taken with Taylor. I found her fascinating.
And I wanted to control our relationship as much as I could.
I knew that was sick.
I didn’t care.
I’d been sick for so long, maybe I was just used to it. And good mental health was overrated anyway. I probably wouldn’t be half as good as I was as a musician if I was wholly sane.
And anyway, none of this would hurt her. It wasn’t about her. It was just the way I needed it to be.
“Hey, I’ve gotta go,” I told Xander, when he strolled back over.
“Sure, brother.” He didn’t bother arguing or trying to convince me to stay. He knew that would just get awkward for all involved.
Plus, he probably didn’t want to draw attention to my freakishness in front of my new assistant.
Courteney gave me a wave from her floaty. “Thanks for coming out to say hi! Don’t work too hard, okay?”
“Never.”
She grinned, and Xander slapped me lightly on the shoulder. Then I turned to say goodbye to Taylor.
“Catch you later,” I said, kinda awkwardly. Xander was watching, and it made me self-conscious. I probably had about zero game left with women at this point, and Xander had always been a professional player.
“I’ll walk you in,” Taylor said quickly, and followed me as I bolted for the house.
“Have a good weekend,” I told her at the door. “I’ll see you Monday.”
“Yeah—about that,” she said, grabbing the door before I could close it behind myself. She glanced back at Xander and Courteney, who were goofing around in the pool. Then she slipped into the living room with me. I had to step back so we wouldn’t touch. “I just got an email from my bank,” she said. “An automatic alert.”
I said nothing.
“It said that there was a large deposit made into my checking account. I checked, and… it was as if, instead of a paycheck, six months’ worth of paychecks got deposited at once.”
“Right,” I said.
She searched my face like she was waiting for some explanation. “Was that a mistake?”
“It wasn’t a mistake. I had your pay deposited into your account. All of it. Just thought it was a good idea to pay you everything upfront. And I put in a little extra so the taxes don’t kill you.”
She stared at me, not looking happy at all. “Why?”
I went blank. I couldn’t even compute the question.