and introduces me to important people. You keep your shades on and stay on yours. For both our good. Deal?”
I nodded again, suddenly feeling like a chastised schoolgirl and fighting the urge to yank the sides of my cover-up together. “Yes. Fine.”
Matthew picked up the other two drinks and made his way back to my mother without another look my way. I turned to face the pool, cocktail in hand, and without thinking, tipped it back in one go. Oh, he was right. I shouldn’t have come out here. I shouldn’t have stayed at all. The next few days would be harder than I had ever imagined.
I turned in the other direction and found Jane watching me carefully from the other side of the pool. Beside her, Eric seemed to be fielding questions from an assortment of extended family while she sat alone, looking bored. I waved at her half-heartedly, and she tipped her head to one side as if to beckon me over. Questions were written across her wry features, through the thick cat-eyed glasses that somehow made her look both quirky and shrewd.
“Mommy? Mama, are you actually wearing a swimsuit? Are you really coming in?”
Grateful for the intrusion of Olivia’s uncertain voice, I turned my attention to the pool, where she had swum to the side with a hopeful look on her face.
I knelt down to the edge and forced myself to smile.
“Yes,” I replied with more enthusiasm than I felt. “Yes, I believe I am.”
Chapter Seventeen
Two cocktails, endless hidden glances, and one swim with Olivia later, I had made small talk with every one of my family’s associates and acquaintances, and steered my great-uncle Rupert away from the drink cart, all while assiduously avoiding Matthew’s quick green gaze even while being astutely aware of his presence as he also made his rounds about the party. From time to time, I caught bits of conversation floating about. He was using his skill with cocktails to his advantage—getting on Marcus’s good side by helping out the staff and using my mother’s large stores of liquor to loosen the lips of my family’s social circle.
To them, he was a lark. A charming, well-mannered boy with just enough edge to give them a thrill. He knew exactly the right kinds of things to say, to the point where I found myself quite disgusted with it all. Was that how I had been when we met? Had he sized me up across the bar, known that if he touched my shoulder in the exact right way, called me “doll,” and looked at me with those deep green eyes, I’d melt into his touch just like my cousin Carolyn was right at this moment?
I found myself stewing on exactly that when my name was called from across the party. I turned and froze when I saw the second last person I expected here today: Caitlyn Calvert. Well, I suppose it was Shaw now.
“Will this day never end?” I muttered to myself.
“Nina!” she called out with a flick of her wrist. “N, darling! Oh, I’m so glad you made it this weekend!”
On the other side of the party, Jane froze mid-conversation with her mother-in-law, Heather, with whom she’d become quite close recently. She immediately set her empty glass on a side table and made a beeline over to Eric, who was encircled by two neighbors comparing golf courses in loud, domineering voices. Eric’s face lit up with relief when he saw his wife approach, but immediately hardened when he followed her nod toward Caitlyn.
“Shit,” he mouthed, then found me. His meaning was clear. What was Caitlyn doing here? I shook my head, hoping he would understand that I was not the one who invited her.
“Hello,” I greeted Caitlyn as she offered air kisses. “This is a surprise.”
I waved a hand for Marcus’s attention, but he was already starting a cocktail for Caitlyn, as well known as she once was in our family.
“I’m so sorry to drop by unannounced,” Caitlyn replied. “Violet called to let us know about it this morning, and Kyle’s desperate to get Eric’s ear on something. But I’m glad I came—look at you! In a bikini, no less!”
“Oh. Yes,” I said. “Did you lighten your hair again?”
“Do you like it?” Caitlyn toyed with the sunny blonde ends of her waves. “Just a touch-up.”
I tipped my head. “It’s nice. I haven’t seen it this blonde for years, though.”
There was a loud throat clearing beside her. Caitlyn turned to her husband as if