Dark Shadows (Gia Santella Crime Thrillers Book 11) by Kristi Belcamino (best motivational novels txt) 📗

with the drinks they’d made. I sat at the far end of the pool where there were two lounge chairs. The others gathered at the opposite end, sitting at the edge of the deep end with their feet in the water.

Amanda leaned over and said something to the others, and they all looked over at me and Conner, who was sitting on the lounge chair beside mine.

“What’s your story?” Conner said. “You’re clearly American. What brought you here? The festival?”

“Sort of,” I said.

“Not the festival?”

I shrugged.

“I’ve been caring for my ill husband for the past few years, and this is a bit of a getaway for me. I thought I wanted to be alone, but…” I trailed off.

“Husband?”

I looked at him and nodded.

“That’s tough,” he said. I could tell he wanted to ask more. Like if I was still married. He glanced down at my left hand. There was no ring. There never had been.

Nico and I were not legally married. But he was my husband.

I didn’t want to share more.

“I’m sorry. I know being a caretaker is really hard.”

I looked at him with surprise.

Instead of answering, I nodded.

“How long have you been here? At the villa?” he said. I knew he was changing the subject.

“I made it three days alone,” I said, not meeting his eyes. “I spent years dreaming of time alone. Not having to worry about anyone else. It was all bullshit. It wasn’t what I actually wanted.”

He pressed his lips together. “That happens to me a lot.”

I squinted at him. “Oh, yeah?”

He grinned.

“What’s the story with Amanda and Lucas and Owen?”

“Boy, you don’t miss a beat, do you? Owen has been in love with Amanda since first grade.”

“That sounds like a sweet love story. How long have they been together?”

“About a month. It wasn’t so sweet at first,” Conner said, running his fingers through his long bangs. “At least not for Owen—he came from a pretty fucked up household. His mom took off when he was a baby. His dad is a raging alcoholic. They never had money. He always had on hand-me-downs and sometimes smelled bad.”

Conner shot me a glance. “I feel sort of bad even telling you this.”

“I don’t judge,” I said.

He pressed his lips together. “I can tell. So Amanda would have nothing to do with him. But she was crazy about Lucas. Their families were friends. Country club members. Had dinners together and so on. But Lucas didn’t want anything to do with her. Until high school. Then they dated briefly. But he broke up with her. I think it’s because she cheated on him or something. I never got the full story. But it was ugly. Meanwhile, Lucas and Owen have always been best friends. Even when they were little. I think it was really hard for Owen to see Lucas with Amanda.”

“I bet.”

“That’s when Owen came into his own. By high school, his dad had died and he went to live with an aunt for the summer. By senior year he came back all built from working out and driving a Porsche. He’d apparently inherited some life insurance policy. All the girls at the school wanted to date him. Even Amanda.”

“Did they date?” I said looking over at the two of them. Amanda and Owen were now in the pool. He had her pressed up against the wall and their faces were close.

“Nope. She had some other boyfriend at the time. Then we all went off to colleges across the country. Well, a few months ago, we all graduated and were back in L.A. and ended up picking up right where we left off. And that’s when Amanda and Owen started dating. We met Sabine and Clint at a party and found out they were planning to come to Cannes when we were so we made plans to travel together. And here we are.”

“Hey,” he said in a soft voice. “Enough about us. Sometimes I talk too much. You barely have said anything.”

“It’s fine,” I said.

“Well, I’m glad that you are here and can relax and enjoy yourself for once. It sounds like you haven’t done that for a while.”

For some reason his kind words made me teary. I quickly looked away.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I upset you?”

I shook my head.

Then his mouth was on mine. He was a really good kisser. And very sexy. I let myself go for a few minutes and then grew self-conscious when it got quiet at the other end of the pool.

I pulled back and said, “I think I need to go cool off in the pool.”

He laughed. “Me, too.”

At one point, we were all in the pool together. Amanda went back inside first, saying she had to call her sister in LA about something. Then Lucas said he was going to go make some drinks for everyone in the kitchen.

It was none of my business. Hannah wasn’t paying attention. In fact, she was deep in conversation. Her back was turned to the house, and she was smiling and talking animatedly to Owen and Conner. It was good to see.

I was talking to the emo couple. They were actually really nice. Art students who were leaving in a few days to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. They really had only met the others a few weeks before at a party in LA.

Amanda and Lucas had been gone about twenty minutes when my phone rang.

It was sitting on the small table by the lounge chair. I got out of the pool, dripping wet, loped over to the table, and picked it up.

It was the care home.

“Hello?” I answered, my heart pounding.

I saw Conner watching me as I headed toward the house.

It was about Nico.

Dripping water on the floor, I stood inside the French doors frozen, listening to the voice on the other end tell me that Nico might have pneumonia.

I closed my eyes.

My gut was churning. I was dizzy and grabbed for the marble kitchen counter.

This was bad. Really bad. But there was