Undeniable

Maybe he has shown her his boat, and from the expression on her face, she must have liked it very much. I shouldn’t care, I tell myself, but it’s all I can do not to push her off the arm of his chair.

Aside from one searing look when I walk into the room, he mainly ignores my presence, concentrating his efforts on making his devotee laugh over and over again until the sound of her perfectly artful laugh starts to grate on my nerves.

“Constance told me about her stroke,” I whisper to Blythe during dinner.

She sighs. “It was scary, at first, but she’s much better now.”

I nod. “I can imagine,” I say, “the scary part. Is she really better?”

“The doctors say she is, and she does look much better than she did during... in the middle of it all. She is taking things a lot easier these days though.”

After dinner, Nick has some emails to send and leaves immediately, Blythe goes upstairs with Constance, and I’m left to witness Jackson and Elaine’s flirting.

I should leave them. From the pointed looks Elaine is sending my way, I know she wants me to, but some stubbornness makes me stay, a reluctance to leave them alone even though every word they exchange makes me more and more heartsick.

“I can’t tell you how much I hate the fact that we’ll be leaving soon.” Elaine sighs. “I wish we could stay longer.”

“Maybe you’ll come back.” Jackson suggests.

“Oh, I would love that,” She breathes in that smoky voice. She sounds like a bitch in heat, I think in disgust, unable to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

“What Olivia?” Jackson doesn’t miss the gesture, “Wouldn't you like to come back here?”

I meet his eyes, braving the mocking challenge I find there. “I think I’ve had enough of small town living for now.”

He shrugs.

Elaine tugs on his arm and whispers something to him. I see him get up and go to the side table to pour a glass of amber colored liquid. I can’t help staring at him, the perfect body, and the easy and confident way he carried it. Maybe I was wrong to resist, maybe just once I ought to remind my body what it felt like to reach the heights of pleasure his body could give mine.

Embarrassed at my carnal thoughts, I look away and my eyes meet Elaine’s. She’s staring at me, with a smirk on her face that tells me she knows exactly what I’m thinking. Her eyes are gleaming with a certain satisfaction, which I assume to mean that she sure she already has what she thinks I want.

“Olivia.”

“What?” I look up at Jackson, he’s half turned from the side table, looking at me questioningly.

“I said would you like a drink?”

“No,” I get up. “I’m going to go to bed, I’m suddenly very tired.”

His eyebrow quirks, and his eyes say he doesn’t believe me.

“Goodnight.” Elaine chirps pleasantly.

“Goodnight.” I smile at them both, even though inside I have a silly urge to cry. “See you tomorrow.”

Upstairs, I wash my face and change out of my dinner clothes. I have no desire to sleep, so I pick up my computer and start to edit a portrait of an actress I was commissioned to do before I came back to Halcyon. I pour all my consciousness into what I’m doing, trying to stop myself from thinking about Jackson and Elaine downstairs, alone, together.

I don’t know how much time has passed by the time the door opens, an hour or maybe more. I look up and see Jackson framed in the doorway.

“I thought you said you were tired.” He says.

“I thought you would know enough to respect the privacy of a guest in your home,” I

retort.

“Come on,” He laughs. “It’s not like you've got anything I haven’t seen before.” He walks into the room and stops by the bed, where I’m sitting with the computer on my lap. “That looks interesting.” He says.

I don’t reply, instead I continue adding filters to the image to create a pop art effect.