Blue Dahlia (The Dahlia Trilogy of The Gilded Flower Series Book 1) (7 page)

Dahlia clutches the binoculars tight. “Crap,” she mutters to herself as she watches the twenty-foot waves crash down, violently rocking the boats. Through the lens she can see Sebastian being towed out by a jet ski. Her heart leaps into her throat as she imagines all the possibilities that lie ahead. It’s no secret that Mavericks are some of the most dangerous waves to ride, especially because of the rocks inside the break. The adrenalin, the mental challenge of catching a perfect ride that towers above you—none of it seems reason enough.

She sighs knowing that a life with Shane means living in his world of risk.

Dahlia lets out a long exhale as she watches Sebastian release the rope and begin to glide down as the wave crests above him, picking up speed in the face of the wave. Suddenly, she sees another surfer drop in on him, forcing him under water. Her heart leaps into her throat as she moves the binoculars around to find Shane.

Finally, she sees Shane at the edge of boat, poised to dive in. “Don’t you dare,” she says aloud, trying to will him to stay put. She keeps watch, waiting, hoping for Sebastian to surface, knowing he’s getting pulverized by the turbulent waves pushing him down.

Her heart is beginning to race, each minute that passes means one less minute of air for Sebastian. She knows this must be killing Shane. It’s nearly impossible for a surfer to stand by and watch this. Then, just as she’s about to lose her nerves, a tow rider jumps off his jet ski and rides out the wave, keeping a now unconscious Sebastian from being pulled under again. Another jet ski passes, allowing the rescuer to grab hold of a sled and ride back to the boat.

“Promise me you won’t go out there again,” Dahlia says quietly as they drive home from the hospital. Thankfully, Sebastian came out of this with only a concussion. But Dahlia knows, like Shane, it could’ve been much worse. He was lucky this time.

Shane reaches for Dahlia’s hand, kissing each of her fingers. “I promise, babe. No more big waves.”

“Is that a promise you can really make, Shane? I know how much you love it out there.”

He looks over at Dahlia. “Babe, you leaving hurt worse than anything that could happen out there. I wouldn’t want to lose you again. Besides, it’s not as if you’re asking me not to surf again. Nothing above ten feet, I promise.”

Dahlia exhales. “I was so scared for him, and even more terrified that you would go in after him.”

“It was hard not to. But we have a good rescue team.”

She runs a hand along his cheek and down his jaw line. “I love you, Shane.”

“Hey, babe.” Shane opens the door to the studio.

Dahlia spins around, her heart about to jump out of her chest. “You scared me,” she says, yelling over the blaring music.

He smiles at her. “Is that my surprise?”

She moves to the side and looks down. “Do you like it?”

Shane whistles approvingly. “Well, I can’t say that I’m as good looking as you’ve made me out to be in this painting, but you’re gorgeous.”

Dahlia grins as he rubs the small of her back. It’s a painting based on the sketch of her drawing him while he was surfing. She wanted the bright colors of the sea and sunset to bring the scene to life.

“I’ll hang this in my office,” he says, kissing her lovingly. “Speaking of which, I was wondering if you’ll be ready to go down to Santa Barbara tonight. Sebastian wants to tweak one of his big guns before heading out to Cortes.”

“Sure,” Dahlia replies, pursing her lips together, a knot starting to form in her stomach. “On second thought, while you’re in Santa Barbara, maybe it would be a good time for me to go to Miami for a couple of days.”

“What’s in Miami?” he asks.

“Not what, who,” she says in a low voice.

He looks at her curiously.

“Someone who mattered a lot to me before I rediscovered you.”

“Now or never,” Dahlia mutters to herself as she knocks lightly on the heavy white door. She avoids ringing the doorbell. Obviously, she gets the subconscious reason behind this. She’d rather be anywhere but here.

Dahlia knocks again, secretly hoping he’s not home, although Lily assured her he would be.

Finally, raising her arm for a final knock, a beautiful brunette with dark green eyes answers the door, her nakedness barely concealed beneath a man’s shirt. Dahlia quickly recognizes the blue Prada linen shirt she gave to Rodrigo during her last visit to Miami.

“Who are you?” the woman asks, frowning at Dahlia.

Dahlia swallows her initial surprise and squares her shoulders. “I’m here to see Rodrigo,” she says, her voice calm and cool as steel.

“Who’s at the door?” Dahlia hears him call out.

“Some blond looking for you,” the woman smirks. Dahlia raises an eyebrow at her.

She feels him before she sees him. Every nerve ending becoming alerted to his presence. Her heart races as she hears his footsteps on the white marble floor.

“Oh, wow, Dahlia. Hey,” he says, looking embarrassed. As he leans in to give her the two-kiss Cuban greeting, she closes her eyes and takes in the familiar, heady scent of his aftershave.

“Hi,” she says quietly. “I came by to see if you’re able to do lunch. But I can see you’re busy.” Dahlia takes a step back, bracing herself for his rejection. She hurt him, and she’s prepared to assume responsibility for that, and for keeping her secret from him. It’s only fair that he moved on, considering she’s with Shane. But seeing him there, in the flesh, shows her a small part of her still loves him too. And his being with someone else isn’t sitting well with her. Not entirely.

“Yeah, of course I can.” Rodrigo smiles at Dahlia. Turning to the woman he says, “I’ll call you later. Be sure to lock up when you leave.”

She yells something in Spanish that Dahlia can’t understand and slams the door behind them.

He places his hand lightly on the small of her back, guiding her down the corridor and into a waiting elevator.

Dahlia steps ever so slightly to the right to avoid contact with him. His touch was becoming too much. She is ready to own her life with Shane now.

They walk in awkward silence down Collins until they come to a small café. With every step, she summons the courage to give Rodrigo what he needs—closure.

He pulls out her chair for her and then takes the seat to her right, blocking the sun.

“How’ve you been?” Rodrigo finally asks, breaking the silence.

“I’ve been good,” Dahlia replies, taking a sip of water. “You?”

“Alright.”

She can feel her heart pounding in her chest. The truth is so much harder to face when it’s spoken. Taking a deep breath she starts in, “Look, Rodrigo.”

“Listen, Dahlia,” he interrupts her, “You don’t need to do me any favors. I’m fine. I get there’s someone else in the picture.” Rodrigo waves away the waitress who’s slowly approaching them.

“Yes, but . . .”

“So I’m not sure why you flew all this way to talk. Really, I’m alright.”

But he isn’t. Dahlia can see the hurt in his eyes.

“It’s not that simple, Rodrigo,” she says firmly. Taking another deep breath she says, “When I met you, I was still married.”

Her heart drops into her stomach saying the words aloud to Rodrigo. She had never uttered them to anyone before, except to Lily when Dahlia called her from Vegas to give her the news. She never bothered to tell her parents. She knew they’d found out, and it wasn’t Lily who told them.

Rodrigo leans back into his seat and lets out a long exhale, as if he were just punched in the stomach. It’s an agonizing ten minutes while she watches the look on his face change from shock to anger to fury to anger and then resignation.

Finally, in a restrained voice he says, “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me, Dahlia?”

“It’s complicated,” she replies.

“Then uncomplicate it for me.”

She looks down, twisting the napkin in her lap. “I was twenty at the time. Shane was twenty-two.”

“So it’s this Shane guy you mentioned when you were in California? You flew there to see him after I left New York?”

Dahlia nods. Rodrigo opens his mouth to speak but she holds up her hand. “Just let me finish.”

Sighing, she begins, “I had every intention of moving to Miami to be with you. The only thing that was standing in the way of that was a divorce. I left him just before my twenty-first birthday. I was young and such a complete mess that I let my parents deal with it.”

“And? Their army of lawyers couldn’t make it happen?”

Dahlia shakes her head. “No one would tell me why. My mother just told me she’d take care everything and to leave it alone. I was more than happy to do anything just to forget about it all, so I did.”

“You pretended like it never happened.”

“Mostly. Until I met you.”

“Am I supposed to be flattered?”

“You don’t have to be, Rodrigo. I fell so in love with you that I wanted to be with you. So much so that I decided I would pursue the divorce. Until you, it never mattered since I didn’t care about getting married again.”

“Then, if you wanted to be with me, how could it all change in a week?”

“Because, the part that complicated it the most was we had a child together.”

Rodrigo’s eyes betray his shock.

“You have a kid? Is he raising your kid?”

Dahlia shakes her head and runs her hand through her hair. “She died,” she says in a whisper.

“Oh no, Dahlia, that’s terrible.”

She takes a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears she feels coming.

“It was a few days after I gave birth. There were serious complications, and I got really sick. I was so out of it and drugged up for days. There was no NICU at the hospital where I delivered so they had to transfer her. Shane was on the other side of the world chasing his big wave when it happened.”

Dahlia shifts uncomfortably under his gaze. She doesn’t want his pity.

“I felt so much guilt and shame over all of this. I was too young and immature to cope. I left California and wanted desperately to leave it all behind. But then I met you. You deserved better than all that baggage, so I went to California to get him to sign the divorce papers. Little did I realize . . .”

“That you were still in love with Shane.” Rodrigo finishes her sentence.

Dahlia nods. “We couldn’t work through our daughter’s death together. Hell, I couldn’t deal with it until recently. I’m finally able to move forward in my life. I’ve taken up my art again. That was my passion.”

“Glad I could help,” he replies facetiously.

Dahlia gives him a slight smile. “I won’t say all those ridiculous things about how a part of me will always love you and that we can be friends or that you’ll make someone very happy. You deserve better.”

“Than you?”

Dahlia nods. “Thank you for loving me the way you did. I never felt so safe and accepted by anyone else in my life. It’s just . . . I’m meant to be in California.”

“With Shane,” Rodrigo says bitterly.

“It’s different. Things are still tenuous, like it could all change still. I don’t know. But with you, I never felt more certain about anyone.”

“This isn’t making me feel better.”

“I’m so sorry, Rodrigo.” Dahlia reaches out and touches his cheek.

“Hey, babe,” Shane answers his phone excitedly.

“Hi,” Dahlia replies, leaning her head against the window.

“How’d it go?”

“About as well as you’d expect.”

“I feel bad for the guy, D. You’re not easy to get over. Hell, I couldn’t do it.”

Dahlia smiles. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Damn straight, Mrs. Walker. When are you flying back? I’m serious about us taking that honeymoon.”

“Tomorrow. My flight arrives in the evening.”

“Awesome. We head out for Cortes around three in the morning. Surfline shows some good swells by evening. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me too. You’ve made me the happiest man, D. I’m proud of you for letting the guy down in person. Couldn’t have been easy.”

Dahlia shakes her head. “No, it wasn’t. But there isn’t anything holding us back now, is there?”

“Nothing, D. Although we have to talk when I get back to Santa Barbara.”

“Everything okay? Can it wait ‘til then?”

“Totally. God, I’m so wishing I could see you when you land. Two days and I’m already going through withdrawals.”

“Too late to cancel the Cortes trip?” Dahlia chuckles, turned on by the sudden image of screwing him in her art studio.

“Yeah, unfortunately. You know what a production it is getting the boat and the team together. But I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”

“Can’t wait, Shane.”

“Me too, D. I love you, babe.”

“I love you too.”

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