An Endless Summer(89)

Idiot!



***



My clothes finished their short cycle. I placed them in the dryer and Sean finally gave me the grand tour (after he had mercifully put some clothes on).

Making our way up to the last of the stairs, we reached a massive landing with a big arched window that looked out onto the lake.

“The rooms up here have the best views,” Sean said, remaining on the top step as I wandered into the room.

Like a bug to light I walked to the window and pressed my fingers to the cool glass, gazing out over the rippling lake that sparkled, sunrays bouncing off the water.

“I’ll say,” I said. A foggy mist formed against the glass as I pressed my face against it.

I turned to Sean who still hadn’t moved from the staircase.

Is he crazy?

“Why don’t you have your room up here?”

It then dawned on me, as it should have when we walked up the staircase: Sean walked with his shoulder pressed against the wall, the fabric of his shirt gliding against the surface. He didn’t even step onto the landing, which took me back to the Onslow balcony where he had been paralysed with fear.

“Let me guess. Heights?” I said.

“Let’s just say it’s not my favourite part of the house.” Sean crossed his arms and leaned heavily against the wall.

“Why did you buy a two-storey house, then?” I laughed.

“Because I wanted it,” he said in all seriousness.

“Really?” I asked. “And do you always get what you want?” I crossed my arms, mirroring his stance.

Sean’s lips curved into that infamous devilish grin. “Always.”

“Did you want Tammy to come with you on the boat instead of me?” The words had tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them, and this time I had nowhere to escape. I was pinned by his unwavering gaze; it was as if he was almost taken back by the question. He shifted uncomfortably, the usual confident, cocky facade melting away. My heart threatened to stop, too mortified to go on as I took his silence as a yes.

Instead, he looked back up at me. “We would be skiing at MacLean’s by now instead of doing laundry,” he said.

I inwardly cringed, breaking from his eyes. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

Sean smiled. “It wouldn’t be anywhere near as entertaining, though.”

His smart-arse confidence had returned.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “I’m a lunatic; tell me something I don’t know.” I turned back to the window. I couldn’t believe that I was standing in this grand lake house. Furthermore, it didn’t seem real that Sean was only in his mid-twenties and the owner of such prime real estate. It was amazing, but I would never tell him that – his head was big enough as it was.

Sean was self-made wealthy; I could respect that. I respected it more than my current situation. Deferred uni procrastinator living with Mummy and Daddy and still, at the age of nineteen, receiving a ludicrously generous allowance. Still sleeping in my childhood bedroom and keeping secrets from my parents so I wouldn’t get in trouble.

I was a real catch.

All of a sudden I didn’t feel the need to look over every aspect of the house anymore; if anything, looking around the house only made me more depressed. I wasn’t jealous of Sean – he deserved to enjoy the fruits of his labour; he worked hard and played hard. But me, I scrubbed down a cool room and I thought the world was against me? I needed to get a grip – if I wanted something to succeed I needed to stop bitching about it and just do it.

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Henderson?” Sean asked.

I broke away from looking out at the breathtaking views. Sean was missing out big time with his phobia.

I smiled at Sean, which seemed to make him warier, more guarded.

“I think a break away from the Onslow is just what I needed,” I said. “I’m going to go back with a clear head.”

“And clean clothes,” Sean added.

“A clean slate.”

“I think that dip in the Onslow knocked some sense into you.”

“Maybe,” I said with a smirk.

“That or the lack of oxygen.”

“I wasn’t under the water for that long.”

Sean half turned to walk down the stairs. “I didn’t mean the lake.”

I frowned at him, confused.

“I saw you watching me shower on the deck.” His grin was now cheesy, infuriating. “You practically stopped breathing.”

“Oh, pa-lease,” I scoffed, begging myself not to blush. “I was checking out the outdoor scenery. You were actually in my way, as usual.”

I overtook him on the stairs and flashed him an annoyed look as I went by.

I was seriously over my stay at Chateau Murphy – clothes dry or not, I was out of here. I had a hotel to save.