Illusion(53)

He was a blur as he moved from the bed to the bathroom. He returned with a towel, quickly cleaning up the mess we'd made.

He sank back into the bed and pulled me back on his arms. My eyes were heavy and for the moment, the confrontation with Georgia was in the back of my thoughts.

His arms around me were the last thing I remembered until drifting off into sleep.



Pulling in front of Anna’s real estate office, I put the car into park and gripped the steering wheel for a moment. The day had been filled with errands, putting in a forwarding address request in to the tiny postal office in Canggu, transferring money from accounts here in Indonesia to the much bigger joint bank account I now shared with Stefan in the US. I’d reached my final and most difficult errand of the day: not only was I putting my villa on the market, I was also going to tell Anna that I was leaving. I’d scanned her future and knew the outcome would be fine, but she was going to ask questions. Questions could be dangerous…I would need to stay on guard and not reveal too much to her.

Unable to put off the inevitable chore, I shoved open the door to my jeep and headed for her office. I was greeted with a chiming bell and Anna’s head popped up with her ‘I’m all about selling you a property’ business smile. When she saw it was me, the smile changed to her more snarky grin. She pushed herself away from her desk to meet me.

“Josie Anderson decides to grace me with her presence!” Anna’s eyes scanned over me, lingering over my necklace before they went to her watch. “You have perfect timing. Let’s go to lunch.”

Anna crossed back to her desk and grabbed her purse from one of the drawers. She rejoined me, motioning for me to follow her outside. We walked in the bright sunlight for a few moments before she spoke.

“So, you’re back. Is this a good thing?” Anna asked curiously. “Since you’re not in tears, I’m assuming you and Stefan are together.

“It depends on what you consider a good thing. I’ve already had one big negative reaction, so I’m anxious to see what yours will be.”

We walked up to one of the street vendors and ordered satay before heading in silence to a bench under a tree. Anna sat first and pointed to the seat for me to join her.

“Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t use your psychic ability to know the outcome of our little chat. I’m going to take a wild guess. You’re moving,” Anna said sarcastically, taking a bite of her chicken. She chewed for a moment and swallowed, her sharp brown eyes never leaving mine. “Why is it you look like you spent all your time in New York at a spa? Either New York was really, really good to you or Stefan has a magic dick.”

I choked on my bite at her comment. Anna laughed and slapped me on the back a few times until I was finally able to breathe normally.

“Anna!” I exclaimed, feeling the telltale blush spread over my face.

“From that response I’m going to go with the magic dick. By looking at him, I’d say it could cure just about any problem you could have,” Anna replied, tucking her brown curls behind her ear. She finished her chicken and tossed the skewer in the trash, turning her attention back to me. “I know you didn’t come to see me for shits and giggles. What’s up?”

Taking a deep sigh, I looked at my shoe for a moment before I started talking. “I need you to put my villa on the market.”

“Oh?” Anna answered. “Oh. This is a permanent move. You aren’t coming back?”

Shrugging, I smoothed my khaki shorts and picked at the cuticle on my thumb. “We may come back to visit. I don’t think Lukas is putting his house on the market so we could always stay there.”

Anna sighed and her lips pressed into a disapproving frown. “That sounds like some cryptic bullshit line. This is me that you’re talking to, not Georgia. Are you coming back or not?”

“No. Probably not,” I said in a rush of breath. I flipped my hair over my shoulder, mentally holding my breath as I watch Anna mull things over.

Anna said nothing, tapping her fingers against the bench and not really looking at anything. She appeared to be lost in her own internal musings. The longer she was silent, the more I diligently sorted through her future. She was constantly changing her mind from one train of thought to another. It was enough to give me a headache.

“If you are going to do this, there’s no more running away from him. Stefan doesn’t deserve that kind of bullshit again.” Anna finally spoke, turning her head to look at me. “What happened that made you take off that night, by the way?”

“Let’s just say I uncovered interesting information about my birth family while we were in New York. I met my father, who I’d rather not discuss. The entire experience was overwhelming. When I took off that night, I didn’t think about it, I just reacted.” The side of my mouth turned up in the tiniest of smiles. “With one exception, I wish it was all still a mystery. Some things are better left unknown.”