JENNIFER
Iam on my second cup of tea and my fourth attempt at reading the same page of the same book when the knock comes.
"Come in," I say, mostly to the door.
Carmen opens it. She is carrying her clipboard, which means the storm is over and she's back to working.
"Chiara left this morning," she says. "On the supply boat. She will not be coming back."
I put the book down.
"How do you know she won't be coming back," I say.
"Because Matteo told me," Carmen says, in the tone she uses when the answer should be self-evident. "He wouldn't say it if it weren't true."
I look at the window. The water is doing its usual thing, indifferent and blue and entirely unbothered by the events of the last forty-eight hours.
"She said she was their omega," I say. Not an accusation. Just the thing I have been sitting with since the hallway.
Carmen sets her clipboard down on the dresser, which means she is not here as the island manager, but as a friend.
"She came here twice in five years," she says. "Both times there was drama. Both times she left." She looks at me directly. "I have worked for them since before she was ever in the picture. I have seen them with guests, with business partners, with each other. I have seen them this past week." She pauses, and the pause is deliberate, the pause of a woman choosing the exact right weight for what comes next. "I have never seen them like this. Not for anyone."
"What do you mean," I say, even though I know, and she said it before. I trust Carmen. Her bergamot and clove scent is steady and even, no spike, no sharp edge, nothing that tells me she is managing what she says or choosing her words to protect anyone. She wouldn’t go out of her way to lie to me.
"Like three men who have lost something and cannot stop looking for it," Carmen says, "even when it is standing forty meters away in the guest house, not the workers' quarters."
I press my lips together.
"Think about it. They said that if you want to have lunch before you leave at twelve, they would appreciate it."
Wow, they're going to cook for me.
She opens the door to leave, and I find myself speechless. I thought three months, I would work here, get some money, and then go to Anna's. Now I'm not so sure.
"Carmen," I say.
She stops.
"Thank you," I say.
She nods. Then leaves.
I sit on the edge of the bed with my tea going cold in my hands and I think about the hallway and Chiara's tulip scent andtheir omegasaid with the weight of a certificate, and Carmen saying I have never seen them like this, not for anyone, and I think about their scents and their panic once they knew I was in pre-heat and pregnant.
She shifts, low and rolling.
"I know," I tell her.
I think about all of it.
Then I get up, wash my face, pin my hair up, and think about packing. I have things to get ready, whether I have lunch with them or not.
My omega is telling me to cut the drama and think about what to wear for lunch, because she doesn't want to go anywhere.
24
JENNIFER