Part 6 (1/2)

Clarice walked back towards the roaring patio party, shoes in one hand, ring box in the other, trying to comprehend what had just happened to her. Part of her wanted desperately to look back and see if Harrison was still watching her, standing on the beach like a handsome ghost, waiting for the night to swallow him back up. It was like a scene from a movie she should be watching all by herself in her apartment back in New York, instead of living it out here, sand between her toes, moonlight on her shoulders. But she didn't want to give Harrison any false hope by turning back to look at him. She had no idea what she was going to do.

Still shoeless, she wandered back through the cacophony of eating and dancing people towards the table where the girls waited. The food had been served and the three had wasted no time in digging into the spicy prawn dish. Trudy spotted Clarice coming through the crowd, and immediately she perked up and stared as her friend returned.

All the girls stared at her silently as she pulled out her chair and sat down, waiting for her to say something.

”So?!” said Liz finally with a mouthful of food. ”What the h.e.l.l was that? Did he just want to show you his Long John Silver or what?”

Stressed as she was at the moment, Clarice couldn't help but laugh at that, and neither could the others. ”Something like that, I guess?”

”Well spill it, for h.e.l.l's sake!” said Sophie. ”You can't just take a walk with the owner of this place and expect us to...”

Clarice sighed and shook her head. She wanted to keep this from the girls-at least from Liz and Sophie, who just didn't keep secrets like Trudy-but the weight of her talk with Harrison was far too much to carry on her own. She needed advice and help from her friends.

So she simply opened the ring box and plopped it in the middle of the table, Harrison's business card tucked underneath, without a word.

All the girls froze, Sophie with a forkful of food raised half-way to her open mouth. Their eyes slowly widened as they absorbed the view of the huge carat diamond ring glittering under the light of the dancing tiki torches that surrounded the patio.

”Um,” said Liz.

”What. The h.e.l.l. Is that,” said Trudy, pointing her finger hard at the ring.

”I've never seen a ring that big...” said Sophie in a breathless, envious whisper.

Clarice folded her arms and enjoyed the sight of all three of them being shocked and near speechless at the same time. It was almost worth the ha.s.sle of whatever dumb mistakes she was about to make because of the proposal. ”So now that we're all caught up, what say you help me with this little pickle?”

”All caught up? G.o.d I hate you sometimes,” said Trudy with only a hint of a smile. ”Spill it, sister.”

”Did he give this to you?” asked Sophie. She was finally too overcome to help herself from scooping up the ring box and giving the jewelry a hard inspection.

”I knew you guys dragging me to this place was going to turn out weird,” protested Clarice. ”There's your proof,” she nodded toward the ring.

”What happened?” asked Liz.

”Harrison and I met this morning when I couldn't find my way back to the suites, and he was... ridiculously charming,” said Clarice with a big breath. ”So handsome. Anyway I had almost forgotten about it when he came over tonight. He took me out to the beach and pulled out this ring and asked me if I would marry him.”

The girls fell silent once again, until Sophie kicked Clarice's s.h.i.+n under the table. ”Shut your mouth.”

Clarice put up her hands. ”Hey, s.h.i.+t, I surrender! It's not like that, we barely know each other. He was just being a dramatic idiot. He needs my help and this is part of it.”

”Part of what?” asked Trudy.

”He wants me to pretend to be his fiancee for the week while his parents are visiting from out of town,” said Clarice. ”He said he'll pay me, and I can keep the ring.”

The girls exchanged glances with each other, heavy with as much excitement as there was worry.

Trudy leaned across the table. ”Seriously? This guy needs to pretend to have a wife? What's his deal, is he gay and hasn't told them yet?”

”Uh, no,” said Clarice with a laugh. ”He is definitely into women. But he's not the marrying type and his parents want him to be, so...”

”So he's fooling them with an elaborate ruse, and you're helping him?” asked Trudy.

Clarice felt a little redness flush across her cheeks. ”Well, s.h.i.+t, when you say it like that, it sounds really stupid.”

”It is stupid,” said Liz. ”This is definitely going to backfire.”

”But you get to keep the ring?” said Sophie, still twirling the box in her hands.

”Backfire how?” Clarice began to scoop herself up some of the dinner before it got too cold. ”I'm leaving for New York as planned either way, and it's not like they're my parents. I'm never going to have to see them again.”

”Backfire for him, at least,” said Trudy.

”Again - so?” said Clarice with a shrug. ”It's his life to wreck.”

”Give me a break,” said Trudy with an eye roll. ”Don't try to act all hard and cold now like you're some grift-master taking one last job before you quit. What's going on, really?”

”I really told you,” said Clarice, but she was feeling the heat of her best friend's interrogation, realizing maybe the tough act wasn't for her girls but for herself. ”He asked for my help, so I'm going to help him. I don't really have anything to lose, do I?”

”It's just so... not like you lately,” said Liz.

”Lately,” repeated Clarice with a pointed finger. ”So not that strange.”

”Still strange enough,” said Trudy.

Clarice took a big breath and let it out slowly as she stirred the meal around her plate. ”Look, I don't want you guys to feel bad, because you put so much work into this trip and into trying to make me feel better, but this place, what it's about, I'm just not into it. Maybe I will be or would have been when I felt better, but I tried to meet up with a random guy here and it was just uncomfortable.”

Trudy's face fell in such a way that Clarice felt her own heart crack under the weight of guilt.

”I'm happy to be here, don't get me wrong,” she amended, ”but Harrison noticed earlier that I wasn't comfortable. So he wanted to offer me this job to help both me and himself, to give me something else to do while I'm here that will still be a fun adventure. Just not the same kind of fun you guys will be having. And I'm seriously considering taking it.”

The girls were quiet, and the noise of the party filled in the empty s.p.a.ce. Everyone was getting drunker by the minute, and already plenty of people were making out and sitting in each other's laps without a care of who was looking on to watch. From the grill came the loud sound of sizzling meats, and smoke plumed into the air, carrying its scent across the patio and onto the beach.

”This is a little bit crazy,” said Trudy finally.

”Yeah, so is this whole place,” replied Clarice with a smile. ”You guys are the ones who wanted me to do something different, right? Try something to break me out of my rut and help me go home a new, adventurous woman?”

”Well yeah, but we thought that would just be a lot of good d.i.c.k,” said Liz. ”Not... not these romantic comedy shenanigans. What if you end up getting hurt?”