e's

once I'm settled in, I head into the living room and find my moth

azine, and when she hears me, she se

ile spreading across her face. "Then

ound as though the man himself will appea

"Even though he didn't take over his father's com

O

to me as I start to realize how much m

ummer," I s

ppily. "We can catch up since we haven't really seen each

e I finish." I sigh, suddenly feeling guilty. "You

self over the way things turned out with Mr. Owens, and since I di

. Even if there was no way that I could have Mr. Owens

inking, and when I turn my gaze to my mom onc

eeling so bad that I actually consider c

hen you should be in a bikini? I bet there are a lot of handsome men here. It

g into my room to grab my purse and comi

then wraps her arms around mine while I lea

gible men that my mother mentioned, but if I was

t, where I lift a hand to hail a cab, and then we are moving, heading toward the island's s

t shoving bikini after bikini at me. And when she insist

he was in shopping mode, the best thing to do wa

ything she wanted me to try on looked horrible on me due t

he dressing room with a lacy black number that shows off to

er, examining myself in the mirror and

er laughs. "You want to lur

me out." I point out, deciding to just buy it so we

"And that's why I want you to

d back into the dressing room so I ca

ack out and pay for the

gifts for friends back home, and once that is done

I ask my mother as she orders us two

asks, taking a sip of hers. "We came

eciding not to arg

ith my mother's before taking a few sip

it, this was

n't marred by a cloud, and the sting of

stay drunk the entire trip, then I wouldn't suffer f

ckly down my drink and then lift a hand for

nother drink. I want to get so drunk tha

stumble back to the resort with my mo

orward, but when I stumble e

asks my mom as she

s, her own tipsiness showing.

ame concern he showed for me in high schoo

face. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. The worl

s was t

amned sting in my chest. This just meant that until I could

ight?" I push as Mr. Owens continues

releasing me and touching Mr. Owe