Page 30 of The Throwaway
"I've only heard good things," Harlow confirms, nodding and glancing around at the framed paintings of seascapes on the bedroom walls. Their mother had done the room--the entire house--tastefully, and the only things the girls had added to their bedrooms were their clothes, books, jewelry, and prized possessions. "Plus he was so good with the kids at that bookstore event you did. You really get a feeling about a guy when you see him sitting around singing with a bunch of five-year-olds, because little kids are programmed so that they physically can't lie. If someone is a bad egg, they get that vibe right away and you can tell."
Athena nods. "That's true," she says. "Little kids and dogs are the truth-tellers of the world."
Harlow licks a drip of ice cream off her wrist. "So are you gonna make out with him?"
“Oh my god!" Athena nearly shouts, frowning at her sister as she watches her eat ice cream on top of her white duvet cover. “I have no idea. But could you possibly eat that thing somewhere cleaner, like in the shower?"
"I'm not a total slob.” Harlow pouts as she slides off the bed, rolling her eyes and taking another bite of the dark cookie that sandwiches her ice cream. "And I think you should kiss him. Definitely. I can't believe you haven't already."
This comment hits right at the heart of everything that Athena fears to be true about herself: that she's undesirable. Unkissable. Unlovable. That the only reason Diego took her home with him was because she was drunk and available. He'd clearly seen no long term prospect in her, and therefore the way he’d treated her had reinforced all of her own insecurities.
"Hey," Harlow says. She jams the last bite of dessert into her mouth and chews it so that it won't drip on her sister's bedroom floor. "You're a catch, Athena. Seriously. You're a beauty, and some guy is going to know it and treat you the way you deserve. Maybe it will be Elijah," she says, looking right into Athena's eyes, "and maybe it won't. But I think you should have fun while you're young, and don't let Diego's bad behavior determine how you feel about yourself." She wipes her hands on the front of her sweats. "Women already have to spend too much energy apologizing for the way men act, and frankly, most of the time it has nothing to do with us."
Athena bites on her lower lip. "Okay," she says quietly, turning back to the mirror. "I'll keep that in mind."
By the time Elijah swings by to pick her up in his golf cart, Harlow has already taken a book and a glass of wine up to her bathtub on the pretense of soaking away the year that's about to end. To be fair, she'd moved from New York down to sleepy Shipwreck Key after surviving a bar shooting and losing a friend in that tragic event, and now she's starting the new year single and without any exciting romantic or job prospects.
“Wow. You look gorgeous.” Elijah pats the seat next to him. Athena climbs into his golf cart.
As he drives slowly over the crunchy shells of Ruby's driveway, Athena can feel herself glowing. She's on a date with Elijah Hartley, a beautiful, single, talented man who seems to actually like her.
"Thank you," she says, holding her clutch purse in her lap. "What do you want to do?"
"Well," Elijah says, steering casually with one wrist on top of the wheel. "Since we're not in a big city where the hottest joints fill up months in advance with New Year’s Eve reservations, I got a table at The Black Pearl for dinner, then I signed us up for the ghost tour that the tarot card lady is leading."
Athena turns to him with a surprised look on her face. "Ella? From Doubloons and Full Moons? I can’t believe you went in there.”
Elijah gives a self-conscious laugh. “I was walking by and she mentioned it to someone on the sidewalk. It sounded fun, but if you're not up for it, then no worries."
"No, I'm game." Athena holds her purse tighter as they bump over the unpaved road. She’s feeling excited about the evening ahead, and the fact that Elijah has given some thought in advance to what they'll do together thrills her.
Dinner at The Black Pearl is delicious. The restaurant is still decorated for Christmas with ropes of garland and lights, shiny hurricane lamps that reflect the candlelight, and a black baby grand piano in one corner where a pianist sits, tinkling the keys and playing softly as people dine and talk. They might be on a small island in the middle of nowhere, but the ambience is cozy and romantic, and their conversation flows easily from topics like what it was like to grow up with famous parents, to their favorite restaurants in the world, to their biggest fears about being adults.
For Elijah, the fear is that he’ll never live up to his parents’ expectations or even reach the level of their successes, and Athena admits that she’s afraid of making all the wrong choices.
“I mean,” she says, “when you’re a kid and your parents have certain positions in life, people make the choices for you. Or they at least advise you strongly. But then suddenly you’re an adult, and you make dumb choices and you just have tolivewith them…it’s kind of jarring.”
Elijah chuckles and tips his head to one side. “It is. But I supposed we all have to go through it, right? Doing dumb things, backpedaling or trying to mitigate our own disasters. I’m thirty now and I still feel like I’m forever making ridiculous choices. Spending money on the wrong things. Choosing to go here and not there.” His eyes drift over to the darkened window that looks out on the water and the night sky. “But I knew the minute my dad told me he needed surgery and wanted to have it in the States that I’d drop everything and come here. That was a nonnegotiable for me, and the one thing I’ve done recently that I know is right.”
Athena looks at him with a heart full of sympathy. She knows the feeling of being there for a parent when they need you; the months after her dad’s death had been rough for all of them, but she’d taken time off of work, moved back into the White House to be close to her mom, and basically just made sure she was available, which seemed to be the most soothing thing she could do for her mom at that time.
“I’m sure both of your parents appreciate you being here,” she says, bringing his eyes back to her face. He’s so good looking that sometimes it’s hard for Athena not to look away from him or blush, but she holds his gaze to let him know that she understands.
Athena politely refuses when Elijah tries to pour her a third glass of champagne. She loves bubbly, but she knows from experience that overdoing it this early in the evening will ruin the whole night for her, so she sips slowly and tries to savor the fresh, lightly seasoned grouper, which is in season.
While they eat, Elijah regales her with funny stories about his time in private school in England, and he listens as Athena tells him more about what it was like to live in the White House. She doesn't sugarcoat it for him, but instead tells him how lonely she sometimes felt, and how much of a quiet bookworm she'd been, holing up in her room rather than going out with Harlow.
"To be honest," she says, suddenly feeling the melancholy of the second glass of champagne weighing her down, "you probably have far more in common with my sister than you do with me." She says this and then lets it sit there in the air between them as the clink of silverware against dishes makes music all around them.
“You know, I don't think that's true.” Elijah looks at Athena across the table. "You might have the idea that I did the whole London party scene, but to be perfectly honest, all I ever truly wanted was to be a musician like my dad. Not a rockstar, but a musician."
Athena looks up from her plate. "Really?"
"Yeah. I was kind of a quiet kid, and at heart I just liked to play with my toys and run around the countryside. I never dreamed of private jets or wild nights out on the town. Not at all. And my mom really kept a lot of that from me. My dad would go on tour, and she and I stayed home together. We’d walk the dogs through the mud, cook pasta together, and read before bed. It wasn’t the life of a rockstar’s kid—not like you’d imagine.”
"So," Athena says, feeling her spirits lighten just a bit. "Your idea of an exciting New Year's Eve truly is a ghost tour on a little island with a girl who spent her childhood dreaming about living in books?"
"Absolutely," Elijah says with a big grin. He glances away from her shyly. "I've been having a great time here on Shipwreck Key. Being with my parents for the holidays has been really good, if a little weird at times. The three of us haven't spent any extended time together in years. And hanging out with you has been awesome. I've loved it."