Anna K Away by Jenny Lee

Author:Jenny Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flatiron Books

XXIII

When Tiare’s alarm went off at 4:30 A.M., she found the bed empty. Beatrice was sitting outside on the veranda. It was still dark out, so Tiare wasn’t able to judge the severity of Bea’s sunburn. “Hey,” Tiare asked gently. “You okay?”

Bea leveled her gaze at Tiare. “Not really.”

Tiare sat down at the edge of the chaise. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she was able to see that Bea was naked, but not in a good way.

Beatrice explained that when she woke up she felt like her skin was on fire. She decided to take a cold shower, which helped for a bit, but soon her teeth were chattering, and so she put on one of the plush terrycloth bathrobes. But that turned out to be rather painful, so she dropped it on the bathroom floor and slathered herself in aloe. “I’m out here sans clothes because it’s cool and dark,” Bea said, careful not to gesticulate too much for fear of the excruciating sting such movement would cause. “And because I’m hideous.”

“No you’re not,” Tiare said sympathetically. “You look like you fell asleep in the sun. It could have been much worse.”

“Really?” Bea said. “Because I was just trying to think of how this could be worse, and I couldn’t come up with a single thing.”

“You don’t have any blisters, do you?” Tiare asked and Bea shook her head. “I’ve seen some really terrible sunburns in my day and yours isn’t good, but it’s not as bad as it could be.”

“So what I’m hearing is I’m mediocre at being sunburned,” Bea said.

“Ugh, ignore me. I feel like crap. When are you getting back from surfing?”

“I’m not going.”

“What? Of course, you are.” Bea sat up and winced in pain. “That’s the whole reason we’re here.”

“No,” Tiare said firmly. “The whole reason we’re here is to be together. I can surf anytime, but what I can’t always do is spend the day lounging in the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in while watching movies with a human lobstergirl that can’t be touched.”

Beatrice laughed and tried to convince Tiare she should surf for a few hours, but Tiare refused. She’d surf tomorrow when Bea would be well enough to revisit the scene of her fun-in-the-sun faux pas, under an umbrella. This unexpected development improved Bea’s mood greatly. She couldn’t remember anyone except Vronsky choosing her over something else that they wanted to do. It felt good knowing there were other selfless people in the world besides the ones who were never coming back. Tiare was unlike anyone Bea had ever met before. She knew her generation used the word “authentic” too much, but that was the best way to describe her. She seemed so totally real and self-confident, open and honest, yet also mysterious, not like a lot of the people she knew back East.

“Everyone always talks about my self-confidence, but I feel like mine is a kind of manufactured Machiavellian style while yours is the real deal,” Bea opined as they lounged in the still-dark suite.

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