"I wasn't going to come, but then I realized it's silly not to. We're both adults. We can handle seeing each other again, can't we?"
Her innocent expression didn't seem fake, but Ollie eyed her like she'd suggested he drink that funny-smelling fruit punch she was offering him.
"Yeah, sure," Ollie said, "it's cool."
"So glad you feel that way."
Heidi flung her arms around Ollie and mashed her mouth to his, shutting her eyes, holding that position for several long seconds. Ollie kept his eyes open. His brows knit together over his nose, and he held his arms out like he was afraid to touch Heidi. When he glanced at me, he lifted his shoulders in the best version of a shrug he could manage with a beautiful blonde attached to him.
Finally, he pushed her away.
Wiping his mouth, he gave a nervous laugh. "Whoa, Heidi, we're not dating anymore. Remember?"
Heidi bit down on her bottom lip. "I missed you, Ollie. Maybe we could talk alone?"
"Talk?" His jaw fell open again, but this time it didn't clap shut for so long I started to wonder if bugs would fly into his mouth. Then he shook his head vigorously and swallowed hard. "Heidi, I have a new girlfriend. This is Mara." He slung his arm around me and pulled me tight against him. "Mara, this is Heidi Mackenzie. We dated for about thirty seconds last year."
Ollie's ex froze. Only her eyes moved when she looked at me. "New girlfriend? So soon?"
"I haven't seen you in almost a year," he said. "You went back to your ex. Was I supposed to wait around wishing you'd change your mind and come back? I moved on, and so should you."
Heidi gnawed on her lip, newly formed tears shimmering in her blue eyes. "Oh. I get it, sure."
It was totally bizarre to stand here with Ollie, both of us fully clothed, while his nude ex-girlfriend seemed on the verge of crying. Had Ollie hoped one day Heidi would come back and want to reconcile? He'd seemed shocked to see her, but that could mean one of two things. Maybe he was over her and hadn't expected to see her again, so he was caught off guard by her appearance. Or maybe he secretly wanted to get back with her, but he felt trapped by his involvement with me.
Which was it? I didn't know, and I couldn't ask him in front of his ex.
"Should I leave?" Heidi asked. "I mean, this is awkward, right?"
Ollie scrunched up his mouth, moving his lips like he couldn't quite figure out what to do in this situation. "You paid to be here, so you should stay. It'll be fine."
He looked at me, a question on his face.
What else could I say? "Sure, Heidi ought to stay."
"For real?" Heidi said. "You don't have to say that."
"It's all good," I said. "Don't worry about it."
"Yay!" Heidi flung her arms around me, squeezing me tight. "Thank you, Mara, you're awesome."
Why was she thanking me? I didn't own the resort, so my permission didn't mean much. When I glanced at Ollie, who'd been shoved away when Heidi hugged me, he shook his head and shrugged, a slight smile on his lips.
"Sure, yeah," I said. "You're welcome."
Heidi let go of me and rushed back into the crowd.
They had all remained silent during Ollie and Heidi's reunion, and they stayed like that after she rejoined them, waiting for whatever Ollie had been about to say after he whistled.
He raised his arms, spreading them wide. "Welcome back, Kittens. Get your tents set up and let's meet on the lawn for a game of miniten, okay?"
They shrieked.
All those beautiful, naked women split off in smaller groups and started gathering stuff from inside their big, neon-pink motor home.
"Wanna help me set up the miniten net?" Ollie asked me.
"Sure."
He kept a hand on the small of my back while he headed into the guest house to retrieve the net and the other equipment that went with it, like the thugs and the tennis balls. Ollie carried the rolled-up net while I lugged a bag full of thugs and balls, though he tried to convince me to carry just the balls and leave the thugs for him to get later.
"That's sweet," I said, "but I can handle it. They're not that heavy."
When I lifted the big canvas bag and hooked its straps over my shoulder, Ollie's brows rose.
"You're no wimpy girlie-girl, are you?" he said, smiling. "My Mara's a tough chick in disguise."
I loved it when he called me "his Mara." It gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling in my tummy.
After we set up the net, I lounged on a chaise at the periphery of the lawn. Ollie gathered the guests who wanted to play miniten and split them into two teams---the Kittens and the Silver Foxes, which meant the older guests. Val opted out, despite the Kittens begging him to play for their side, saying he and Eve needed to rest and recover from jet lag. They'd only just gotten back from Brazil.
As the two of them retreated into their house, Ollie leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Eve and Val have a different idea about what resting means. I hope your mom won't freak out if she hears them having a good time in their room. It's right across the hall from where I put them."
"It might be good for Mom to be exposed to inappropriate behavior."
He chuckled. "You're the best, Mara."
With Eve and Val home again, Ollie and I had to take rooms in the guest house. Val had moved my stuff there while Ollie and I got the miniten court ready, so I didn't need to do a thing except watch my hot boyfriend referee the game. Ollie had kept his clothes on, partly for my sake, I was sure. But I also suspected he did it so my mom wouldn't go ballistic.
My parents emerged from the main house not long
