Page 75 of Flawless

My fingers fly over the surface of my phone.

“Hello? Dani?”

“Hi, Jade.”

“Oh, my gosh! I’ve been trying to reach you for the last hour. What’s going on? I thought you were away on the island, but I saw pictures of you on social media that showed you in downtown Charleston.”

“I was. Zenon and I went back into town to pick up his daughter, and I—”

“Wait! Zenon? Did I hear you correctly?”

“Yes.”

“Zenon-Zenon?”

“Yes.”

“Zenon Diaz, as in former lover and midfielder for the Italian soccer team who screwed up the game and his career?”

“Wow, Jade. Judgy much?”

“Sorry. I’m just...it just...it blew my mind when you said that. You guys didn’t end on the best of terms.”

“I know, and we’ve been dealing with that.”

“How did you run into him again?”

“Well, when I arrived at the cottage, he was already here.”

“Already on the island?”

“Yes, and no. He was already at the cottage. I had given him a key years ago and told him that he could escape here if he had nowhere else in the world to go for peace of mind. It seems like he took me up on the offer.”

Jade is silent for several seconds, and the logical thinker that she is, I know that she’s calculating some things in her mind, and it’s confirmed with her next statement.

“Aah, that makes sense. It’s the fifth anniversary of their loss to Brazil when he went bonkers on that guy.”

“Right. So, the media was going crazy over there, especially considering they’re hosting the World Cup over there again. Heneeded to get away because they turned their attention back to him again.”

“Damn. What are the odds that the two of you are both going through hell at the same time?”

“Yeah, well, it’s happening.”

“Are the two of you getting along, Dani? I don’t want you to get stressed out and become overwhelmed.”

“I’m not. We’re dealing with things very well, and he’s handling them far better than I expected him to. He’s been my strength over these last few weeks since I left rehab.”

“And yet you know that you shouldn’t be getting into a relationship.”

“Full transparency, Jade, I’ve been sexually involved with him. But I realized that wasn’t good, so I stopped it myself. Besides, his thirteen-year-old daughter is here now. So, none of that will be happening. It’s just us taking time to get to know each other again.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am. Listen, I’m taking a hiatus from the spotlight for a minute.”

“Speaking of which! Why did you post that picture? I have to circle back to that even though we discussed it before. When the pictures from earlier today were posted, that picture of you on the beach popped up again. Now everyone’s making a game out of where in the world is Nica, and you’re driving poor Lana insane.”

“Well, they know by now roughly where in the world I am.”

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