Chapter 5

MARI

I'd never been to the Portland mall, but from first glance it resembled every other mall in America. Tile floors led shoppers through long hallways with shops lining the sides. Pretty standard. The economic downturn hit the space as it had most malls in the country over the last decade. Many of the storefronts were empty, and the others were filled with big chain businesses. Too bad I didn't need candles or Tupperware.

I stared of the tall shop directory and tried to pinpoint which would be the best place to begin our shopping extravaganza. Malls and I were well-acquainted, but I'd never been hauled around one with two men who had more money than common sense. I tried to delay the promised shopping trip, but Oliver would hear nothing of it. He practically forced Pierce and me out of the house the next morning.

"I told you we should have chartered a plane for New York," Pierce said as he stood beside me in front of the directory and shook his head at the lackluster choices.

"No." It was crazy enough I let the two men talk me into coming to the mall and buying clothing in the first place. It was super crazy for Pierce to suggest we charter a private plane to shop in New York for the afternoon.

Old Mari would have found the idea a smashing one, but now I didn't look past the waste—jet fuel, company time, resources, the wasted money.

Pierce Kensington screamed money, but Oliver… didn't. He didn't hold himself as stiffly and his eyes didn't gaze over everyone as if they didn't matter right away. He obviously had wealth, but he held it differently than Pierce. He was not so flashy, and I walked closer to him when we entered the mall.

Wealth didn't impress me as much as it would other people, but even I felt out of my element with Pierce. I floated in high society in San Francisco, but I'd never flown in a private plane for an afternoon of shopping. Of course, Pelican Bay fell a long way away from San Francisco. Back then I had more clothing choices in my closet than in this entire mall. Plus I was often too busy working to take an afternoon for fun. Most of my shopping happened online or with a personal shopper who had outfits delivered to my office.

Mall trips were saved for special girls' night out. Since I didn't have any actual girlfriends, I trolled the malls alone more often than not. At one point in time, I thought there would be a chance I would be accepted into the small group of women who formed at Trey's, my ex-boyfriend, workplace, but we were never a good fit.

At the time they were just too… simple… for me to wrap my head around. I was living a life of excess, which I thought would never end, and they were shopping at thrift stores and playing video games on their phones. We were worlds away in maturity.

"It's fine," I said wanting to get away from the memories. "Why don't we stroll and see what we find?"

Malls were best explored one shop at a time at your own leisure rather than jumped into and consumed as fast as possible. Plus, I hadn't been to a mall in years. I wanted to walk slowly and enjoy the experience while letting myself buy a pretzel rather than worrying over the carbs.

Oliver grabbed my arm and looped it underneath his, an action I enjoyed way too much, and pulled me away from the directory. "Let's stroll, my lady."

Pierce picked up a step beside us, but his cousin and not my fake fiancé, consumed my mind. Just as I expected when I first saw him in his car, Oliver somehow towered over my height even though he only had a few inches on me. His dark hair swept to one side matched his eyes, so brown and deep they looked black under the fluorescent lighting. He wore his suit more casually than I did a pair of jeans and I hadn't figured out how he looked so wonderful while maintaining such a laid-back personality underneath his layers of sophistication.

This carefree attitude drew me to him most. Oliver was unlike any person I'd met before in Central or North America. The men I'd most recently been around were wrapped up in concerns over the Earth's deterioration and the plastic levels in the ocean. Both were very concerning and important pieces of conversation, but they never kicked back and enjoyed themselves. It was as if they were dying right along with the planet.

Before that I'd mainly dated Trey and hung around men who had at least seven zeros in their bank accounts. Rich men were, in my opinion, the absolute worst. They were stiff and arrogant, bossy too. They knew their worth—to the penny—and figured they were too good to mingle with anyone who smiled at something insignificant.

I learned my role in society at a young age and I played the part well, but now I found I didn't want to any longer. Life in the US as Mari Chambers sucked. I wanted to be… me. Sure, I hadn't figured out who that was yet, but like most people, I decided it was a work in progress.

At one point in time, I'd been attracted to Trey Good's stuffy demeanor. He wore a constant scowl, was blatantly firm with his opinions, and didn't overuse his words. The asshole personality drew me in when I needed to be as tough and determined.

But then I learned to care for others and look at the world through fresh eyes. It wasn't about how much money your business made or what stockholders thought of you, but the good you did every day and the people you helped. There had to be balance in life between ripping the plastic straw out from everyone's drink containers and wasting a life working ninety hours a week in an office building concerned over nothing more than profits.

I'd experienced an undignified fall from grace when my family forced me out of San Francisco because of my actions, but I couldn't argue with the results. Now I was a happier, more rounded person. On good days I even looked back fondly and was thankful my actions led me to Guatemala.

We walked past the various stores until somewhere in the middle two very crazy different worlds collided. A Britney Spears song kicked on the overhead speakers causing Oliver to smile at the slight way I moved my hips. It happened at roughly the exact second Oliver diverted us into the closest toy store. He picked up the slight movements of my dance and shimmied to an arcade area in the back corner.

A basketball shooting machine lit up with numbers as he tossed balls through the hoop and started a countdown allowing him to make as many free-throw shots as possible in a thirty-second window.

"Get one of these for your basement, Pierce," Oliver yelled over the tick-tock as it grew louder with each passing second counting his remaining time.

Pierce stopped beside the machine for a moment and shook his head. "No thanks, but you could fit one in your place."

Oliver's eyes narrowed as he lined up his last throw and chucked the ball at the hoop. It hit the backboard, touched the rim, circled around and then flopped in the net right as the one-second timer ticked away giving him a last point. "You think there's room for one on the boat?"

"You own a boat?" It wasn't unheard of in social circles. More than one obscenely rich person in San Francisco lived on a boat they docked in the bay. What I found odd was that Oliver lived on a yacht. He appeared more of a New York condo penthouse man than a seafaring gentleman.

"Yes, for the last two years. I've been looking for a place to settle. Pierce tells me about Pelican Bay, but there might not be enough room in this town for two Kensington men. Three if you count Jerome when he finally relocates."

"When is Jerome moving?" I had heard little if anything about Jerome Kensington. Nothing more than Pierce's muttered curses regarding the building he was constructing at the end of Main Street.

"No idea. He's building a new office building downtown, but the crew faced opposition and construction is delayed."

"Yeah, opposition he's left me to deal with on my own," Pierce said with annoyance in the statement. I would need to get that back story later.

Pierce picked up a sword from a big bucket of them and hit Oliver once on the shoulder. "The least you could do is control your brother for me. Make him get here and take care of his own problems."

Oliver twisted once to the side, whipped his arm around, and stole the sword from Pierce, poking him in the side. "Nobody can control Jerome."

I laughed at their antics. Men. Some of them never grew up.

Oliver dumped the sword back in the bucket and strolled the aisle of the toy store picking up a big dalmatian puppy wearing a red firefighter's hat. "So, Pierce, you want what, three fake kids? Ten?"

"Fake fiancée, remember? Let's not bring fake children into this," Pierce said sounding even more annoyed. "In six months, Mari will be back in Guatemala two million richer and renovations will be well underway."

For whatever reason my heart twisted at his comment. I'd only been in Pelican Bay for two days, but already being back in the states had me conflicted about my commitment to the project. I'd forgotten so many things. I missed America. I missed screwing around with friends. And the food, hamburgers, frappes, and refrigerators.

Oh, I would definitely make sure my village received the two million from Pierce to get running water and I would return to help facilitate the project, but being back in the states reminded me of how many luxuries I left behind in my hasty departure. Not ridiculous ones like fancy cars or even mall shopping trips, but the little things. Things you never realize you take for granted until you do.

Being able to flush toilet paper, well insulated homes where you don't have check the sheets each night before you go to bed for tarantulas, and ice cubes. When I first moved to Central America, I hadn't worried about any of those things because my heart had been too broken, but years eased the pain and my way of life. I'd let minor inconveniences slip from my memory, but now they were back and glaring at me like shining beacons. How in the hell had I forgotten the sweet smooth cool taste of a frappe?

And for whatever reason every time I thought of my favorite frozen beverage, Oliver was holding one in his arms with his perfectly placed smile.

"Ah, come on, you two. Have fun with your lovebird story. How about you, Mari? Kids? Dogs?"

Um. I used the filler only in my head rather than out loud just as my speech teacher taught at the fancy private school I attended for twelve years.

"No kids for me?" It was definitely a question—one I hadn't worked out an answer for yet.

"No?" Oliver's face fell, and I questioned his dedication over Pierce and my fake children.

"Well, I'd want to adopt one day." So many kids needed families in every country of the world. I had little to no connection to the eggs in my body. They contained the same genetic material that allowed my parents to banish me with no concern for my whereabouts. We didn't need more uncaring people running the place. A few less in the Chambers' clan would do the Earth good.

"Adoption is good. You should run with that," Oliver said.

I smiled while nodding my head. "I'm serious with the adoption part—a boy and a girl. Siblings if possible."

The three of us wandered the little store for a few more minutes until we ended up back in the main hallway. Pierce's phone dinged, and he brought his watch up to read the message, laughing as he did so.

"What?" Oliver asked, trying to steal a peek over his cousin's shoulder.

Pierce shook his head and lowered his watch. "Another death threat."

"What?" I asked more concerned. Those words weren't supposed to sound so caviler. How much did the town hate him?

Rather than search for the nearest security guard or use his phone to call the police, Pierce and Oliver both picked up their pace, strolling through the mall as if we were having a pleasant afternoon.

"Don't worry about it. It's from Katy," Pierce said nonchalantly.

"How do you know?" Did she sign her death threat? That didn't sound like something a smart criminal did.

"It's always Katy," Pierce said with a shrug.

Who exactly was Katy besides the woman dropping cookies in the bakery? And why was she sending more than one death threat to Pierce? So many that he no longer found them concerning. It seemed I had yet to learn many things with my new fake fiancé , but I needed to do so pronto.