Page 21 of The Strength Of A Woman

“Have you seen Leilani?” Sylvia Gallo asks, and I slow down before coming to a stop and pivoting to her.

Emerging from a different corridor, she pulls up in front of me.

“I heard about the little spectacle on the back terrace. That girl can’t learn anything good to save her life,” she says, and everything about her seems contrived.

Her smile, the arching of her eyebrows, and her flashing self-confidence strike me as a poor decoy.

I’ve dealt with many people in my life. Scared ones, and brave ones.

People who spill out unapologetic truths, and people who don’t know how to hide away from their own lives.

She reminds me of the latter.

She looks like someone with a long list of grievances, though she can’t share a single one with me.

A moment of hesitation on my part lets me play out a couple of scenarios in my head.

She also looks like someone who knows more about this story than what happened by the pool.

That was public knowledge, but her coming after me might’ve been triggered by her knowing that I had spent some time with her granddaughter.

Her statement is a blunt commentary, inviting me to offer her more information.

“She had a moment,” I say cryptically. “She’ll be fine,” I add in a bored, dull tone that offers nothing. “Eventually, she’ll learn. She’s too young right now.”

She absorbs every word as if it’s gospel, looking for hidden meanings, yet I’ve got nothing to hide.

Everybody knows Leilani Gallo is a rebellious woman with a mind of her own. They all know she has a crush on me. All I need to do is convince them that it’s fleeting, which isn’t that hard––I also need to convince myself.

It must be fleeting.

She’s wild in the best sense of the world. A vivid world lives inside her head, and her brain needs constant stimulation.

That’s why her family’s plans riled her up.

She can’t contain that world for the sake of some good old arranged marriage, andI can’t blame her.

“That’s it?” Sylvia murmurs.

I tilt my head back in defiance.

“Are you questioning me?”

She quickly adjusts her tone.

“No, no. I was hoping you’d talk some sense into her.”

“I had,” I say promptly, and a flicker of curiosity glints in her eyes.

She’d probably like to ask me something else, but she refrains from it, aware that she’s on thin ice with me.

“She knows she needs to behave. There’s no other way,” I say, and her eyes search mine more than I’d like.

I pin her with my stare, and she relents, a soft smile tilting her lips.

“That’s good to know. It’s always reassuring to know you’re on our side.”

“What other side would I be on?” I say, tension building in my voice.