“So Gavin asked you to come, too? You know what he’s talking about here?” Tina asked.

Gavin guffawed. He pushed off from the side of the pool after half-shouting, “Let me swim a few laps while you ladies get to know each other.”

With a slight frown, Tina turned to Celine. “Why’d he laugh out loud like that?”

She watched Gavin with a warm smile. After a few seconds, she answered, “Um… no he didn’t ask me to come. He laughed because I own this place, so I have every right to be here. We’re friends and business partners.”

Tina’s mouth dropped and a bright red blush stained her cheeks. “Oh! I am so sorry, Celine. I had no idea, obviously.”

Celine was smiling at her in a friendly manner, but from behind hands that half-covered her face, Tina added, “I am so, so embarrassed.”

Celine shook her head and waved her hands. “Please, Tina, don’t be. There are very few photos of me anywhere, and I don’t have any social media, so how would you know? We’re very private. And we like it that way.”

She picked up one of the water bottles and offered it to Tina. Tina shook her head and pointed at the glass of mint julep that she’d just poured for herself.

Celine broke the seal of the water bottle and took a sip from it. “Gavin was very keen to talk to you, you know. I was planning to leave today, but he insisted that we meet with you before he and I left the island to go our separate ways.”

Tina gave her a perplexed look. “Well, I’m very flattered obviously. But I’m still not sure what he wants …”

“Did he talk about the research we’d had done?”

“Oh, you’re a part of this whole pitch, too?” Tina looked at her in surprise. Celine nodded and took another sip from the water bottle. “I even spoke in confidence with a mutual friend you and I happen to have. Marissa Wheeler.”

“You spoke to her? She never mentioned that!”

“I asked her not to. She said that she was very fond of you, had only the highest praises for the work that one of their subsidiaries have done with the studio, and that your whole family are delightful people. Simply the best, she said.”