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"I think that phone call is going to get me a whole lot more than that." My cheeks burned as I remembered the final words of my cell phone tirade. "I gave him an ultimatum."
"You didn't!"
"Yep. I laid down the law and told him he could either change course and allow me to grow the branch in a way that wouldn't harm the existing businesses on the island, or he'd have to run the company without my help. After that, I hung up. That's when my life flashed before my eyes, and I texted you."
"Way to go, girlfriend! And to think, this is the same woman who was terrified to turn in her resignation last month. You've come a long way."
"Yeah, literally. I'm forty-five hundred miles away from home. It's pretty easy to be bold when you're leaving a message for a boss who's asleep on the other side of the planet." I stopped messing with my hair and stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. "I'll be unemployed and homeless by the end of the day."
"Maybe not." Her voice rose an octave, clearly reaching for something positive to say. "Maybe your boss will admire your pluck and see the error in his ways. Who knows, maybe he'll promote you to Vice President of the company."
"Earth to Allie. Get your head out of the clouds. This is real life we're talking about here. Not some cheesy movie with a guaranteed happy ending. I never should have told him to choose. I should have just…" My words died on my lips.
"Betrayed the man you love?"
"No. Absolutely not."
"Well, it sounds to me like you made the right decision then. But hey, even if Peters does fire you today, at least you'll still have a hot boyfriend, right? You've got to look for the silver lining. You still owe me the details on the boyfriend situation, FYI."
The boyfriend details. Right. I couldn't forget about those. The memories I'd made with Kai were priceless, almost too priceless to share over the phone. My heart ached as I wondered if I'd be making any more memories with him after today.
The same feelings from last night washed over me. The dinner. The sunset. The kissing—so much kissing. Goosebumps raced up my arms. It had been the most perfect night of my life.
I could almost feel his hot hands on my back, holding me close. I needed more of that; I was hungry for it. My insides trembled more than a starving chihuahua on international bacon day.
Last night had changed everything for me. I wondered if it'd done the same for Kai.
I jumped when a text rang through. "Oh man! I just got a text."
"Who is it?" Allie asked.
"I almost don't want to know."
"Better to get it over with."
I glanced down and started breathing again when I saw who the sender was. "No big deal. It's the woman I told you about. She's here and she's ready to work." My eyes scanned the text as Allie rambled on about Rachel and I putting our heads together to save my job. And that's when I gasped. "Oh, no!"
"What's wrong?"
"She's in the lobby, and she's run into Kai." My heart raced and my knees nearly buckled.
"And?"
"She knows about Peters's plan to crush the local tour guide businesses." I scrambled to find my sandals.
"What's wrong with that?"
"I haven't told Kai yet. I was going to come clean to him today. He can't find out about this from someone else. That could ruin everything!"
Allie shouted at me to get down to the lobby STAT and hung up on me as I raced out the door only to have to wait for the slowest elevators on the planet. My great-grandmother could have run three flights of stairs faster than that elevator moved. I had to get down there and do some damage control…
Assuming it was the kind of damage that could be controlled. It was pretty hard to come back from feelings of betrayal toward an almost-girlfriend. Some might say it was impossible.
All I could do was hope that Rachel hadn't opened her mouth yet.
