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“Brian, we don’t have much time.” She motions at my suitcase.
I snort. We have all the time in the world, but I guess she won’t relax until we are away from her family, so I just go along with her plan.
By the time we reach the restaurant, it’s almost eight o’clock and the place is empty. Exactly what you’d expect after a wedding party. She pushes the door open, but I pull her back. “Come on, it’s just sad to eat here alone. Let’s go somewhere else so that we can see a bit of the city too. We’ll come back to get our stuff and say goodbye to your family.”
She huffs and pulls her phone out. “I’ll call a cab.”
“We have a driver, remember?”
“He was off duty, remember?” She mimics my tone.
I did but that was because he was getting way too friendly with her. “Yeah, but that’s his job. He’ll come.” Paul answers almost immediately and although he sounds sleepy, he assures me he’ll be here in ten minutes. “Problem solved.”
Carol frowns and opens her mouth to say something but seems to change her mind midway.
“Tell me.”
“It’s nothing, I’m just not used to this,” she says.
It’s more than that but she doesn’t voice it. It’s my damn part of the bargain that’s throwing her off. If I had scrapped my plans to hide my wealth from new dates and friends, this wouldn’t be an issue now. I need to tell her the truth when we get back, as soon as I’m sure she won’t just shut me out again.
I put my arm around her, and she stays tucked in my embrace until Paul arrives.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he says the second he gets out of the car. He nods politely at me and flashes a quick smile at Carol as he opens the door for her. She returns it before getting in the car and I have to remind myself that it’s unreasonable to fire someone for smiling.
I slide in alongside her as I tell Paul our destination. In my original plan, I had a list of places we could go if she felt that staying at the resort all day was getting too much for her. Hence hiring Paul in the first place.
The car stops a few minutes later at a small coffee shop by the sea. It’s just a small shack really, but there are several tables scattered around the beach. Carol picks the one closest to the water.
“How come your sister chose this city when you have Naples right next to you?”
Carol chuckles. “She wanted something that reminded her of home but that was a little different. A place that looked like a tropical paradise but with few tourists—I mean you saw that it was just us at the resort—but still close enough for all the guests from our town to drive here and also have an airport for the rest.”
“But she’s still living in Florida, right?” She nods and turns to the waitress placing an order for both of us. “Do you ever think of returning here?”
Her father believes that I played a role in her decision to leave Florida but I’m not sure. Even when she was a student, she talked about living in different places. I don’t remember if she had an issue with being close to home though.
“Not really, I’ve told you, it gets tiring really fast. And I really like the weather in New York. Sometimes the rest of the seasons skip this place.” She looks at me with a sad smile. “I should probably visit my parents more often though.”
Our coffee and food arrive soon after. I glance at the sandwich, which doesn’t look promising, and take a bite. Carol waits for my reaction before she tries hers. “It’s good,” I say as I munch it.
We eat the rest of it in silence, the awkwardness of our imminent return building up rather quickly. Carol tries to look at anything but me, all that morning playfulness seems like a dream. I make no attempt to start a conversation either, giving her time to process everything that has taken place these last few days.
“What time does our flight leave?” she asks at last.
“When we get there. We’ll leave the same way we came here, don’t worry.”
“I won’t,” she reassures me.
In the next hour, we manage to get back to the hotel, greet almost everyone that we saw on our way out, make plans with Rose and Dennis, and head to the airport. The flight back to New York is equally quiet with our breakfast but when we reach her apartment Carol seems to finally relax.
I place her suitcase in the middle of the living room and admire her taste. “This place really suits you,” I comment. Carol gestures for me to sit down and grabs two glasses and a bottle of wine from her kitchen.
“I know. This is the place I got after the breakup with Morgan, so I made sure every single thing that crossed that door was something that was right for me.”
“Does that include me?” I ask, my heartbeat becoming a little faster.
She smiles and sets the glasses on the table, pouring us some of her wine. “When will I get the documents?” she asks.
