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Only he can see the ‘What do you think you’re doing?’look I fire at him.
“We won’t be in your hair,” Todd promises. “And we won’t be long.”
“Blame me,” Gretchen adds, playing peacemaker. “I’ve never seen it before and have always wanted to have a look. I won’t get the chance in a few days.”
That remark hits me like someone punched me in the gut, and we all freeze where we are. The clock is ticking – D-day, as I think of it – is no longer something I am fighting. The courts have spoken, and I don’t have the money or resources to start another conversation.
I have come to terms with the situation. And when it starts to hurt to think about it, I have discovered that googling Galveston makes me feel better. But Gretchen’s reminder catches me off guard, forcing me to find acceptance all over again.
“That’s cold,” Todd reprimands Gretchen lightly.
“I’m sorry,” she apologizes, and I believe she means it. “That came out wrong. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay,” I assure her. “I am glad someone thinks the Calypso is interesting. Enjoy.”
On top of everything else, I am blindsided with envy when I look at them. Todd and Gretchen hit it off like I knew they would. After all, it was my idea to bring them together. Jack just took it and hit it out of the park.
From how they talked and acted, you’d have thought they were an old married couple, not two people who barely met hours prior. Now they’re roaming around the inn like it’s a date. Any minute, they’ll be going into the dining room. They’ll do what everyone else does: strike a piano key and fuss around trying to remember the one song they know.
I wander out onto the deck. Although it was blazing hot today, the temperature dropped dramatically as the sun sank and the ocean cooled everything off. I nab a throw that had been crocheted by my mother years ago from the couch to wrap myself in - as much for the warmth as for the emotional comfort. For sure, I could use a hug right now.
I hear Gretchen tittering like a schoolgirl with a crush at everything Todd says and does. The sound of their merriment travels through the walls. Their voices remind me of times whenthe Calypso was filled with parties and people. It’s enough to crack my armor, and I gently sob because I know deep within me that those days are gone, and soon, the inn will follow.
I cried hard until I felt my body let go of the tension that had been building ever since I received notice the inn would be demolished. I’m sleepy from the letdown, and I’m also uncomfortably full. I overate while out shopping. Jack said to treat ourselves to food and drink, so we took him up on the offer. Maybe a little too enthusiastically.
I draw the blanket around me, wanting to get up and go to bed - something I can’t do as long as Todd and Gretchen are still here. Maybe I should offer them a room for the night so I can go to mine. As if Todd is reading my mind, he pokes his head into the room to speak to me. “We’ll lock up,” he says. “If you want to retire for the night, we won’t be long. We have Jack’s car, which we must return to him. We’ll go in a bit.”
He studies me. “Are you okay?” he asks. “Did what Gretchen say bother you?” He sits beside me and slips his arm around me.
I want to scream, “Of course it bothered me,” but I don’t. I know Todd is asking out of genuine concern. No need to make him feel bad, too.
“You know,” Todd says. “I think Jack really likes you.”
I shrug.
“And I think you like him back,” he says. “And no “whatever” from you. I’ve known you for a while, and you have never made the time for anyone.Ahem. As I know all too well. And now I know why. You were holding out for the right guy – not just any guy.”
I start to argue, but he shushes me.
“You don’t make mistakes with people. That is a valuable life skill that you have,” he chuckles. I noticed Gretchen waiting in the doorway, listening tentatively. “I have a feeling,” he says. “Ican’t explain it; I just do. Things are going to work out for you. Just try your best to stay in the moment and stay hopeful.”
“I will,” I say, feeling remarkably better. “I’m going to go up. You two do whatever you want. Help yourself, but make sure you lock up when you leave.”
I climb the stairs to my room; as soon as I enter, I notice the chill and hit the switch to turn the gas fireplace on. The next thing I noticed is my messy bed. Normally fastidious about making it, the disheveled sheets and coverlet remind me of the glorious night with Jack. For the thousandth time, I wonder why he had to hightail it out of here so quickly.
I tuck myself in and pretend Jack is holding me as I drift off to a restless sleep. I sink deep into my Jack-infused dream in which I am on the long couch in the parlor in a twilight state of consciousness. Jack touches my shoulder and stirs me.
He takes my face in his hands after piercing me with the most adoring gaze and makes a promise. He whispers, grazing my lips like we have always been together. “It’s going to be okay,” he tells me.
And slowly, sensually, we come together, lazily pleasuring each other. It is one of those dreams that feel so real that I awaken to my body convulsing sweetly in a gentle orgasm. I am rested from head to toe, so refreshed and so healed. The light outside the window beckons as a new day awaits.
Full of newfound energy, I jump out of bed, throw on yoga attire, draw my hair back into a messy bun, grab my mat, and fly down the stairs to the main floor, out to the wraparound deck, and down the last flight to the beach. I do a wondrous yoga sequence, a tribute to the ocean and the sun. By the time I’ve finished, I’m hopeful that, like Todd said and Jack promised in the dream, things will work out some way, somehow. I hope I am not deluding myself.
I spend most of the day in the sun and surf, relishing all the inn offers until it is time to get ready. I am what I randomly remember my mother used to describe asbrown as an oven-roasted turkey.
“Did someone put butter on you? Because you look so delicious, I just want to eat you up.” she’d ask whimsically.
Gretchen and Todd convinced me to choose a short, almost obscenely short, pale blue chiffon dress with delicately jeweled spaghetti straps and the slightest cowl neckline. The fabric shimmers with microscopic silver threads that reflect the light around me as I move.
