AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But in the woods, I saw him. Saw parts of him no assistant should see of her boss.
The swim trunks slung low, his flat belly ending in…
Yeah, don’t think about that.
But I am now. It seems like our fighting is spent. Rhett admits he acted too hastily. He was investigating the marketing issue before the cruise.
He’s not a bad person. But like I told him, he assumes he knows everything, that he’s infallible.
He’s learning he’s not.
I close my eyes and count to one hundred, hoping I can lose myself in sleep.
But I keep drifting to thoughts of Rhett. His laugh. The way he listened this time, brows drawn in concentration. And so much of him, bare and out there for me to see.
I’m back to that.
I give up on sleeping and roll away from the pile of jackets.
Rhett turns. “Can’t sleep?”
“Nope.”
I spread the second towel next to the first. “They’ll come tomorrow, right?”
“I would think so, unless nobody notices we’re gone until the cruise is over.”
“So that would be one more night, then however long it takes for them to get here.”
“Right. So the day after tomorrow, for sure.”
“If they have a boat close.”
“That, too.”
“Do you think we should prepare as if they’re never coming?” I dislike the tremble in my voice, but the question is a hard one.
“We could, I guess. Do you mean figure out a way to fish or catch small game or eat coconuts?”
“Sure. We already have shelter.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much. They’re going to know where we are. They know how to get here. It’s not like we got lost at sea or had a plane crash no one can track.”
His eyes watch me with a combination of compassion and concern that hit me deep down. Whatever we were before as a boss who drove me crazy and an assistant who disappointed him, we’re not that anymore. We’re two humans, cut off from the world, figuring out how to get by.
When I first worked for him, he was much more laid-back, more like he is now. I actually had quite a thing for him. This was how Viola and I became friends. We had a mutual obsession.
But within two weeks of working for him, everything changed.
Rhett got stiff and formal and found fault with everything I did. Frankly, his demands were ridiculous. Get this report in by noon, when it was impossible. Get the answer for this thing that would have been a challenge for someone with more experience and training.
I did my best to rise to the occasion. I endured. I worked. I never considered quitting. Rhett’s harshness was mitigated by the fact that I had made friends at Dougherty. Viola and I were inseparable. And I got to know everyone quickly. I kept track of their lives and their personal details, partly to help Rhett. But also because I liked doing it. I liked knowing who I worked with.
When he fired me, he didn’t only prove that he didn’t value all the things that I had done. He cut me off from the work and the people I enjoyed.
And here we are. But the Rhett I’m seeing now, drinking margaritas, making a fire—that’s the Rhett I remember from the beginning. And I’m pretty sure that’s the Rhett he’s meant to be. That everything else is some kind of weird act.
But I have to ask the hardest question of all. “What if nobody reports us as missing? What if nobody cares?”
