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From there, I mostly do the speech as intended. It’s brief, and everyone claps when appropriate. It’s a good transition from the wildness of my rescue back to business.
Now to see how quickly I can eat dinner and get back to Bailey.
I’m about to head to my table when I see her.
My breath catches.
She has entered through the rear doors. She wears a sparkling red dress, and her chestnut hair streaked with purple is pulled into a sweeping updo fastened with a rhinestone clasp.
The dress is strapless, showing off a tan, no doubt augmented by our days on the island. It has a heart-shaped top, dipping between those delicious breasts I can easily picture.
She glances around, looking for an empty seat.
There’s one at my table, since I’m a single with three couples.
But she said we would stay private, and she calls the shots.
I realize I’m standing, dumbstruck, in front of the entire company. A few people turn to see what has caught my attention.
The whispering resumes.
She’s spotted a table with two couples from maintenance. Peter stands and pulls out a chair for her. The woman next to him, presumably his wife, takes Bailey’s hand in both of hers, clearly glad to see her.
I’m still staring.
“Rhett?” It’s Gloria, come to my rescue. “Let’s have a seat.”
But that’s the moment Bailey glances around, her gaze directly meeting mine this time. She watches me, then her hand lifts and she gestures for me to come to her.
I walk away from Gloria and the table with my VP of operations and head of accounting, and glide toward her as if pulled by a string.
The room is quiet, watching as I approach her table.
Bailey smiles and tugs out the empty chair to her right. “Peter, Bea, Harry, Suni, I’m sure Rhett Armstrong needs no introduction.”
The four of them murmur greetings, trying to contain their shock.
Then I sit down, almost in a daze, and Bailey takes my hand.
“We thought you all should be the first to know that I’ll be back at the company next week, and that Rhett and I will be striking the fraternization rule from the employee handbook, not that it was ever enforced.”
“How lovely,” Bea says. “I always thought the two of you would be good together.”
“Must have been an interesting two days on the island,” Griswold says, patting his long bushy beard with his linen napkin.
Bea elbows him hard enough that he lets out a sudden, “Ooof.”
Harry and Suni try to bite back smiles.
“Rhett was a perfect gentleman,” Bailey says. “We worked out all our differences that led to my firing, and realized what a great team we make.”
“We’re glad you made it through all right,” Bea says, shifting her bright pink boa from her shoulders to her elbows to avoid getting feathers in her salad. She lifts her wine glass. “Here’s to good things coming from difficult circumstances.”
They all clink their glasses. I pick up the extra water glass to tap with them.
A server quickly brings me and Bailey salads and offers us wine.
The conversation moves on to the wild ride in the storm on the boat as if nothing unexpected has been revealed.
