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“Who the hell is this clown?” Trent thumbed at Kelly.
“This is…Kelly. He won your half of the trip.”
“Won my half of the trip? What are you talking about?”
“It’s a long story, but Jane ran a contest on her podcast, and the winner got to join me on the trip.”
“You auctioned off my spot on our vacation for a date?”
“No, no. It’s nothing like that. It’s not a date.”
Kelly frowned. “That kiss at the end of the night last night sure felt a hell of a lot like a date.”
Trent scowled. “You kissed this joker?”
Kelly took steps toward Trent. “Who you calling a joker?”
Oh shit. This was about to turn ugly. I stepped between the two men and put my arms out to keep distance between them.
“Kelly, I had no idea Trent was coming. Would you mind if we skipped the pool so he and I can talk?”
Kelly frowned and shook his head. “Whatever. I’ll see you around.” He turned and stormed out the lobby door. Watching him walk away upset caused a lump to form in my throat. So I ran after him. “Wait! Kelly!” But he was already marching across the parking lot and didn’t turn back.
Trent followed me outside. “Sarah, what the hell is going on?”
CHAPTER 7
* * *
Kelly
Maybe I overreacted.
I shouldn’t have left her alone with him. But then again…she sent me away instead of telling me to stay, so alone time with him was what she’d apparently wanted.
Sitting at a bar by the beach not far from my motel, I read the text from her again.
Sarah: I’m so sorry my ex showed up. I had no idea he was planning on coming here. I felt like I needed to hear him out. I’m sorry he ruined our plans and you left upset.
I didn’t respond. A full hour passed, and I came to the conclusion that if she hadn’t reached out to tell me he was gone by now, maybe her asshole ex was getting his message through to her. But it was killing me to sit here and do nothing, so I finally texted her back.
Kelly: Look, Sarah, I don’t know your ex from Adam, but what I do know? You deserve better than that guy. I don’t know what he’s saying to you right now, and I don’t give a fuck what he has to say. Not everyone deserves a second chance, especially lying, cheating bastards. I’ve said my piece.
She didn’t respond. Another hour went by, and I decided to go back to my room and figure out an exit plan. The more time that passed, the more I started to feel like she might be taking him back. And that sucked. Because I was really starting to like her and had a different idea of how this trip might have ended. For a while there, I’d believed I’d won more than a trip—it’d felt like I’d won the lottery. And now it felt like it was all a freaking dream.
My phone rang. My pulse raced for a second because I thought it was her, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. It was a call from Sarah’s hotel.
“Mr. Fugger?” a woman said.
“Yes.”
“This is Vanessa from the resort hotel?”
“Hi.”
“This is a courtesy call to let you know that the room I mentioned to you earlier, the one we thought might become available tomorrow night, is in fact going to remain occupied. The situation with the occupants’ family emergency changed, so they’ve decided to stay through the remainder of their trip after all.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Well, thank you for letting me know.”
I hung up and pulled on my hair. What now?
If I wasn’t going to have a place to stay tomorrow night, I needed to book myself a flight for tomorrow. I didn’t want to stay here anyway if Sarah’s “boyfriend” would be sticking around.
I opened my laptop to check flights. There was only one plane out in the morning and a couple more at night. I called the airline. That 10 AM flight was full. They told me they could put me on standby if I wanted to just come to the airport, so that’s what I decided to do. Given that Sarah still hadn’t contacted me, I was at peace with the decision to leave. Her silence spoke volumes.
***
The following morning, I was all packed up but felt my walls breaking down a bit. My original plan had been to leave quietly, with little fanfare. But a part of me couldn’t do that without seeing her face one last time. I owed her at least a proper goodbye after the time we’d had together, despite my bitterness over her not texting me back.
I decided to have breakfast at the restaurant in her hotel. It would be her call if she wanted to join me. When I got there, I texted her. If she didn’t text back this time, it would be the last time I ever reached out.
