He looks up at them. “Fuck off for a minute, okay?”
They retreat to the table, and he takes my hands. “It’s going to be a while before I’m healed from this, and a part of me will never heal.”
“I understand that. But I want us to work on it together.”
He nods. “Me, too. I love you, Kylie. I love you so much.”
Tears come like a waterfall. “I love you, too,” I say, barely getting the words out intelligibly.
We embrace again and hold on to one another with the seagulls and the ocean waves and my new family steps away.
EXCERPT FROM UP FOR SECONDS: DESTINY DUNES BOOK TWO CHAPTER ONE - TORI
As I usher some kids in from the outside play area, handing them off to Chelsea, she grins at me and says, “Groups have been posted for the teambuilding weekend.”
My insides twist with equal parts hope and dread. “Cool,” I say, heading to the break room, keeping my indifferent front, always. But the truth is I haven’t been anything resembling cool for the better part of a year. Although being lumped into a group with Jack Massey for a weekend away would be detrimental to all the work I’ve done to get over him, there’s a part of me that I wrestle to the ground daily that would love to see his name in my group.
I’m putting coins in the soda machine, when Brett walks in. “They separated us again,” he says going over to the water cooler.
“Of course they did. These weekends are about helping people get along. If you’re already doing that, their work here is done.”
I get my drink, and I’m almost out of the break room when he says, “But I did see who’s on your weekend.”
It’s all I can do to keep from putting my hand to my chest to slow my heartbeat. Instead, I turn to face my lifelong best friend, giving him a look like he’s the biggest idiot on the planet. “So.”
“Just making sure you’re okay.”
“Of course I’m okay. Nobody died. What about you? Is Kylie in your group?” Deflection is the name of my game.
He drops his chin. “No, but it’s okay. It’ll probably do us good to have a minute apart.”
“Why, so you can come up for air from all the sex you’ve been having?”
He waggles his eyebrows. “Pretty much. Seriously, it’s good for us to spend time apart. It’s healthy.”
“You just keep trying to convince yourself there, Romeo.” I head to my shared office and slide into the seat, pulling up the email. I want to get the particulars of this nightmare of a weekend I’m in for.
Every year Robert splits the whole staff of the resort into several groups. Each group takes a separate weekend and goes away to this camp where we do teambuilding exercises and that kind of bullshit. It’s all to help us work well together. He wants people from Kids Company like me to socialize with people from the business office, and people from The Circle where all the restaurants and shopping is to socialize with the spa workers and housekeepers. All of us are supposed to be this big happy family of grinning idiots.
I find the list of names in my group, and there’s his. Jack Massey. We had a thing at the end of last summer. Maybe the word disaster is more fitting for what we had. Whatever it was, it destroyed me, and it takes every bit of willpower and acting abilities I have to pretend I’m cool with everything when I’m around him.
Voices down the hallway peak my interest, because it definitely sounds like Jack. He used to come over here any chance he got before we had our thing. Now he never shows his face at Kids Company.
As he gets closer, I’m able to confirm it’s him, and my stomach squeezes itself into a tiny little ball. I hear buzz words like award-winning and state-of-the-art and educational, and I know he’s got somebody important with him. As they pass by my office, the guy he’s with stops and smiles at me. “Hello ma’am.” It’s the kind of greeting that only comes from a privileged, old, white guy, making sure he is gifting the lowly staff with his acknowledgment.
Jack is forced to stop, and he makes eye contact with me, sending my heart into a frenzy. “Senator, I’d like you to meet Tori. She’s one of our recreational therapists.”
I stand up and walk around my desk. “Hello, sir.” I clasp my hands behind my back to make sure he knows he doesn’t need to shake my hand. I don’t like touching people I don’t know. I’ve adopted this technique to send a clear signal. The downside is most men take the opportunity to look at my boobs.
“So, what does a recreational therapist do, Miss Tori?” Miss Tori. Could he be more condescending? I give him my spiel about how we cater to kids with disabilities here, and how I work with their therapists back home to better serve them for the week. He nods, widening his eyes in all the appropriate spots. I look at Jack for next steps, but the senator beats him to it.
“Maybe Tori could show us the outdoor area, since this is her space and clearly not yours, young Jack.” The man looks Jack up and down, indicating his suit pants, button-down shirt, and tie. As much as I hate to admit it, I love the way he looks in a suit—like there’s nothing he can’t accomplish or fix.
Jack opens his mouth, gauging me, so I save his ass and step out into the hallway. “Of course. Right this way, senator.” Janelle or Bailey usually handles the tours, being in PR, but this guy seems important, and I’m in no position to tell him no. I move into lovely hostess mode,
