A Map To Destiny

by Ellis, Nicole

  He grinned. “Maybe I should stick with you the rest of the day, just in case you fall off a cliff or something.”

  “There aren’t many cliffs around here, so I think I’m good.” Her heart pounded. He wasn’t serious about spending the day with her, was he?

  He noticed her hesitation. “No, really, I have nothing better to do. It seems like you’ve got a lot on your plate and I’d love to help.”

  She thought back to the twenty additional boxes of decorations. There was a lot to do and she could use the help, especially some muscle to lift the boxes.

  “Are you sure? I mean, this is your vacation and all.”

  “It’s not really a vacation. I have some commitments tomorrow, but I’ve got today free, so put me to work.”

  “Okay then.” She pointed to City Hall. “My office is over there.”

  * * *

  Mac raised his eyebrows at the wall of decoration boxes.

  “Whoa. You weren’t exaggerating about there being a lot to do.”

  She put her hands on his shoulders and turned him to face the other wall. “Those too.”

  His jaw dropped. “You were going to do this all yourself?”

  She shrugged. “It’s my job. Do you still want to help?”

  “I never run from a challenge.” He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get started.”

  She selected a few boxes and they carried them out to the park.

  “The wedding florists will decorate the trees and the area surrounding the gazebo, but I’d like to make sure the rest of the park looks festive too.” She scanned the park and pointed to a tree on the edge of the grass. “Maybe some sort of decoration over there?”

  They moved the boxes over to the tree and set them down on the grass. Mac rummaged through the bin and pulled out a neon-pink plastic flamingo.

  “Like this one?”

  She scowled at him, but her lips quivered in her attempt to hold the expression. She failed and burst out laughing. “I was thinking of something a little more tasteful. Maybe a wreath or a red-and-white-striped candy cane.”

  “Oh.” His face fell in mock disappointment. “But think of what the bride would say if she saw the flamingo.”

  “Yeah, and I’d probably get fired.” She selected a large wreath. “Hand me that hook, would you?”

  He handed her the metal hook, which she used to hang the wreath from a low tree branch.

  “It’s awfully low,” he observed.

  “No more ladders for me today.”

  “Good point.” They both laughed.

  Together, they decorated the rest of Main Street. When they were finished, she plunked down on a bench. He sat down next to her.

  “Looks good. I don’t think you’re going to get fired.”

  It did look nice. They’d put wreaths on every lightpost, creating a charming and festive holiday atmosphere. The glow from the street lamps shone softly on the sidewalk. People walked along the sidewalks, some pointing at the holiday decorations. There may not be snow, but she’d come pretty close to creating a Victorian Christmas.

  Her heart filled with pride. This was why she loved being an event planner. When people appreciated her hard work, it made it all worthwhile.

  “What time is it anyways?” Mac craned his neck around to view the tall clock tower on the town hall. He whistled. “Eight o’clock already? How did it get late so fast?”

  Her stomach dropped. They’d been having so much fun that she hadn’t noticed the time.

  “Did you need to be somewhere? I knew this would take a while, but I didn’t think it would take this long.” If Mac hadn’t been there to help out, it really would have taken her until midnight to finish.

  “Nope, I’m fine. Hungry though.” He grinned at her. “Might I talk you into having dinner with me?”

  Dinner? She stared at him. Even though she’d tried to not let him get close to her, she’d somehow managed to spend the whole day with a man she’d just met. But he didn’t seem like the other tourists she’d dated or the horror stories she’d heard from other locals. Maybe, just maybe, he was different.

  “You know, I am feeling hungry. How about pizza at Mama’s Kitchen?”

  “You read my mind.” He held out his hand. “Shall we?”

  Instead of releasing her hand, he wrapped his fingers around her palm while they walked down the street to the pizzeria. Her hand tingled with the giddy feeling of attraction, and she felt like a teenager again, going on her first date.

  When they entered the restaurant, several people she knew greeted her. Although she’d only been in town since summer, her job duties had given her the opportunity to meet many of the locals. She waved at them, but didn’t leave Mac’s side.

  The waiter seated them at a booth in the corner. She slid along the cracked faux leather bench and grabbed the menu. “What kind of pizza do you like?”

  “This is going to sound weird, but I really like pepperoni and anchovies.” He looked at her as if daring her to object.

  She grinned. “Well, you’re not going to believe this, but that’s one of my favorite combinations. Laney says I’m nuts though.”

  “Yeah, well, she doesn’t know what she’s missing.” He smiled wide, revealing one crooked tooth she hadn’t noticed before in his gorgeous smile. Thank goodness he wasn’t completely perfect.

  The waiter took their order. They both laughed when he cringed at their request for anchovies. She felt like she’d known Mac for her whole life. She reminded herself again that he was only in town for vacation and he’d eventually go back to his regular life. There was no point in getting wrapped up in him.

  When they finished their pizza, the busboy was mopping the floor in the lobby. Change clanged in the cash register as the cashier counted the till. Mac and Becki exchanged glances.

  “I think it’s time to go.” She looked around the restaurant. While they were chatting, all the other customers had left. They’d already paid their bill, so they hurried out of the restaurant.

  “I’ve never closed down a restaurant before.” She stopped in front of the beauty salon. “I had a great time with you today.”

  “Me too,” he said. “Can I walk you home?”

  She thought about it for a moment. This guy had been a stranger to her that morning. Did she really want to let him know where she lived? She looked into his eyes. There was nothing there but honesty.

  “Sure, I’d like that. I live a few blocks that way.” She pointed in the general direction of her cottage.

  He looped his arm through hers and they walked toward her house. She snuck a peek at him. His eyes were downcast.

  “Is something wrong?”

  He sighed. “No, I was just thinking how great it was to meet you and wishing we had more time together.”

  A thrill shot through her. He wanted to spend more time with her. Then, her mood soured. “How long are you planning on being in Fortune’s Bay?”

  “A little over a week, but I have some commitments for most of the week.” He smiled at her. “I’d love to see you again though.”

  She halted in front of her house. “This is me.”

  He walked her to the front door and waited for her to unlock it.

  She opened the door and hesitated. Was he going to kiss her good-night?

  As if he’d read her mind, he put his hands on her upper arms and leaned down, kissing her softly. She closed her eyes, put her hands around his waist, and deepened the kiss. After a minute, they broke apart and their eyes locked.

  “Wow,” she whispered.

  “Yeah. No kidding.”

  He stepped back. “So about that second date—are you free on Saturday night?”

  Her mind spun. The festival started Saturday, but technically, she wasn’t needed after the last event at 4 p.m. “That sounds great. Maybe around six?”

  “I’ll pick you up here at six then.” He kissed her again, leaving her breathless and wanting more. He smiled guiltily. “Sorry, I couldn�
��t help myself.”

  “I didn’t mind.” She stepped inside the house. “I’ll see you on Saturday.”

  He nodded, waved good-night to her, and walked back toward town.

  She closed the door and flung herself on the loveseat in the living room. A huge smile spread across her face. She’d royally broken her vow to stay away from tourists, but she didn’t care. Mac was trustworthy, and even though his time in town was limited, she intended to give him a chance and see where their relationship could go.

  * * *

  The next morning, Becki tried to push thoughts of Mac out of her head. With the wedding in the town park that evening and Winterfest starting the next day, she still had a lot to do. By lunch, however, a movie reel of memories of their day together wouldn’t stop playing in her mind. She went over every moment she’d spent with him. Was he really as nice as he seemed? Had she found the one honest guy out there?

  Her gaze slid to the boxes of brochures in the corner of her office. One of her duties, when not planning town events, was to populate the hotels with brochures from local businesses. If one of the hotels she visited just happened to be Fisher’s Hotel, it was all part of her job, right? But, she had a date planned with Mac for the next day—what would he think if she showed up at his hotel?

  Her pulse quickened at the thought of seeing Mac again and her mind was made up. She grabbed an armful of brochures and walked over to the row of hotels overlooking the ocean. Fisher’s Hotel was in the middle of the group, so she distributed brochures to the nearest hotel first. Soon, she stood in front of his hotel. She took a deep breath. Chances were, she wouldn’t see him anyways.

  She entered the lobby, greeted the front desk agent, and stocked the brochure rack. After straightening all of the advertisements in their slots, she slowly walked out of the lobby, pausing in front of the entrance to the hotel rooms. Fisher’s Hotel was one of the older hotels in town, with exterior corridors surrounded by an eye-level concrete wall. A locked gate in the wall allowed entry only to hotel guests.

  An older couple noticed her eyeing the rooms.

  “Did you forget your key, dear?” The elderly woman pointed at Becki’s purse. “We could open the gate for you.”

  Becki blushed. “No, no. I’m fine. Thank you, though.”

  They strolled off toward town. She leaned against the wall. She’d hoped to engineer a ‘chance’ meeting with Mac, but this was starting to feel too stalker-ish.

  From inside the gates, she heard a child begging their parents to go swimming. A man answered. “Not today, honey.”

  She froze. The man sounded just like Mac. She peeked over the edge of the fence. The man turned and she caught his profile. It was Mac. She crept over to the clear plastic gate and peered through it. As she watched, a beautiful woman with long, black hair came out of the hotel room and joined the man and child.

  “Daddy will take you swimming after the wedding.” The woman placed her hand on Mac’s arm and gave it a squeeze before re-entering the hotel room.

  Becki quickly edged back behind the solid concrete wall before he saw her. Her heart raced as what she’d seen sunk in. He had a wife and child. They must be in town for the wedding that evening. He’d probably had a free day and decided to pick up a townie on a lark. She’d thought he was different, but he was just like all the rest of them. Tears pooled in the corner of her eyes.

  She jogged away, not stopping until she was out of view from the hotel. How had she been so stupid? One thing was for certain, she was never going to open herself up to any tourist ever again. It just wasn’t worth it.

  She threw herself into her work, finishing her To Do list in record time. It was almost six o’clock, but she didn’t want to go home to an empty house. She picked her phone off her desk and dialed her sister.

  “Hey, Laney, it’s me.”

  “What’s wrong?” Laney asked immediately. Becki held out the phone. How had her sister immediately known something was wrong?

  “Nothing.” Okay, so her tone was a little glum. She tried to put more life into it. “I was hoping you were up for going out tonight?”

  “I’m at work, but I can go in about an hour. At Joe’s?”

  She definitely didn’t want to go to Joe’s. “No, let’s try that new place up the street—Della’s. I hear their appetizer menu is awesome. I’ll meet you at work and we can walk over together.”

  “See you soon.”

  They ended their call and Becki leaned back in her chair. It was hard to believe Mac had only been in her life for a day and he’d already caused her this much grief. Well, she was going to have a fun night out with her sister and do her best to forget about him.

  * * *

  Becki avoided the park like the plague. The wedding was scheduled for six o’clock in the gazebo, and with Mac attending, she didn’t want to be anywhere near the ceremony site when guests started to arrive.

  When she entered the library, Laney was behind the Information Desk helping a patron. She smiled and nodded to let her sister know she’d seen her. While she waited, Becki perused the romance shelves, hoping they had the new book from her favorite author.

  “It’s not in yet.” Laney came up behind her.

  She whirled around and blushed. “How’d you know what I was looking for?”

  Her sister laughed. “Come on, you’re a sucker for a good romance novel, and you’ve checked out every book in that series. I already put you on the wait-list for it, so you’ll be first in line when it comes out.”

  “Thanks.” Sometimes it paid to have a librarian for a sister.

  Laney cocked her head to the side. “Aren’t you up to your eyeballs in prep for the Winterfest? I was surprised to hear from you.”

  “I finished early.” She winced at the sharpness in her voice.

  “Okay then.” Laney gave her a dubious look. “Let me grab my purse and we can go.”

  Word had gotten out about Della’s, a restaurant that had just opened a few weeks prior, and they had to wait for a table. After they were seated and had ordered, Laney took a sip from her glass of wine and then set it down, staring directly into Becki’s eyes.

  “Spill.”

  Becki squirmed. “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve got something on your mind. Just tell me and get it over with.”

  She sighed. “Fine. So I met this really nice guy yesterday, or at least I thought he was a nice guy.”

  Laney groaned. “You didn’t go out with a tourist again, did you?”

  “Maybe?”

  “And it didn’t end well, right? Didn’t you learn from your experience with that guy you met in August? Or the one in October?”

  “I thought it would be different this time.” She fiddled with the empty appetizer plate in front of her. “I fell off a ladder in the park and he caught me before I hit the ground. The least I could do to repay him was to join him for lunch. And then it snowballed into an all-day kind of thing…”

  Her sister looked down at the table and tapped her forehead with her palm before looking back up at her. “Really?”

  “I tried to keep him at arm’s-length, but then he offered to help me and he was so nice.” She felt Laney’s eyes drilling holes into her skull.

  “Okay, then what happened that shattered your impression of Mr. Perfect?”

  “I happened to be at his hotel, restocking the brochures today, and I saw him with a woman and child. The little girl called him Daddy.”

  “Wow.” Laney leaned back in her chair. “So he’s married. Who sneaks out to cheat when your wife and child are along on the trip? That’s a new low.”

  “Tell me about it.” Becki chugged the beer the waitress had placed in front of her. “I hope I never see him again.”

  “No. You’ve got to tell him you know. Don’t let him get away with this.” Laney placed her hands on the table in front of her and stared at her sister.

  “I just want to drop it. Seeing him again isn’t going to help anything.”
Plus, she didn’t know if she could get through a conversation with Mac without crying. How had she been so idiotic as to believe his lies?

  “Well, I still think you should confront him. What he did is so not cool.”

  “Please drop it,” Becki pleaded. “I’ve got enough going on with Winterfest. I don’t have time to dwell on this. I’ve learned my lesson. No more tourists, never ever.” She shuddered.

  Her older sister took pity on her. “Okay, no more talking about that loser.” Her voice brightened. “Hey, did I tell you about the new book we got in about the history of Fortune’s Bay? One of the professors over at the university in Coral Gables wrote a book about our town. I managed to nab a copy of it before the treasure hunters got here last week.”

  Becki grinned. “Sounds fascinating. Tell me more.” Her sister could talk for hours about local history and folklore. This topic would ensure there would be no more discussion about Mac and that suited her just fine. All she wanted to do was drown her sorrows in another glass of beer, eat delicious munchies, and forget Mac ever existed. He’d said he planned to stay in town for a week, but who knew if that was another lie? If he was in town for the wedding going on in the park that evening, he’d be gone soon enough.

  * * *

  By the time she and her sister left the restaurant, Becki had almost forgotten Mac. At least she tried to convince herself she had. While regaling her with tales of Fortune Bay’s illustrious history, Laney had reminded her of the town legend of the ghost of a maiden named Destiny, still awaiting her Irish lover all these years later. Rumor was Destiny liked to amuse herself by meddling in the love lives of anyone who stepped foot in town. Becki was starting to think Destiny had it out for her.

  When she got to her front door, she knew, without a shadow of doubt, that Destiny hated her. On the porch steps, leaning against a railing was Mac. His eyes were closed and a bouquet of flowers lay next to him. A pang of sadness ran through her. The flowers were her favorite—velvety, red roses. She shook her head to clear her mind.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked sharply from the concrete path.

  Mac’s eyes flew open. “What time is it?”