Love on the Malecon

by Aubrey Parr

  Silvia was small but she was tough. He had seen her temper on occasion. She stormed over to him and hit his arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Silvia, this isn’t the place.”

  “I don’t care, pendejo!” He lifted an eyebrow at her, knowing she had just called him an asshole. “It was that blond bitch, wasn’t it? I heard you two hung out for hours the other day, even after I left. Didn’t waste any time, did you?”

  He realized this was going to be a mess. He couldn’t care less what she said to him. But was she stupid enough to say something to Nicole? She was still a paying customer. He hadn’t thought to tell Nicole about Silvia and now he wished he had. What would Nicole think if Silvia found her before he had a chance to explain? He contemplated going back up to the room immediately, then figured he’d try to talk to Silvia first.

  “We aren’t together anymore,” he told her, “I’m not doing anything wrong.”

  “I know about your little rule, you idiota,” she yelled.

  “Well, I broke it,” was all he could think to say. He didn’t have time for this shit. He needed to get changed to meet Gael, so he took his phone out of his pocket and called the general manager. He could hear Silvia going on in a mixture of English and Spanish, but did his best to tune her out.

  “Hi, Victor, it’s Derek…There is a guest here. I want to make sure that Silvia has absolutely no contact with her. Her job depends on it. Yes, she’s the one…yes, I know you told me this would happen…gracias.”

  He shoved the phone back in his pocket. He looked down at Silvia, trying to show her that he was not kidding. “You leave her alone. You do not speak to her. Your job depends on it,” he repeated. He waited for a response, but she just turned around, stomped back into the office, and slammed the door like a child throwing a fit.

  Derek looked around and the girls behind the counter were trying to pretend like they hadn’t seen the whole thing. Derek glanced at the rest of the lobby; luckily it was too early for any guests to be at the bar or tables. Maybe if guests had been around, she wouldn’t have caused such a scene. He’d have to remember to stay later from now on. That made him smile, in spite of everything that just went down. Victor had warned him that this would happen if he ever hooked up with a guest and Silvia found out about it. He rubbed his head as he headed out to the street. He hated the idea of causing any problems for Victor. He should have never gone out with an employee.

  He walked into his apartment and started the shower before wandering back into the bedroom, stripping off his remaining clothes. He laid back on the bed with his feet still touching the floor. He stayed there for a few minutes, naked, thinking about everything.

  First he tried with Silvia and now he was enamored with Nicole. Was he really tired of living this life? Maybe he was looking for a little bit of normalcy and thought having a girlfriend would help make that happen. So were his feelings for Nicole genuine? Or did they come on so quickly because of this new need to be with someone? That question scared the shit out of him. He needed to figure it out quickly. He didn’t want to hurt her.

  “Fuck!” he yelled out to the empty apartment. He stood up, wondering if he should go back up to explain everything to Nicole. Gael could wait. He stood in the shower, letting the hot water hit his face and run down his body as the bathroom filled with steam. Last night was perfect; he didn’t want to taint it so soon. Luckily, he had already explained to her that he had been in Vallarta for a few months. This potential problem wouldn’t come quite so out of left field now.

  What would they do for the rest of her trip? They wouldn’t be able to avoid Silvia. He wasn’t even going to try. But he didn’t want their time together to be marred by Sylvia either though. He couldn’t believe that the idea of them staying at the Paraíso even entered his head, yet it did. However, with his new worry about the root of his intense feelings for Nicole, he didn’t think that was a good idea. Sure, he was already planning trips to Chicago in his head. But they had only spent two days together. He couldn’t get ahead of himself. He couldn’t believe how many times he had said that to himself since he met Nicole. He had protected his personal life this long and wasn’t prepared to share that with her yet. But she was here for two weeks and every day got closer to her getting on a plane back to Chicago.

  He turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist. He quickly grabbed some board shorts and a t-shirt. He didn’t need to worry about what Gael thought. He was only thinking of his time with Nicole on the beach. He threw on sunglasses and flip-flops and grabbed his wallet and phone on the way out the door.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Nicole stayed in bed for a while after Derek left, thinking about the night before. Even in her wildest fantasies, she had never experienced anything as sensual as making love to Derek Stone. She could still smell him in the room and on her skin, could still feel his hands all over her. Even when he wasn’t with her, he was still haunting her. She remembered his eyes, such a dark brown that the iris almost flowed right into the pupils, an amazing combination of kindness and mystery.

  There was some serious depth behind those eyes. She couldn’t put her finger on it. She wasn’t worried about baggage, but she felt there was a story there. Maybe it was the writer in her. Through the years, she had interview hundreds of people for her column and she had learned that some people were very two-dimensional- what you see is what you get. It wasn’t that they were boring or bad people, there just wasn’t much to dig up. Derek, on the other hand, his eyes were like deep pools filled with so much to uncover, layers of stories to discover what had turned him into the man who made love to her. There was a connection between them that she couldn’t deny. She couldn’t wait to get him back in bed, a feeling she hadn’t had about Andrew maybe ever.

  She knew she wanted to think about Andrew on her run, so she turned her thoughts to her best friend Kate. She had been in Mexico for three nights now and hadn’t even turned on her phone. She just couldn’t do it before. She needed some time away from it all. Depending on how concerned or angry Andrew was, he may have called Kate to see if she knew anything. A dilemma presented itself. Should she keep her phone off and give her friend plausible deniability? No, Kate would go crazy with worry. She may have already. What the hell, she thought.

  Nicole leaned over the bed and reached for her purse, practically falling to the ground before snatching it at the last second. She pulled out her phone and turned it on, closing her eyes as she waited to see how many voicemails she had. When she finally heard the dings, she looked at her screen- seven voicemails and ten text messages. Not as bad as she had expected. She looked at the text messages first. There was one from her boss and one from a coworker, both sending her well wishes. She also had two more from friends checking on how she was doing.

  The final six were from Kate, sounding more concerned as the messages went on. She thought Nicole was just ignoring her. The last one simply read “Call me PLEASE!!” Even though Nicole had the voicemails to listen to, it didn’t appear that Andrew had called Kate. She had complicated feelings about that. She wasn’t too upset. Really, it was somewhat of a relief. But she was irritated that Andrew didn’t seem concerned about her.

  Nicole clicked her voicemail button and waited to hear the first one. It was Kate, of course. She was rather calm as she said, “Hi, sweetie! Thinking about you, call me when you want to talk.” Then the second message, “Nic, checking again, love you.” By the third message, she was beginning to sound concerned, “Nicole, is everything okay? I’m getting worried about you. Please call me.” At the fourth, Nicole could tell that she was trying not to sound mad, “I know you’re going through a lot right now, please call me. I’m ready to call Andrew.” Oh no, that isn’t good, Nicole thought. The fifth was a random call from a colleague about covering one of her weddings. The sixth was Kate again, “Andrew didn’t answer his phone either. What is going on? I may start stalking you and come by your place.” Nicole laughed after he
aring that. It had only been three days and she was ready to send out a search party.

  The seventh message was from Andrew. All he said was, “I’m dodging calls from Kate. Are you ready to tell me where you are?” He had no idea where she was. Apparently he hadn’t been listening to all those stories she had told him about her father. At least he hadn’t talked to Kate yet. Well, as of early this morning he hadn’t.

  She rolled her eyes and called Kate. There was barely time for a ring on her end when…

  “NICOLE! What is going on? Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

  “Hey, babe,” Nicole practically started crying with happiness just being on the phone with her. Where to start? She needed to tell her best friend everything. Kate may not always agree with every decision she made, but she always listened and supported her. “Guess where I am?”

  “What? Guess? My mind has been going nuts trying to figure that out.” Though Kate started to sound relieved, there was still tension in her voice.

  “After the funeral, I booked a ticket to Vallarta,” Nicole said.

  “Ticket? Singular? Is Andrew with you?”

  “Nope, didn’t want to come.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? Why didn’t you call me? You know I would have gone,” Kate was practically yelling.

  “I know,” she soothed, “I didn’t care that I would be alone. I just wanted to get here.”

  Kate began to lecture when Nicole cut her off. “Kate, I met someone.”

  Silence.

  “Start talking,” was all Kate had to say. Nicole spilled the entire story, ending with Derek leaving her room that morning.

  Silence again.

  Nicole waited and let her process everything. It wasn’t long before Kate decided to speak, “You know I love Andrew, right? But it sounds like from what you’ve said, this guy, or someone like him, is far more suited for you. Maybe your dad sent you there to find your true love.”

  Wow, Nicole thought. That was out of character for Kate. She was usually far too practical to use the term “true love”. She knew that Kate didn’t believe in soul mates and true love came pretty close. Kate continued, “Most girls would be screaming for a ring after three years and marriage hasn’t even been on your radar. But you sound crazy about this guy. Is this a vacation fling?”

  “Kate, I can’t imagine waking up another day without him there. I’ve known him for three days; I think I’m losing it.” She hung her arm over her eyes to block out the world. She did feel like she was going crazy and it felt good to say it out loud.

  “Who knows, Nicole, maybe this is where the term ‘crazy about someone’ was coined. It’s ridiculously early, but it does sound very intense between you two.” She had a good point. But was “crazy about someone” the same as really being in love with them? Nicole needed to think. She needed to run.

  “I need to figure out what’s going on with me, with Andrew, with Derek,” she said, “Please don’t say anything to Andrew if he calls you. I just need some time to decide what I’m going to do.”

  Kate agreed. They finished talking and Nicole promised not to go another day without calling her. They said their goodbyes and Nicole got out of bed.

  It was only 8:30 and already hot out. Still, she hoped to get a few miles in before the sun began to singe her skin. She headed out to the beach and began at a slow jog.

  Nicole loved to run. It let her concentrate on one thing and block out the rest of the world. She would let her head spin with thoughts and memories. Everything swirled around and her mind grasped onto the things that were really important. As she ran, she realized that she was analyzing her relationship with Andrew. It was mild natured and peaceful. But as she remembered back over the last three years, she noticed that everything stayed within Andrew’s comfort zone, which meant that Nicole had abandoned the parts of herself that would disrupt the vibe of their relationship. She wasn’t sure whose fault that was. Snapping back into reality, she realized her hands were clenched and she was almost at a full sprint.

  She slowed herself to a stop, relaxing her hands and leaning over to take in a few deep breaths. So part of her was content and comfortable with Andrew, but not the whole part. How important was that? Can couples really love all of each other? Should she have stirred the pot a few times, made him uncomfortable to make herself happy? She couldn’t deny that they had been happy together. They had fun times and she had enjoyed his company. She wouldn’t have stayed with him if that hadn’t been true.

  She set back into a jog as she thought about all of those good times. Then she tried to think about the bad. They didn’t really fight, but was that necessarily a good thing? She wished she had started reading those relationship books…

  Derek flashed into her mind and she wondered if they would fight. For some reason, she thought that they might. Not all the time, of course, but imagine the amazing make-up sex when they did. Given the level of comfort she already felt with him, it seemed like they’d each feel safe enough to give their opinions on things regardless if the other agreed. Isn’t that how most fights start anyway? she wondered.

  She needed to stay focused on Andrew. Nicole still wasn’t completely sure what to think of the fight they had when she was packing. Even if Derek wasn’t in the picture, would she still be mad enough to break it off? That may be the question that would answer everything.

  She forced herself to stay calm while running; she didn’t want to overheat. She decided it was a good time to turn around and make this the halfway point of her run. It had been half an hour so she had gone maybe two miles? It was harder to run in the sand so, even with the sprint, she knew her pace had to be slower.

  She knew she wasn’t mad that Andrew didn’t go with her. She couldn’t have expected Derek. Regardless, she was a grown woman capable of traveling on her own. It was that Andrew left the apartment as if she would be home that night to work everything out. He stayed away long enough for her to leave.

  That was the kicker. That wasn’t right. If people should live their lives by the old rules that you don’t go to bed angry or say something you can’t take back, this was pretty bad. What if the plane crashed? What if something horrible happened? He’d have no idea. He should have at least made her tell him where she was going. If he didn’t care, that spoke volumes. And what she heard was that it was over with Andrew. She couldn’t imagine going back to the life they led together. She needed more excitement, more passion now.

  She needed Derek. Or at least someone like Derek. She tried to remind herself again that she had only known him for three days. It was way too early to know if he was “the one.” Nicole thought back to her previous boyfriends before Andrew, the guys that were more like Derek. How did their relationships feel in the beginning?

  Nick had been funny and they laughed a lot. Mike was exciting and kept her on her toes (as it turned out, he had kept a lot of other girls on their toes as well). Jason was sexy and mysterious, but moody. None of them seemed to have all of the characteristics she was looking for. And none of them were successful like Andrew. She had given up that excitement for a type of dependability. She never wanted Andrew for his money, but she had liked that he was stable. All of the bad boys had broken her heart and she had had a nice guy in Andrew. Derek seemed to have all of these qualities rolled into one sexy package. But still, none of her relationships had seemed as intense this early on.

  Had Kate been right? Did her dad send her to Vallarta to meet Derek? Was that even possible? She liked the idea. She knew her dad would have loved spending time with Derek over Andrew any day. He hadn’t spent lots of time with Andrew. Her father loved Andrew for loving her, but she could always tell that he didn’t quite see what the appeal was. They were very different from each other. Her father never showed his success in how he dressed or carried himself. He liked it better that way. It seemed blaringly obvious right now that maybe Derek could have been sent to her so she would see what she was missing. Maybe he wouldn’t end up being
the one. But he had shown her that Andrew wasn’t either. Andrew was a good person and he would be perfect for someone else. Could her dad have known that? Did he now have the power to show her through Derek?

  Thinking about her father made her sad again. She was finally here in Puerto Vallarta and yet she hadn’t spent a lot of time focusing on him. She had initially imagined this trip as a time to soul search by herself in a place where she could feel closer to her dad. She hadn’t even found the King’s Head Pub yet. She decided to make a list of places to go when she got back to the hotel room. She’d have plenty of time before she needed to meet Derek.

  Nicole made her way up the beach to the hotel entrance, stopping by the bar just at the edge of the beach for a bottle of water. She caught her breath and cooled her body and began to head toward the elevator. She could see two female employees out of the corner of her eye. It looked like they were talking about her. One was a short little thing and she was giving Nicole the stink eye as she spoke to the other woman. Nicole wondered if she really looked that out of shape from her run. Just as she shrugged them off, Hector walked up to her and hurried her over to the elevator. “Mi buena, how was your run?” He was too cute for words.

  “Hi, Hector. It was hot. How are you?”

  “Always good. When you are ready to meet Señor Derek, you come straight to me and I’ll take you there.” Wow, she could get kind of used to a driver.

  “Thanks, I’ll be down in about an hour.” She pushed the elevator door. Hector stood there waiting with her. She glanced around and the lobby seemed slow enough. Maybe he wasn’t needed up at the front. She tried to think of small talk. “Are you going upstairs as well?”

  “Oh yes, I have to see to the maids’ supplies on your floor,” he said with a big, bright smile.