by Natalie Ann
“You did. I heard most of the exchange since I was behind you. Sometimes there isn’t much more you can do. A lot of times people just want to talk to someone else. Another guest could have come forward and said they were the manager and she would have been pacified.”
Kayla laughed. “I’m not so sure about that. She wouldn’t have gotten over five hundred dollars comped to her room and a free dinner then.”
“No, she wouldn’t have. So is that the only thing going on? You seem kind of distant.”
“It’s been a long day.”
Which meant more than just work. “Is it me?”
“Not like you think.”
“That doesn’t sound good either way.”
“I’ve got a lot on my mind and then forgot to do something I should have.”
Hunter was trying to read between the lines. He knew there were people around her and she was most likely choosing her words carefully. He should be thankful for that but in a way didn’t care either.
“Am I on your mind?”
She laughed, it was a low sound, but he caught it. Caught enough of it that his heart picked up a few paces and his fingers itched for the remote to see if she was smiling or not.
“You kind of are. Not in a bad way though.”
“That’s good to know. So then what did you forget to do?”
“Call the garage on my car. It’s been making noises for a while. It almost didn’t start when I left work on Wednesday morning. I got busy talking with Amanda before work that night and forgot to call the garage. It barely started this morning when I left work, but when I was getting ready to come in tonight it didn’t.”
“I’m sorry. How did you get here?”
“I called an Uber, but I was late so that will be a mark against me.”
“Which isn’t the end of the world,” he said. He wanted to say he’d take care of it but knew she’d get mad and argue and it would look suspicious if he did. He had to stay out of it.
“No, it’s not. It still doesn’t reflect well on me, but I was only twenty minutes late. Then the person I replaced had to stay until I got here because Bob is sick and it made her late...”
“And she wasn’t happy she had to stay twenty minutes late for you?” Hunter asked.
“No. It’s fine. I just hate making waves and I made enough for surfers to come out tonight. So besides the car, being late, the guest that I didn’t handle well…”
“You handled it just fine,” he said.
“If you say so, but then Tiffany’s husband looked at my car for me tonight and he said he’s pretty sure it’s the starter. Not only that, he noticed it was leaking oil too. I searched what some of that will cost and, well, you’ve seen my car. It’s not worth fixing it.”
“So it’s been a pretty rotten night all around,” he said. He’d love to say he’d help her out but knew it would just cause problems. She had her pride, he could see it from miles away. All he could do was just listen as much as it killed him to not be able to take care of it for her. What was it that Grace said—he thought he had to fix everything?
“It has. I can Uber when I get out in the morning, or I can walk. It’s not that far. Amanda will bring me in tomorrow, so once I get home on Saturday I’ve got a few days to figure it out. I’ll probably go look at cars.”
“Which you don’t want to do,” he said.
“No. It’s hard to find used cars. I hate loans, but I’m sure I’ll have to get one.”
“What’s the big deal about a loan?” he asked, knowing she wouldn’t take a big one.
“It’s that debt cloud over my head. I’ve got all these clouds that follow me around. Black clouds, debt clouds, loneliness ones. Never mind,” she said quickly.
He got what she was saying but was wise enough to let it drop. “I need to go to Boston on Sunday myself to pick some things up at our site there.”
“What site?” she asked.
“We’ve got an office storage facility there. Multiple people in our family who own businesses split the cost of the building so we can get shipments there faster than waiting for them to come to the island. Then when someone goes into town we get what we can if someone asks us. But I’ve got some personal things coming that I pick up myself anyway. Why don’t we go together, get off the island, and have a day to ourselves. We can car shop if you want.”
“No place is open on Sundays,” she said. “Besides, I’m not sure I want to go to a dealership. That’s out of my range.”
This was going to be touchy, he knew. “You won’t know until you look. The good part of living on the island is you aren’t that far from work and you can get an Uber like you said or maybe your roommates can get you or bring you, or you can get a ride from Tiffany when you get out.”
“She already offered and I took her up on it. I don’t want to abuse it though.”
He laughed. “I don’t think anyone would assume that. Island living means you can’t get things as fast as if you lived on the mainland. Everyone knows that here. Even if you found a car on Saturday you won’t get it until Monday. The dealership will take care of everything at DMV for you too. It will save you time.”
She sighed. “I suppose you are right. And dealerships have used cars too.”
“They do,” he said.
“I guess I can look online and see who might be open on Sunday. If you don’t mind doing that with me. I mean it’s your day off and all. Or it should be. You don’t want to spend it looking for cars with me, do you?”
He wanted to spend time with her period and he didn’t care what they were doing for it. But the fact they’d be off the island was a bonus and would allow him to let his guard down.
“Maybe you’ll find something right away, but you won’t know until you look. It’s a big city.”
“You’re right. Anyway, I’ve got to get back. Thanks for listening. I’m sure you’re tired and the last thing you wanted to do was listen to me whining tonight.”
He felt the smile fill his face. “You aren’t whining. You just had a bad night. We all have them.”
“True. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll touch base with you tomorrow sometime.”
They hung up and he went to his computer and did a search for used cars and dealerships, found a few that were open on Sunday and then sent her the links.
It wasn’t five minutes later she sent him a smiley face.
Would he like to just buy the car for her? Yeah, he would. It was nothing to him to do it, but he was smart enough to know that bringing it up would most likely be the end of what they were just starting between them.
14
A Good Deal
“So you found a car you want to look at?” Hunter asked her when he picked her up Sunday morning.
“I did. I called yesterday and told him I was on the island and that there were a few I was interested in if I could come in and test drive them. The guy was nice.”
“That’s good. We’ll do it right away. Maybe it’s your lucky day.”
Kayla smiled at him. “I’ve got my lucky necklace on so I hope so.” He seemed all excited over doing this but she wasn’t. The down payment was going to be a big hit to her savings account and she’d have to make monthly payments but she’d done it before. It wasn’t the end of the world and she needed a mode of transportation.
After running the numbers she knew she could get a payment under two hundred dollars a month and that was sufficient for her. With any luck this car would last her as many years as the one that was towed out of her driveway yesterday.
The garage gave her two hundred dollars for it for some parts they could salvage and didn’t charge for the tow. She’d take it as a win.
“I was thinking,” she said as they drove across the island to board the ferry at Romeo Port. “Maybe it’s not a good idea if you go with me.”
“Why?” he asked.
“You don’t think it’s going to look funny that I’m pulling up to buy a used c
ar in a Porsche?”
He grinned at her. “You might have a point. I can switch out and we can go in my SUV.”
She frowned. “You’ve got another vehicle?”
“I do. I don’t drive this in the winter. I store it and that is where my SUV is. We can swap out when we go to the storage building.”
And when they pulled into the “storage building” she snorted at him. “This is nuts.”
He laughed at her. “I told you it’s a shared building within the family. There is shipping and receiving done here, others store stuff too.”
It was right by the port, had probably been around for hundreds of years used in the shipping trade and now his family owned it. Most likely they’d owned it all along. “Did your family build this?”
“At some point, I’m sure. It’s been in the family longer than the development of the island.”
She figured as much. They drove around the back and she saw there were a lot of large garage doors. He parked and got out, punched in a code to the security access by the door and then brought her in. Once he flipped the lights on she saw about twenty vehicles and space for more. “This is crazy.”
“Not when you consider how many of my family members there are who live on the island or commute back and forth. But some just park here and then take the ferry and grab an Uber or a shuttle or have someone pick them up while they are there.”
“That makes more sense. It is kind of a pain to get the car on the ferry.”
“Which is another reason we’ve got this spot right by the port.”
He opened a garage door and she stood there while he parked his Porsche in an empty spot and then pulled out a black SUV. A Range Rover that stood out just as much as his Porsche.
She walked up to where he was outside the garage now. “You do know this high-priced Range Rover is no different than your Porsche, right?”
“Probably not, but I planned on getting it anyway. I’ve got a lot of packages to bring back to the island and there is more room here.”
“What did you buy?” she asked.
“It’s not all for me. I ordered some personal things. Clothes and shoes. A couple of my cousins did the same. I sent out a message a few days ago saying I was coming to the mainland this weekend at some point and to let me know who needed what. It should all be in the SUV ready to go.”
She walked around back and saw a bunch of boxes there and the seat down. “They even filled it up for you?”
“Someone here did. It’s easier for them to do since they know where it’s all sorted.”
“Does anything else get done out of this building or is it just used for storage?”
“We’ve got some offices here for staffing. Well, I don’t, but other businesses in the family do. I’ve lost track of what is what at this point.”
“I’m sure it’s kind of nuts over the years.”
“It is. So let’s go test drive your car and see if we can get you a good deal.”
“Let me do the talking,” she said. “I don’t need someone to do it for me.”
He pulled out of the parking lot and toward the dealership she’d told him about. “I get the feeling you don’t let anyone do anything for you.”
“Since I’ve never had many people in my life, I just don’t know any other way.”
Hunter knew it wasn’t the right thing to say, but he couldn’t help himself from voicing those words. At least he knew she wouldn’t accept any help from him with the car if she wouldn’t even let him contribute to the car negotiation.
It was going to be hard for him to stand back, but he’d have to do it if he wanted to continue any kind of relationship with Kayla, and he did.
He realized that he wasn’t always going to get his way and this was going to be one of those times.
They pulled into the dealership and he let her get out. “Are you staying in the car?”
“I think I need to,” he said.
She smiled at him. “It’s going to be that hard for you to not say a word and let me do this on my own?”
“I’m not sure and I figured there was no reason to test fate. You seem to be much happier today than you were when you said you had to buy a new car. I don’t want to make it worse.”
“I’m just happy to be off the island. Crazy I know. I’ve been there a few weeks now and I love it, but didn’t realize how much I would enjoy leaving it too. Though I still don’t care for the ferry ride.”
“Do you get seasick?” he asked. He’d seen enough people in his life toss their cookies over the railing. She hadn’t even looked the slightest bit green.
“No. I did the first time, but not enough to get sick. It just turned my stomach. But that was a rough ride.”
“It can get rough out there.”
“I can’t imagine people taking that trip daily.”
“Some people don’t mind. There are plenty that live on the island and work on the mainland too. It’s not always the other way around.”
“I guess I didn’t think of that, but it makes sense. I never thought I’d be able to live on an island, so it’s pretty cool to me even though I’m really only living in one room.”
“Sometimes it’s not about what is inside but what is outside,” he said and then felt like a fool for using those words.
“I guess so. Well, I hope I’m not too long and don’t come back crying.”
He sat up straighter. “Why would you be crying?”
“Just signing my name to the line. I hate having any debt.”
“Which means you probably don’t have much.”
“No.”
She turned and walked away and he pulled out his phone preparing to entertain himself. He couldn’t help it though and his eyes kept lifting and looking for her in the parking lot. She’d walked over to two different cars and then finally climbed into a small sedan and pulled out to test it.
When she returned ten minutes later, she went inside with the salesman. It didn’t take long for her to come back to his SUV. “I’m all set.”
“That wasn’t even thirty minutes. Did you decide not to buy it?”
“I bought it,” she said. “I filled out the paperwork. They do loans there and I had been pre-approved.”
“I hope to hell they aren’t taking you on an interest rate. You should go through a bank,” he said. “Or I can give you a loan.”
“Stop right there. I know you mean well, but I’m a big girl and am pretty smart with my money. My interest rate is five percent, and when I researched this weekend the starting rate was about four percent at different banks. That extra one percent isn’t that big of a deal as it saves me time from going to a bank and all the running around.”
“Okay. You win. It’s not that bad.”
“I’m not stupid and I’m not someone to be taken. I haggled him down pretty good and I think I got a great deal on the car. I’m happy with it.”
“Then that is all that matters, isn’t it?”
“For now it is.”
He wasn’t sure what to make of that statement. “When can you pick it up?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. Amanda has the day off too and she offered to bring me. She wanted to get off the island and shop a bit. I won’t be in the mood to buy anything else, but it will be nice to have a little bit of a girls’ day. I’m used to doing things alone.”
“Like what?” he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“I went to the movies by myself yesterday.”
“You did. Why?”
“Why not? It’s better that way. No fighting over what to watch with anyone.”
“I suppose. What did you see?”
“I’m not sure I want to tell you.”
He grinned. “Now I’ve got to know.”
The island movie theater only played two or three movies at once. He never paid much attention to what was being shown though. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to the movies. Maybe college. No, had to be high school.
He looked at her while they were waiting in traffic and saw the red dots on her cheeks like makeup on a clown. “It was an animation.”
“Like a children’s movie?”
“Yeah. I like them. I guess it’s probably because I didn’t see many growing up and I can watch them all I want now.”
“I think that is great.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Being an adult doesn’t mean you have to be serious all the time. You should be able to have ice cream for breakfast and eggs for dinner. Watch a child’s movie if you want on a Saturday. Things like that.”
“Well, then I don’t lead a very serious life because I eat like that all the time. Especially now that I’m working off hours. You’re a pretty serious guy, aren’t you?”
He was and tried to be that way but was sick of portraying someone he thought his family wanted him to be.
“I’m trying to change that.”
“With me?” she asked, frowning.
“In a good way. Maybe you can help me loosen up.”
“I’d like to be able to do something for you. That’s simple enough.”
He read more into her words than he thought she meant but knew enough to let it drop for now.
15
Control Of Her Emotions
“Kayla, do you have a minute so we can talk in my office?” Patrice asked her.
She felt the acid building in her stomach, swirling around and threatening to have the dinner she ate make a reappearance.
Normally Patrice wasn’t here when she came into work and if there was anything that she needed to know she got it from another staff or Carol before she left for the night.
“Sure,” Kayla said and then left her station. It was quiet for the moment, but she’d only walked in the door a few minutes ago, making her believe that Patrice stayed just to talk with her.
“I see that you credited a guest a free night last week.”
“I did. Hunter handled it and told me to do that. He also gave them a free dinner for the night.”