by Maddie James
Jackie held her breath. Couldn’t speak. This was wonderful, but it was awful. Have fun on his dime? Fine. Get emotionally involved? No. But how was she supposed to pull it off when he treated her like this?
For his part, Mitchell didn’t seem to be having any trouble drawing her into his arms and making her feel like this was more than just one weekend fling. Was it true what he said about never bringing anyone else here? She saw his face when he said it. If he was lying, he was a world-class liar. She also had to remember he was a businessman. Making deals and getting what he wanted out of people was a way of life for him. Although that certainly didn’t explain his relationship with Jimmy. Something about that had been making her wonder.
“Jimmy said your dad owned a car like the one you rented today,” she said.
“Uh-huh.”
“He said ‘your dad’ like it wasn’t ‘his dad’ too,” she said.
“A technicality,” Mitchell said.
Jackie waited for him to explain the technicality, but instead he opened his cell phone and glanced at it.
“Has the half hour passed yet?” he asked.
Jackie looked at him questioningly. He was bored with her already. He was about to check his messages. Her former boss and lover had gotten bored with her and traded her in. Even though this was just one weekend…it was going to hurt twice as much. Strangely, though, Mitchell’s look was anything but bored as he tossed the phone aside and raised his eyebrows at her.
“The official waiting period for swimming,” he explained.
“Oh,” she said. She took a deep breath. “Race you to the water.”
Chapter Thirteen
It was late afternoon when they dropped the picnic basket and blanket into the trunk of the car. Jackie felt a sting of regret that the day was almost over. It was like watching a romantic scene on TV. It looked perfect, but you knew it wasn’t real and as soon as you clicked the switch, it disappeared. This day was like that. Because their romance was built entirely on not being real.
What if they could go back to last night and start over with the truth? She knew better. If Mitchell knew she worked for him, he wouldn’t look twice. Especially since she was just a gray cog in the wheel of a part of the building he had never been in.
Playing the part of a woman of mystery who dances on cruise ships and has one-nighters (okay, one-weekenders) with handsome men was more work than she bargained for. And she ran out of desire to play the part just about the time she got in the rusty convertible with him. It was no fun to pretend she was someone she wasn’t every time he looked at her, touched her, kissed her, and invited her to fall in love with him in a dozen other ways.
And now it was over.
Their day on the beach under the entwined palms was done. Her friends would be back at the hotel, washing off sunscreen and salt water in the shower. And probably waiting for her to come back so they could do what they were going to do in the first place. Celebrate together. Maybe Shelly would even come out of pre-honeymoon hiding. No more games, she would meet up with her friends and then try to get some sleep tonight.
They had a plane back to reality to catch in the morning.
****
Mitchell glanced over at Jackie as he drove back down the lane and realized with a jolt that her eyes were the exact blue of the bottle for which he and Jimmy had named the beach. Maybe she was too precious and beautiful to share with anyone else, too.
But the weekend was over. Tomorrow he would get on his corporate plane back to Chicago and read all the reports Hal had ready for him. He’d face a meeting of stockholders on Monday morning. But he wouldn’t be thinking about them.
Maybe it wasn’t quite over. If he asked her to spend the evening with him, maybe even the night…would she? Was it smart to wade in any deeper than he was already? After less than twenty four hours, he already knew he was going to miss her smile, her laugh, her blue eyes looking at him the way they did, the incredible curves of her body and how it melted into his.
More time with her would make his flight to Chicago seem even lonelier.
“It’s not over,” he said out loud without even thinking.
Jackie tilted her face and smiled at him, a questioning look in her blue eyes.
“The day. Still a couple of hours of daylight left and you haven’t seen the best sight of all.”
“Hard to believe,” she said with a little grin that nearly made him pull the car over right there and take her in his arms. “What have I missed?”
“Sunset. Mallory Square. Right downtown near your hotel. Everyone goes and says goodbye to the day.”
Just thinking of saying goodbye made his chest tighten a little. He noticed his words were not lost on Jackie. What was she thinking? She gave him no indication she planned to continue their relationship beyond this weekend, had made no demands whatsoever on him. He knew her cruise ship left tomorrow.
Jackie didn’t say anything, but she looked like she was thinking about it.
“I could drop you at your hotel so you could change, and then we could watch the sunset together,” he offered. He watched her face to gauge her reaction.
“I know a nice restaurant where we could get a late dinner after the sunset,” he continued. He was afraid she was going to say no. He reached over and ran his fingers over the back of her neck and her bare shoulders. He hoped, if she was waffling at all, his touch might seal the deal.
“I’ll need about a half an hour,” she said.
Mitchell let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding.
****
As expected, Teri and Leah were taking turns showering off the external effects of their day of sightseeing. Teri had already showered and was toweling off her wet hair. Leah was getting ready to head into the bathroom when Jackie let herself into their suite with her key.
“You’re back!” said Teri. “Wait ‘til we tell you all the awesome things we did today. It was the best cruise.”
“Can’t thank you enough,” said Leah, “But you’re going to have to let us pay you back for those tickets. They had to cost a fortune.”
“Pay me back?” asked Jackie.
“Well, yeah,” said Teri. “Your note said…”
“My note?”
Leah and Teri both looked confused. “It said you changed your mind and decided to spend the day with Mitchell and that’s why you sent us the tour tickets,” Teri said.
“You also said you didn’t want us to feel guilty using them because you didn’t want to feel guilty about abandoning us for the day,” Leah added.
“It did?”
“Well, we’re paraphrasing a little I think. Blame it on the sun and booze,” Teri said.
“And you believed that?”
Teri and Leah exchanged a glance. “We did,” said Teri, “because you’re always nice like that. Now, however, I feel like a total idiot.”
Leah rolled her eyes. “You didn’t send the tickets. Let me guess, they were from our illustrious boss.”
“He lied to me,” Jackie fumed. “And basically forged a note from me to you. That creep! Total jackass.”
“Man,” Teri said. “He must want you bad.”
“What? You’re taking his side in this?”
“Not his side, I mean, it was wrong to lie to all of us, but think of his motivation,” she paused and nodded her head slowly. “He wanted you all to himself.”
“Was it worth it?” asked Leah.
“Worth it?” Jackie wasn’t sure. Had it been a glorious day? Yes. Had she enjoyed seeing the island with Mitchell, swimming with him, having a romantic picnic lunch with him, having unrestrained passionate sex with him? Yes, yes, yes. Was it probably all a huge mistake? A definite yes.
Teri looked at Jackie seriously. “Well,” she said slowly. “It’s over, right. Now we just skate through tonight, make a few more memories, and get out of here tomorrow.”
Jackie chewed on her lower lip.
“Uh, Jackie?” asked Leah
. “Is it over?”
“He’s picking me up in half an hour for sunset on Mallory Square and a late dinner.”
Teri nodded. “You’re setting yourself up for heartbreak,” she said.
“I know,” said Jackie. “But it’s too late to change my mind.”
“Because you’re falling for him?”
“Because he’ll be here in twenty-six minutes.”
“He doesn’t know who you are,” Teri continued, “and now he’s really going to want to find out. When he does—”
“I know,” said Jackie. “But, if I play it right,” she flashed a grin at her friends, “he’ll probably send you two free tickets to dinner and a show tonight.”
“Hey,” said Leah. “I’d like to think I’m not cheap. But I can be bought if it’s for a good cause.”
“Doing stuff for a good cause is what got us all into this,” said Teri. “Speaking of which, should we invite Shelly or just see her on the plane tomorrow?”
“Plane,” Jackie and Leah said at the same time.
Chapter Fourteen
Mitchell stood by the elevator doors just like this morning. He said nothing as he claimed her waist with one tanned arm, but his eyes took in her whole body. She wore a swingy black skirt, a white wrap-around top tied at the waist, and black flats. Good for sunsets, dinners, and goodbyes.
They walked out the front doors of her hotel and toward a crowd already gathering on a pier up ahead.
“No K car tonight?” she asked.
“Had to turn it back in. We won’t need it tonight anyway. Mallory Square is just over there, and our restaurant is a short walk.”
“I’m curious about that car,” Jackie said. “If you love it so much, why don’t you buy it? You’re taking your chances. The rental agency could scrap it out one of these days, or someone else might snap it up.”
“Sometimes it’s good to take your chances,” he said. “And it reminds me…”
He trailed off, and Jackie stopped walking. She was curious. Could this be a piece of the Mitchell mystery?
“What does it remind you of?” she asked.
“That I can’t have everything,” he said. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Some things can’t be bought.”
If this were more than just tonight, Jackie would ask more. But it wasn’t. Stay unattached. Get it over with. Go home and forget it tomorrow.
They walked in silence to the pier where people celebrated the sunset. Jackie could see why people gathered. Deep roses and oranges colored the sky and lit up the entire area, reflecting off the water where the Atlantic Ocean met the Gulf of Mexico. It was a panoramic view of something so daily, yet so extraordinary.
Street vendors sold Key West souvenirs, street performers executed complicated acrobatics and drew applause from the crowd. Trained cats jumped through flaming hoops and did other tricks. A long line of thirsty revelers wound around the thatched hut of a bar right in the middle of the action.
Jackie gazed at three cruise ships lined up along one side of the pier, bowlines attached to shore, lights on. People milled on their decks and came and went down the long gangplanks connecting the ships to dry land. Their gorgeous gleaming decks confronted her with her own lies. Her supposed ship left in the morning.
“Drink?” Mitchell asked in her ear. He kept his arm around her waist and steered her over to the railing affording the best view of the sunset. His lips reminded her of all the unwisely unchanneled feelings she harbored for him since last night. In only twenty-four hours, her life had changed. And it was about to change more. Because tomorrow morning, she was leaving.
“I’d love one,” she said.
“Be right back.”
One of the cruise ships anchored near Jackie towered over her. She overheard a conversation behind her between two people who apparently were passengers on the ship.
“Wish we didn’t leave tonight,” one of them, a woman, said. “I’d love a chance to hit all those bars and party here for the night.”
“Wish we’d known we wouldn’t get an overnight in Key West when we booked this. We’ll come again, just not on this cruise line,” her male companion said.
“At least we’ve got ‘til ten o’clock,” the lady said.
Jackie understood their feelings. Seeing this island for one day and one sunset just wouldn’t be enough. Her two days and two nights were just a beginning. For her, though, it was the beginning of a lot of cold nights in Chicago when she would have only memories of her island fling. If fling was the right word for it.
She glanced wistfully up at the cruise ship and noted the name painted on the side. She scanned the crowd and found Mitchell waiting in the long drink line. Jackie turned back and looked at the sunset. Her arms and hands propped on the railing looked orange and pink in the fading sun. She sighed and looked out at the water.
Her cell phone ringing in her bag jolted her back to reality, especially when she saw Teri’s name in the caller ID. She flipped it open. Just her luck, her friends were calling to tell her that tickets to a fantastic dinner and concert had just shown up and they were going out on the town on Mitchell’s dime. It would serve her right for being so weak-willed that she let Mitchell talk her into just one more evening. Not that it took much convincing.
“Hi, Teri,” she said, laughing. “Don’t tell me…you’ve got a free pass to Margaritaville itself, and you and Leah are off to party on the generosity of the boss.”
“Jackie, I’m sorry to interrupt your date,” Teri said. She sounded nervous. “But there’s something you need to know.”
Jackie’s smile faded, her stomach dropped, and a sick dread stole over her. “Okay,” she managed to say. “Tell me.”
“Is Mitchell standing right there?”
“No, he’s gone to get us some drinks.”
“Good. Here’s what happened. This morning, I called Margie—you know Margie, she’s that secretary on the executive floor that I set up with a date with the man who delivers our copier paper? Anyway, she’s nice, and I figured I could ask her a few things. So, I called her this morning to see what she knew about Mitchell.”
Jackie was afraid to even hear this. Teri wouldn’t be calling her if it was good news.
“And…” Jackie said.
“She wasn’t home when I called, so I left a message. She just called me back. Do you want to hear this?”
“No choice now. You might as well tell me, or I’m going to assume the worst anyway.”
“I’m sorry, Jackie. One: Margie’s almost certain he’s selling the whole Chicago operation and we’ll all be out of job by Christmas. We’ve all heard the rumors, but Margie says Hal Burton, the CFO, has been nosing around and looking in lots of files. Also, there’s a big board of directors meeting on Monday morning in Chicago. Only one reason she could think of for that.”
“I guess I can’t be too surprised,” Jackie said. Although she had hoped maybe none of the rumors were true. She thought she had seen a different side of Mitchell today. Not the corporate exec side all about black numbers on balance sheets. What about Jimmy and rescuing animals? How about what he’d said about the K car and not always being able to buy things? Where was that Mitchell in this equation?
Maybe she had been seeing what she wanted to see.
“There’s more,” Teri said.
Jackie took a deep breath. “Go ahead,” she said.
“He’s married.”
Jackie’s free hand gripped the railing and she nearly dropped her cell phone into the darkening water below. She couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t be true. She spent the entire day with him, had been on the verge of giving herself so completely to him. How could he hide a secret like that? Wouldn’t Jimmy or Marybess say something? This was even worse than selling them all out of a job. How could he make her feel so special, tell her she’s the only one he’s ever taken to Blue Bottle Beach? For all she knew, he said that to every girl he seduced in Key West. For all she knew, maybe he said that to hi
s wife.
“Jackie?” Teri sounded worried.
“I’m here. Just…stunned. Speechless,” she whispered.
She looked over to where Mitchell still stood in line. The drink line was hardly moving. He was watching her talk on her phone. He had to see she was upset, shocked, even from a distance. She tore her eyes away from him and stared at the cruise ship in front of her. She tried to focus on anything but Mitchell Ames.
“Jackie. Listen to me,” Teri’s reassuring voice commanded her through the cell phone. “Walk away from him right now, come straight back to the room.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll order room service, we’ll send out for booze, we’ll go straight to the airport first thing in the morning.”
Jackie didn’t answer. Her world spun and the pain in her chest made it difficult to breathe, much less speak.
“Do you hear me, Jackie?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Do you want me to come get you?”
“No,” Jackie said quietly. She would get herself out of this mess before she caused her friends any more trouble.
Jackie’s shaking hands closed the phone and dropped it into her purse. She mechanically put the strap over her shoulder and started walking. She felt like a sleepwalker, stumbling blindly. If she could just make it across the square, across two streets, and into her hotel, she’d be okay. Leah and Teri would be there. They would take care of her.
She was afraid to even look over to the drink line where she last saw Mitchell. She couldn’t make eye contact, couldn’t even look at him. She had to keep walking. Jackie tried to make her numb legs move faster. Tears blurred her vision as a crowd moved across in front of her and then dispersed. A lady offered her a hat made from palm leaves and she ignored her. A ring of fire appeared and then swept away with an approving roar from the audience.
She kept walking, looking alternately down at her feet and then straight ahead. She was almost across the square when a man stepped squarely in front of her and she ran right into him.