Page 37 of Escape to the Sun

8

The day, like most days at Casa del Sol, passed in a blur of activity and fun. The romantic couple retreated to their room shortly after lunch. Heather didn’t begrudge them the time alone. If anything, she was a little jealous of it. She’d never had such a connection with a man before. The idea of abandoning fun in the sun to sneak off for sex was a completely foreign idea.

She snuck a glance at Ash, who was organizing snorkel gear at the end of the dock.

Maybe it wasn’t a completely foreign idea.

Maybe she could entertain the idea of spending some time cloistered in a hut over the ocean with Ash.

Oh yes. That could be a possibility.

He looked up from adjusting a mask to see her watching him. “Hey. Like what you see?”

Heather shook her head, but she couldn’t help but laugh. Ash could get away with the cockiness. “I do.” She blew him a kiss and quickly turned away.

She closed her eyes and let the heat of the sun wash over her face. She’d never been so forward before. Never flirted so openly. It was unlike her. She liked it.

Besides that, it was fun and there was nothing wrong with fun.

“Seriously. He’s so hot.” Sandy, who sat in the chair next to her, nudged Heather with her elbow. “You’re a lucky woman to have such a hot boyfriend.”

“Oh, he’s not my—” Heather stopped herself. There was no point getting into details with her guests. “But I am very lucky. Ash is a good guy.”

“If you know what I mean?” Sandy laughed, clearly looking for details Heather wasn’t prepared to give. But she also wasn’t going to shatter the illusion for the woman, so she settled for wiggling her eyebrows before she excused herself.

“I should go see what Camila’s planned for dinner. If you ladies want to go for another snorkel before it gets too late, I’m sure Ash could hook you up.”

She felt kind of bad about pushing the women on Ash that way, but she knew he could handle it. Besides, she probably should take a look in the kitchen. Not so much to check up on Camila, who was most likely preparing something absolutely delicious for dinner, but it was past time to take a look at the inventory on the shelves and see what they were getting low on. It might be time to organize a trip into town soon.

It didn’t take her long to go through the kitchen, and the list wasn’t as long as Heather thought it might be. Camila was amazing at using a lot of the ingredients that grew locally and managing the supplies that were harder to get.

Still, they could always do with a few things next time a trip into town needed to be made. With any luck, it could be organized around the guests coming and going to reduce the trips that needed to be made.

Casa del Sol ran on solar power, and Heather had found it to be remarkably well wired. It was an interesting combination between primitive and modern. Heather liked to call it rustic luxury but it still made her shake her head in wonder every time she fired up the laptop that handled all of the bookings and connected her to the Internet.

Sherri had shown her the passwords and log-ins for the website. Heather tried to look at it every two days at the latest, in case someone sent an email inquiring about a booking. There were usually a few, but not as many as she thought there should be. And not nearly as many bookings as they could handle.

She made a mental note to check with Sherri about the idea of listing Casa del Sol on a site like Airbnb, where she was positive they would get more hits, and therefore more reservations. The property had enough rooms to handle up to ten people comfortably. Heather would love to have a full house. It would be a lot of work, but it would also be a lot of fun. Not to mention the whole business side of things. Heather had always liked a challenge. Not that Casa del Sol was a challenge—but if she could increase the guests and therefore the revenue…well, that would be something.

It took her a few minutes to go through the emails and send a few to upcoming guests. She jotted down their arrival times, which coincided conveniently with everyone else’s departure. There’d be two more couples coming in and judging by their correspondence with Sherri, it looked as though they were up for a little fun and adventure. It could be an interesting week.

Heather was just about to power things down when she decided to do something she’d been avoiding since she’d arrived.

She clicked over to the Internet, opened a new window and typed in the address for her online email account. Right before she’d left for Bocas, Heather sent her mother an email, telling her about the divorce and Heather’s relocation. She knew how her mother would react, and she wouldn’t have told her at all except, well…she was her mother.

Just as she knew it would be, Heather’s inbox was full. There were at least ten messages from her mother. With a sigh, she scrolled up and clicked on the first one.

Heather!! Her mother always did have a flair for the dramatic. Why use one exclamation mark when you could use two?

What the hell is going on? I told you Joe was no good for you. You must be crushed. There it was. Just about as much motherly sympathy as she’d get.

He always was a deadbeat. In actuality, he wasn’t; he just wasn’t a good match for Heather. That was one thing her mother had gotten right. Which was why Heather had steadfastly ignored her every time her mom had told her that.

At least now you can get out of that godforsaken country and come home where you belong. Her mom had never understood why they’d gone to Panama; she’d refused to visit them—not like it was a big loss—and she was always trying to encourage Heather to come home by sending her articles on yellow fever, hurricanes, and crime rates in Central America.

It wasn’t helpful.

Call me when you can. I’ll send you a ticket home. Yeah. That wasn’t happening. The phone call or the ticket home.

---