Page 81 of The VIP Package

I get out of the cart, reaching back to pick up my gym bag. Sybil gets out and walks around the cart to enfold me in a hug. “He really does love you.” She squeezes me tighter. “That’s what Kora was trying to show you.”

Gripping my bag, I scoff. “Does it really matter if he can’t face it?”

Sybil lifts a shoulder in a tiny shrug. “I always think love matters, but I’m a romantic.” She steals a glance at her wife with a look so loving I get goosebumps. “Passion’s my reason for living.”

“I tried being passionate.” Maybe that’s why this hurts so much. “But I think I’ll go back to being practical and pragmatic.”

“You?” She snorts like that’s a foreign concept. “Practical and pragmatic?”

“It’s how I was in my last relationship.” I know in my heart that I don’t belong with Hayden. But the breakup with him sure hurt less than this one.

Practical and pragmatic kept me from feeling like this.

“I see.” Sybil tucks her hands in the pockets of her cutoff shorts. “Which Camille did I meet?”

“What do you mean?”

“Passionate, impractical Camille? Or pragmatic, practical Camille?”

I laugh at her earnest expression. “Impractical and passionate for sure.” That’s a no-brainer. “From the moment I got on an airplane to come here, I wasn’t behaving like my practical self.”

“I see.” A warm gust of wind whips her corkscrew curls into a frenzy as she gives me a sad little smile. “Just do me a favor, okay?”

“Okay.” I don’t even ask what it is.

“Don’t give up yet.”

“On passion or Ash?”

“Yes.”

I glance at the jet with an ache in my chest. Ash is the one who gave up on me. The moment I get on that plane, it’s over.

Drawing a breath, I turn back to Sybil. “I’m not sure I can promise that.”

She nods and there’s sorrow in her eyes. “I understand.”

Does she? Sybil has Kora and a life filled with passion and love and desire. I have a big, hollow hole in my chest.

I’m being dramatic, but that’s how it feels. Swallowing hard, I hug Sybil again. “Thanks for everything.”

“You’re welcome.” She squeezes me hard, then takes a step back. “Tell Eve and your brother hello.”

“I will.”

“And Camille?”

“Yeah?”

“For what it’s worth, I adore impractical, passionate Camille.”

“Thanks.” For what it’s worth, I loved her, too.

As I walk to the jet, I bid her goodbye with tears in my eyes.

CHAPTER 16

ASHTON

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