Page 7 of Charming
“Why the hell not? You won that trip didn’t you? It’s all in your name plus a guest. You’re already packed and ready to go.” She shrugs like it’s the simplest thing in the world, “And since I know you’d prefer to have someone with you for a little while, I will volunteer.” She laughs and shrugs, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“You would do that? For me?”
She rolls her eyes, “What kind of question is that? Will I be there for my best friend and go on a vacation to Cabo San Lucas where we can get drunk, get tans, and reintroduce you to the single world? But most importantly, where you can find a little peace and heal in the process. Please, where do I sign up?”
“You can get the time off work without issue?” I ask, not quite ready to believe her yet.
“I already took a few days off for your wedding, and you know Sally will give me a couple days more considering the circumstances,” she says talking about her boss at the insurance claims office that she’s worked at for the last few years. Her boss is a doll and loves her to pieces. “I’ll call her in a few minutes to make sure. Let’s check the airline first and make sure there are seats open on the same flight you’re taking.”
“My vacation is two weeks, but I guess I don’t have to stay for that long,” I say thinking out loud.
“You don’t have to, but you may want to. We can start off spending time together and then we can play it by ear from there. You may not be ready to leave after a few days, maybe you would like some time to yourself as well.”
“True,” I tell her, my mind turning with possibilities. Looking at her with a smile, I stand and head to the stairs leading up to our rooms.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
Stopping I turn to her with a smile, “Do you want help packing or what?”
She smiles and we run up the stairs. While I pull out her leopard print suitcase and start getting clothes for her, she grabs her laptop to book a flight and calls her boss. As I grab a few of her favorite bikinis, I picture us lying by the pool, margaritas in our hands, laughing, relaxing and most importantly forgetting. Sounds like the perfect medicine.
“Katie sounds like she’s a wonderful friend to you,” Faye comments with sincerity.
“She is. We’ve been best friends since we were eight. I can’t imagine my life without her. I hope I never have to.”
Her eyes turn serious a line appearing between her brows, “We should all be so lucky to have friends like that. I hope you cherish her.”
“I do,” I reply honestly with a nod of my head for emphasis. “I have no doubt that she knows how much I love her.”
She smiles, “That’s good.”
I find myself smiling back and something inside of my chest eases. She has a soothing quality about her and the pain in my heart seems to ease a bit while talking to her. I’m not sure what it is about her that’s so calming, but I’m thankful for it.
“We had a great time together,” I tell her with a small laugh thinking about our week together in Cabo. When Katie returned home after a week, I did elect to stay for the second week after all. It was a week that was so amazing that thinking about it makes a gamut of emotions wash over me. Happiness, excitement, fondness, passion and sadness all in a rush so fast it makes my head spin.
“She’s not with you now, so I assume you did end up staying longer?”
“Yes, you’re right. I didn’t intend to before we left. Part of me thought that time alone would be too hard emotionally and I didn’t want to end up crying in my margaritas over my life. The funny thing is, I didn’t do a whole lot or mourning over my combusted relationship with Jeremy. At the beginning I had a few things to work through, but then, it was like I was able to let go. There’s nothing I can do about what happened; dwelling on it wasn’t going to change a thing. Maybe I should feel guilty about how easy it was to move on, but I think it’s a sign of just how wrong being with Jeremy was.” I shrug not really having any other words to explain what I feel. I mean, how much should a person mourn a relationship they weren’t completely happy in and never should have let go on as long as they did in the first place? I don’t think there’s a manual about that.
“And you realized that being alone while on vacation wasn’t so bad after all?”
My cheeks flush and I look down, absently scratching my nose, “Um, well, not exactly.” Glancing at Faye, I see amusement in her eyes.
“Oh?” she asks raising a brow.
“Well, I didn’t exactly spend that week alone.” I wait for her face to reflect judgment or disgust when she realizes exactly what I’m getting at. My breath stalls and I look at her worryingly, partly confused as to why I care what she thinks, and partly wondering why the hell I’m telling her any of this to begin with.
“Well honey, I didn’t think so. A woman doesn’t board a plane from a beautiful place like Cabo San Lucas crying for any reason other than a man. So, get on with it. Do tell me more. Starting with when you and Katie arrived, of course.”
My breath comes out in a rush and I laugh softly reveling at how much I adore Faye already considering I’ve just met her. “Yes, ma’am.”
When our plan lands we begin a crazy experience at the airport going through customs and retrieving our luggage. Before we reach the destination given to me by the resort to obtain our shuttle, we have to weave our way through a maze of people offering god knows what. It’s confusing and rather intimidating as some people are pretty aggressive, but we find the driver of our shuttle and settle in for a ride that reveals the countryside and non-touristy part of the city. The drive passes quickly. I feel the tightness in my shoulders begin to give way on the ride, but the minute our shuttle pulls through the security gates of our resort in beautiful Cabo San Lucas, I feel my entire being start to relax.
Passing security where they ask my name and make sure we are on the list of check-in’s, our shuttle comes to a huge resort entrance. To my surprise, instead of pulling in, we continue past. Looking out the window, I see huge homes set in semi-circular patterns high up in the mountains and a large number of southwest-looking brightly colored buildings below. Lodging spreads out over what looks like many acres. Continuing, we capture sight of lush flower gardens, welcoming pools, a large fountain, and golf carts moving all throughout the property, driven by hatted men dressed in light khaki colored clothes, clearly transporting guests to and fro.
As our shuttle continues down a long road, I see ahead of us, at ocean level, another large resort. It sits alone at the bottom of the mountain and it’s easy to tell even from this distance how amazing it’s going to be. Cabanas garnish the ocean’s edge where blue ocean water laps the sandy shore. Excitement builds and my foot starts tapping in my impatience to arrive.
From the moment we walk through the glass doors of the lobby to check into our room, our mouths are agape in wonder. The pictures I’d seen of the resort definitely did not do justice. The lavish, yet tastefully adorned lobby is shaped in a circle, with an opening between eleven and one o’clock that reveals a breathing taking view of the ocean – its beauty as far as the eye can see. The white caps of the water keep winking in and out of view, and the smell of sea and salt is potent in the air. The lobby emits an appeasing aroma of lavender and something else I can’t place. The combination is divine and I can’t help but take a deep breath, close my eyes, and imagine the stress of the previous day rolling off of me in waves and evaporating into thin air.
