Page 13 of Vitamin Sea
It was November and, if Liam was right and the deal took another couple of months to get done, that would put them right into the middle of winter.
She contemplated going to a place they had previously vacationed at but nixed it in favour of a new adventure. A few evenings of Googling had given her some ideas and she casually mentioned them to him one Saturday morning.
Normally he was an early riser, but that day he had slept in until nearly noon. The late nights at the office, Chloe reflected, were clearly taking their toll.
“How are things going at work?” she inquired when he finally emerged from their bedroom. She hadn’t even seen him the previous night, having gone to bed before she heard him crawl into bed around 1 a.m.
He grunted in reply to her question and headed for the kitchen before joining her on the couch with a cup of coffee. Chloe had finished hers four hours ago. Along with breakfast.
“The deal is . . . progressing,” he had said vaguely before bringing the mug to his mouth.
Chloe had pursed her lips to one side.
“Progressing,” she said flatly.
“Babe,” he gave her a look. “You know I can’t discuss it with you.”
She knew that, but she also knew that compliance and NDAs had never stopped him from telling her about what he was working on before. He changed the names of the people and companies so that Chloe wasn’t fully in the know, but she had enjoyed hearing about the inner machinations of the business world. Even after living, sleeping, and dating one of those cogs for several years, she still found the industry very foreign.
She considered calling him on it but held her tongue. The last thing she wanted that morning was for things to turn into a fight.
She changed the subject.
“I’ve been looking at some options for after your deal gets done.”
“Options?” He looked confused.
Chloe furrowed her brow. Now wasn’t the time to get upset, but did he really not remember the conversation they had had a few weeks ago?
“Yes,” she said, working hard to keep the exasperation she felt out of her voice. “You said when your deal was done that we would go on a vacation.”
A flicker that Chloe couldn’t quite place went across Liam’s face, and he leaned back on the couch.
“Oh, right,” he nodded, sounding less than enthused. “What have you found?”
She mentioned three places—one in Europe, one in Asia, and one in South America—and showed him some photos from each of the hotels and cities. He had nodded along, but he didn’t look very interested.
“Whatever you want, Chlo,” he had said, picking up his phone after she showed him the third option.
She was stung by his apparent lack of interest and was sure that it showed on her face. Not that Liam would notice with his face buried in his phone. She had hoped that a vacation would help them reconnect and was disappointed that she seemed to be the only one excited for it.
Liam’s long hours at the office didn’t usually bother her, but for the past few months, it had almost felt like she lived alone. Whichwasunusual. On previous projects, he would ask her to grab a quick drink before he went out for business dinners. Or he would ask her to meet him for lunch or pop over to her office for a quick coffee.
During this deal, there hadn’t been any invites for a quick lunch, drink, dinner, or coffee. The ones that they did have were all initiated by Chloe. Even on weekends he had seemed reserved and distracted.
It made her uneasy, but she reminded herself it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him this way before. It just hadn’t been for months-long stretches.
She didn’t know what that uncomfortable feeling tugging inside of her was, but she brushed it off determinedly. Once they had their post-deal vacation, she knew that things between them would be back to normal.
Present
Chapter 5: Without a Stitch
Chloe’s off-the-shoulder white-linen dress fluttered around her body in the warm breeze. She pulled her suitcase with one arm and used the other to frantically grab at her dress, trying to hold down the fabric. Outside the airport in Liberia scores of tourists were lined up along the sidewalk, all bustling for a shuttle or a taxi. It was a riot of different colours, different sizes, and different languages.
She pulled her sunglasses onto the top of her head and scanned the crowd for any sign of Lala—she had gone ahead when Chloe had been pulled aside for a random bag check.
She squinted and tried to search through the people. It felt like a real-life version of one of thoseWhere’s Waldo?books.
