Page 40 of Vitamin Sea
“Please,” Lala said through a bite of bacon. “It’s the least I can do. I woke up around 6 p.m. last night with a raging headache and saw a text from an unknown number. I thought it was a scammer, but when I read it, I nearly dropped my phone. I called Jack immediately and he told me everything. You are so lucky he saved you. I checked on you throughout the night, but you were snoring like a grizzly. Seriously, Chlo—did the doctor give you sleeping pills? I have never heard anyone snore like that before.”
“No. No sleeping pills,” Chloe said as she cut a piece of French toast. “I think it was from all the adrenaline. I honestly thought I was going to die,” she said seriously. Her memory of the incident had come flooding back to her last night. “My life literally flashed before my eyes. My last thought was how distraught you and my mom and dad were going to be and how stupid it was of me to go out on those rocks.” She shook her head at the thought.
“Ugh, I can’t even imagine.” Her friend looked upset. “That must have been terrifying. I am so glad Jack saved you. We should send him a thank-you card or something. If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t be here right now.”
“That’s a good idea.” Chloe popped the syrup-coated French toast into her mouth.
Lala looked hesitant for a moment.
Chloe, still chewing, raised one brow in question.
“Not to change the subject or anything, I know you almost died. But—,” she hesitated, “what’s Jack look like? He sounded hot on the phone.”
Chloe choked on her French toast and started coughing.
“Sorry! Don’t choke and die on me now!” Lala said in a panic.
Chloe let out a few more coughs and cleared her throat with a drink of coffee.
“Don’t make me laugh!” Chloe squealed. “But since you asked, not only does he sound hot,he ishot. Like, incredibly hot.”
“Yesssss!” Lala raised her fist triumphantly before stabbing a piece of her omelette and popping it into her mouth.
“He’s here on vacation with his friend who just went through a divorce,” Chloe continued. “He said he would email me to check in and see how I am today. I lost my phone in the ocean,” she added with a grimace.
“I’ve already given him a full report,” Lala confessed. “He asked me to let him know how you were when you woke up thismorning. He’s very concerned about you. He seems like a good guy.”
Chloe was pleased to hear that Jack had asked about her and that Lala, even though she had never met him, seemed to approve.
“I think so too,” Chloe agreed. “He waited while the doctor took care of me, and he brought me back to the resort. We talked a bit when the doctor was out of the room, and I really enjoyed his company. I like him,” she added as if it wasn’t already obvious to her friend.
“I love this,” Lala declared. “You go to a nude resort for work, nearly drown, and get rescued by a hottie. Did he give you mouth-to-mouth? Is he going to be your hot vacation fling?”
Lala might be getting just a little ahead of herself, Chloe thought, but she did appreciate her friend’s enthusiasm.
“No mouth-to-mouth,” she snorted. “And I don’t know about a vacation fling, but I hope I see him again. Did he tell you he lives in Toronto?”
“No way—what are the odds?”
Chloe smiled.
“I know. I don’t know much about him, but I’d like to see him again.”
They spent the rest of breakfast chatting before deciding on what to do for the day. The resort, aware of what had happened to Chloe, had canceled their itinerary that day—a tour of a nearby town and beer-and-rum tasting. Lala was cognizant that Chloe was probably in a fair amount of pain even though she insisted the Tylenol the doctor had given her would take away the worst of it, and she insisted they spend the day at the spa.
“Manicures, pedicures, facials, massage—” Lala paused. “Actually, you’re pretty bruised and banged up,” she said glancing at Chloe’s legs. “Maybe raincheck on the massage?”
“I think I could go for a light one,” Chloe said. “As long as they work around the bruises. It might actually help.”
They booked a several-hours-long spa session for the two of them and spent the afternoon experiencing all that Costa Morpho had to offer in terms of relaxation. When they made it back to their room around mid-afternoon, Chloe went straight for her laptop.
She didn’t even pretend that she was checking her work email because Lala would see right through it. She was hoping to hear from Jack, and she found an email from him waiting in her inbox when she logged onto her personal account. She giggled at the subject line:Soggy Cinderella.
Dear Chloe, his email began. He asked how she was feeling, told her that he had spoken to Lala, and asked if she wanted to get together that night if she was feeling up to it. The aches were still there, but the marathon spa session had left her feeling as limp as a cooked spaghetti noodle; she was definitely feeling up to getting together with Jack.
“Lala,” she asked her friend. “What would you say to meeting up with Jack and his friend for dinner tonight if they’re free?”
“Yes, yes, and yes,” she said enthusiastically. That was Lala—always up for adventure. Especially if it involved an attractive man. Chloe had filled her in on Jack’s friend, whose name she didn’t know but whose face she had gotten a good look at. It was weird what adrenaline did to you—Jack, his friend, and Dr. Vargas’s faces were all etched in her mind as if someone had taken a photograph of them and placed it in her brain.
