Page 48 of Vitamin Sea
She smirked in reply.
“No yoga. But we do have lunch reservations, an aerobics session, and entertainment we need to check out tonight. Aside from that, I figured we could grab a cocktail and head down to the beach. Maybe play a bit of volleyball?”
“Sounds good,” he said lightly. “I love volleyball. Just one question,” he asked sounding a bit uncertain. “Do I have to take off my shorts?”
She patted him on the arm reassuringly.
“No.” She smiled. “I promise you can keep your shorts on. Best to keep your sunglasses on too,” she warned. “Even if you’re not trying to stare, it takes your eyes a bit to adjust to all of the . . . exposure. It’s a bit of a shock to the system.”
“Noted,” Jack nodded. “I will keep my sunglasses glued to my face. Hopefully I’ve gotten used to it by dinner, otherwise I’m going to look like a creep.”
“Just remember rule number one,” Chloe said in mock seriousness. “No gawking.”
Jack shook with laughter.
“They actually have rules against perverts? This place
really has thought of everything.”
“It’s a very classy resort,” Chloe teased. “Nudity notwithstanding.”
They grabbed two bottles of water from the bar at the pool, ordered a drink, and made their way down to the sand where the volleyball game was already underway.
Chloe’s experience that everyone at the resort was very friendly was also borne out by the people who invited them to join. She and Jack wound up on opposite teams, which made for a fun competition. The players, with the exception of one man, skewed older and the atmosphere was gregarious. Players high-fived each other and gave teammates claps of support.
It didn’t take long for Chloe to discover that Jack was vicious on the court—he looked like he could have played Olympic-level volleyball.
Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but she was thrown off by how athletic he was. She, on the other hand, was less coordinated and much less skilled. But that didn’t stop her from getting in a few good hits.
When the game ended, 15–21 for Jack’s team, the players lined up and shook hands at the net. A big grin spread across Jack’s face when he reached Chloe.
“You didn’t tell me you were a world champion volleyball player!” she hissed jokingly.
“I didn’t want to spoil it for you.” He laughed. “I thought I might be able to impress you with my ball-handling skills.”
“I’m not touching that one,” she teased back.
They headed for the beach chairs where Jack and Chloe had left their things.
“Do you want to relax out here for a bit?” she asked.
“I’d love to,” Jack nodded. “Let me just go up and get a
couple of towels. And a refill?” He gestured to Chloe’s empty glass.
“Yes, please!”
Relaxing in the sun for a ‘bit’ turned into two hours. It wasn’t the typical sleep, read, or listen to music kind of relaxation. They spent the entire time turned towards each other, talking.
On the yacht the day before, she had found out that Jack was a lawyer who specialized in finance. Jack regaled her with stories of crazy clients and Chloe responded with tales of work trips gone awry.
“I missed two days of an assignment I was enroute to Croatia for,” she told him. “My connecting flight in London got delayed so they sent me to Germany. I had to stay there overnight and was just about to board when they shut down the airport because of climate activists.” She paused for dramatic effect. “They had glued themselves to the runway.”
Jack laughed.
“Inconveniencing thousands of travelers. Not the best way to win people over to your way of thinking,” he chortled.
“Not at all,” Chloe agreed. “Not that I have much to complain about. There was one person on my flight who was trying to get to his mom who was in hospice. If that was me,” she continued, “I think I would have marched down to the tarmac and ripped them off the runway myself.”
