Page 63 of Blue Hawaiian
“It does. But this seems like a big undertaking. You don’t want to do a poor job.”
A knock at the door startled them. Before Jess could run interference, her mom went to open it. Connor stood in the hall, carrying a cardboard tray with two coffees and a paper bag. “Oh… Good morning, Mrs. Chavez.”
“Connor. What areyoudoing here?” She made no attempt to hide her displeasure.
Jess flashed him a look of desperation.
He gave her mom one of his patented, lady-killer smiles. “It’s so nice to see you, Mrs. Chavez. I brought coffee for Jess, because her room’s right next door to mine, and…”
“And the Keurig in my room doesn’t work,” Jess said. “Can you imagine? I can’t function without my daily dose of caffeine.”
“Right,” Connor said. “She was complaining about it on the first day. As for me, I prefer a good, strong cappuccino to regular, brewed coffee. And you can’t have coffee without pastries.” He held up the bag. “Would you like a cinnamon roll?”
Her mom shook her head. “Not if I want to fit into my mother-of-the-bride dress. Why don’t you come in? We’re dealing with a small crisis.”
“Avideocrisis.” Jess wanted to make sure Connor understood the crisis did not involve her mom finding out about them.
Connor set the coffees on the desk. “Maybe I can help.”
Jess showed him the binder with the handwritten note. “I need to put a video together in time for tonight’s dinner.”
“Why don’t I bring my laptop over?” he said. “I have lots of family pictures on it.”
“You store your photos on your laptop? That’s so…responsible.”
“Let’s just say I’ve broken one too many phones. I’ll get it and we can combine forces.”
“Perfect,” she said. “Do you mind if we start now? I only have until four o’clock.” She gave him her key card. “Here.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right back.” He pointed to the paper bag. “Don’t eat the pain au chocolat. That one’s mine.”
Once he was gone, Jess chewed on her lower lip, bracing herself for her mom’s interrogation. The temperature in the room felt like it had jumped ten degrees. “So…Connor and I made up. We’re friends now.”
Her mom raised her eyebrows. “I remember how much he hurt you.”
She twisted her hands together. “That was five years ago. We’ve moved past all that.”
Before her mom could probe any further, Jess leapt from her chair. “I should get dressed. I can’t work on this project with Connor if I’m still in my bathrobe.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
She wasn’t sure if her mom was referring to Connor or the video. Best not to ask. At some point she’d have to endure a lecture, but not now, when she had precious little time to create the perfect tribute to Marc and Gabi. She grabbed a tank top and shorts from her suitcase and dashed into the bathroom to change.
Her mom called out to her. “Jessica? Gabi sent me a text. She needs me to come to her room.”
Thank God. “Okay. I’ll text you if I have any questions about the video.”
After Jess changed, she brought her laptop over to her bed. She set her coffee on the nightstand, along with one of the cinnamon rolls.
Seven hours, 120 photos. No problem.
When the door opened again, Connor returned, carrying his laptop. He sat down with it on the couch. “Should we get started?”
Her heart swelled with affection. This was his free time, yet he was here, helping her. But she still wished she hadn’t dropped the ball. “You’re not going to ream me out for being irresponsible?”
“Nope. Because you weren’t irresponsible. This is anextraduty, and it’s one Gabi wasn’t expecting. Right? Otherwise, she would have listed it in the binder.”
“True. The note was from Carly.”
