Chapter 5
LINDSAY
Awall of thick humidity hit me as soon as we disembarked from the plane. From my quick view of my surroundings before I got whisked away in the crowd, it was green there. Green and lush and lively.
Not that any of the liveliness extended to me.
I felt like I’d been hit by a water balloon filled with vapor and my lungs were mildly protesting with every breath I drew in. As my fellow travelers swept me up in their wake, everyone seemed to know where they wanted to go.
I followed willingly, feeling like a fish out of water and as uncomfortable as a cat with tape stuck beneath my paws. Rock anthems blared in my earbuds, and I was tempted to scream out the lyrics as I tried to find the carousel with my bag on it.
I couldn’t hear the announcements in the airport, but when I lifted the earbuds out and heard that none of what the airport management was saying was in English, I realized they wouldn’t help me much anyway.
Hoisting the strap of my backpack on my shoulder, I looked around and hoped to find out where to go. A flickering screen on a pillar to my left displayed flight information coupled with the number of the belt where passengers’ luggage had to be collected, but Houston wasn’t on it yet.
My fellow travelers were nowhere to be seen—none that I recognized anyway. People swarmed past me like ants on a mission to get to a fallen cube of sugar, but no one stopped when I tried to speak to them.
It didn’t help that there was a whole contingent of honeymooners arriving, acting as a constant reminder that I should’ve been there with my husband as well.
Will might not have knocked my feet out from under me, but I really had been looking forward to being married to him.
We’d been friends for years before he finally asked me out on our first date.
Transitioning from friendship to a romantic relationship had been as easy as breathing, even if it wouldn’t have qualified as the most epic of love stories.
Without him being there with me, I felt empty and lost in more ways than one.
I’d lost my friend and my fiancé in one fell swoop, and now I couldn’t even find my luggage.
Houston finally snuck onto the board with the collection information, but when I got to the carousal corresponding with the number displayed on it, there was nothing and no one there. I shut my eyes and sucked in a breath in an attempt to keep the tears threatening to fall at bay.
“Excuse me, miss?” a chirpy voice behind me said. “Have you arrived on the flight from Houston?”
Opening my eyes, I spun around to see a young woman dressed in an official-looking uniform smiling at me. “I have. Do you know where I can collect my luggage?”
“This carousel is giving us problems today. Please proceed to number six. Everything is being offloaded there.”
I nodded my thanks and made my way through the crowd of people, searching for the number six above each belt as I went.
Silently fuming about why they would’ve put up a different number on the display screen just minutes ago, I almost missed the other people from my flight clamoring around a carousel on my right.
A relieved sigh escaped me as I joined their ranks with my trolley, waiting patiently for my suitcase to come around. The same cases appeared time and again, until they were all gone and the people around me had dispersed.
Eventually, the belt stopped and the screen above it switched off. I frowned up at it, dread already pooling in my stomach.
“Is there a problem here, miss?”
The same woman from before came to stand beside me, smiling as politely as before. It seemed she was the official dealing with this flight.
I sighed as I turned to face her yet again. “Yes, there’s a problem. You just directed me to this carousel a little while ago. It was supposed to be the one for the flight that came in from Houston, but my baggage never came out.”
She nodded briskly while I spoke, asked for my boarding pass to check the baggage tag on it, barked something into the handheld radio she carried with her, then gave me an apologetic smile when a reply came through.
“I’m so sorry. It seems your luggage has been misplaced. Rest assured that it is our priority to return it to you safely. We will deliver it to your hotel tomorrow. I just need you to sign some forms for me.”
Rage, frustration, annoyance, and immense sadness swelled inside me and battled for dominance. In the end, all that came out was a soft grunt and a half sob.
“Fine. Just tell me where to go.”
Arguing with her wouldn’t get me anywhere.
She was only doing her job. It wasn’t her fault my bag was missing, and making a scene wouldn’t make it miraculously get here faster.
The only thing I could speed up was how soon I could get out of the airport, and cooperating seemed like the best way to get that done.
What felt like a whole ream of paper later, I was finally on my way out with nothing except for the backpack I’d had with me on the flight. At least I had my toothbrush and some other basic toiletries in there.
Once I got to the resort, I’d have to wash the simple tank top and shorts combo I was wearing. At least it would dry overnight, considering the airy fabric it was made of.
Trying to keep my emotions in check and my spirits up, I reminded myself that I was in freaking Fiji—without Will—but I would have to get used to doing things without him anyway. Being alone had never bothered me before and I was determined to get back to that frame of mind.
When I walked out of the terminal, I focused on the vivid colors and the beautiful scenery instead of the gaping hole beside me where my husband should’ve been.
Bustling roads surrounded the airport, but beyond them were mountains covered in lush greenery and palm trees reaching up toward the bright blue sky.
A slight smile was on my lips when I spotted my resort’s counter. Unfortunately, the parking bay behind it was empty. The smile dropped, and once again, I got the distinct feeling that something else was about to go wrong.
“I’m sorry,” the man manning the desk said. “The shuttle service left about fifteen minutes ago. There will be another shuttle, but it is only arriving in time for this evening’s flight.”
I rubbed my hands over my cheeks and brought my palms together underneath my chin. Maybe coming here had been a colossal mistake after all. It was becoming increasingly clear that the universe or fate or whatever just didn’t want me there.
“Is there any other transportation available to the hotel?” I was on the verge of tears again, and he must’ve heard it in my voice because his features suddenly pinched in sympathy. And there’s the pity I don’t want. Half a world away and it’s still fucking there.
“There are taxis going out that way, ma’am, but the line for them is about an hour long.”
He nodded toward a snake of people lining up not far from where we stood. “The next bus leaves in fifteen minutes, but the tickets might be sold out.”
After explaining to me where the bus terminal was, he wished me luck and I hurried to the ticket counter. The giggling couple in front of me snagged the last seats on the next bus, leaving me misty eyed when I joined the others waiting for a taxi.
When I finally got into the backseat of my transportation, I was exhausted and blind to the landscape as we zipped past. The driver quickly realized I was in no mood to make small talk, and the cab soon filled with upbeat, island-style music that accompanied the worst ride of my life so far.
I was in such a stupor that I hardly noticed when we stopped and the man had to all but jostle me to get out. Paying him in American currency because I didn’t even have local dollars yet, I gathered my backpack and went in search of the front desk.
A long bath, blackout curtains, and a fluffy hotel robe while my clothes dried were just what the doctor ordered. There were colorful flowers in vases on glass tables, marble floors, and a glorious view of the ocean from the lobby, but I just couldn’t bring myself to take any of it in.
All I wanted was a bath, my bed, and for it to be tomorrow.
Even that, it seemed, was too much to ask. A kind-eyed woman with a wreath of flowers around her neck grimaced after typing my information into her computer.
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Flinn. It appears we’ve had a double booking for your room. Our other guests checked into it over an hour ago.”
Hysteria welled up like a tidal wave in my chest. “Are you kidding me?”
She glanced at her screen again, shaking her head. “I’m afraid not. We’re fully booked for the week, but perhaps we can arrange a voucher at a different—”
I waved my hand, unable to stand listening to even another word out of her mouth. Rationally, I knew this wasn’t her fault either, but I’d had it up to my eyeballs with this shitty day.
Marching away from the front desk, I sagged into the closest chair I could find and frantically searched for my phone in my backpack. Tears spilled out of my eyes and rushed down my cheeks, even if I was doing a good job of not turning into a screeching mess.
There were too many people around and I didn’t want anyone bearing witness to the breakdown I felt coming.
Ember answered on the first ring. “How’re the cocktails on the beach?”
“I should never have come here.” I hiccupped, fighting back sobs while trying to keep my voice low.
My volume rose as I picked up speed, though, despite my best efforts.
“I got stood up at the altar, don’t have my supposed-to-be husband with me, my luggage got lost, I missed the shuttle, and now I don’t have a room. ”
“Fuck.” My poor best friend spent the next few minutes trying her best to talk me off the ledge and out of jumping on the first flight home.
“Okay, now that you’re breathing again, this is what you’re going to do.
Wipe your eyes. Take a deep breath. Then you go right back to that receptionist and demand a room.
Don’t leave until she gives you a goddamn bed. ”
“Right.” I wasn’t exactly feeling it, but I had no other choices at the moment. “I’ll call you later.”
“Go get ‘em, girl!” she cheered before hanging up.
Squaring my shoulders, I followed her instructions before getting back to my feet. Instead of rejoining the crowd waiting to be checked in, I went right back to the same lady at the front desk.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but there’s nothing I can do,” she said once she’d finished up with the clients she was busy helping. “We don’t have any rooms available and—”
A man’s voice spoke up from behind me just as a heavy, muscular arm draped itself over my shoulders.
“I don’t think you understand. My wife and I have reserved a room for our honeymoon and we’ll get one.
The double booking must’ve happened at your end, which means it’s your responsibility to make it right. ”
The body suddenly pressed up to mine was as hard as a rock and a faint spicy scent came off it. The cologne smelled amazing, and I wondered what it was. My mind immediately drifted to whether Will would like it. Then I remembered it wasn’t my problem what he liked anymore.
I turned toward the stranger, having to tip my head back to get a good look at him. He was taller than I expected. The top of my head only reached his cheek.
I nearly stumbled backward when I saw what he looked like.
His features were as chiseled as his body felt against mine, his jaw angular and dusted with light brown stubble.
High cheekbones looked like they could cut glass and would make a model jealous, yet there was no mistaking the masculine ruggedness he exuded.
Glancing down, he caught me gaping up at him and winked a melted-honey-colored eye at me. Technically, I supposed his eyes would be classified as brown, but there was an amber ring around his iris and bolts of it shooting from his pupil to the outer edge.
A small smirk lifted the corner of his mouth before he turned his attention back to the receptionist and took charge of the situation when she repeated her excuses to him.
“We’d like to see your manager. This is our honeymoon and we’re not taking no for an answer.
You can go get him now, thanks. Much appreciated. ”
She stared at him for a beat before she turned around and disappeared behind a door in the paneling of the wall. The guy didn’t loosen the grip he had on my shoulders, but he did turn slightly into me, that same mischievous smirk still in place.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. Play along, okay? We’ll get a room, but only if they believe us.”
There was so much light in those eyes when they met mine that I could only nod my agreement.
“Okay then, darling wifey, let’s get ourselves a room.” He smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. There were some people in this world who had absolutely dazzling smiles. This mysterious stranger was certainly one of them.
Which begs the question, who is he and why is he helping me? Beautiful strangers don’t usually go out of their way to help borderline hysterical dumpees, do they? I had no idea. Nothing even remotely like this had ever happened to me.
I still didn’t even really know what was happening to me. It was confusing as all get-out, and I hated being confused. But under the circumstances, I wasn’t about to smack his arm off me and demand answers.
I wanted a room, and he seemed confident he could get one for me. Have it your way, kind stranger. Just get me my damned bath. Then I’ll worry about getting answers.