Chapter 15 #2
“Oh.” I blink as I try to regain my bearings. “So it’s over. I—um, should I try to get rescheduled on a commercial airline?”
“That won’t be necessary. Mr. Holyfield insisted you be flown on the private jet.”
“Oh.” I guess he really wants me gone. Tears spring to my eyes, but I blink them back hard as Kora holds out a hand.
“I can take your suitcases.”
“This is it.” I point to the gym bag at my feet, then turn to head back in the room. “Just let me grab my shoes and?—”
“Oh, honey!”
I spin to see Sybil push past her, barreling into the room to pull me into a sweet-scented hug. “Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks.” Tears fill my eyes as I sniffle into her hair. “Um, what did Ash tell you?”
“Not a damn thing.” She glances at Kora. “And my wife is a master of discretion, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which ‘VIP guest’ she’d be driving to the airstrip at this hour. You’re the only one here.”
“Sybil.” There’s a warning in Kora’s tone, but also affection. “Let’s not make this harder on her.”
“I’m okay.” I’m sure they can see by my tear-streaked face that I’m not. “I’ll be okay. It’s been an emotional morning.”
Kora’s eyes soften as her wife helps me locate my shoes. Sybil loops an arm around me, lending me strength as she guides me back to the door. As she scoops up my bag, she leads me outside to a rose-gold golf cart with a crisp white canopy.
“Water?” Kora reaches inside and pulls out two bottles. “Or kombucha?”
I’m not thirsty, but given how much I’ve been crying, I should probably drink something. “Thank you.” I take the kombucha as Sybil slings my bag into a luggage compartment.
“I promise not to dwell on this,” she says as she climbs in the back beside me. “But I really thought you’d cracked the code to The Fortress.”
“Sybil.” Kora’s warning sounds sterner this time as she steers the cart down the leafy, vine-twisted path. “Give the poor woman some space.”
“It’s okay.” I lean against Sybil, enjoying the comfort of her arm pressed to mine. “Ash has some things to work through and I—” What do I need, exactly? “I need someone who knows with one hundred percent certainty that he wants to be with me. I can’t fault him for not feeling it.”
“Mr. Holyfield is a complicated man.” Kora tightens her grip on the wheel, her gaze fixed straight ahead. “A good man, but a complicated one.”
Sybil makes a face. “That’s my wife’s kindhearted way of saying he’s an ass-hat.”
I laugh in spite of myself. As Kora turns the corner, I catch what looks like a smile and an eye roll.
“The jet’s on the way, but it’ll need to refuel.” Kora steers the cart onto a gravel-lined path at the edge of the jungle. “I provided your city of origin to the pilot. I assume you’re hoping to return to Portland?”
“I suppose.” That’s not what I’m hoping at all, but I don’t have much choice.
“The pilot has those details.” She steers us around a large palm tree. “She’ll map out the appropriate course.”
“Thank you.” I don’t know a thing about private jets. I assume we’ll need to refuel between here and Portland, but I don’t have a clue how that works. “I’m just grateful for the ride.”
“It’s the least we can do,” Kora says mildly.
Sybil squeezes my hand and mutters under her breath. “After this chickenshit move, Ash owes you more than a ride home. Maybe hit him up for a pony?”
I snicker again, grateful she came on this ride. Kora seems nice, but there’s nothing as comforting as a girlfriend with snark. “Ash is a big boy,” I mumble. “If he’s ready to say goodbye, I need to respect that.”
Sybil snorts. “Know what I respect? The balls to proportionately match a big dick.” She screws up her face. “Not that I saw Ash’s cock. But I’m assuming?—”
“We’re almost there.” Kora sounds pained, though she’s probably used to her wife’s unfiltered commentary.
“Really?” I peer through a clearing in the jungle, surprised to spot an airstrip up ahead. “So close?”
Biting her lip, Sybil nods. “I’m afraid so.”
I can’t believe it was here all along. There’s a small, red and white plane parked off to the side, so I guess that’s it. “I expected a jet would be bigger.”
“That’s Mr. Holyfield’s twin-engine.” Kora sets the brake and turns to face us. “The jet should be here any minute.”
“Ash has a twin-engine?” I’m not even sure what that means.
Kora nods tightly, watching my face like she’s telling me something besides what she’s saying out loud. “He rarely flies. Just enough to keep his license current with a flight review every two years.” Her cool green eyes hold mine. “But he can fly.”
“He chooses not to.” Sybil crosses her arms. “Like he’s choosing not to man up with you.”
I’m not sure why they’re telling me this, but it does raise some questions. Why didn’t Ash use the small plane to get me back to Negril that first day? He mentioned he gave up flying to punish himself for not taking his wife to her tryst. But if his license is current and he has a small plane?—
“There’s the jet.”
I look up as a sleek, blue plane soars into view. We all watch it land, not trying to talk over the roar of the engines. Once it comes to a stop, Kora speaks again. “You have to hand it to Mr. Holyfield.”
I frown. “Hand him what?”
“All alone in that big mansion by himself.” She stares out at the jet, watching the pilot stride onto the runway. “His only occasional company is a house cleaner who comes twice a week.”
Why is she saying this? “Don’t forget Lars, the chef.” I guess I’ll go home having never met the man. “He must be reclusive, too.”
“Lars?” Kora tilts her head. “I’m not aware of a Lars on Mr. Holyfield’s staff.”
“Really?” That’s odd. “Don’t you manage all of Ash’s personal and professional staff?”
“That’s correct.” Kora just looks at me.
I don’t get it. “Who made all those meals that kept showing up at my?—”
“Honey.” Sybil squeezes my hand. “What my wife is too tactful to say is that the beautiful, billionaire moron you’ve been boning has been lovingly preparing your meals. And at any point in the last week, he had the ability to fly you away from here. He chose not to do that.”
I stare at her blankly, struggling to wrap my head around what she’s just said. “Why?”
“Because he loves you.” Her silvery eyes search mine as she gives me a sad little smile.
“He might be awkward about showing it, or maybe he doesn’t know how.
But trust me when I say that if he didn’t want you here, he’d have handled you the same way he did another guest who got here without reservations last year and made a big stink about the resort being closed. ”
Kora sighs. “Sybil.”
“What?” She gives me a look of wide-eyed innocence. “I didn’t say a word about Mr. Holyfield having her arrested.”
“Seriously?” I don’t know what to do with this information. Does it feel nice to hear, on some level? To know that Ash treated me differently?
Yes. Yes, it does.
But it still doesn’t change the fact that he’s sending me away now.
“You should go.” Kora nods toward the plane, where the pilot is waving me over. “She’ll want to go over the safety briefing before you board.”
“Okay.” My mind is still reeling, trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together.
I get out of the cart, reaching back to pick up my gym bag. Sybil gets out and walks around the cart to enfold me in a hug. “He really does love you.” She squeezes me tighter. “That’s what Kora was trying to show you.”
Gripping my bag, I scoff. “Does it really matter if he can’t face it?”
Sybil lifts a shoulder in a tiny shrug. “I always think love matters, but I’m a romantic.” She steals a glance at her wife with a look so loving I get goosebumps. “Passion’s my reason for living.”
“I tried being passionate.” Maybe that’s why this hurts so much. “But I think I’ll go back to being practical and pragmatic.”
“You?” She snorts like that’s a foreign concept. “Practical and pragmatic?”
“It’s how I was in my last relationship.” I know in my heart that I don’t belong with Hayden. But the breakup with him sure hurt less than this one.
Practical and pragmatic kept me from feeling like this.
“I see.” Sybil tucks her hands in the pockets of her cutoff shorts. “Which Camille did I meet?”
“What do you mean?”
“Passionate, impractical Camille? Or pragmatic, practical Camille?”
I laugh at her earnest expression. “Impractical and passionate for sure.” That’s a no-brainer. “From the moment I got on an airplane to come here, I wasn’t behaving like my practical self.”
“I see.” A warm gust of wind whips her corkscrew curls into a frenzy as she gives me a sad little smile. “Just do me a favor, okay?”
“Okay.” I don’t even ask what it is.
“Don’t give up yet.”
“On passion or Ash?”
“Yes.”
I glance at the jet with an ache in my chest. Ash is the one who gave up on me. The moment I get on that plane, it’s over.
Drawing a breath, I turn back to Sybil. “I’m not sure I can promise that.”
She nods and there’s sorrow in her eyes. “I understand.”
Does she? Sybil has Kora and a life filled with passion and love and desire. I have a big, hollow hole in my chest.
I’m being dramatic, but that’s how it feels. Swallowing hard, I hug Sybil again. “Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome.” She squeezes me hard, then takes a step back. “Tell Eve and your brother hello.”
“I will.”
“And Camille?”
“Yeah?”
“For what it’s worth, I adore impractical, passionate Camille.”
“Thanks.” For what it’s worth, I loved her, too.
As I walk to the jet, I bid her goodbye with tears in my eyes.