Chapter 3 Catching Up
CATCHING UP
It’d been two days at the retreat. Arik was settling in and keeping busy.
Driving around the island, finding things to do, enjoying the views, and spending time looking at the stock market day trading.
Not something he wanted to make a career out of, but it kept his mind busy while he worked out other things.
Those things being Natalie, whom he hadn’t seen or heard from.
One of them had to make the first move and it might as well be him.
He went to the front desk and stood in line. Not that busy. Check-out time was ten and it was eleven now. People wouldn’t be checking in until two.
“Can I help you?” one worker asked.
“Is Natalie Bond in?”
“Is there a problem I can help you with?”
“No problem,” he said, sending her a friendly smile. “Just an old friend. I ran into her a few days ago and thought I’d see if she was around.”
“Sure. Hang on, please.” He turned and looked around the lobby. The place was massive and stunning. He could understand why many would come here for a wedding. The pictures he’d seen online didn’t do it justice and those had been gorgeous. “She’ll be out in a minute.”
“Thanks,” he said. They hadn’t even asked his name, just said there was someone up here requesting her.
Wonder if she came every time someone called for her.
Talk about annoying.
Though she wouldn’t have easily come up for him then.
He moved over to sit in one of the comfy chairs to wait.
“Arik.” His ass barely had time to get comfortable when he heard his name.
He stood. “Hi. Hope I’m not bothering you.”
“Not at all,” Natalie said. “I thought it might be you. Anything I can help you with?”
Was she being polite and businesslike stuffy? Yep.
But he also noticed some of her staff looking on.
He dipped his head and lowered his voice to be considerate. “You can have lunch with me,” he said. “Or dinner. Whatever works for you. You know, as you said, reach out.”
She smiled, her brown eyes brightening. “I did say that.” She looked at her watch. “Fridays are normally crazy, but lunch could work between people checking out and coming in.”
“That is what I had hoped for. It’s still early unless this works.”
“Why don’t we try for noon? If you don’t mind, we could eat in your room and I’ll bring our food from one of the restaurants?”
He wouldn’t take offense at the fact that she might not want to be seen with him. This was her place of employment.
Pushing too early rarely worked in anyone’s favor. Especially if the person you were nudging along had weights in their shoes. At least that was how she’d been in college.
“Sure,” he said. “Do you want me to pick something now? I don’t have a way of reaching you. Unless I call the desk or tell them again.”
Her pursed lips went to the side as if she had to mull that over first. “I’ll give you my cell number.”
Exactly what he’d hoped for.
He pulled his phone out, put in the number she’d read, then sent her a quick text with his name on it.
“I’ll go pick my food and let you know,” he said. “I’m assuming you can figure out what room I’m in?”
“I know you’re on the third floor.”
So she had looked. Points for him.
“So you know how long I’m here?” he asked with his eyebrows up.
“I do. I thought it was odd, but maybe it’s not to you.”
“Nah,” he said. “Some of those things we can talk about. You know, catching up.”
“We can do that. I really should go now. I’ve got a few things to take care of.”
“See you soon.”
He left and returned to his room, looked over the menu, then sent his choice.
It’s not as if he had to clean the place. He hadn’t been doing much to make it messy and the cleaning crew had been here already. Talk about thorough.
He’d left the room for them to do their job the past two days, walking the grounds mostly. He didn’t have anything else going on and had to figure that out soon.
He could only sit around doing nothing for so long and he’d reached his limit.
An hour went by as he was checking the stock market when he heard a knock at the door.
He jumped up quickly, then opened the door.
There she was. The reason he was here.
Brown hair, straight and past her shoulders, a part on the side, a few soft floating layers in it around her face.
She had black pants on and a light blue sweater, a lanyard on her neck holding her ID and most likely a card that got her around the building. Simple and efficient, just as he remembered.
But he remembered so much more.
The way she laughed at his jokes. A true laugh, not one forced to make him think he was funny.
How she didn’t pull away when he touched her hand, but almost clung on longer.
She said she wasn’t looking for more, but her actions spoke more than her words ever did.
“That’s fast,” he said.
She pushed the cart in and brought it to the table, then set it.
He didn’t want her to work, she was here as his guest. A date in his mind. Not hers, but he’d work on that more.
He grabbed one dome off a dish, saw it was his burger and put it in front of one chair.
“We try to be efficient.”
“Loosen up, Natalie. You’re not working right now. This is your lunch hour, right?”
She laughed. “Sure.”
“It bothers you to socialize when you should be working, right?”
She sighed. “Maybe just a little.”
She sat and put a napkin on her lap, then picked up her fork to cut into the salad in front of her.
“You were like this in school too. Always ahead of the game and making sure it was just right.”
“Why bother doing something if you don’t put your full effort in?” she asked.
“That might be my problem.”
She grinned and put her hand up in front of her mouth where she was chewing, then said, “You’re staying here for a month when you could go to a lot of quality places for less. Are you taking a long vacation or working?”
“A combination of both,” he said.
She nodded and continued to chew. He took a few bites of his burger, not bothered by the silence. They were both feeling their way through this.
Though he had to admit, there was no tension or awkward vibes coming off of her.
“What do you do?” she asked
“Right now, I’m trying to figure that out.”
She frowned, and he could tell she was being polite, holding back the questions she clearly wanted to ask. “We all find it at some point in our lives.”
“Oh, don’t be that way,” he said. He was going to put her business mode in the hall like he’d been able to do years ago. “Tell me I’m nuts. That I need to grow up. Or ask why I haven’t figured it out yet. Don’t worry about being rude.”
“I’m hardly ever rude.”
“That’s right. You don’t get messed up much, you don’t get your nose out of joint, and you never ruffle feathers. That’s probably why you’re so great at your job.”
She paused. It was fascinating for him to see her mind work as if there was a buffering symbol over her head. “You started with what could be insults but ended with a compliment.”
He laughed at her confused stare. “I think I’m speaking the truth. I’ve always done it before.”
“You have,” she said. “And I’ve appreciated it.”
Phew. Didn’t make too big of a mistake there.
“No. So do the same.” Her head went back and forth. “I’m not going to leave a bad review here. This place is everything it boasted to be.”
She laughed at his attempt to joke. He was being serious but anything to get her to let go like she had around him in the past.
“That’s good to know. Okay, you’re a year older than me. Thirty-three. Why haven’t you figured out what you wanted to do? The fact you’re staying here for a month says you have the means to do it. Unless of course you’re crazy in debt.”
“There,” he said, pointing his finger. “That’s not something you’d normally say.”
Her face shrank back some, her lips parting and showing her teeth. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Yes, you should have. We used to talk and laugh all the time. When I got you to loosen up.”
“That’s true. So what have you been up to? Or are you just independently wealthy and jet setting around the world while you try to discover any hidden talents you’ve got?”
“Damn, you guessed it.”
She coughed on the bite of food she’d put in her mouth and chewed quickly. “Seriously?”
He smirked and bit into his burger without saying another word.