Chapter Four
C hapter Four
Bella
Twelve years later
“ I say it ’ s time to par-tay!” Harley squeals and pops open the bottle of champagne that the hotel graciously left in our room, then proceeds to spray the majority of it over our balcony.
“ Harley!” I gasp. “ What about the people below us?”
“ Eh, ” she says as she leans over the railing. “ I guess you could say I ’ m making it rain.”
“ Not what that phrase means.”
“ It does in this sense. You just have to believe,” she says with a giggle. Then, she holds up the green bottle and looks at how much champagne is left.
“ Looks like there ’ s still a glass or two in here if you want some,” she tells me. “ I ’ m having one.”
I chuckle. “ Why am I not surprised?”
“ What?” she asks.
“ It ’ s ten in the morning!”
“ And we’re on vacay,” she replies simply as though she ’ s telling me it ’ s sunny outside. “ The normal rules of day-to-day life don ’ t apply on vacation.”
“ Yes, well, it ’ s not all vacation for either of us,” I argue. “ Don’t forget we both planned for some work stuff, too. What about that Yoga and Pilates intensive you registered for?”
“ Not today! Today, I set aside to simply get here, and after such an early morning flight followed by that taxi getting here, I could use this.”
She ’ s pouring herself a glass as we speak, but I shake my head when she offers some to me.
“ I ’ ll have some mimosas down at the pool, but I don ’ t want anything right now, thanks.”
“ Suit yourself,” she shrugs. “ But you better not have overbooked yourself with your physical therapy seminars.”
“ It ’ s nothing that ’ s going to get in the way of our actual vacation,” I promise. “ But you know how the clinic is. They wanted to see something productive coming out of the time off, and since so many therapists are looking for work, I didn ’ t want to risk them replacing me.”
“ Replacing you?” She raises an eyebrow. “ They would be stupid to do that.”
“ Even still,” I shrug. “ L.A. is a tight market for most things, you know that.”
“ Tell me about it,” she rolls her eyes.
I know I tend to be a little too work-obsessed sometimes, but my career is my most significant achievement in life. I graduated at the top of my class and found one of the best clinics in the city, and I ’ ve been working there ever since.
Physical therapy has become my life in many ways, so when Harley approached me with the idea of taking a month-long vacation in Costa Rica, I had initially dismissed it as nothing more than a nice idea.
She persisted to the point I eventually agreed, and then the two of us went through a painstaking year of saving and planning. I have to hand it to her now, though. Standing in this upscale hotel room at this incredible resort feels like it ought to have cost us a lot more than it did, which only makes Harley giddy.
“ I told you it was all going to pay off for us when we got here,” she says excitedly. “ Look at this view! There ’ s the pool, but you look up there and see mountains and jungles. And tada… there ’ s the ocean!”
“ It looks like a picture out of a magazine,” I breathe.
“ Technically, it is,” she giggles. “ I forgot to tell you that this is the actual suite they feature in the brochure. It took me some time and digging to figure that out, but I knew it was the one we needed when I saw it. After all the money we ’ ve invested in this trip, I want us to get our money's worth.”
“ Well done,” I say with a nod of approval. My phone buzzes, and just as I look down to see what it is, Harley snatches it out of my hand.
“ What the hell, Harley? ” I gasp. “ I need that!”
“ I ’ m making sure it ’ s not work,” she tells me. “ I know you better than you give me credit for, missy. And if you’re anything like you usually are, you ’ ll try to sneak in work through the cracks.”
“ I already told you that I was going to have some work to do while we ’ re here,” I tell her for what feels like the hundredth time. “ You know I can ’ t just shut off my phone and pretend that real life doesn ’ t exist for us back in the States.”
“ No, and I don ’ t expect that,” she tells me. “ But what I do expect is that you ’ ll end up working most of the time you ’ re here if I don ’ t keep an eye on you. You said that you plan to attend three seminars, and as I recall, those are scattered throughout the month, with the first one being nine days from now.”
“ You can ’ t remember to unplug your hair straightener, but you can memorize my schedule for a month after I mention it a single time?”
“ You leave me no choice,” she retorts. “ You’re a workaholic, and if you had your way, you ’ d wind up working remotely and missing the entire trip. So consider this rehab for workaholics.”
“ I feel like that ’ s more than a slight exaggeration,” I scoff.
She tosses my phone onto the bed, finishes the first glass of champagne, and refills it with the rest of what ’ s in the bottle.
“ Bella, look at this place. That ’ s paradise right outside, and I ’ m not just talking about the scenery, either.”
She nods toward the pool, and I follow her gesture to the four men playing beach volleyball next to the pool deck. “ Look at them, why don ’ t you? Take your pick on which one – or two – you ’ d like, and I ’ ll take the others.”
“ The other two, or the other three?” I tease.
“ Well, I ’ m keeping my options open,” she says without missing a beat. “ I ’ m here to have a good time, and let me tell you, I’m going to come out of this trip a new woman. Perhaps that means having a few new experiences —something wild like a love triangle, maybe?” She says with a truly evil grin.
“ Somehow, I don ’ t doubt it,” I giggle.
She wanders into the bathroom, and I take the chance to check my phone as she does. I can hear her raving about the luxurious display, and I ’ m intrigued. But I still want to look at a few things before I get distracted with the actual fun part of this vacation.
Being the mother hen in this duo, the first thing I want to make sure of is that we have cell service. I ’ m not expecting wonders, considering our cell phones are based in the U.S., and we ’ re in Costa Rica, but I also feel that it ’ s wise to make sure we have a way to communicate easily with each other and be able to call for help if need be.
I don ’ t speak Spanish, and I know Harley speaks very little. She ’ s somewhat fluent in reading the language but can ’ t speak it or understand it very well when someone is talking to her. So, the interpreter app we both downloaded should come in very handy.
Of course, I know Harley would roll her eyes and tell me I ’ m being paranoid if she knew what I ’ m doing. But that ’ s just Harley. Of the two of us, she ’ s the one who is more outgoing and adventurous. She ’ s the one who likes to party and experience whatever is fun at the moment.
While a part of me envies her for her free-spirited outlook on life, another part of me feels the responsibility of being the mature, cautious one. I don ’ t want to hold her back or make her question what she ’ s doing, but I also don ’ t want to blindly follow her into something that could turn out badly.
Satisfied that I have adequate cell service, I toss my phone back onto the bed and head into the bathroom to see what she ’ s gushing about.
Indeed, the place does not disappoint.
“ Are you sure you want to leave this place for the bungalow?” I ask as I look at the fine detailing. “ This place is like a spa. Imagine spending the whole month here.”
“ I know, right?” she breathes. “ But sadly, yes, the bungalow will be available for us the day after tomorrow, so we can only stay here for a couple of days. I wanted to be here as long as we could, but with our budget, staying herefor a whole month is just out of the question.”
“ Look at you being responsible with our money,” I tease her, but secretly relieved to hear that she has made some responsible choices along the way. She clearly did her homework on several things, and I know I can relax some.
“ I know, right? We'll be here the rest of today and tomorrow, then we have to be out of the room by eleven in the morning on Thursday,” she tells me. “ The bungalow I reserved is number fifteen,” and she walks out to the main suite and onto the balcony as she speaks, then points in the direction of the pool once more. “ You can see the start of the bungalows that way. As you can imagine, the closer you get to the pools or the beach, the more the price increases. I figured we ’ d be fine in one of the center ones since it ’ s pretty much the halfway point between the pool and the ocean.”
“ Brilliant, ” I tell her with a genuine smile. “ I ’ ll never doubt you again.”
“ Yeah, right,” she snorts. “ Oh! Speaking of the ocean, are we still going to get SCUBA certified while we ’ re here?”
“ That ’ s the plan,” I tell her. “ I ’ m still game if you are.”
“ Absolutely. Ohhh!”
“ What ’ s wrong?” I ask.
“ Sorry,” she says with a giggle. “ Just got a magnificent view of that stud down there serving the ball. I don ’ t know what we ’ re waiting for. I say we throw our bikinis on and head down to soak up some sun!”
“ Are you sure you ’ re looking for some time in the sun?” I tease.
“ Come on,” she says. “ Please tell me you won’t be your normal prudish self while we ’ re here. We ’ re in Costa Rica! The men are delicious, and we can treat this like Vegas. What happens here stays here.”
“ First of all!” I say, unable to stop myself from laughing out loud. “ I ’ m not a prude!”
“ You ’ ve had a total of like three boyfriends,” she says. “ And you ’ re totally against random hookups! I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but..." she trails off.
“ It's just my personal preference. I'm not judging you for yours, either. I also don ’ t want to pick up something from someone I ’ m trying to pick up, if you know what I mean,” I tell her with a shrug and raised eyebrows.
“ I haven ’ t picked up anything, and I – well, I take precautions,” she says with a smirk. “ And I guess we don ’ t share the wild genes even though we ’ re blood relatives.”
“ You could say that again,” I chuckle.
I don ’ t mind her pointing out how I am around men. She ’ s really not wrong. I do tend to keep to myself, and I ’ m not much of a flirt. It ’ s not that I ’ m against the idea of finding someone and falling in love, but I ’ m just guarded on that front.
My broken engagement many years ago sort of left a mark on me, and I’m fearful of going through that again. I don ’ t want to fall instantly in love with anyone. I want to get to know them and truly be able to trust them before I let myself have those kinds of feelings.
As a result of my apprehension, I ’ ve only had two serious relationships in the twelve years since that breakup. I ’ ve been told that I ’ m hard to get close to. I know I am, and I honestly would rather be that way than be hurt again as badly as I was with Cole.
Harley and I often joke that she makes up for that side of me with her antics, and I honestly don ’ t mind. I ’ m happy she ’ s happy, and I don't expect her to feel the same as I do. She ’ s free to make her own decisions, and if that ’ s how she likes doing things, that ’ s up to her.
I don’t judge.
So, I can ’ t say I ’ m surprised when she ’ s eager to get out of the hotel room and into her swimsuit to go down to the pool. If she ’ s got her eyes on someone, or even a group of someones, then there ’ s going to be little I can do to stop her until she ’ s down there.
“ Do you want to unpack first?” I ask.
“ What ’ s the point?”
“ Well, we’re going to be here for a month,” I say.
“ Yeah, but only for two days in this room,” she shrugs. “ I say pull out the bikinis, and we ’ ll leave the rest in our suitcases. The two big bags don ’ t even need to be opened yet. When we move to the bungalow, we can unpack those. We ’ ve got all we need in these two small ones, and the hotel is beyond furnished with the other basics.”
“ I can ’ t argue with that,” I say out loud. “ For the first time, I ’ m in a hotel where the little soap they give you in the bathroom is nicer than the stuff I buy for myself at home.”
“ Precisely the point,” Harley says. “ After all the hard work and saving we ’ ve done for this trip, we deserve to indulge, cut loose, and have some fun.”
“ Preach!”
“ So you want to get down to the pool? There ’ s a bar I can see from right here that’s calling our names. We can grab you that mimosa and get you caught up to me,” she says as she holds up the empty bottle of champagne.
“ This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, and I think we should both make the most of it.”
“ Okay, okay,” I say, pulling out my swimsuit. “ I ’ ll relax, and we can have some fun.”
“ You promise?”
“ I promise. ”
I ’ m not anti-social by any means. Nor do I have social anxiety. But I ’ m a little overwhelmed with the number of people around the pool area.
We pick up resort towels and walk around for a bit before finding two lounge chairs that are close to the pool but not right up at the edge of it.
“ I ’ m going to go grab a mimosa,” I told her, “ Do you want me to bring you something?”
“ I want the chance to read over the menu myself,” she said with a shake of her head. “ So why don ’ t you go first since you know what you want, and when you get back, I ’ ll go. That way, we won ’ t lose our chairs.”
“ Smart,” I told her.
It took me a little while to get my drink with the crowd, so I hustled back to our spot as quickly as possible, and then Harley left to get her drink. I expected her to take a bit since I had gotten caught up waiting, but it was nearly an hour before she came back.
I ’ m sure frustration was evident on my face by the time she showed up, and the drink in her hand looked untouched. For as long as she was gone, I easily guessed that it wasn ’ t the first drink she ’ d gotten, and I felt annoyed. I didn ’ t want to be left alone on the side of the pool while she went off and socialized.
“ What ’ s wrong?” she asks, and I ’ m struck by the fact she looks genuinely confused.
“ Where have you been?” I reply, making a conscious effort to keep my attitude in check. “ I thought you were going to get a drink and come right back.”
I don ’ t want to dictate how we spend our time, but Harley is notorious for doing things like this, and I came on this vacation to spend time with her ... not alone — especially the very first day.
I know there ’ s a line between wanting to spend time with her and being controlling over what she does, and I certainly don ’ t want to do the latter, so I try to be as open-minded and calm as possible, as she explains.
“ So, I was, and I did,” she says, nodding to the drink she had in her hand. “ But there were two men I met along the way.”
“Shocker — ” I start, but she cuts me off.
“ No, no, stop, just listen,” she tells me excitedly. “ They ’ re businessmen also on vacation here. Well, sort of on vacation. I ’ m not exactly sure. At any rate, they ’ re here, and they ’ re both super hot and nice, to boot. You should come meet them.”
I don ’ t say anything because my furrowed brow says it all.
“ What?” she asks innocently.
She ’ s looking at me with what seems to be genuine surprise on her face, so I simply lay out what I ’ m thinking. I keep my voice low enough that we ’ re not going to draw any attention from the others around the pool, but I need to let her know how I feel.
“ First of all, the whole reason that I came down here to the pool is because I thought you and I were going to sit and chill. I got my mimosa, which you insisted I get to catch up with you, but you ’ ve been nowhere to be seen for an hour.”
She looks a little pained at my reaction, but she ’ s not at all deterred from the end goal.
“ I didn ’ t know it was going to be so busy down here,” she explains. “ You have to admit that it didn ’ t look this crowded when we were looking down fromthe hotel room.”
“ No, it didn ’ t. But I ’ d rather we stick together for our first day here. At least until we get to know our way around the resort.” I try to explain my expectations calmly.
“ Ok, point taken,” she nods. “ So, come with me, and I ’ ll introduce you to these two guys I met. They were saying how they have a superyacht and how we could go out with them and be away from all this madness entirely.”
“ Superyacht, ” I say, internally rolling my eyes. “ What even is that… a superyacht?”
“ Well, I ’ m guessing it ’ s bigger than a yacht but smaller than a cruise ship,” she says, her eyes practically sparkling and dollar signs floating in the imaginary thought bubble I ’ m picturing above her head. “ Either way, it ’ s a floating taste of luxury and the elite life, and it sounds wonderful!”
I scan the pool area and feel conflicted inside.
On the one hand, this place is exactly like the pictures we looked at when booking our vacation. On the other hand, those pictures obviously didn ’ t include all the other tourists who would be present.
When Harley first said she wanted to take this vacation, Costa Rica hadn ’ t been the first place she ’ d chosen. There were a variety of smaller, lesser-known islands and resorts that we might have gone to for the month, but I had a problem with those.
“ Why?” Harley had finally asked one day. “ We ’ d be saving money.”
“ I just feel like we ’ d be safer if we go to one of those bigger places,” I confessed. “ I don ’ t want to sound paranoid, but with the cartels I’ve read about in some areas, I just think it would be better for us to stick to the bigger places, you know? Safety in numbers?”
She ’ d laughed at my worry. “ Well, unless you’re suddenly planning to pick up a nasty drug habit,you ’ re not going to get involved with a cartel, but if you don ’ t feel comfortable, that ’ s fine with me. I like this place in Costa Rica. What do you think?”
From there, the two of us pieced together the rest of the vacation and what it would look like, and during that time, I built up in my head that there would be a lot more legroom around the place.
As I ’ m discussing this with Harley now, however, I realize I can ’ t have it both ways. If we ’ re going to be at this bigger resort, then naturally, there ’ s going to be more people. And that was pretty much what I ’ d suggested for us, so I can ’ t complain.
But I also would appreciate more space and less noise, so perhaps it ’ s not the worst idea in the world to take her up on her offer.
“ If I go with you to meet these men,” I say slowly, “ I need you to promise me something.”
“ What?”
“ I don ’ t want it to become the four of us attached at the hip,” I announce. I don ’ t want to be rude, and I ’ m glad I ’ m able to be frank with her right now when I ’ ve got her alone… and sober. “I’m not interested in some big group thing or an insta-hookup when you and I were supposed to be down here having time to ourselves.”
“ No, no, it ’ s not going to be anything like that,” she assures me. “ I ’ m not going to let them hijack our vacation. We have a whole month ahead of us, and I don ’ t want to get tied down to two guys the whole time. Besides, I don’t want to raid the eye candy store on day one. I ’ m sure there ’ s going to be more I ’ d like to sample along the way.” Her naughty grin is too much.
“ You ’ re terrible,” I say, unable to hide the smile as it spreads across my lips. “ Alright, where is this rich eye candy?”