“What’d you do?”
“What do you mean what did I do? I sputtered out an apology and backed out of the room as quickly as I could. Then considered rinsing out my eyes with bleach.”
“Oh my God, that’s...that’s….wow. That tops gym bro for sure!” Drea said, laughing.
“And what’s worse, it was like he wasn’t even fazed that I walked in. Almost like he sat in that exact spot hoping he would be caught. I will never be able to unsee this!”
Drea clutched her middle trying to control her laughter. Housekeeping was a beast of its own—having to maintain ridiculous standards of cleanliness and professionalism, working very hard to be damn near invisible, all while having unfettered access to strangers’ personal belongings and weird little glimpses into how they lived their lives. Guests brought a wide range of items with them on vacation, and left just as wide a range of them behind when they left. There were the everyday standards of wallets, keys, phones, and laptop cords, and even your miscellaneous vibrator wasn’t that uncommon these days.
Having been in this role for almost ten years, Leona had had some strange encounters with guests over the years, and had found some seriously strange items left behind in rooms. She kept a list posted in her office next to her desk of the top ten things she and her team had run across over the years: a prosthetic limb, an urn (complete with ashes), a bag full of sequential hundred-dollar bills totaling almost sixty thousand dollars, a journal with detailed entries of this guest’s love of brussels sprouts, and a kitten (although that person had been kind enough to leave a note and an extra large tip) made appearances on the list. The number one spot had long been occupied by what the girls simply referred to as “the duck pond,'' referring to the time they walked into a suite to find the bathtub filled with water and seven ducklings swimming around.
Just when Drea thought she was going to be able to catch her breath, the office door flew open, causing both women to jump and burst back into giggles. Vaughn Quinlan stuck just his head into the office, looking back and forth between his niece and her best friend.
“I should tell you to stop laughing and get back to work,” he said. “But I know better than to think you two would listen to me.”
“Hey, Uncle Vaughn. Need one of us?” Drea asked.
“Nope, just looking for Simone. She said she wanted dinner before the bonfire, but I can’t find her.”
“Did you try the kitchen?” Leona asked. “I feel like every time I see her she’s either in your office or there.”
“That is where I am headed next, although maybe it’s where I should have started. Knowing her she’s probably in there harassing Miller and his staff about exactly how she wants something sautéed. Okay, back to work, you two.” He winked and closed the door as he backed out.
“So, you meeting up with gym bro at the bonfire?” Leona asked, swinging her full attention back to Drea.
“Ugh, not if I can help it. If I run into him, I’ll be polite and make conversation, but I’m certainly not going to seek him out.”
“Maybe Kyle will come to your rescue again. Give you more fodder for those late-night fantasies of yours,” Leona smirked.
“Oh, shut up. I promise you, I don’t need any help in the Kyle fantasy department.”
Kyle’s cell phone rang, disrupting the music playing from it while he showered. He cut the water and grabbed the towel from the rack at the far side of the tub, drying off his hand enough to reach for the phone. He answered it and put it on speaker to continue drying off.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, baby, how are you?” JoAnna Egan’s voice called out and filled the little bathroom.
“Oh, you know, living the dream,” he answered casually. He alternated between this and “just another day in paradise” every time she asked. And, really, it was true because, even on his bad days, he was still living in St. Thomas working as a charter boat captain. He worked for a family-run business instead of some big corporate monster, he was able to live in staff housing so his rent was covered, and he never had to put on a tie. Hell, most days he didn’t have to put on real pants. There would be no complaints here.
“Oh, that’s good. Did you have a good day? Which tour did you guys run today?”
“We went out to Turtle Cove. It was great. A little windy, but nothing that caused any major trouble. We actually had a little bit of a smaller group, too, so I got to go for a bit of a swim with Drea.”
“Oh, how wonderful! I bet she loved that! How is Andrea?”
Kyle paused briefly, wrapping the towel around his waist and sitting down on the edge of the tub. “She’s good. Not much has changed with her either,” he answered. Talking to his mom about Drea was always a little complicated. She knew Drea was important to him, although if she had an inkling of just how important she never let on. He’d loved sharing stories of their adventures together over the years, and they’d had a lot. But he was still hesitant, thinking that his mom would easily be able to hear something in his voice that gave it away that Drea was more than just some girl.
“Well, please tell her I say hi. Anyway, the reason I’m calling is, I went online to pay a bill and looked at my bank statement and you made another deposit. I thought we agreed that you weren’t going to do that anymore.”
“No, Mom, you agreed. I did no such thing.”
“Kyle—”
“Mom,” he cut her off. “Does your insurance cover your anti-nausea meds? Does it cover a hundred percent of the dialysis?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean—”
“But nothing, Mom. That is part of why I took this job, so that you could live stress free over your medical treatment.”
