That's Not My Suitcase Page 6

“OK,” he said slowly, I’m sure thinking I was a nut job, which in all honesty I was beginning to think myself.

  “You see that man sitting up there?”

  I could see him glance out of the corner of his eye, looking without looking.

  “I see a few.”

  “Look down closer to the pillar. He’s by himself with a glass in his hand.”

  “The one in the white dress shirt?”

  “Yes, that one. That’s the guy who followed me and Wendy in town today.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. I saw him enough today that I am absolutely sure! What do you think this means? He must have followed me here! Oh my God, that has to mean he’s following me.”

  “It could mean nothing,” Steve offered. “Maybe he’s a guest at the hotel and this is all a big coincidence.”

  “You’re the one who told me if my gut said he was following us he probably was!”

  “I know and I still believe that. Just trying to keep you from freaking out.”

  “I appreciate that, but too late! I’m already freaking out.”

  “Listen, why don’t we go find hotel security and tell them what’s going on and maybe they can talk to the guy, find out what he’s doing here. Maybe that would help put your mind at ease.”

  “Good idea.”

  Since we were almost back to the hotel anyway, we headed to the main lobby where the security office was located.

  Neither of the gentlemen working were the same as the ones I had talked to the other night, but once I told them my name they knew exactly who I was. Guess I was famous here. The wrong kind of famous, in my opinion, but in this case maybe it was a good thing because they seemed willing to help me. Though in a hotel like this, I was sure they heard many unusual stories and placated guests by checking them out.

  They walked with us back to the side patio where I had seen the man. But when we arrived the patio was empty save two couples enjoying what looked to be after dinner drinks. I wanted to stomp my foot like a two year old, I was so mad and frustrated and these guys probably thought I was being paranoid or overly dramatic, or just flat out imagining things.

  “I’m sorry I dragged you out here,” I said to the security guards feeling bad I had wasted their time and also worried that if I saw the man again and needed them, they wouldn’t believe me.

  “No worries, ma’am. Let us know if you need anything else.”

  “I’m fine right now, thanks.”

  They walked off and I turned to Steve to express my frustration and he gathered me in a hug. It shocked me but it was nice. He was warm, and smelled good. His arms wrapped around me helping some of the tension I was feeling melt away.

  We stood like that, silent, for a few minutes and then pulled apart, though I could have gone on like that for hours.

  “Thank you,” I said, thinking those words didn’t adequately express my appreciation, but somehow I felt Steve wouldn’t care.

  “I think what you need is a good night’s sleep. Things always tend to look better in the morning.”

  I forced a smile and appreciated how he was trying to put me at ease instead of making me feel I was overreacting to the notion that someone may or may not be following me. Even though I somewhat felt like I might be overreacting, I was grateful he wasn’t judging me.

  “You’re right. Let’s walk back in.”

  He walked me to my room and when I opened my door, he even went in to check and make sure everything looked OK.

  I had left all the lights on and it only took a few seconds for him to complete his tour.

  “All clear,” he said, coming back to stand beside me just inside the doorway.

  My heart started beating a little faster in anticipation that he might kiss me. I found myself wanting it to happen, but knew I wouldn’t have the guts to make the first move. I wasn’t disappointed. He leaned down and touched his lips to mine, softly and sweetly, then he looked back at me.

  “I hope that was OK.”

  I nodded, afraid to speak. It had been more than OK and I was overcome with unexpected emotion. After being married for so long, it felt odd to be kissing another man and yet it felt good at the same time.

  “Coffee tomorrow?”

  “Yes. Same time and place?”

  “Yeah, have a good night, Sterling.”

  “You, too,” I said closing the door behind him.

  I looked at the time. Eleven pm. Nadine would still be up and boy, did I have a lot to tell her, as she did me as I soon found out almost regretting I called her.

  “You are kidding me. He did what?” I yelled into the phone.

  “Calm down. I didn’t want to ruin your vacation, but I didn’t want you finding out from someone else.”

  “Then why did you?” I snapped, not mad at her but mad at the situation. “I’m sorry, Nadine. Of course you should tell me. I just can’t believe he didn’t have the courtesy to tell me himself. Though considering how selfish he is, it shouldn’t surprise me.”

  She’d told me the news that Brian had gotten married the day after Christmas. While yes, we were divorced and I wasn’t surprised he would get remarried, I was surprised it was so soon. Though, I guess shouldn’t be since it wasn’t really that soon. They had been together for five years, even though four of that he had been married to me. The woman he’d been seeing had never been married so she was probably pushing him to tie the knot. The part I had a hard time comprehending is why she would want to marry a man who cheated on his first wife for four years. Why did women who had affairs with married men think they wouldn’t cheat on them? It was something I never understood. Though maybe since she was pregnant she didn’t care he was a cheater and she just wanted to marry her baby’s daddy. Another fact Nadine had also just dropped on me. I think it hurt more that it happened so quickly after the finalization of our divorce and that I spent Christmas being sad while he was planning his upcoming nuptials. How could it be so easy for him after all the years we’d had together, when his kids were already grown to start a new family? That part I didn’t really envy him. I enjoyed sleeping through the night. It was just a hard pill to swallow that he was completely starting his life over. I wanted to cry but wasn’t going to let myself. I wondered if he had even bothered to tell the kids. The thought of how they must feel made me even more sad. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what they would think about this.

  “Sterling, are you still there?” Nadine asked, sounding worried. I felt bad that she was the one who had to tell me.

  “Yeah,” I said with a big sigh. “I wonder if the kids knew and that’s why they didn’t come home?”

  “Do you really think they’d boycott their own dad’s wedding?”

  I made myself more comfortable in the chair in the corner of the room before answering.

  “Things have been very strained with them since Brian and I split. They blame him, even though I tell them not to. But there’s only so much I can tell them at their age. They were old enough to understand exactly what happened. They have their own opinions and I can’t change their minds. I certainly don’t bash Brian to them.”

  “I know you don’t,” Nadine said soothingly.

  I could see them thinking they were sticking up for me by not going and using their trip as an excuse but that’s not what I wanted. I needed to call them and talk about this.

  “Oh Nadine, when did life get so complicated? I thought we were supposed to have things all figured out by now?”

  Nadine laughed. “So did I sweetheart, so did I. But how boring would things be if our lives were easy.”

  “I’m not asking for easy. Just a little less complicated,” I said, smiling just a little in spite of my sadness. I needed to focus on the great things I had. My wonderful children, my growing business, good friends like Nadine, and put the past in the past.

  “So, fill me in on your great vacation? You said you had some interesting news to share. I should have let you go first,” Nadine said, chan
ging the subject.

  “No kidding,” I joked. “This vacation has been atypical to say the least.” I proceeded to fill her in on the recent events.

  Now it was Nadine’s turn to be silent. “Are you just making all this up? Was this the plot to some book you read on the plane?”

  “Believe it or not, no. This has been the vacation to end all vacations.”

  “So, you’re sure this strange guy is following you?”

  “I’m pretty sure but then maybe I’m just being paranoid.”

  “I’ll do some digging on my end about that string of robberies. But you are spending more time with this Steve guy? I like the sound of that. He sounds promising.”

  “He’s a really nice guy but we’re on vacation, so it’s not like this is long term relationship material,” I said, not being able to help but wonder if I would ever have that in my life again.

  “It’s a fun distraction and that’s what you need right now.”

  “If you say so,” I said, suppressing a yawn. I was exhausted.

  “I do,” she said firmly. “I can hear you yawning and I’m tired too. Are you going to be OK?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine, really. Things will look better in the morning.” I repeated the words Steve had earlier said to me.

  “Yes, they will!” Nadine agreed. “Talk to you tomorrow, OK?”

  “Ok, thanks, Nadine.”

  We hung up and I just sat there. I actually felt better than I had at the beginning of the call. Yes, finding out Brian had married his pregnant girlfriend was a shock but once I got over that initial gut punch, it wasn’t so bad. Sure it hurt, but just getting to know Steve made me realize that there were still some good men out there and with some luck, maybe I could meet one. I did need to talk to the kids though. As much as part of me could appreciate their wanting to boycott their dad for me, it was wrong and the last thing I would want is them to not continue the good relationship they‘d always had with their father.

  I called and got voicemail and told Joanna that her and her brother needed to call me to talk about their father. As I hung up, I almost wanted to call Brian. To say what I wasn’t sure.

  Maybe to ask why, after all our years together, he couldn’t have told me himself he was getting remarried. Didn’t he owe me that much, not to blindside me? I guess it just showed what kind of coward he was. Calling him might make me feel temporarily better, but wouldn’t help in the long run. There was no reason to start an argument and calling him now would definitely do that. Right now I wasn’t in the frame of mine to have an adult conversation anyway. I was too mad.

  I saw it was almost one am and decided sleep would be the best course of action. Plus, I had coffee to look forward to with Steve in the morning. In spite of the news I had heard, that put a smile on my face. There were definitely some good things happening on this vacation.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning I was drinking coffee on the little balcony of my room, enjoying the view of the ocean, and watching people already out on the beach. Steve had called about eight, saying something had come up he had to deal with and he had to cancel coffee but would make it up to me. While I was disappointed, I understood things happened and really enjoyed the part where he said he was going to make it up to me.

  I could get used to this. Sitting outside, in December, looking out at beautiful sunny skies, the ocean with its comforting waves. I daydreamed about being able to live here. Have a place on the beach and get this view every morning. If only I could get this on mid-west property prices.

  After Steve had cancelled our plans, I had decided to have a leisurely morning and order room service and work on some designs, maybe get some of that business planning in. Some might wonder why I would want to do work on my vacation, but this really wasn’t work to me. I loved being creative. I loved my business. It was play and I felt so inspired here.

  I took another sip of coffee and looked back at my laptop. Happy it was the one thing I’d been able to convince the police to give me from my room.

  I had a few upcoming jobs and my process was always to work with color first. Some clients already knew what colors they liked and some were fairly standard, such as baby shower invitations. But the most fun was when the client had absolutely no idea. Then I got to pick based on what I thought they would like and while I wasn’t always on the mark, it gave me such a thrill when I was. I loved being able to take someone’s vision and interpret it the way they wanted it to look.

  The one I was currently working on was an engagement party and the bride-to-be hadn’t yet picked any wedding colors, so I had been given free rein. Very unusual for brides. They typically knew exactly what they wanted to a fault.

  I was playing with different color combinations, thoroughly enjoying myself, when my cell phone rang. It was sitting on the table in front of me and I saw it was Cathy.

  I picked it up and answered. “Holding down the fort?”

  “Of course, of course. It’s been fairly quiet around here as expected.”

  “Good. I’m sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee in the glorious sunshine.”

  “That’s better than Ohio snow,” she laughed. “I’m jealous!”

  “Trust me, you should be.”

  Cathy laughed again before saying, “The reason I called…”

  “Let me guess,” I interrupted. “You heard Brian got married and wanted to let me know before I came back.” I was a little surprised that saying the words didn’t hurt as much as they had last night. The initial shock was wearing off.

  Cathy gasped. She clearly hadn’t been calling for that reason and I felt bad for blurting it out like that, but we did live in a small town so I was surprised she hadn’t heard the news already.

  “Oh, Sterling, I’m so sorry! Are you OK?”

  “I’m the one who should be sorry. I guess I assumed everyone knew. I didn’t mean to spring it on you like that. But yes, I’m fine and honestly Cathy, I’m not just saying that. I’m really fine. It’s his life to do with what he wants.”

  There was a pause. “I’m proud of you then,” she finally said. “I would have killed the bastard or at least had him beat up or something.”

  Now it was my turn to laugh.

  “Don’t you think the thought hadn’t run through my mind? I just decided he’s not worth the jail time.”

  “Anyways, the reason I called was we have a slight problem with the Abbott project,” Cathy said.

  “What happened?” I said, not surprised at all with the way things had been going with this particular client.

  “The blue on the place cards wasn’t the blue the customer wanted. It looks too green next to her flower arrangements.”

  “Didn’t we mention that when she showed us the color samples for her entire place setting?” While in my short time in business most of my clients had been a joy to work with, Julie Abbott had definitely been a pain right from the start. She was very set on what she wanted and wouldn’t listen to us, or anyone else, about potential issues that were just going to detract from the whole picture of what she envisioned.

  “Yes, we did and she didn’t believe us. Now that the place cards have arrived, she blames us and wants us to fix it. At our expense, of course.”

  ”Because we should have tried harder to convince her those colors wouldn’t work,” she added.

  ”Of course,” I said dryly. This was one of the more challenging aspects of being a business owner. I didn’t want to lose a client by not going the extra mile, nor did I want us to be taken advantage of. It wasn’t always a clear decision on what to do.

  “So what should we do?” Cathy asked.

  “Go ahead and re-order them. You know she’s got a big mouth and that will work to our advantage if we go the extra step for her.”

  “And work against us if we don’t,” she added.

  “Exactly.”

  “You do realize we’re going to have to pay extra to rush ship it.”

  “I know but it’s s
till the best course of action, I think.”

  “OK. I agree with you, I just didn’t want to make assumptions that cost so much money without talking to you first.”

  “Call anytime. Work doesn’t seem like work when you’re looking at the ocean.”

  She laughed. “How is your vacation?”

  “It’s great. I’m so glad I decided to come. It’s definitely what I needed.”

  And it was, in spite of the luggage mishaps and run-ins with the police which I didn’t tell her about. I didn’t feel like getting in to all that. I just wanted to focus on the positive.

  “Good! Keep enjoying it and I’ll try not to bother you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Thanks, Cathy.”

  It was nice to have people you could trust.

  Since I already had the phone in my hand, I decided to try calling the kids again. Joanna answered on the second ring.

  “Hi, Mama,” she said. She had never changed from mama to mom or mother as she got older and it melted my heart every time.

  “Hey baby, how are you and Jaime?”

  “It’s a blast here. Thanks again for understanding about us not coming home for Christmas.”

  “About that, Joanna. Did you two not come home because of your dad getting married?” I said, seeing no reason to tiptoe around the issue.

  There was a long pause and I knew I had my answer. I just needed to wait for her to say it.

  “Joanna?”

  “Yes,” she finally said. “I know it was wrong not to tell you the real reason, but we didn’t know how. Jaime and I told Dad if he didn’t tell you about the wedding, we weren’t coming. We thought he owed you an explanation.”

  I shook my head, pissed at Brian and the fact he didn’t seem to care at all that his kids weren’t at his wedding. How could he exclude them from his new family? As much as I didn’t like him right now, this wasn’t like him. He loved those kids. Didn’t he realize his behavior was pushing them away?

  “Joanna, it’s OK. Your father doesn’t owe me any explanations. We’re divorced, he has the right to move on without telling me.”

  “But Mom how can you say that? After all those years he does owe it to you to not be blindsided by some random person inadvertently telling you the news. We live in a small town. Do you know she’s pregnant? Who told you? I hate to think of you finding out this way, I should have told you.” Joanna fired off questions.