Jessie opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. She had no idea how to answer her. She couldn’t tell them what had happened. They’d be horrified. She couldn’t mention the note. They’d want to read it, and it was too…intense…for cousins. Feeling her cheeks heat as she thought about what to say, she suddenly remembered what the woman downstairs had said. “The person at the front desk told me he’d mentioned an emergency…or something.” She looked between her friends. “I just, I don’t know what that means, and I need…” Swallowing a knot in her throat, she murmured, “I really need to see him.”
Harmony nodded as she patted Jessie on the back. “Of course. We’ll go home, make sure he’s okay.” She looked over at April as she got off her bed and came over to sit on Jessie’s other side. Returning her eyes to Jessie, Harmony asked, “Can we eat first? Maybe do a run or two?”
Feeling even worse, Jessie shook her head. “I know I’m spoiling the weekend, but I’d really like to leave as soon as possible. He’s only a half hour or so ahead of us, and he has to get a taxi to his place from wherever the shuttle drops off at. We could get there at the same time…if we left now.” Her voice shaky, she looked between her friends. “I just really want to make sure he’s okay.” And that he wasn’t making arrangements for a flight back home.
Harmony gave her an encouraging smile. “Hey, it’s okay. He would have woken you up if it had been anything really serious. Maybe it was just a work thing?” She shrugged after her attempt to lighten Jessie’s worry, and if Jessie hadn’t known the truth about Kai’s dilemma, she might have been relieved by Harmon’s suggestion. As it was, she could only nod as Harmony got to work shoving things into her bag.
April slung an arm around Jessie’s shoulders, and Jessie leaned into her, grateful. It was the first time in a long time that April had been anything other than snarky with her. “She’s right, you know. Kai would have told you if it were a family emergency.” She shrugged in an adorable way. “I mean, that would affect both of you, right? He’d want you to know.” She smiled like what she’d just said was a positive thing. Jessie wanted to cry again.
Seeing the despair on her face, April squeezed her tighter. “Hey, I’m sorry about throwing a fit over the rooms. Threatening to leave...giving you no other choice but to stay with him. That was kind of petty. I was just…hurt, I guess.” She leaned her head on Jessie’s shoulder while Jessie sniffled. “Harmony and I talked a lot last night, and she’s right…I was being bitchy about the whole thing.” Glancing up at Jessie, she gave her a small smile. “It’s not like I haven’t called you worse.” April winked at her and Jessie managed a small laugh.
With a sad sigh, Jessie thought of everything that had happened between her and April recently, and all of it was because Jessie had tried to place April between herself and Kai. Truly a bad idea. All she had done was added jealousy into the relationship with her cousin, and strained the relationship with her friend. And the worst part was, she couldn’t explain any of that to April. “I am so sorry I went off on you.” Blushing, she added, “I know it’s a poor excuse, but it really was more about him than you.”
April put her hand over Jessie’s and squeezed. “Yeah, the girl in his past that he can’t let go of. I know, he told me.” Jessie felt a tightness around her heart. That girl was her, but April didn’t know that. April’s face brightened as she sat up straighter on the bed. “Hey, maybe that’s it! Maybe it’s the girl? Maybe she realized what an idiot she was being, called him, and begged him to come back. Maybe he fled in the middle of the night to run to her.” She let out a romantic sigh and shook her head. “I bet by tonight, he’s on a plane back to Hawaii, where she’ll be waiting for him at the airport. Then they’ll kiss, an orchestra will play, and everyone will live happily ever after.”
Jessie closed her eyes. April had just unknowingly played out her greatest fantasy, but it wasn’t reality. No, in the real situation, Kai wasn’t running to Hawaii to get the girl, he was running to Hawaii to get away from the girl. Away from her. He could very well be on a plane by tonight, heading home…alone. No orchestra would be waiting for him and there would be no happily ever after with the woman he loved. Not in this fairy tale.
Harmony paused in packing her bag to smirk at April. “Well, aren’t you the closet romantic?” Grabbing a pair of pants, she chucked them at April. “Now pack up, I’m not doing it for you…again.” Harmony pursed her lips while April stuck out her tongue.
What felt like an eternity later, the girls were all piled in Harmony’s car, ready to leave their getaway spot. Harmony let out a sad sigh as she cast longing glances at the lodge in her rearview mirror. Jessie felt guilt resurface, but she just couldn’t sit around and try to have fun for a few hours while Kai slipped farther and farther away. She didn’t blame him for planning on leaving, for going back home. She just couldn’t stomach the thought of him leaving her without saying goodbye.