“Thanks, but I don’t really want to talk about it. It’s just that I never was allowed to make my own decisions. My mom and Grant’s mom planned the entire wedding. I didn’t have a say in anything, not even my wedding dress. The one I wanted wasn’t expensive enough and my mother said it made me look fat. So she picked the dress she liked and I just agreed to it. I didn’t care and I didn’t have any fight in me. Going against my parents was a losing battle.”
“And now?” he asked.
“I guess you could say I snapped.” I gave a small smile. “I don’t know who I am, Drew. Every time I look in a mirror, I see a total stranger staring back at me.”
“So you’re going to Hawaii. Why?” He cocked his head.
“I needed to escape and what better place than Hawaii. I’m starting my life over and, little by little, I’m going to find out who Jillian Bell really is.”
The corners of his mouth curved upwards. “Good for you.”
“Thanks. It’s really liberating.”
“So what about your parents and Grant?”
“Who knows and who cares? I don’t think he even loved me anyway. He was a cheater and a liar. Hell, his bachelor party was last weekend in Vegas and he slept with two strippers at the same time.” I looked down.
“Ouch. What a dick. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m not. I’m feeling really tired from that whole turbulence experience. I’m going to try and get some sleep. So, would you wake me if I’m still sleeping when the plane lands?” I bit down on my bottom lip.
“Of course I will, and if you need my shoulder to lie on, it’s available.”
“Thanks, but the window is fine.”
I propped the pillow against the window and laid my head down against it.
Chapter Five
Drew
Wow, her story really hit a spot in my heart and I felt sorry for her. I could feel her pain as she talked about leaving her fiancé at the altar, and her parents, shit, I couldn’t imagine growing up like that. Just as we were about to land, Jillian opened her eyes and looked around.
“We’ll be landing in a couple of minutes. I can’t believe I’m landing in Hawaii in the dark.” I smirked.
“You had to have known when you booked the flight,” she spoke.
“This wasn’t my original flight. My other flight was delayed due to mechanical issues and then it got cancelled. This is the flight they put me on. I was supposed to arrive around three thirty pm, not nine fifty pm.”
“This was the only flight that had first class available when I booked it.”
“And when did you book this flight?” I asked.
“Two weeks ago. It was a backup, just in case. And as you can see, the just in case happened.”
When the plane arrived at the gate, I took Jillian’s carry-on bag from the overhead and handed it to her. After grabbing mine, I took a step back and let her out first.
“I’m going to use the bathroom before I head to baggage claim.”
“Oh. Okay. I can wait for you,” she spoke.
“You go ahead.”
I didn’t know how to say it. This shouldn’t have been so hard and I didn’t understand why it was. Maybe because we shared a connection on the plane. Who the hell knew.
“Actually, my girlfriend is meeting me. She flew in this morning.”
****
Jillian
Awkward moment. Was I surprised? No. I didn’t expect a man like him to be single and I never asked him why he was flying to Hawaii alone. I didn’t know what to say.
“That’s great.” My lips gave way to the smile that I had perfected. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. Thank you, Drew, for making my shitty day a little less shitty. It was nice to meet you.”
His lips formed a small smile as he held out his hand to me.
“It was nice to meet you too, Jillian. I hope everything works out for you and you find yourself.”
“Thank you.” I lightly shook his hand.
As I walked away, Drew called my name.
“Jillian?”
I turned around and took one last look at him.
“Do me a favor. Please be careful while you’re here. No matter where you go, there are always some crazy people around.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” I gave him a small wave and headed to baggage claim.
There was a part of me that was sad about saying goodbye to Drew Westbrook. He was the first nice person I’d met on my self-discovery journey. Talking to him for most of the day made me feel good. For the first time in my life, I felt happy inside. When I arrived at the baggage claim area, I saw a nice-looking gentleman holding up a sign with my name on it.
“That’s me.” I smiled.
“Ah, welcome to Hawaii, Miss Bell. I’m Kaleo, and it’s my pleasure to drive you to your hotel.”
“Nice to meet you, Kaleo.”
“Your luggage will be coming out right over here.”
As we were waiting for the luggage to be unloaded, I happened to glance over and saw Drew hugging a tall, blonde-haired woman. A lump formed in the back of my throat and I quickly looked away. I just wanted to get the hell out of here and to the hotel so I could climb into bed and sleep my troubles away. Finally, I saw my luggage come around and Kaleo picked it up and led me to the sedan that was parked right outside the doors. I had no choice but to pass by Drew and his girlfriend, so I kept my eyes looking straight ahead and pretended not to see them.
When Kaleo pulled up to the Kahala Hotel & Resort, he removed my bags from the trunk and the bellhop in front of the hotel grabbed them.