Page 60 of Out of Office
Anita and her fiancé had known each other from Sunday school back in the day. If life circumstances had overpowered their relationship, what hope was there? No, no, no, Genevieve, focus on the present.
Maybe I needed to resurrect Hot Girl Gen. She made things happen, she went for what she wanted and left no prisoners. My life was richer due to her efforts.
Where had she been these past months? Hot Girl had deserted me the moment shit got real, just when I needed her dearly.
Adrián squeezed my hand, and I gave him a stilted grin, my cheeks feeling unnatural around the gesture. SOS, Hot Girl Gen!
“What’s up, y’all,” Arjun said.
“Hola! So is everyone ready for this cruise?” Anita grinned and we all followed.
“Yo, I see the appeal of these dinners!” Anibal said as we all chatted. The buffet had some okay options, and some wins enough for me to be satisfied after dinner. Now we were all relaxing, watching the houses of the rich and famous as we commandeered a comfortable area with plush leather seats surrounding the rear of the boat.
The Florida breeze was kind to us, cooler than usual for a summer night.
“Yeah, that conga line during dessert time was epic,” Adrián said straight-faced. And we busted out laughing.
I gasped. “Take it back!” I cuddled into him as we all dissolved in giggles.
“Damn, what’s wrong with them? I love a good conga line.” Anita chuckled. “And did y’all see Anibal? All the older ladies were dying to pull him to do the electric slide.”
“I’m not inviting y’all to anything ever again,” Gino scoffed in between chuckles.
I was dying of laughter, my stomach hurting from all the jokes flying between us. The conversation flowed as we all discussed different topics. Here was another proof of the things I had put on the back burner for my career. This type of camaraderie was something sorely lacking in my life. My lunch and dinner dates with Gino were fantastic, but this? Having a group of friends and the actual time to be with them was a luxury that felt difficult to achieve with all the work I had in front of me. Even now, the mountain of emails I had left unread mocked me, reminding me of the extra hours I would have to surrender this week.
But I had no logical answer for my dilemma, no brilliant idea besides having another conversation with Ricard, and the odds of that going any different settled like acrid dread in my stomach. Attempting to keep the emails in the back of my mind, instead I focused on my travel tips. Maybe that would resurrect that trifling girl who had abandoned me to real life, and real-life problems.
Pulling out my phone, I took a picture of the horizon as the sun disappeared into the darkness.
“You’re gonna post that on your social media? You should put one of the captions from your journal that you showed me last night. That topic of planning a staycation during the weekend? I thought that was brilliant. I love that you’re leaning into your girl travel vibe,” Adrián whispered in my ear.
“Really? I thought you didn’t like social media?”
“For me, but for you...it’s lovely, you light up when you do it.”
Oh, be still my heart. My man was the perfect cheerleader. My man. A thrill bubbled up from my stomach, lodging into my chest and filling me with the joy I had been searching for all day. His ability to make me look at the bright side was astonishing. I grinned at him, cupping his cheek, raspy with his growth, leaning into and getting lost in the luxuriantly soft lips of my man.
“Who lights up? What are y’all whispering about? No secrets!” Gino said, and I flushed, attempting to rear back from Adrián, but he didn’t allow me to pull back until he was good and done with the leisurely kiss that stirred things down between my legs, and deep in my chest. He finally let me go, pulling my bottom lip with him as if he never wanted the kiss to end. I sighed after our lips parted, and wondered how much longer this boat would keep us here.
“Genevieve has been doing a travel journal, and I’m encouraging her to post online as well,” Adrián said, much more composed than I was. My cheeks were hot to the touch, and I pulled out my fan to reduce some of the heat gathering around me.
“Those posts you made during your last trip to the islands were unique, and did you see that? Black Travel Chronicles shared it on their account!” Anita pointed out, and I grinned shyly as everyone gassed me up.
“I know the owner of the publication. She went to school with me at FIU,” Anibal shared.
“What? I didn’t know that?” I exclaimed, an odd excitement rushing through me. I wasn’t shy to share that what the owner had done with her publication had become a main point of admiration for me. What a creative way to marry your passion for travel and business acumen. I’d been sleuthing a bit wondering how I could find a way to partner with her and her team for some opportunities, but I was still conceptualizing.
“Do it,” Adrián whispered in my ear, so in harmony with my train of thought, it was eerie. The warmth of his woodsy scent, so close to me had me fanning faster, to keep my temperature regulated to acceptable socializing levels. I turned a mischievous gaze at Adrián, then tried to change it to an admonishing one when he slid his hand down my waist, past my hips and close to my ass, but he just smirked and winked. Oh, he knew what he was doing. He tapped my behind and nodded toward Anibal. “Go ahead,” he urged.
“Anibal, I’d love to connect with them. I have ideas on what we could do for Villa Bonita and the Tropics hotels in Central America and the Caribbean. Maybe some feature of special events in those destinations. An intimate wedding in Villa Bonita. We could get an influencer couple to get married there...”
“Oh.” Adrián’s surprised murmur reached my ears, and I turned to watch him. What did he think I had in mind? I searched his surprised expression, but he shook his head, shrugging then gifting me that beautiful smile of his.
“Thank you,” he mouthed, and I realized he hadn’t expected me to think of Villa Bonita, but how could I not—Villa Bonita was the place of my heart; one of the concepts I had was an intimate tropical wedding, and Villa Bonita shining in the background of a couple saying their vows...
A cold chill raced through my veins as the couple materialized with faces. Adrián and me saying I do in the place where we fell in love. My unease, my dissatisfaction with a judge of the peace marrying us... I wanted more than a court procedure. I want time to explore with him after our wedding, I didn’t want to be worried about emails piling up in my inbox, and disappointing anyone. I didn’t want the tension gathered in my shoulders every Sunday afternoon when I realized it was time to go to the office Monday morning. But more than anything I wanted to go back to Colón with Adrián and say I do. Hot Girl Gen had spoken, and I wasn’t ready for what she had to say. None of the things she wanted made sense in my current reality.
We couldn’t travel.