“No.” She caught her up on her journey so far. “I’m about to order an Uber.” She plugged the address to Gage’s work into her GPS and frowned. “Oh, crap.”
“What?”
“I should have gone to the other airport. Why is Texas so big?”
“Isn’t that a saying?”
“Maggie! I’m three hours away from his company!”
“Oh, Perrin. Geography was never your strong suit.”
This trip was costing her a fortune. “I’m such an idiot. I just figured… I don’t know. I live in a town that’s one mile long!”
Maggie laughed. “Well, I better let you go. You need to start moving if you plan to catch him before the workday ends.”
Her eyes widened. That was true. If she missed him, she’d have to spend another night in a hotel, which might happen anyways, because there was no guarantee he’d be happy to see her.
“I’ll text you when I get there.”
“Don’t forget this time!”
Chapter 13
Gage hiked, swam, snorkeled, sunbathed, parasailed, and had done every other excursion on the adventure menu. Nothing distracted his thoughts from Perrin, so he fell back on the one tried-and-true trusted cure for heartbreak—booze.
He told himself, and anyone who asked, that he was on a divorce-moon, a term everyone seemed familiar with except him. It served the purpose of excusing his gloomy mood without question. But the truth was, despite the death of his marriage, he was mourning the loss of someone else.
He and the other gang of divorce-mooners—there were roughly six of them—drowned their sorrows at the bar. The women were handling it better than the men, each one appearing free and on some sort of self-discovery renaissance. The men were divided, half looking for company while the other half wondered how they’d each managed to marry the devil in female form. Gage wasn’t sure where he fit in, but he liked this tequila.
“Ya just gotta say fug it, my man. Ya know?”
Gage squinted through his good eye at the man to his right. He was either shrinking or melting out of his stool. Maybe they both were. The good thing about exclusive resorts was that no one judged them for being shit-faced at ten a.m.
He drank so much over the past week, he was starting to wake up intoxicated. He was going to need a vacation for his liver when he got home.
“Hey!” his friend cheered. “I’m gonna do you a favor and introduce you to my friend Jenna.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
“Nonsense!” He smacked Gage on the back with a meaty hand and waved his chubby arm. The loud Hawaiian pattern of his shirt hurt Gage’s eyes. “Hey, Jenna, come meet Garry!”
Gage looked around. Was he Garry? “I’m Gage.”
“Who?”
“Gage,” he yelled over the Caribbean music.
“I dunno any Gage. Garry, this is Jenna. Whoops! Almost fell down.”
Gage gave up and shook her hand. “How do you do? I’m Garry.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Jenna.” She winked and whispered, “It’s actually Tiffany.”
He laughed.
It wasn’t long before their Hawaiian shirted friend stumbled over to a lounge chair and passed out. Tiffany turned out to be wonderful company. She was a family therapist, celebrating the last payment of her college loans. As soon as Gage discovered her profession, he found himself divulging his deepest secrets.
“So, what do I do?” he asked, plying Tiffany with another shot of tequila. He’d paid the bartender to leave the bottle.
“What does your heart tell you?”
“No, I want your professional advice. I’ll pay you.”
She laughed. “You don’t have to pay me. And it’s my professional opinion that you already have the answer you’re looking for. You just have to trust your heart.”
He cursed. “You think I should go back to Jasper Falls?”
She shrugged. “Do you want to see her again?”
“I want her to want to see me again.”
“Well, you’ll have to talk to her about how she feels.”
Could there be a more frightening prospect? How had his feelings for Perrin become so intense in such a short time?
“Do you think it’s possible to fall in love at first sight?”
“No. But I do think it’s possible to find an instant connection with someone on one date, especially when that date includes flying across the country and deeper conversation in one evening than some couples ever have in one lifetime.”
“She was on drugs.”
“It was an anti-anxiety medication, Gage. The worst she’d suffer is slight confusion and some lack of muscle control. Cut yourself some slack.”
“Pardon me, Mr. King,” the bartender appeared. “You have a phone call at the front desk.”
He frowned. Only his assistant would call him here, and even then, she was only supposed to call in an absolute emergency. “Excuse me.”
He left Tiffany and crossed the courtyard to the lobby. The concierge directed him to a private office. “Line four, sir. Take your time.”
“Hello?”
“Gage?”
He frowned at the scratchy voice on the other end. “Who is this?”
“It’s Perrin.”
His spine stiffened. “Perrin? What’s wrong? How did you know where to find me?”