She turned and nearly ran into Alex. Again. “I have to pack.”
“Kendall.” The snap in his voice slowed her down long enough to look at him. She expected some kind of judgment or anger. He just looked worried. “What do you need from me?”
“I need to go,” she repeated. “I… I’ll call you.” She would. Once she knew what she was dealing with and could think straight.
Alex looked at her for a long moment and finally nodded. “Okay, sweetheart. Like I said—whatever you need.” He walked to her nightstand and scrawled a number there. “I’ll be home the day the ship docks. If you need me before then, call anyways.”
“Okay,” she whispered, already knowing she wouldn’t.
Another of those long looks, as if he could already see her wavering on the future of them. “Talk to me, Kendall. I know this shit isn’t about me, but you don’t have to shoulder the burden alone.”
Kendall didn’t share burdens. It wasn’t how she operated. She had to focus on her sister and the crisis requiring her presence, not the man standing in front of her. She stripped quickly out of his clothing and dressed in the first pair of shorts and top she found. “I don’t know what I’m walking into, Alex. I just know my brother-in-law is in the hospital, and that it’s serious or I wouldn’t have had a call while I was on this trip. My little sister isn’t even living in Oregon right now, so the fact that she is the one calling me in speaks volumes.”
“I understand that.” A hint of frustration slid into his tone, and she resented the hell out of it.
She shoved the rest of her clothes into her suitcase, not bothering to fold them. “What if it’s a prolonged illness? What if I have to stay there for weeks and eat up the rest of my vacation time? I don’t get more until the new year.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you saying?”
She didn’t know. She couldn’t think. “I’m saying that I can’t make promises to you, and it’s not fair to ask you to wait for me. Nine months before I can see you again? Or nine months where you’re the one who has to fly to me? This is the first vacation you’ve taken in years. You’re not going to leave your beloved bar more than absolutely necessary, and we both know this is hardly necessary.”
“So when you say you’ll call me, what you’re really saying is not to wait by the phone because this shit isn’t going to happen.”
“I really don’t want to do this now.”
He didn’t move. “We don’t dock for another twenty minutes. You can’t do fuck all until then.”
Maybe not, but it would still feel good to move. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave it like this.”
“Maybe not, but you’re sure as shit doing it.” He took a slow step back. “It’s fine, Kendall. I hear you loud and clear. Good luck with your family. I truly hope your brother-in-law is okay.” He picked up his clothing that she’d discarded and walked out the door of her cabin, letting it close softly behind him.
Kendall couldn’t breathe past the pounding of her heart. Every atom in her body wanted to chase Alex down and beg him to understand where she was coming from. She was worried and scared and didn’t know what kind of situation she would walk into when she got back to Oregon. She wasn’t in the same position to make promises the same way she had been last night.
She forcibly put the thought of Alex from her mind. He didn’t need her. Her sister did. In the end, that was what it came down to.
She tried to knock on her friends’ cabin doors, but either they were sleeping too hard or none of them were in their rooms. Another time, that thought would make her happy, the realization that they were all enjoying their vacation despite the setbacks. Now all she felt was frustration that she didn’t know where to find them. Kendall scrawled out a quick note explaining what had happened and where she’d gone and pushed it under Grace’s door.
Then there was nothing else to do, Kendall headed for the manager’s office to figure out how she’d get on a flight out of Nassau to Oregon. Once she was there, she’d figure out her next steps. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
Kendall desperately hoped it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
* * *
It took Kendall two days to get to Oregon. She ended up stuck in the Dallas airport and then flown into Portland and had to rent a car to drive up the coast to where Ruby Creek was nestled. Through it all, the only information Marley gave her was that it was bad and to hurry.