Love's Retreat(9)

When the presentation was complete and they were set free to work with partners, Nora led Jess to a far corner. “You didn’t come in at breakfast.” It wasn’t an accusation but a request for information.

Jess blushed, then turned bright red when Nora chuckled.

“You too?” she asked excitedly. Jess nodded. Nora took her friend’s hands. “Who was it? Was he amazing? Ryan was really, really amazing! I didn’t think I would be able to get out of bed, I was so exhausted,” she leaned in close, “and a little sore.” Nora leaned back and laughed. “It was all so unexpected. We ran into each other on the path last night and he asked me out to dinner. We hit it off and everything just fell into place.”

Jess nodded, thrilled for her friend. “Alex said you two would get along well.”

“He knew?” She shrugged. “I guess we did talk a lot yesterday morning.” Nora pulled at Jess’s hands. “I thought you were keen on Ryan. I worried that I was stealing your guy.”

“I do like Ryan,” Jess admitted. “He’s very cute. But I didn’t have a thing for him. I’m glad you hit it off.”

“Oh, in a BIG way!” Her smile was dazzling. “But what about you? Wait, you didn’t spend the night with Alex, did you? You did!” Nora was so pleased with herself that Jess had to smile. “But I never would have thought that you and Alex…”

Jess didn’t want to reveal all the details. “I saw that you were…active in our cabin, so I went for a walk. I ran into Alex and we got to talking. One thing led to another, and then led to another.” She blushed again.

“That’s wonderful, but also a bit…” Nora looked away.

“Nora?” Jess got nervous. What did Nora know? What had Ryan told her? Was Alex seeing someone, married, or worse? No, nothing could be worse than his being married. She reached out and shook her friend’s shoulders. “Tell me Nora! Is he married?”

Nora looked confused. “No, nothing like that. Ryan was just talking about him during dinner last night. He said that he wasn’t sure if he should have left Alex alone. That he’d get bored because he’s not the type to socialize with strangers or pick up women. That he wasn’t the type to fool around. I guess he was wrong.”

Jess stared off for a moment. “I guess he was.”

“Now you’ll owe me,” Nora said jovially. “Because this wasn’t a horrid weekend after all and we both had a little fun.”

Was that all it was? A weekend fling? Maybe that was okay for Nora and Ryan, but she didn’t want it to be just some quick sex and “call me sometime”. But what did she want? She hardly knew Alex. All they really had was sex…really great sex.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Jess looked at her watch. “What time do we check out today?”

“I don’t know, after lunch maybe. Why?”

Jess didn’t want to talk with Nora right now. She left the building and walked to her cabin. She was surprised to find the beach stone on her bed. What did it mean? Was it a goodbye gift? Jess felt herself becoming worried and irrational. She went to find Alex.

He was not in his cabin and neither were his things. She ran to the parking lot, breathing normally only when she saw his green car next to hers. She thought about the steam house but couldn’t bring herself to go inside again. She walked up the path they followed the night before. Up near the top she caught sight of Alex taking photos. She paused and took several deep breaths. She didn’t have a clue what she would say to him and was half afraid of what he would say to her. So she stood, saying nothing. Her heart refused to beat normally until he turned and smiled.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t come.” Alex put his camera away.

“It took a while to figure out where you were.” She didn’t move and felt as if they were miles apart. “I even checked your cabin and the parking lot.” She tried to be flippant but sounded like a little child.

“Did you think I’d skipped out?” He hadn’t closed the distance between them.

Jess looked away, uncertain, and nodded.

In an instant he was in front of her. One arm pulled her tight against him. He twined his other hand in her hair and gently tilted her head back. His kiss was passionate. She rose on her toes, pushing her lips more firmly against his, wrapping her arms up his back to hold onto his shoulders. It was several long minutes before she dropped down and hid her face in his chest.

“Why were you so worried? What happened after you left this morning?”

“It was something Nora said about this weekend being a…” Jess could feel tears welling up. “She said that Ryan told her you don’t have weekend flings.” She held him tighter. “When your things weren’t in your cabin I thought you might have decided…” she couldn’t say it.