I brought it closer to him, so he could examine it. Tentatively, he stood and I remained close because I wasn’t sure how stable he was in his recovery.
"Just a little trinket I picked up in Thailand."
“Thailand," he said as his hands stroked the board. "I hear it's beautiful there."
"It is."
With his attention focused on the board, I glanced over to the door, hoping that Jess was going to come back out.
When I thought back on that week, I had with Jess four years ago, there were parts of me that wondered if I was embellishing the memory, making it even more magical than it had been. Had I really seen her sitting at the pool with thick red locks tied up on top of her head, her strong curvaceous athletic body sprawled out on the lounge chair, and immediately was drawn to her? It hadn't just been the sexy body and beautiful face because there was an ocean of those around the pool on the cruise. In my memory, there had been something else that had made me go and sit with her, and then spend the next twenty-four hours on the lookout for her, before she and I made the decision to spend the entire trip together.
But in these few minutes of seeing her again, whatever it was that had drawn me to her, wasn't just in my memory. It was real. And just like four years ago when I couldn't put it aside, I needed to pursue it again.
2
Jess
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
I made a fast escape from the terrace to the gym in Alex's home. It couldn't be possible that the Carter Alex had talked about, was the Carter I'd met on the cruise. What were the odds? Apparently very high, because, holy smokes, he was here. He was my client's son.
How many times had I wondered about seeing him again? In my fantasies, our reunion was much different than what just happened. In my fantasy, we were like the proverbial two lovers running across the meadow into each other's arms.
This time I wasn’t quite sure if he even recognized me. There was a part of me that I hoped he hadn't, which filled me with guilt, and yet it was probably for the best. I would've never ever forgotten the cruise that I had taken with Carter, even if I lived to be over a hundred years old. But it was more than just the magical memories that I held from that week. I had a constant, daily reminder of Carter every day in my life when I looked into the eyes of my three-year-old son, Tanner. Eyes that were the same gray as Carter's.
I sank down onto the workout bench trying to catch my breath at what was happening. I felt compelled to do something, but I didn’t know what it was I should do. What I really wanted to do was to pack up my things and go home. Of course, I'd have to come back here because Alex was my client. I could find him a new physical therapist, but I needed this job, and it would be wrong to leave him in the middle of his rehab. But I could leave now, and then have time to figure out how I was going to deal with the fact that my son's father was my client’s son.
Oh God! Alex was Tanner's grandfather. I pressed my hands over my face, feeling even greater agony. I knew from spending time with Alex and his other sons, that he was so looking forward to being a grandfather as his son Ryan and his wife Kellie were expecting a child. I even remembered being envious that my son wouldn't have a grandfather like Alex, and now he did.
I packed up my bag and started toward the front door.
"Mr. Strong is hoping that you'll stay for lunch," his housekeeper said to me before I could get out of the house.
"I don't want to disturb him with his —"
"You know how much Mr. Strong loves to brag about his sons."
She was right. I'd had several lunches with Alex and his sons, and he had indeed enjoyed bragging about them. If I didn't stay this time, he might notice and think something was up. Darn it.
I put my bag in the coat closet and let the housekeeper know that I would stay.
I headed through the living room back out to the terrace. Taking a deep breath and hoping that Carter didn’t recognize me, I stepped outside. Carter's head looked up at me. His eyes flared with a heat that I recognized, and I knew t
hat he remembered me.
As I approached the table, Carter stood and pulled out the chair next to him for me to sit in. It was a gesture that he did on the cruise, and I remembered thinking what a gentleman he was, and how well his parents had raised him.
"Jess, I’m glad you’re staying for lunch. Look at what Carter brought back from Thailand," Alex said, pointing to a surfboard that was leaning against the terrace wall.
"Thailand?" I said hiding my envy that Carter was such a world traveler. Growing up in the Midwest, the most I’d ever traveled was to the Walmart in the next town until I’d won that cruise. The cruise, along with the birth of my son, made me realize that I needed to seize the day, as it were if I didn’t want to be stuck in my small town. It had taken a lot of work and sacrifice, but last year I succeeded in securing a job in San Diego, and moving here with my son. I hoped that as my son grew up, he'd see my example of how hard work could lead him to achieving his goals.
"Carter here, is our very own Indiana Jones," Alex said.
Carter's cheeks blushed and he looked down, shaking his head. "Not quite. I've never been almost rolled over by a giant ball. Mostly I travel for the company," he said to me.
The company was the family shoe business that his grandmother had started from her kitchen table, and now they were expanding their brand outside of the United States into Europe and other parts of the world.
"Plus, Indiana Jones was an expert in archaeology, whereas you are an expert in finance, aren't you Carter?"