“No, I suppose I won’t. Still, it’s pretty far. I don’t even know how long it takes you to get down there.”
“About four hours if the wind is good.”
“What about weather?” she asked. “We get afternoon storms sometimes.”
He smiled. “The sailboat still works in the rain.”
“Lightning?” she asked, her mind playing over the possibilities.
“The mast allows the lighting to pass through without harming any of the instruments or the boat. You’d be safe. You have my word,” he added softly. “It’s a nice short trip. The sunset tour you went on was about half the time we would be spending on the water. Although most of that time was spent sitting still in the water so that the guests could enjoy the sunset.” She was quiet for a moment. “Take your time deciding. We have a week and a half before I leave.” He smiled at her. “I’d better…” He motioned to the doors. Several people had come outside in the past few moments, which meant things were winding down. She knew that most crew who worked at the event helped clean up after.
“Yeah, thanks for spending your break with me.” She shoved the rest of her food back into the container. She hadn’t eaten much, but figured that when she got home, she’d probably finish it. Along with the brownie.
“Thankyou,” he said, standing up. “It was a nice break.”
He started to turn and leave, but then stopped. “I hope you do come. On the trip. I think we would have a great time together.”
With that, he turned around and stepped back inside, leaving her on the patio in the cooler spring night.
It was a short walk from the main building to the parking lot. The entire time she drove home, she berated herself and ran through the pros and cons of going on the trip with Damion.
As she let herself into her small apartment, which sat next to the local laundromat in town, she realized that the pros far outweighed the cons. She had to jump. Just had to. If she didn’t, Damion might not ever invite her on another trip with him.
She pulled off her shoes and sat on her sofa to send him a text message.
“I’ve thought about it. Count me in.”
She didn’t have to wait long for his response.
“Cool. I think you’ll have fun. I promise we’ll be safe. We can talk more tomorrow. Night.”
She drifted off to sleep that night dreaming of sailing into the sunset with Damion. How many times had she had the same dream over the past five years? Too many to count.
The following morning, as she sat around a large round table and listened to Elle hold a brief employee meeting, she started having second thoughts.
Why had Damion invited only her? Not that she was complaining, but… why? Over the years, she’d watched him hit on so many women. She knew for a fact that he’d gone on a lot of dates. Far more than the measly two dates she’d gone on in the past year. Both of them ended up in nothing but disappointment.
She knew that he hadn’t been with anyone longer than just a few dates, had heard through the rumor mill that he was a player. But having known him during all this time, she still doubted it.
She’d known players before and had even dated one before and promised herself never again. What if things changed between her and Damion? Would she be prepared to let his friendship go if things turned bad?
What was she thinking? Of course, Damion had only invited her on the trip as a friend. She pushed all other thoughts aside and focused on her work.
Each day, she welcomed new guests and arranged for a welcome committee member to show them to their individual cabins. Sometimes she took them out to the many cabins herself.
There were thirty-eight small cabins now scattered around the massive property, which meant that at any given point there were close to a hundred guests on site.
Each of the unique cabins had distinctive names. Besides the cabins, there was the main building, which housed the welcome center, front desk area, gift shop, main dining hall and ballroom, employee’s offices and dining room, and first aid office on the main floor. The second floor had more than twenty employee housing rooms, little apartments for employees who wanted to rent them out instead of finding housing of their own. The top floor was a private residence where the Wildflowers stayed when they needed to. All of them had other full-time residences, but sometimes if they worked late, they would just head upstairs instead.
Zoey and Dylan had built a home on the edge of the camp’s land. Elle and Liam lived in an actual tree house on the grounds. With her being pregnant, however, they spent more and more time upstairs in the apartment and had plans to build their own home next to Zoey and Dylan’s.
Hannah and Owen owned a huge house just outside Pelican Point.
Scarlett and Levi lived in town in his home, which they were remodeling. Aubrey and Aiden lived in their place on the other edge of the campgrounds. Still, at least one night a week, the five best friends gathered upstairs together.
She’d been invited to a couple of those special nights over the years and had been to each and everyone’s weddings and bridal and baby showers. They had even given her and Dr. Lea Val titles of honorary Wildflower members.
It was so nice working with a group of women she considered close friends. Maybe it was one of the reasons she’d stuck around so long. That and she really loved what she did. She loved greeting the new guests. Showing them the beautiful grounds and all the exciting, adventurous things there were to do on the grounds.