ChapterFour
Beth was grateful that she had a couple of days to settle in before her big Valentine’s Day escapade. She spent the first day getting her bearings and looking around the resort; finding out everything it had to offer. She chuckled to herself when she saw that one of the excursions they provided was the opportunity to swim with dolphins. She was definitely going to cross that off her bucket list whilst she had the chance.
In fact, the list of things to do was impressive. She certainly wasn’t going to be bored. There was plenty to occupy her days as well as her nights and she planned to visit Iniquity at the first opportunity to familiarize herself with the club.
And when Ansley said, ‘all inclusive’, she really did mean all inclusive. Beth had recently discovered that one of the exclusive benefits of being housed in the penthouse suite meant things like the beauty salon and hairdressers, which would normally attract the kind of charges she couldn’t afford, were complimentary. And boy, did she intend to make the most of them.
Jasmine, the Spa manager, and lead beautician couldn’t do enough to help her. The service was impeccable, regardless, but the mention of the penthouse suite was like waving a magic wand and suddenly all the stops were pulled out. She was a VIP guest, and it was clear that the fully booked appointments system must have slots saved for such people because she was shown to a plush seat in a boutique style lounge area and a flute of Champagne was brought to her on a small silver tray with a napkin.
“What sort of treatments do you think you’d enjoy?” Jasmine asked as she tapped on her tablet.
Beth flexed her tight shoulder muscles which always suffered from being hunched over a computer keyboard all day. “A back and shoulder massage would be nice,” she decided. “Maybe a facial or a manicure. What can you fit me in for?”
“The Spa manager’s fingers flew over the screen. We can fit you in for all of that tomorrow,” she offered, raising her eyes to Beth’s. “Or would you prefer to break the treatments up?”
Beth tried to stop her mouth from hanging open, but she wasn’t sure she succeeded. “All of them?” she repeated.
Jasmine nodded. “Well, I’ve put you down for a mani-pedi, rather than a straight manicure if that’s acceptable. Would you like me to put you in for a hair appointment as well?”
Beth blinked and looked down at the ends of her long dark hair. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had anything done with it. Living in New York and paying New York prices meant she’d just left it to grow because it was easy to manage and didn’t require a lot of upkeep. She usually just got it trimmed when she visited her parents and wasn’t having to pay the city premium. Even with all the options available to her here at the Eden resort, she didn’t want to commit to anything which would make a lot of expensive aftercare necessary.
“An entire day of pampering sounds awesome,” she admitted. “And I’d love to add a hair appointment, but perhaps just a trim and style,” she told Jasmine regretfully. She couldn’t afford the expense of dealing with a particular cut or color growing out, no matter how tempting it was to go for a complete makeover.
The following day, Jasmine administered Beth’s treatments herself.
“Oh my goodness! That feels so good,” she groaned as the therapist manipulated her shoulder muscles.
“You hold a lot of tension here,” Jasmine told her as she continued with a firm hand.
Beth grunted in agreement. “My job.”
“Not just your job, I think,” the other girl observed. “Or you would have lost some of this strain over the past couple of days on the island. How about I book you in for another session just before you leave, to make sure you’re not knotting up again?”
“That sounds heavenly,” Beth agreed. She could almost feel the tension seeping out of her while Jasmine worked her magic, but the girl’s words made her realize she was right. It wasn’t just the physical act of sitting at a computer all day. It was the whole challenging friction of the environment where she worked, with probably a bit of her own current dissatisfaction thrown in.
“So, what’s it like working in a place like this?” she asked.
It surely must be quite difficult, being away from your friends and family for weeks at a time, Beth thought to herself. Sure, it looked good on the surface, but dig a little deeper and it was probably just as challenging as her own mundane nine to five.
“It’s awesome!” Jasmine told her and the enthusiasm in her voice said more about the truth of her statement than the words. “My old job, I worked long hours for not much more than minimum wage and I was expected to do overtime at the drop of a hat.” She shook her head and pursed her lips like she was remembering something vaguely unpleasant. “I mean that sort of thing is supposed to be voluntary, right? But let me tell you, us girls learned pretty darn quickly that if you said no, you got thrown all the lousy jobs with all the bitchy customers until you made up for it.” Her sour expression was replaced by a blinding, genuine smile. “Here they put the employee’s first. The management committee knows they need us to run this place smoothly, right down to the gofers. They know it takes a special person to move out here and live on site, away from our families, and they reward us with a great package to compensate for it. This is the best job I’ve ever had, and believe me, I’ve had a few.”
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t so bad under the surface, but the distance involved…
“Doesn’t it get to you? Not being able to do normal things like go to the grocery store, or see your family?
Jasmine shrugged. “Not really. What’s so great about buying groceries anyway? We get everything we could possibly want here, and all of it sourced for us, even if it comes from several different suppliers.”
She changed angles and started rotating her thumbs down the length of Beth’s spine. “And once you get used to the schedule, it’s almost better than a regular job. We work three weeks on and one off, and during our week off we get free flights to the closest airport to our home. I can tell you now, I actually see more of my family now than I did before because going home is kind of like an event, whereas before it was just a snatched few minutes here and there. I never really appreciated that before I came here.”
Beth chuckled. Well, that response had caught her out. Now that she really thought about it, it had been far too long since she’d taken the time to actually visit either her parents or her siblings. Who was she to talk about keeping in touch? What did she do with her free time except veg out in front of the TV with a bag of chips? Still, she pushed a bit further, trying to find the drawbacks.
“Doesn’t it get boring though, being tied to one place?”
“Lord no!” Jasmine exclaimed. The island is a beautiful place to hang out, but you can still stay in and watch television if you prefer.”
Really? Did the woman just read her mind?
“But believe me, you won’t want to. There’s so much to do here and employees have access to all the entertainments that are laid on for the guests. I do so much more here than I ever did back home. Music festivals, concerts, boat trips, water sports. What’s not to love?”