Resorting to Romance

by Franky A Brown

  “No refunds. Everyone goes out at his or her own risk.” He pointed to the flag above his head. “See the purple flag up there? It indicates hazardous marine life. When it goes up, if you’re out in the water, you are responsible for yourself and any damages to the equipment.”

  “Look, dude, how were we supposed to see the flag when we were out in the ocean battling for our lives?”

  Josie struggled to look at the flag in the sun even with sunglasses and shading her eyes with her hand. “A purple flag is all the warning you give people? You could at least put up a sign to explain what the flag colors mean. It’s irresponsible to assume we already know.”

  “This shark was massive, and he came right at us.” Luke tossed the paddle back in the kayak and discarded his life jacket as well. “You couldn’t use that megaphone?”

  Josie stepped closer to the lifeguard and tapped on the clipboard. “We’re not paying extra.”

  The young man opened his mouth to reply, but she continued, “Luke is right. You could have used this megaphone right at your feet.” She pointed down at it. “People out on the water might actually hear you when you alert the swimmers and kayakers of sharks in the water.”

  “I don’t make the rules, ma’am.” The lifeguard pointed up at the flag again.

  “What is your name?”

  “Lloyd.”

  “Hi, Lloyd, I’m Joselyn. Here’s the thing: flags don’t talk. And if you charge me extra after surviving a shark incident, I’m telling your supervisor that you spend more time on your phone than you do on actually guarding the beach.”

  Lloyd scratched something off on the paper on his board. “I’m so sorry you had a bad experience on our kayak, ma’am. If you like, I can book you a complimentary two hours tomorrow.”

  Luke jumped in. “How about a sailboat?” He turned to Josie. “We’d be higher off the surface if the sharks come back.”

  “There was only one shark.”

  “How are you acting so calm about this? I know you were rattled out there. I was holding you up when you got out of the kayak.”

  She waved his comment away. “You’re exaggerating. And you scream like a girl. A sailboat sounds fun.” Turning back to Lloyd, she asked, “Can we still get a free two hours?”

  “I’ll call the concierge.” Lloyd picked up his phone again and made the arrangements. “Yeah, they went out in a kayak and saw a shark,” he explained over the phone.

  Luke growled. This was way more than a shark sighting. He shook his head and watched Josie rolling her eyes as they listened to Lloyd’s conversation.

  Luke wanted to figure Josie out. Did she really want to go sailing with him? Was she deciding to let bygones be bygones after their experience on the water?

  She’d sounded so together most of the time in the kayak in the tense situation, but she was visibly rattled once she leaned into him onshore. There was no way she’d remained as calm as she was attempting to project.

  In a matter of minutes, they were booked for a two-hour sunset cruise the next day.

  As they walked back to the resort, he couldn’t resist. “I’m surprised you want to go sailing with me.”

  “Who am I to turn down a free boat ride?” She sent him a side glance and kept walking. “I thought we deserved compensation for our kayak adventure not working out so well. There should be enough space that you won’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to.”

  “I do want to talk to you, Josie.” He paused on the wooden steps at the end of the sand. “Do you think we could be friends now?”

  She met his gaze. “Maybe. This was a pretty stressful day, huh?”

  “You were scared, weren’t you?”

  She folded her arms, looking for a moment as if she would deny it, but her tense expression faded quickly. “Yes, I was. Okay? Can we let it go?”

  “Sure. I’d very much like to never hear you talk about my screaming like a girl again. I assure you, nothing else makes me yell like that.”

  “It was more like a shriek. But, okay, how about we don’t mention it again and pretend it was a smooth ride?”

  “I won’t pretend it was smooth sailing, but I will agree not to tell anyone you freaked out.”

  “Deal.”

  Chapter Five

  Joselyn slept in longer than she had in months. She opened the sliding glass door leading to the balcony and let the steady sounds of the roaring ocean fill her room. She showered and dressed in one of her nicer casual dresses for the first day of the conference. Registration began at ten, and Victoria texted all her agents to announce she would be giving a motivational speech at eleven. Joselyn wasn’t looking forward to that at all. Victoria’s speeches were mind-numbingly long.

  Luke had been with them only a matter of months and so much had changed. Joselyn thought she was a little crazy for scheduling a sailboat cruise. With him. It was this evening. Why had she done that? That short time arguing with Lloyd the lifeguard made her so angry, getting the sailboat felt like winning. Luke and Joselyn had never actually spent that much time alone together, and she wasn’t convinced they could get along for that duration.

  Hopefully, he didn’t think she was interested in him. That little burst of attraction surely had more to do with their bonding over a shared, harrowing experience. Hopefully Luke suspected nothing. He was dating Victoria’s daughter and therefore was solidly off-limits. She couldn’t trust him anyway.

  He’d sounded like he was interested in being friends, but she wasn’t sure if that would work. It was excruciating to work with him and watch Victoria handing him clients, then turning around to complain about her sales. Was it too late to get out of the free cruise? She should call it off.

  Don’t be silly. We’re on vacation. I deserve this sailboat.

  Joselyn finished her makeup and headed downstairs to find breakfast. In the hall branching off the lobby, she found a little café.

  “How many?” A girl no more than eighteen lifted a menu from a rack on the wall.

  “One.”

  The girl led Joselyn to a small table with two chairs. A couple walked in behind her, the woman hanging on the man and nuzzling his neck. “We just got married,” the woman told the hostess in a deliriously happy voice.

  Ack. Probably the same couple from the beach ceremony. She may never marry anyone if for no other reason than the thought of another wedding made her queasy.

  Maybe I should order something to go.

  The hostess seated the nauseating newlyweds. Then Luke walked in. Somehow, he seemed to be everywhere lately. He spotted Joselyn, waved at her, then walked straight up to the empty seat in front of her.

  “Want company?”

  Well…having someone to sit in front of her view of the couple would be great.

  “Sure.” She waved to the chair across from her. “Have a seat.”

  He sat down. “I say we go crazy with calories and celebrate being alive.”

  He was watching his calories? That must be how he was staying in such amazing shape.

  “You all right?”

  Joselyn crunched up the paper napkin lying on the table. Her cheeks flushed with warmth, wondering what her face had looked like when she’d been thinking about his shape. She needed to get her thoughts on something else.

  “I was just thinking we should go to an aquarium and see sharks in a peaceful environment.” The words were out before she realized what she’d said. Would he think she was asking him out?

  “You really want to see another shark?”

  She breathed out slowly. He didn’t seem to think anything of what she’d said…besides confusion over why she’d want to see sharks. Good.

  “I find them fascinating. Though, of course, the one we met…he wasn’t a great public relations ambassador.”

  He chuckled as he picked up Joselyn’s forgotten menu from the middle of the table and browsed the options.

  Another young woman walked up, introduced herself as their server, and took their drink ord
ers. Luke asked for waffles, but Joselyn wanted only juice and a blueberry muffin.

  “Is that really all you want?” Luke leaned back in his chair as the server walked back to the kitchen.

  “I’m not very hungry this morning.” Joselyn glanced at the newlyweds, practically sitting on top of each other with how close their chairs were.

  “What do you do in your spare time, Josie?”

  “Spare time…ah, you have some of that?” She smiled, vowing to herself she would slow down her mad work pace when she returned home. “I need to get back into reading for fun instead of contracts and title documents. What do you do for fun?”

  “Lately, I’ve been pouring my spare time into a house I’m flipping. My dad was a contractor and, believe it or not, working on a house is fun to me. It reminds me of him.”

  “Is he gone now?”

  “Yes, Dad died when I was thirteen. I never knew what happened to my mother, but Grandma was always there for me. Then she was all I had after Dad passed.”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to get so personal.”

  “I don’t mind at all.” Their orders arrived, and Luke dug in. Joselyn ate her muffin, eyeing his waffles and sausage. Maybe she was hungrier than she thought.

  “Tell me about your family.”

  He was certainly chatty this morning. It unsettled her that he sounded so interested. “My parents are divorced. Mom lives in Charlotte; Dad lives in Savannah. After they broke up, they both wanted to move out of town. My brother and sister live in Peach Tree City, where we’re all originally from.”

  “That’s not too far. Do they have kids?”

  “No, no…all three of us are single, no kids.” Time to get off this subject. “I didn’t know you were into flipping. Do you have pictures?”

  Luke let her look through photos of the house on his phone and she was impressed. “How much did you do yourself? This is a great design.”

  “I can’t take all the credit for it. I sold a house for an interior designer and she gave me a few tips for this place. I ripped out the floors and laid tile and laminate.” Luke took his phone back and swiped over to a certain photo, then showed it to her. “This is what the front room looked like originally.” He pointed to one of the walls. “I took out this wall.” Swiping to the next photo, he showed her the room was now doubled in size with an open flow from the living room to the kitchen. “Banging out a wall is a great way to deal with stress.”

  “I can imagine. I love how it turned out.”

  “I’m still working on it; this is what the master bathroom looks like right now.”

  He showed her the photo.

  “That’s a beautiful dedication to the 1970s. It’s a bizarre shade of orange.”

  “It sure is. I hope to finish and get it on the market in another month or so.”

  Joselyn nodded. “That’s great. I’ve thought about getting into flipping at some point. But it’s a risky business.”

  “Yes, but a lot of potential for big profits.”

  “You know, in the six months I’ve known you, this has to be the first real conversation we’ve had.”

  “I’ve wanted to talk to you sooner. You never let me explain what happened with your Cloverfield listings.”

  “You sabotaged me. That’s what happened. Both of the clients decided against selling because of how their houses appraised. The appraiser listed them both too low after your rock-bottom sale.” She lifted her wrist and checked her watch. “I need to go before I’m late.”

  “And you still won’t let me explain.”

  What was there to explain? What could he say to make things better? She’d already marched into his office and ranted about it. Why did they need to go into this again?

  “The conference is starting in five minutes.” Joselyn snatched up her purse and walked over to the hostess and handed her some cash. She was pretty sure there was no explanation he could offer that she wanted to listen to.

  Luke followed her and touched her arm.

  “Josie, will you let me talk to you about this later? Please?”

  Joselyn stared at his hand on her arm until he dropped it.

  “Sorry. It really would mean a lot to me if you would listen.”

  Joselyn saw sincerity in his eyes and it tugged at her heart. She sighed heavily. “Okay, I’ll listen. But later, after the classes.”

  “Agreed.” He held out a hand and she shook it firmly. “We’d better go.”

  She disliked his use of the word we, but she walked with Luke down the hall, and they joined the steady stream of people filing past the large Southern Homes sign and into the conference room.

  Outside the doors, tables were set up for registration. She didn’t notice anyone else from the office yet in the lines of agents waiting to sign in. They all received a gift bag filled with pens, notepads, and fliers, then filed into the spacious room with round tables covered in white tablecloths. Luke had been behind her, but when she turned around, he was lost in the crowd.

  That was probably for the best. She could use some space to think clearly. His cologne was far too distracting. What was that guy thinking wearing something like that to a work event?

  “Hey, Joselyn.” Kelly, another agent from their office, tapped her on the shoulder. “Isn’t this place great?”

  “It’s gorgeous.”

  Kelly adjusted her badge and brushed lint from her pink dress. “I went down to the beach early this morning and hardly anyone was out. I heard yesterday they had to close the beach for a while because of shark sightings.”

  “Oh, my, yes. I certainly have a story about that.” She spotted Luke talking to a few of their colleagues, waving his hands telling an animated story. “Looks like Luke is already telling his version.”

  “You went to the beach with Luke?” Kelly blinked. “On purpose?”

  They walked over to where he was with their other colleagues.

  “This thing was probably ten feet long and it barreled right into the kayak, almost flipped us out.”

  “It was probably not more than seven feet long.” Joselyn came up behind him.

  Their fellow Atlanta agents, Randy, Miranda, and Kyle, stared at them both with wide eyes.

  “That must have been so terrifying,” Kelly said. “Where did you see it?”

  Miranda stepped closer to Kelly. “Luke and Joselyn went kayaking together yesterday.”

  Kelly’s mouth fell open, and Joselyn tried not to cringe.

  “Man, I’m staying out of that water.” Randy shook his head.

  Kelly leaned over to whisper in Joselyn’s ear. “What were you doing kayaking with Luke? Thought you couldn’t stand him.”

  “It wasn’t my idea. They scheduled us at the same time.” Because she didn’t want to go alone. “They want guests to go in pairs.” She avoided Kelly’s eyes. “For safety.”

  Luke was watching her. “Josie here is good to have in a sticky situation.”

  Someone announced over a microphone that the program would begin momentarily. Everyone took a seat.

  Joselyn followed Miranda and Kelly to an empty table and Luke joined them. The room was filled with realtors and brokers. A tall, gray-haired man stood at the podium on a small stage in the front, blowing his nose into a tissue. A few people sat in chairs behind him. Victoria sat in one of them with folded arms, making a disgusted face at the poor man wiping his nose. Her black hair was up in a French twist, without a single hint of gray or a hair out of place. She wore large pearls and her usual flashy bracelets. Nearly every finger had a ring on it.

  “Welcome,” the man said in a nasally voice. “Welcome to the annual Southern Homes Real Estate Conference.” He sneezed loudly. “Pardon me, it’s my allergies. Let me introduce our first speaker, Victoria—” Sneezing again, he stepped back as Victoria walked up to the podium and patted him on the shoulder.

  “Why don’t you sit down, Lester. You sound like you could use a rest.”

  Lester gave over the podium
and sat down to sneeze twice more in a row.

  Victoria cringed as she adjusted her bright pink–rimmed glasses. “Heavens, poor Lester, there are far too many flowers in here.”

  She cleared her throat and smoothed down her rose suit. “Hello, everyone. I am Victoria Verratti, head of the Buckhead branch of Southern Homes in Atlanta. It is an honor to speak to you today, to offer some encouragement and motivation.”

  “I have been in this business for over twenty years, and I’ve dealt with all sorts of buyers and sellers. My team consistently pulls out the highest numbers in central Georgia. I have the best agents on my team. My star is over there, Luke Callaway.” She pointed right at him and as the room turned to look at him, he smiled in an awkward sideways fashion. “After only six months with me, his sales are on top. Now that’s a testament to hard work and persistence.”

  Give me a break. How hard is it to earn success from being the boss’s favorite? Joselyn bit her lip, her muscles tightening.

  “Now what is it that makes a good realtor? I’ve compiled a list of seven steps to success, and Luke is the perfect example.”

  Chapter Six

  Luke listened to Victoria’s list while working to avoid eye contact with the agents at his table.

  “Confidence. Buyers need reassurance and you must project confidence.” Victoria held up two fingers. “The second one is persistence. Your ROI depends on it. You must follow up with your clients and be there for them. Never give up.”

  At least she was listing his talents and abilities instead of mentioning Gina.

  “Education. There is always more to learn, and good agents like Luke know the value of staying up on the changing market trends and lender requirements.”

  His colleagues were jotting down notes, focusing on their pads of paper instead of having to look at him. Josie sneered in his direction, and he smiled at her and shrugged. She turned to focus on writing notes of her own.

  Did she think he enjoyed this attention? No, he didn’t want it all pointed out in front of everyone like this, but Luke had a talent for the real estate world, and Josie preferred not-so-subtle jabs about his relationship with Gina.