One Way Ticket

by Tricia O'Malley

  “Correct. I figured why bother separating them and having them sneak around when they can just stay in the same cottage and enjoy themselves?”

  “You are entirely too cheerful about this. I take it Horatio didn’t share your enthusiasm?”

  “Let’s just say he looked less than pleased with his cabin buddies.”

  “Trouble in paradise already? This should be interesting.” A wide grin split Jack’s face and Paige laughed again. Turning, she caught an unreadable look that Mariposa sent them before the bartender bent her head to mix more drinks for a few people who had stopped by the bar.

  CeCe’s raucous laugh reverberated through the main hall, and Paige decided to cross to the bar to run interference. But when she got there, she found Whit detailing the best areas to go snorkeling and CeCe advising a guest about how to keep looking fresh in the humidity. Okay, so maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all, Paige thought.

  “I’ll take that rum punch now,” Paige said.

  “Let me make you a normal one,” Mariposa whispered from the side of her mouth.

  Bending closer, Paige looked at her in confusion.

  “What’s an abnormal one?” Paige asked in hushed tones.

  “For the guests, I put four extra shots in. Trust me. It works wonders.”

  Paige’s eyebrows rose as she realized that all of the tiki cups were gone and that many of the guests had disappeared to their cottages. Hoping the extra alcohol would knock them out for the afternoon, she took another deep breath and accepted the mug Mariposa offered her.

  “I made it extra light. Just enough to take the edge off, but you’ll be fine for work.”

  “Have I mentioned that you’re a goddess?”

  “Nope. But keep doing so. I accept all forms of flattery.”

  With that, Mariposa went back to mix a drink for another guest, chattering more than Paige had ever seen her talk before.

  Feeling at ease for the first time in days, Paige took a sip of her rum punch and steadied herself. So far, the worst of her fears had been alleviated and nothing major had gone wrong. If she could just keep a tight hold of the reins, she might be able to get through the next three weeks with a modicum of ease.

  Err…or not. Paige quickly set her drink down as Horatio stormed across the reception hall, Lily trailing behind him. In his hand was the Welcome Folder she’d given to each guest.

  “Paige!” Horatio barked and everyone quickly quieted as he approached, brandishing the folder in the air.

  “Yes, Horatio? Is there something that I can help you with?” Paige kept her tone light and even, as though she was soothing a rattlesnake that looked ready to bite.

  “I don’t know who wrote this schedule, but it’s absolutely wrong.”

  “I wrote the schedule, Horatio.” Whit and CeCe both managed to cover their looks of displeasure at a public confrontation. “What seems to be the issue?”

  “There’s no sunrise meditation tomorrow. You know I always like to do a sunrise meditation,” Horatio insisted.

  “Yeah, Paige. Horatio needs his spiritual time. How could you cut that out?” Lily said, her hand on a hip and head tilted in accusation.

  What Paige knew was that Horatio loved telling people about his sunrise meditations. However, unless he had a class scheduled at sunrise, Horatio was never out of bed before eight in the morning. She’d been the one to pull him from his room each morning and shove whatever herbal concoction he insisted upon for breakfast down his throat. The likelihood of Horatio actually arising for a sunrise meditation after a night of cocktails was slim to none.

  “As you can see if you look through the rest of the schedule, we’ve listed sunrise meditations for alternating mornings depending on the prior day’s schedules. Due to the stressful nature of travel, we’ve kept tomorrow’s sunrise meditation off the schedule to allow our guests to have a full night’s sleep and an easy wake-up. As you’ve said yourself, sleep is the healthiest thing we can do for our chakra alignment.” Paige smiled brightly at Horatio.

  “I think our clients will expect a meditation,” Horatio said, pushing his bottom lip out stubbornly.

  “Certainly. There’s no problem with you leading a meditation in the morning. We’ll make sure the space is cleared for you. You’re welcome to lead your meditations whenever you like.”

  “I…” Horatio’s mouth worked as he realized she’d very neatly trapped him into leading the classes instead of having one of the staff do it. Now, he had nothing to complain about and he would have to be the one up at the butt crack of dawn.

  “Isn’t that great, baby? We can see the sun rise over the ocean and the waves crashing in the background will be perfect to center ourselves.” Lily wrapped her arm through Horatio’s.

  “Right, of course. Be sure to let the others know that I’ll be leading at least tomorrow’s meditation.”

  “That sounds like a grand way to wake up,” Whit said. He moved over and offered Horatio his hand. The men shook and did a weird little size-each-other-up thing where they looked each other up and down and pumped their hands a little too long. “I’m Whit, and one of the owners of Tranquila. You’ll have a smashing time at the beach in the morning. It’s such a lovely spot.”

  “Of course, I am sure it will be.”

  “And who is this gorgeous lady you have with you?” Whit’s smile widened and Lily simpered at Horatio’s side. Dropping his arm, she stepped forward like a bachelorette accepting a rose and extended her hand.

  “I’m Lily, and I help run Yoga Soulone’s studio.” Lily quickly darted a smug look at Paige. Ah, her replacement then, Paige thought and almost laughed out loud. Lily could barely remember to get to class on time, let alone manage a studio.

  “That sounds like an interesting job. You’ll have to tell me all about it,” Whit said, and drew Lily’s hand to his lips for a kiss. Lily actually blushed and did a funny little curtsy motion, while Horatio’s face flushed red.

  Paige hadn’t even thought about what would happen when Horatio and Whit’s massive egos were pitted against each other, and now she reached back blindly for her drink.

  And here she thought everything was running smoothly…

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mariposa had been correct. Paige didn’t see a single guest again until they all staggered back in for the welcome reception that evening. Paige had taken the time that afternoon to review her schedule, as well as touch base with the other staff such as housekeeping. Feeling confident that everything was in order, all Paige could do was take a few deep breaths and wait for Horatio’s next hissy fit. Which, knowing him, would be delivered whenever he next had an audience.

  “Seltzer with lime?” Mariposa asked. For once, CeCe and Whit were not at the bar, and Paige briefly wondered if they’d decided to abstain for the night. “I’ll put it in a tumbler so it looks like a gin and tonic.”

  “Perfect. I think it’s best to keep my head about me with this group.”

  “You’re going to have a problem with Horatio and Whit.”

  Surprised that Mariposa had picked up on that, Paige raised an eyebrow at her.

  “You know Whit better than I do. Why do you say that?”

  “Two Alpha dogs in the same room. It never goes well.”

  “I mean…would you really call either of these men Alphas?” Paige squinched up her nose as she thought about it, and Mariposa chuckled.

  “Not by my terms. But by theirs, that’s for sure.”

  Paige’s eyes were drawn to where Jack had walked into the reception hall, his easy stride full of confidence, his muscles rippling under the Hawaiian-style shirt he’d put on for the occasion. If anyone was an Alpha…it was him.

  “I’m wondering what I ever saw in Horatio.”

  “I was going to bring that up to you…” Mariposa smiled, her eyes also tracking Jack’s movements. “But I didn’t want to insult you.”

  “Can he be, like, my freebie? I mean, we all make mistakes in our dating lives, r
ight?” Paige groused, propping her chin on her hand on the bar.

  “My mistake cost me my freedom. But also gave me my biggest gift.”

  “Your daughter?”

  “Yes. I’m tied to this island now, because she needs our extended family. And I wouldn’t go back. I love my daughter even though my life is hard. It’s worth it whenever I see her smile.”

  It was the most Mariposa had shared with her, and Paige warmed to the bartender. It seemed that now the guests had arrived there was a subtle shift in the us versus them mentality. Paige was part of the team now.

  “I hope to meet her someday.”

  “She’ll talk your ear off. Never stops. But she’ll ask you a million questions about the States. It’s a dream of hers to go one day.”

  “I hope you get to go. It’s funny though – everyone from the States wants to come to places like this. I suppose we always want what’s unfamiliar to us.”

  “Head’s up.” Mariposa nodded to the reception hall. Paige turned to see the guests had started to stream in with the bar in their sights. Paige straightened, slipped from the bar stool, and smiled as the guests approached. CeCe and Whit materialized as if by magic, having changed into evening cocktail attire, and both with wide smiles on their faces. CeCe reached for her martini and Paige blinked. How had Mariposa even concocted CeCe’s drink that fast?

  “Darlings!” CeCe waved to the group, “Please…join us for the happiest hour of the day. Well, every hour is happy at Tranquila Inn, isn’t it? I trust you’ve all recovered from your travel?” CeCe gave a little shiver, like travel was for the commoners. “You’ll want to refresh yourselves with some of our rum punch, I’m sure? If not, the lovely Mariposa will be happy to make you something else.”

  The lovely Mariposa barely hid her eye roll before she bent her head and began to fill the tiki mugs full of rum punch. It made sense, Paige realized, to create an easy batch order of drinks when there was one bartender and thirty or more guests. The men immediately converged around CeCe and Mariposa while Whit had drawn Lily, Nadia, and a few of the other women into what seemed to be a deep conversation on what was the best textile to use for yoga mats. Oh, he was good, Paige decided.

  “Paige.”

  “Hello, Horatio. Did you find the accommodations to your taste?” Paige turned to where Horatio stood, dressed in another weird shirt tunic and loose flowing white pants. She wondered if the tunics were a new thing and based on the fact that Nadia was wearing a similar tunic, albeit without pants, Paige could surmise where the influence had come from.

  “Yes, they are fine. I think you need to make it clear that we are running this retreat,” Horatio said, his eyes narrowing as he shot a disgusted look at the group of women hovering around Whit. “Isn’t it your job to make sure that everyone understands who is in charge?”

  “I’m sorry…by we did you mean…?” Paige tilted her head up at Horatio in question.

  “You and I, of course.”

  “As was outlined in the brochure that Yoga Soulone received…Tranquila Inn has packaged the retreat and put together the structure and schedule, while Yoga Soulone provides the teachers for the classes.” The brochure that you refused to look at, Paige silently added. The only thing Horatio had actually cared about was the fact that his portion of the trip would be complimentary if he was able to fulfill a certain number of paid guest slots.

  “Right, fine. So that means you and I are running this. Just like old times.” Horatio gave her a heavy-lidded look and Paige was startled to realize that he was…hitting on her? Did he not recall what had just happened between them?

  “Is it just like old times?” Paige asked lightly. “Because this feels different to me somehow. Hmm.” Paige tapped her finger against her mouth. “Let’s see. Oh, that’s right. I’m in charge here and you’ll just be teaching the classes I’ve assigned to you. Actually, perhaps you are right. I did everything at Yoga Soulone, too, while you only taught. How’s business running since I left?”

  Horatio’s face darkened, and Paige forced herself to take a deep breath. She really needed to check her impulse to mouth off to him because she’d promised Jack that she would keep Horatio happy on this trip. They weren’t even that far into day one, and she was already poking the bear.

  “And who is this handsome gentleman?” CeCe breezed up and hooked her arm through Horatio’s, smiling up at him as though he was the second coming of Jesus. Horatio immediately bloomed under her smile.

  “I’m Horatio. The owner of Yoga Soulone.”

  “That makes sense. I could just tell you had that aura of power about you. Not all men have that, you know. It’s just this essence…do you understand what I mean? Oh…” CeCe looked around. “Where’s your cocktail? Here, let’s get you one.” CeCe artfully pulled Horatio to the end of the bar to discuss his essence in more depth.

  Well, now. She’s a damn master, Paige thought with more than a hint of awe. Jack had been right when he’d said that CeCe and Whit would be a hit with the guests.

  Four hours later and Paige was checking the time, wondering when the guests planned to get to bed. Particularly Horatio as he had his sunrise meditation to lead in the morning. Instead, the party had devolved from a simple welcome reception with a tasty dinner to a full-on dance party. Someone had cranked the music up, and now CeCe was swaying arm-in-arm with a couple, while Whit…

  Paige looked around. Whit had disappeared, and so had Lily. Her heart dropped to her stomach as she realized what a catastrophic nightmare this could be if Horatio realized that Lily was canoodling with Whit and had a meltdown. Not to mention what CeCe was capable of pulling off, but considering she was rocking gently back and forth in the arms of a couple who seemed equally as enthralled…make that schnockered…as she was, Paige pushed that particular worry aside – her brain could only handle so much. She retreated to the bar to take stock for a moment where she found the men of the group all trying to one-up each other with their stories for Mariposa.

  “And then…this guy tried to rob the convenience store. When I was right there. Can you even believe it?” Stan, who was five foot nine and rail thin, looked disgruntled as though this wayward criminal should have taken one look at him and run for the door.

  “I’m shocked,” Mariposa said, sliding his tip across the bar and into her tip jar. “He should’ve known better when he saw you.”

  “That’s what I’m saying!” Stan slapped the bar with his open palm.

  “Did I tell you about the time I broke up a bar fight with a biker gang?” Hal, another guest who was only marginally more well-built than Stan, leaned across the bar.

  “Oh, wow! That must have been soooooo scary,” Mariposa purred as she slid him another drink and accepted his tip.

  “Nah, you just gotta know what to do. You gotta go low.” Hal crouched like he was a defensive lineman.

  “Are you sure about that? Isn’t that just giving them access to smashing a beer bottle down on your head?” Stan asked and the two men began to argue the logistics of breaking up a bar fight. Mariposa smiled and, catching Paige’s eye, she moved away from the men to the far corner of the bar where Paige stood and surveyed the situation.

  “You’re good at that,” Paige observed.

  “Just a little ego stroking. Everyone loves it – men and women alike. That dress really brings out your eyes.” Mariposa nodded to Paige’s dress.

  “Oh, you think? Thanks…” Paige stopped before she preened for Mariposa. “Okay, point taken.”

  “No harm in complimenting people, hun. It makes them feel good and nobody gives me trouble.”

  “Speaking of trouble…” Paige leaned closer and lowered her voice, “I think Whit’s disappeared with a guest. I’m not sure what to do.”

  “You don’t do anything.” Mariposa’s dark eyes flitted to Paige’s and held for a long look. “You hear me? You do nothing.”

  “But…what if CeCe flips out?”

  “She won’t. She only will if you call
attention to it. You do nothing. If you don’t listen to anything else I ever say to you…listen to this. Do. Not. Say. Anything. Understand?”

  “But…” Paige looked back at the dance party. “What if…”

  “This is not your hill to die on. You don’t fight this battle. This is not your problem. None of your business. I’m not sure of any other way to say it to you.”

  “And if a guest gets mad?”

  “That’s not your problem. Your only problem is going to be making sure that Horatio doesn’t have a fit because he looks like he’s on the verge of a man-sized tantrum. That’s the one you gotta be dealing with. Do not go to CeCe. Never go to CeCe with this.”

  “I get it…I just…” Paige realized it just felt shitty to cover up someone’s cheating. Particularly when she’d just been on the receiving end of such treatment.

  “They have…” Mariposa glanced back as one of the men called to her. “There’s an understanding. CeCe and Whit are not your problem. Your man Horatio is the problem you gotta handle. Got it?”

  “Loud and clear.” It might not sit well with Paige, but Mariposa seemed to have an excellent read on things. And the woman wasn’t wrong – was this the hill Paige wanted to die on? It was almost midnight and all of the guests were three sheets to the wind. The only thing she’d manage to do at this point would be to create a mess. Sighing, she glanced back at Mariposa before picking up the drink the bartender had slid to her. Mariposa met her look and then slid a finger across her throat in a cutting motion.

  “I got it,” Paige mouthed, widening her eyes and throwing a hand in the air. Cool it with the threats, lady.

  Turning, her mouth fell open as she saw Horatio had taken his shirt off and was in a handstand with a circle of women around him. Some of the women shot glances at their partners who were currently fawning all over Mariposa. The women escalated their volume, likely hoping to catch the attention of the men, but all it did was serve to add fuel to Horatio’s antics. Striding across the reception hall, intending to stop Horatio before he slipped and busted his head open, Paige drew up short when Jack stepped in front of her.