[Invitation to Eden 15.0] Return to Sender

by Steena Holmes

  Lauren, his Lauren, stole his breath away in that image. She’d been beautiful six years ago when they were just kids, but now, she was breathtaking. And the moment he’d seen her, all those emotions he’d bottled away came back with a force that left him reeling.

  He’d convinced himself she was married with a family, that she was happy and satisfied, that she’d moved on from him...but she hadn’t. And it was that knowledge—she hadn’t forgotten him—that forced him to move.

  It was Paul’s idea to surprise her with a trip to Eden after Lexi confirmed Lauren was a workaholic who never left the office. He couldn’t believe that. When they’d been together, she had a passion for traveling; it was the main reason she’d left him behind—to do what he couldn’t. Back then, he’d had to stay close to home, close to his ill parents. They’d made a pact to reunite, to meet up and not let what was happening between them fizzle, but that’s exactly what they’d done.

  Well, to be fair, that’s what he’d done.

  The fact they lost touch was all his fault. He’d been the one to get scared. He just hoped he could make it up to her.

  Six years wasn’t a long time, really. But, back then he’d only been a kid. A stupid one who thought his life was about to end after meeting his soul mate. He’d been too young to fall in love. Or so he’d thought.

  He’d made the wrong choice back then, but now he had the opportunity to correct it. And she would forgive him; she had to. At least, he hoped she would. But, there was one thing he’d learned about Lauren: expect the unexpected.

  Chapter Three

  Eden. That hallowed island all covet to visit. And her sister was the one who ended up invited. Her sister. The one who does the most traveling. Lauren picked up another piece of chocolate and popped it in her mouth. The one who gets to experience the lifestyle their clients both crave and demand. Her sister who...probably deserved it. How could she be upset or jealous about that?

  When they started Bella Dia, they’d all agreed upon their own roles. Lauren was the one with the best organizational skills, so it only made sense she stayed in the office and ran the day-to-day schedule. Melanie was the creative and most business-oriented one, so she handled the contracts, the payments, and other stuff that crept up. And Jessica, baby Jessica, was the bubbly one with a thirst for adventure that outdrove Lauren’s own passion. Jess hated being in the office: she was happier to travel, visit the sites, and create relationships with the owners, the clients, and everyone else who ended up loving her and signing with them.

  Their team dynamic made sense, even if Lauren grumbled about it. She’d made the decision to squash that travel bug. She’d had to and her sacrifices had more than made it worth it. Look where their company was now? They regularly ran a profit in the millions, had the cream of the crop when it came to clients and were known as the travel concierge. Exactly what they’d set out to accomplish.

  Lauren stood, invite in hand, and went to place it in Jessica’s inbox on her desk when Melanie stopped her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Leaving it for Jess. Why?”

  Melanie stood. “You have to open it.”

  “No I don’t.”

  “Yes, yes you do.” Melanie came over and grabbed the invite out of her hands. Lauren snatched it back. They played a game of tug-of-war with the invitation until Lauren gave up.

  “You have to open it, Lauren,” Melanie insisted. She shoved the invite into Lauren’s face.

  “I’m not opening Jess’s invite.” She took the paper and set it down in her box and walked away.

  “What if it’s time-sensitive? We’ve both heard the rumors.”

  Lauren stopped and slowly turned. A sick twist in her stomach forced her to head back to Jess’s desk. Rumors were that the invites were for a specific time and date and that was it. No second chances and no re-invites.

  She’d really hate for Jess to miss this chance all because they never opened the invite.

  “Okay, we’ll open it and then send her a text to let her know when she has to be home by, deal?”

  Melanie shrugged. “If she’ll even check her messages, but sure.”

  Lauren reached for her letter opener and carefully slid it along the edge. She didn’t want to destroy the envelope. This was something they’d keep, maybe mount on their wall as proof that not only did Eden exist but that Bella Dia was invited.

  Melanie leaned over her as she slowly slid out the parchment paper inside and read the words imprinted on the page. She had to read them a few more times before she handed it over to Melanie.

  “That says today, right?” She had to have read it wrong. She must have read it wrong. There was no way the elegant and flowy script on that paper said to meet the pilot at their small coastal airport within the hour.

  “Lauren, the plane is leaving in forty-five minutes.” There was a weird look in Melanie’s gaze and Lauren didn’t like it. She’d seen that look far too many times.

  “No. No. You are not going to pretend you’re Jess and go in her place. You can’t.” Lauren snatched the invite out of Melanie’s fingers.

  “They’re never going to know,” Melanie hedged. A sly smile crept along her face and she took a step towards Lauren, who promptly took a step backwards.

  “I’ll know. You’ll know. Jess will know when she gets back. You can’t do it. You just can’t.” She shook her head and clutched the invite tight to her chest.

  Every time one of them attempted to swap places with another, it always ended up in ruins. Always. Although their facial features were similar, their body figures were not. And even though the pilot wouldn’t know who was who—Lauren would know.

  “Well, of course I can’t. I’m too busy here in the office. But you could.”

  Everything in Lauren screeched to a halt at her sister’s words. She could? Of course she couldn’t. She didn’t do that. She never did that. The last time she’d pretended to be Melanie, she’d got caught red-handed by Melanie’s date and felt like a fool. Of course she wouldn’t do it.

  “I’m too busy as well.” Her chin lifted as if to emphasise her words.

  Melanie only laughed at her.

  “Chicken.”

  Lauren’s eyes widened. “Am not.”

  “Are too. You hide behind your desk day in, day out, year after year and barely live your life the way you used to.” Melanie took another step. “You deserve some time away. Relax and enjoy yourself for once. It’s Eden. The one place we’ve always wanted to go...no one will even know you.”

  Lauren shook her head. “I do too live my life,” she protested. She did. She ran a successful company with her sisters and she went for long walks along the beach at night. Okay, so maybe she walked that shoreline alone but still—at least she went. And she volunteered on the weekends when they didn’t have any client emergencies at the local retirement home. She had a life. And was quite happy with it.

  “Neither one of us is going.” Lauren put her foot down.

  “What about the pilot?” Melanie asked.

  “What about him?”

  Melanie reread the invitation. “Says here the pilot will be waiting.”

  “So?”

  “So, we can’t just let them sit there, wondering if Jess will ever show up or not.”

  “Why not?” That’s exactly what Lauren had planned to do. The airport was on the other side of town and she had emails to respond to.

  “Seriously, Lauren? What does that say about Bella Dia? At least go out to the airport and explain the situation. Maybe Jess will get re-invited.” Melanie leaned against Lauren’s desk, folded her arms and stared at her.

  Melanie really expected her to go and do this? Why?

  “I’m a little busy today. Why don’t you go?”

  Melanie grinned. “Sure. I can do that. No promises I’ll come straight back, though. A weekend away on an exotic island sounds like—”

  “Fine,” Lauren interrupted her. “I’ll go.” She caught the satisf
ied gleam in her sister’s eye. “On second thought, we’ll both go.” For some reason, she didn’t trust Melanie and would rather have her by her side than left alone to her own devices. Who knows what she’d do while Lauren was out of the office.

  “Fine by me.” Melanie pulled her car keys out of her pocket, looped them around her finger and headed towards the main door. “If we leave now, we’ll have time to stop for a coffee. The least we can do is buy one for the pilot for his return flight home.”

  Lauren grabbed her purse, turned off her monitor and followed after Melanie. At the door, she stopped and checked to make sure she had the invitation with her before she locked the doors behind them. She had a feeling they wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon.

  #

  A single charter plane sat on the tarmac with its side door open.

  As they drove closer, someone jumped out of the plane and stood there.

  “See, I told you they would be waiting.” Melanie smiled in satisfaction as they pulled up to a stop. Lauren just rolled her eyes. The whole ride out here, Melanie went on and on about how she couldn’t believe someone from Bella Dia actually received an invite and how they shouldn’t pass up the opportunity and Lauren continued to remind her that what she suggested would not happen.

  Would not. End of story.

  “Why don’t you wait here and I’ll take the coffee over and explain everything.” Melanie winked at her from the driver’s seat.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “What?”

  Lauren shook her head, knowing full well Melanie knew exactly what she meant. Her sister would do it. She’d get in that plane and go to the island without any qualms.

  “I’ll go.” She reached for the coffee and pushed open her door.

  “Make sure to take your purse.” Melanie leaned over and grabbed the handle to her bag and held it up. Lauren snatched it, flung it over her shoulder and closed the door. She started across the pavement when Melanie called out to her to come back.

  She lifted her gaze to the sky. Lauren pivoted in her heels and marched back to the car, all as she muttered foul words beneath her breath.

  “What?”

  “You forgot your coffee.” Melanie smiled up at her sweetly.

  Lauren didn’t say a word as her coffee was shoved into her hands. She just turned and walked away, but not before she looked over her shoulder and childishly stuck her tongue out at Melanie.

  She caught the grin and fought to not smile back. As much as her sister annoyed her, she loved her and knew they’d laugh about all this on the way back to the office later.

  Maybe she’d prove her sister wrong about not living her life and suggest they drive into the city for a girl’s night out? Rent a hotel room at the small boutique they both loved, go to dinner at the new French restaurant that recently opened and watch the new sci-fi movie that came out.

  “You must be Ms. Summers.” The pilot walked towards her, a smile on her face, and held out her hand to shake.

  Lauren handed her the coffee instead.

  “I’m one of them, but not the one you’re here for.”

  “Is that right?” The female pilot looked her up and down and then pulled out a photo from her breast pocket and examined it. “I’m pretty sure this is you.” She turned the photo around and Lauren stared back at herself.

  That didn’t make sense. The invitation was for Jessica. Not her.

  “You’re here for Jessica, my younger sister. There’s been a mix-up. We’re—”

  “Triplets. Yep, I know. I’m Joely, your pilot, and we’re on a bit of a schedule, so if you wouldn’t mind hopping on board, we can get going.” Joely turned and held the door to the plane open for her.

  “But I...no, there’s been a mistake.”

  “No, ma’am. The Master doesn’t make mistakes.” Joely took a sip of her coffee. “Now this is good. Thank you for bringing me one. The owner inside,” she pointed to the small office far off in the field, “offered me a cup of what they had, but I swear it was sludge.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “There’s nothing worse than bad coffee.”

  Lauren took a sip of her own and had to agree. When Jess was in the office, she wasn’t allowed near the coffee machine.

  Wait. “The Master?” Was that rumor true as well? Apparently there was this man no one ever saw who ran Eden.

  “The one and only. If you’ve got an issue, he’s the one to talk with. Come on, I’ve got some frozen items in the coolers in the back that will melt if we don’t get up in the air.” Joely held her hand out to help Lauren up into the plane, and without protesting, Lauren got in. It wasn’t until she was inside that she realized what she’d done.

  “Wait, I can’t go. Can’t you just tell him yourself?” She waited until Joely was in the cockpit.

  “Nope. No can do. Don’t worry. I have a trip back to the mainland in a few days, so I can bring you back home.”

  A few days?

  “I can’t wait a few days.” She glanced out the window to Melanie and waved for help. Melanie only waved back and then Lauren watched in horror as her sister turned the car around and drove away.

  “Wait,” she called out. She could hardly hear over the roar of the engines and had to cover her ears to block out the noise. “This can’t be happening,” she yelled.

  Headphones were shoved at her and Joely indicated she was to wear them. Lauren put them on and breathed a sigh of relief when the loudness of the plane dimmed.

  “Can you hear me okay?” Joely’s voice came through the speakers.

  Lauren nodded.

  “You have the wrong sister.” Lauren attempted to make Joely understand but the woman shook her head.

  “Lauren Summer?”

  Lauren nodded.

  “Then I have the right one.”

  “But how...” Lauren tried to process this all the while she watched her sister’s car fade into the distance. How could this be happening to her? It was all a mistake.

  She should have just stuck a return to sender sticker on the invitation and placed it back in the mail. This was ridiculous. She didn’t even have a change of clothing with her.

  “If you’re worried about your clothing, don’t be. Your sister packed a bag for you and it’s in the back.” Joely smiled at her before she taxied down the runway.

  In the back? Her sister? A bag? What? Lauren rubbed her face as she tried to assimilate all of this and then pulled out her phone.

  There was a text from Melanie.

  Relax. I’ve got you covered. Go and enjoy some time away. You deserve it. And yes, this trip is meant for you.

  Lauren’s body shook as the realization of what her sister’s words meant.

  This had been planned. She was going to the island. To Eden. To the paradise she’d always dreamed of. Alone.

  Her heart sped up until it hurt to breathe and she knew she was in the midst of a panic attack. She clutched at the armrests until her fingers turned white.

  “Close your eyes and count to one hundred.” Joely’s soothing voice calmed her and she did as was suggested.

  One. Two. Three areyoufreakingkiddingme. Four. Five. Six ohmygodImgoingtodie. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Twenty thisisnotworkingandImgoingtokillMelanie...

  “Look, we’re up in the air now. Take a deep breath. Your sister didn’t tell me you hated flying.”

  “I don’t.”

  Joely’s laughter was soft. “Could have fooled me.”

  Lauren listened to the woman talk as she told Lauren what to expect on their two-hour flight, how she normally flew from Miami to the island but since they were only a bit north of Miami, this worked just as well. As Joely talked, Lauren calmed until she could stare out the window into the crystal-blue waters below and not freak out.

  She was going to Eden. To the island. Her. Not Jessica. A tiny bubble of excitement welled up inside at the idea. The last time she’d actually gone away for a vacation was...well...six years ago when she toured Europe. She’d kind of
lost her passion after getting her heart broken. For her, in her head and heart, Europe contained the memories of Marc and a love so pure she knew there would never be another. But not only that, it carried the weight of a heart decimated by that love and she’d yet to heal.

  Thankfully, Eden wasn’t Europe.

  Maybe this year she’d be able to put her memories to rest, say goodbye to the past and move forward. Maybe this year she wouldn’t mourn a love lost but celebrate something new.

  Maybe this year would be the start of an annual vacation where she celebrated a lighter heart full of life and happiness.

  Maybe. She just needed to get past this year’s anniversary first. The weight of that thought hurt and a tear trickled down her cheek before she could wipe it away. She rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to do this, not here. She was on her first trip in what seemed like forever, and if Eden was everything she anticipated it to be...she wasn’t going to ruin this experience on the memories of a broken heart.

  Who knows, maybe this trip was the start to healing her heart. Maybe it was time.

  Chapter Four

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Joely said.

  Lauren rolled her neck, slowly, to get the kink out from sleeping on an angle. When she opened her eyes, she gasped, amazed at the view out the window.

  “Pretty awesome, right? It never gets old, trust me.” Joely chuckled while Lauren leaned forward to get a better view.

  Crystal-clear blue waters lapped against the beach shoreline of Eden, the white-capped waves mesmerizing until Lauren’s gaze moved from the exotic beach to the castle more inland.

  “Oh my...”

  “Yep.”

  “Is that...that’s not—” Lauren wished for a pair of binoculars for a better look.

  “A castle? Yep.” Joely’s voice was full with laughter. “In the flesh, so to speak. Beautiful, isn’t it? But that’s not where you’ll be staying.”

  Disappointment clouded Lauren’s gaze for a brief moment until she saw the water bungalows like in the Maldives she routinely booked for clients.