California Bored and Tourism Read Online Free PDF Page A

tours all the time.
How would you know where you would find faith?”
    “Faith, I don’t do tours. I own California
Scenic Tours. I have fifty-five tour guides that work for me and
total, a seventy-four-person operation. Every once in a while, if
we’re short handed, I pitch in. I usually give the specialty tours to Jason. Business has been booming. When your friend Kendra
called and was so persuasive on the phone, I couldn’t turn her
down. She emailed me the names of all the people who would be on
the tour, and I saw your name. At first, I thought it was a wild
coincidence so I called Tia to joke with her about it. She didn’t
think it was funny. She told me this was my sign and I should
personally do the tour. It was either this tour or a VIP tour to
some ambassador’s kid.” He smiled.
    “That explains the Jaguar .” She
laughed.
    “I am financially able to take care of
myself.”
    “Indeed. Well thank you for making this a
very memorable vacation.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    She moved closer to him and gave him a
hug.
    “Well, my reality is beckoning.” She smiled.
“Have to pack. Leaving tomorrow.”
    “I’ve been thinking about that. How would
you like to extend your vacation?”
    “I have to start looking for another
job.”
    “You could be a tour guide.” He smiled. “God
knows you’ve read everything there is to know about California. I
think you would be good at it…but on one condition.”
    “And what’s that?”
    “I’ll only employ you part time. You should
go to cooking school. I have a friend who is teacher at a cooking
school. He said he’s sure he could get you in.”
    Without thinking too hard, she replied, “I
would need a place to stay.”
    “I have a guest cottage next to my house.
Total privacy. Also, I have a huge kitchen in the main house so you
can do your culinary homework assignments there.”
    She continued to ask more questions, but
Nick seemed to have a good answer for all of them. After last
night’s spiritual voyage, a new awareness opened within her, and
she could see Nick’s determination on being her guide. Not to guide
her around California. He was meant to guide her to the next phase
of her life. She sighed, “Don’t you think it’s all too much and so
fast?”
    “It may seem that way but life goes by even
faster. Five years ago, I thought my wife and I would be having
adventures and a ton of kids. Didn’t see the cancer coming.”
    Faith gripped his hand. Nick’s pain was very
apparent, but he seemed to somehow be at peace with it all. She
couldn’t see how he’d be able to care for, let alone love, someone
again. Maybe his offer was some sort of goodwill mission on his
part?
    He covered her hand with his. “I will always
love her, but I wouldn’t open up to you and be hung up on my late
wife at the same time. I wouldn’t do that to you, Faith.”
    Tears welled in Faith’s eyes. “You have to
forgive me. I think I was born a skeptic. I have never taken a leap
of ‘faith’ in my life.” She laughed. “Ironic, huh? Coming from a
woman named Faith.”
    “I think you are just trying to find your
way, and I think I am supposed to be in your life to catch you when
you’re courageous enough to take that leap, Faith.”
    Faith smiled. “And what do you get for
putting me up, helping me get into cooking school, and giving me a
job?”
    “I’m hoping, one day, you will cook for me?”
he said sweetly.
    Faith didn’t know if it was the hope in his
eyes or the softness of the words, but she knew what he meant.
    “If I’m going to be a chef, I’m going to
need a lot of practice. Who knows? You may even get three squares a
day.” She smiled.
     
*THE END*

About the Author
     
    Rhonda Laurel is a
contemporary romance writer whose two great loves are writing and
landscape photography. She uses both as a vehicle to convey the
complexity of the human spirit and the beauty of the world around
her. The author is happily building her