voice trailed off, rambling and hyper frenetic.
“Wait… This dude’s one of those high rollers? Girl, you may have just hit the jackpot.”
“It wouldn’t mean shit if he wasn’t a good guy, and he is, Jen… So, so good, from what I can tell. But then again I only met him last night, so watch him turn out to be a psycho or some weirdo.”
“Any weird vibes yet?”
“Nothing. He’s really cool, I like him a lot, but I’m worried it was a one night stand.”
“The guy took time to fly you to Big Sur. If it was a one night stand, I’d say he’d have been done with you by the moment you two dirty devils woke up this morning.”
I paused, smiled to myself and felt myself blushing. Maybe she was right. In fact, I was pretty certain of it. “I think you’re right… Anyway, I’ll tell you more later. What time do you get off?” I asked.
“Six. Ugh. Fuck my life.” She groaned. The hoarseness in her voice echoed from her throat. Christ, she must’ve drunk a lot more than she already had after I left.
“Well, don’t work too hard. I’ll see you tonight, unless the billionaire somehow sweeps me off my feet again.”
“Lucky bitch.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Bye now, girlie.” She hung up.
Before I could even set my phone down next to me on the couch, as if on cue it rang. Loudly. Startled, and without even looking at the screen to see who was calling, I answered it, “Hello?”
“Hello beautiful. I just wanted to call, and let you know I’ll be busy for the rest of today, but I’ve got a surprise for you tonight if you’ve got time. I know tomorrow’s a work day, but I think it might be a good idea for you to call out sick the rest of the week. Or be honest, and tell them you’re going to be taking a vacation.”
“A vacation?” I stammered anxiously, my heart thudding putt putt putt thump thump thump in my chest. What was he talking about?
“I own some property on the beach in Hawaii. Have you ever been?”
“No, that’s far.”
“It’s not too bad, really. Just a one stop flight in my own jet .” He sounded cocky. He had every reason to.
“Seriously? Like… What if you don’t like me after getting to know me after a couple days?” I asked.
“Then I’ll ship you back to California.” He laughed.
“And what if I don’t like you?” I bit my lip half teasingly.
“Then I’ll ship myself back and let you stay by your lonesome for a week of free vacation to yourself.”
He sounded serious - unbelievably serious. I knew he was being one hundred percent honest with me, and it made me want to break out into laughter. Chances are I’d still be smitten with him, and if not? A week of vacation to myself in Hawaii. It was a total win-win situation, and I was all in for it.
“Well, that sounds fair to me,” Butterflies hovered in my stomach, “What time should I expect you?”
“Oh, I was going to have my driver pick you up and bring you soon, but I figured you’ll need time to pack. After a couple of Webcam conference calls which should only last a couple of hours, I’ll be over. So, say around five?”
“Five works for me.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Excitement swelled up in my throat and I had to work on my breathing to prevent myself from passing out right then and there. Was I seriously about to take a vacation to Hawaii ?
Turns out, yes, yes I was. By four fifty five I’d packed each and every position I thought I might need for the trip in a single suitcase, and my doorbell rang. I lived in a modest two bedroom apartment on the second floor in the San Fernando Valley, Studio City to be exact – and it was half a block north of Ventura Boulevard below the Hollywood Hills. I wasn’t exactly embarrassed of my location when comparing it to Brad’s Malibu abode, but I wasn’t that proud either, and my roommate wasn’t good for anything when it came to cleaning and keeping picked up.
I opened the door and there stood Brad, still