Page 27 of Grand Escape

Tiki torches lined the edge of the patio, and the stone tables were surrounded by ornate iron chairs. From the sky, the yellow cushions on the chairs looked like jellybeans. I knew because I’d seen an aerial image a while back.

It was upscale, the kind of place my parents would have liked, but since this hotel was my home, I dug it. The food was outstanding—sometimes we got samples—and it was okay to relax once in a while, right?

Adam squeezed my hand. “Hey, where’d you go?”

I hadn’t even realized we’d entered the hotel entrance to the restaurant.

“I’m here. Sorry. Daydreaming, I guess.”

“All good thoughts, I hope,” he said with another squeeze of my hand.

Adam had been such a mess of contradictions since we’d met, I couldn’t wrap my head around him. The swing in his emotions since arriving was a twisty, upside-down roller coaster.

“Stern for two,” he told Martine, the hostess.

She smiled at him, and I watched her eyes while she drank in his features, much like I had when we first met.

It was only when she caught me standing next to him that she focused on her job. Martine split her time between Eye of the Sea and the pool hut, so we knew each other well.

“Hey, Mart,” I said.

Her smile slipped a tiny bit, but she recovered quickly. “Hey, Ry. I have your table ready. Right this way.”

It wasn’t a big secret—a lot of girls on the island wanted to catch a tourist. But I wasn’t one of them. Meeting someone had never been my goal, so seeing me with a guest was probably shocking to everyone.

Martine led us to a table for two on the far edge of the outdoor balcony. “The best table we have,” she said to Adam.

He nodded. “Just like I asked for. Thank you.”

I hurried to my chair before Martine had time to pull it out for me. It was clear she wasn’t having any part of my being on this romantic dinner for two. That would be taking things too far.

“Thank you,” I said to Adam. “This is beautiful.”

“No, thank you. You get to see this beauty every day. I’m actually becoming a little jealous.”

Andre, another guy I knew from the pool hut, brought waters and fresh-baked bread with a honey-butter dip.

Then Natalie, our server, brought a bottle of wine, which Adam had preordered.

Seeming embarrassed, he said, “I realized after I ordered the wine that it was silly. You’re the one with more knowledge behind the bar. But I wanted to make this a night off for you, so I went ahead with ordering it anyway.”

“It’s perfect,” I said, and it was. A sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, it was crisp and citrusy. “It will go well with fish.”

Adam nodded, then raised his glass. “To fish, and you having a night off. And, of course, meeting you.”

He had this impeccable timing and an ability to take a potentially awkward moment and make it silly and light.

We drank wine and gazed at the horizon until Adam’s focus came back to me.

“So, Florida. Ever seen the snow?”

“Ha. Yes, my parents took me to New York City one time for Christmas, and it snowed for days. We were stuck in the penthouse of a luxury hotel for a day and a half because my mom didn’t have the right snow boot.”

“Really?” he asked, an eyebrow lifted.

“My mom is particular.”

When he didn’t press, I said, “Also, I’ve been skiing a few times with friends when I was younger. We went to Jackson Hole and Aspen. Except, that’s the kind of white pretty snow and blue skies. Guys ski shirtless.”

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