Page 92 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

“I guess this island does work in mysterious ways,” Andi said, looking at Jarrett and reaching for his hand. “Even for a klutz like me.”

“Best day of my life the fish weren’t biting and you tripped,” Jarrett said.

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WHAT MAKES US HAPPY

“Thank you for fitting me in last minute,” Kylie said. “My friends andme,weflew into Boston a few days ago. We heard about Amore Island and last minute decided to come here and spend Valentine’s Day in the casino. Good thing we got a room for the night with the snow that they are predicting for later.”

“Not a problem,” Andi said. “I’m glad I could accommodate you.”

Jarrett had texted and said he was held up on a case in Boston right now but would be home before dinner. She hoped he made it before the snow. She’d been told being on the water during a storm wasn’t the best thing, but they were calling for the snow later tonight.

“We aren’t used to snow or cold,” Kylie said. “We are from Atlanta.”

They were in the washroom and she was just going to give Kylie a blowout. The young woman said she and her friends wanted to party tonight. Her other two friends managed to snag appointments in the casino salon.

She remembered a time when she could just pick up and do those things. Not have a care in the world of costs or timelines or if anyone recognized her out having a great time and being silly.

It felt like a lifetime ago and yet wasn’t more than two years.

“What brought you here in the winter?” she asked.

“Something to do,” Kylie said. “Weactuallyplanned on the trip to Boston. Angiehad to come here for work and flew in last weekend. She’s done with her conference but rather than fly home yesterday, Taylor and I decided to come to town. It’s the first all three of us were single on Valentine’s Day. This is a girls’ party.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun,” she said. She didn’t even have friends anymore she could call up for a night out. This innocent last minute appointment was depressing her when she hadn’t felt this way in a long time.

“We are getting dressed up and having dinner and then hitting the casino. We figured it’d be better than a nightclub. I could only imagine the type of guys hitting on us tonight if we did that.”

Andi laughed. “I’d say tonight might not be the best night to go out and be single.”

“No,” Kylie said. “I’m just lucky you were available. Maybe that will roll over to my luck in the casino.”

“I had atwo-hourwindow between clients,” she said. “If you hadn’t called the salon when you did, you might not have gotten anyone here.”

“I’m glad it worked out,” Kylie said. “My friends are getting theirs done too and then we’ve got the afternoon before our dinner reservations. We got one of those private rooms.”

Seemed to her this young woman, and maybe her friends, had some money. She knew what those rooms were like.

“That sounds like fun,” she said. “So what do you do in Atlanta? You said your friend Angie was here for a conference.”

“I’m an influencer,” Kylie said. “Well, that is my main source of income. But I workpart timein my father’s law office. He’s pretty flexible with my time but says I have to work now.”

“Parents are like that,” she said.Her father always wanted to know her life plans too and there was a time she just wished she could have blown off being responsible. No more now.

“I know,” Kylie said. “I just don’t know what to do right yet. I turned twenty-one over the summer. I want to get out and enjoy life.”

She rinsed out the conditioner from Kylie's hair and then had her sit up and wrap a towel around it.

The woman was younger than she thought. “We will all be working for a long time,” she said.

“Exactly. You didn’t go to college, right?”

“I went for two years,” she said. “Just for business management in case I decided to open myownsalon. I was doing hairpart timeon the side while I was in school.”

“My father wants me to go to law school. At this point, no way. I did two years too and then dropped out. I’m making more with my sponsors than I would have afour-yeardegree.”

But that wouldn’t always last. Not that Andi would voice that and sound old.

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