Page 54 of His Secret Gift

Then, as he walks away, I swear I see a hint of him giving me a dirty look.

“Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“That look the captain gave me.”

There’s a rag in her hand, and she flicks it in my direction. “That’s just his face. Don’t worry about it.”

It’s so hard to get a good read on that guy.During my interview he was professional but a little lighter than I’ve seen him recently. However, I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t still a pretty attractive older man. If anything, his shadowy and grim demeanor only makes that more apparent.

“I don’t know. I feel like I did something wrong.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Well—” Then, she makes kissy sounds.

“Other than that,” I growl. “And that was forever ago.”

Callie gasps. “That’s right. I forgot all about the note. Did you ever get a response?”

I hang my head and feel my heart sinking into my chest. “No. Nothing.”

“Well, I guess that’s kind of an answer itself, right?”

“I suppose.” Although part of me wonders if he even got it.

She leans over and grabs my hand—causing a squeaking sound as we’re both wearing yellow cleaning gloves. “I’m sorry, Kay.”

“It is what it is. But at least I know.” Oddly, despite not wanting to be rejected in person, I would’ve preferred a note affirming his feelings, or lack thereof, for me. This is just continuing the limbo we were already in.

“So, does that mean we can have fun in Morocco.”

“I suppose so.”

She lets go and claps. “Yay! We’re going to have so much fun.”

“What about Denver?” I gesture out the door with my head. “I feel like he’s just going to be sulking over Maria the whole time.”

“Aagh. Don’t worry about that. Once we get a few drinks in him, he’ll be a dancing maniac.”

I know that’s at least partially true from the time I spent out with him in Fort Lauderdale. He was flailing around like a maniac until he locked eyes with her.

“Speaking of which,” she pulls something out of her bag, which is laying near her. “Here.”

They’re a bag of pills.

“Oh, no, no.” I’m down for a good drink, or two, or five, but I am not interested in drugs of any kind. I go to hand them back to her, but she stops me.

“Relax. They’re liver detox vitamins.”

“Oh.” I look at them again, and they do have the same grainy look of my multivitamins.

“I just thought you might want them. I like to prep my body before a big excursion.”

“Huh.” I’ve never considered taking such a supplement. “Well, thank you.” Now that I know they aren’t going to kill me or give me a heart attack, I accept them with gratitude.

I might not even take them, but it’s nice she was thinking of me.

“Anyway, back to our trip. You need to show me the outfits you brought that will be acceptable.”

---