Page 20 of Ms. V's Hot Girl Summer

“I tried to plant some seeds to see if you were paying any attention to what these two boys were doing. They dragged me along in the plan. I said to them, look, your mom is too smart for that. She’s gonna catch on. And then, lo and behold, they’re telling me that you let them use your laptop for your arrangements. They made fake reservations for you and everything. So I said you know what, girl, if you’rethatbusy, you really truly need some time off. So… I kind of let it roll. You know that they’re safe with me.”

“Miranda, this is ridiculous.” My breath quickened at my sprint avoiding the security officers. The doors slid open and the fresh air quieted my thoughts.

“I need to be real with you. We tell each other like it is, and we support each other. The Poconos on a work trip is not a romantic getaway; you deserve better, girl. Just…why don’t you enjoy your time there? And why don’t you let loose for a minute?” Miranda asked.

“Why is everyone thinking I’m not enjoying my time??” I groaned.

“Because you are always a busy, girl. You don’t rest, so you don’t even realize you’re tired. You keep on going and going and going. How many hours of sleep have you been getting lately?”

“Oh, five, that’s enough.” I waved my hand away.

“That is not enough, girl. Look. Why don’t you just stay there for the weekend?” A place to sit would be a lovely reprieve from the drama I’d walked into without paying any attention. The boardwalk brimmed with excited revelers but a few steps ahead an empty wooden bench awaited me.

“I cannot stay this weekend. I need to be at the Poconos.” My exasperation made way to despair. If my own friend helped my twins set me up, what did that say of my control of my own life? And what did that say about my loved ones’ feelings for the man I wanted to get serious with?

“I tried to plant my seeds, but you let yourself be trapped, so deal with it now,” Miranda said, and we ended the call before I cussed her out.

Before I could walk far, a discrete cough stopped me in my tracks.

“Hey, you need a ride?” Luckily, John was still sitting idly outside with a friendly smile.

“I had a feeling something like this was gonna happen.” John grinned and opened the car door.

The cobblestone road merged into the smooth pavement as the mellow tunes in John’s car helped me reset my thoughts. For a few minutes, I took in the stunning views outside the car. The palm trees waiving in the bright blue sky, the shimmering sea moistening the boardwalk’s rocky and rugged edges. The flashing-by resorts and restaurants filled with smiling faces all different beautiful shades of Black.

Ofele might be gorgeous, but I had no intention of staying on this island.

“Okay, I don’t even know where I’m going. I actually need to go back to the airport to see if I can get a flight back. Would you be able to help me to do that?”

“I doubt there will be any flights, darlin’. Everything is booked from here until the end of carnival coming and going. A lot of the locals end up leaving because they want to be able to have, you know, peace and quiet. Some people come for different amounts of days. We don’t usually have a lot of flights to service this area. It’s a very small town.” John shrugged, extending his hand toward the window as we transitioned from the touristy area to the quieter outskirts of Ofele.

“So we usually only have a flight every three days.” John kept going. Clearly, he didn’t need much help from me to. “They’ve added a couple more today so that they could bring more people in and a couple more out, but the ones out are honestly very scarce until Monday when the carnival ends.”

“No, no, no, no, no. I need to be able to get out of here. There must be an airport other than the Ofele?”

“I mean, there’s the Jacksonville airport. It’s about three hours.” John chuckled and stayed on a local road. “If you are okay I won’t get on the highway till you make a final decision. This here road is the older local road and will take us to the airport but the scenic route.”

The search for a flight from Jacksonville to New York didn’t provide a thing but more of a headache. I scrolled through all the booking engines I could think of, while John whistled and drove along the Florida coast, not a worry in the world. Well, good for John. I was about to start evacuating bricks as every possible way to get out of here quickly kept shutting down.

“Again, how are you going to get there? The buses are also all full. And there are no rentals,” John asked, too relaxed for my liking.

“I cannot be stranded in this town. For four days. This cannot be, today was Thursday. I needed to be back. If I made it tomorrow, I could go to the Poconos, with Milton.”

I should have listened to my brain instead of my instinct regarding this weekend, especially about Milton. A quiet dread pointed at the last possible worst scenario: staying in Ofele for the weekend. I texted the twins to see if they had any luck.

Brian: Hey, Mom, no, we’re looking at Jacksonville. It’s not looking good. We don’t see anything. I mean, a lot of the flights just leave on either Sunday or Monday.

Brandon: Mom? Why don’t you enjoy yourself?

Me: Where am I supposed to stay? How can I enjoy myself without a room?

Brandon: Well, there’s somebody there that you know, maybe you can stay with them.

Me: Honey, I don’t know a soul in this town.

Brian: Yes, you do. Orlando is there… Orlando.

NINE

---