Page 10 of To Have and To Hold

“Linnel, wait, let’s go outside for a second. I need to talk to you.”

“What? You want to talk now about what, Vye?” Linnel stared at his wife, hard.

“Watch your tone with me, Linnel, or you will be on the couch in the hotel room tonight.” Mrs. Hunt narrowed her eyes at her husband. Colin sensed something passed between them without Mrs. Hunt saying a word. It seems his sense was correct, as Mr. Hunt nodded, glared unhappily at Colin, then followed his wife.

He turned to look at Coco in surprise.

“What just happened?”

“You are witnessing a couple that have been together for thirty years and truly love each other that they can communicate with just a look.” She smiled and continued. “I hope to have that one day with my husband.” Her eyes shining, then dimming when she took in his expression, remembering that she’d just agreed to marry him without being in love with him.

“Coco—”

Her watch beeped and she glanced down.

“Oh good, Jackie has my mother’s suitcase from the airport and is on her way back.”

“Oh goody.” He said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He’d been glad when he came back from getting breakfast, coffee, and tea for Mrs. Hunt and found out the reason that they’d come to the office early looking for Coco before checking into their hotel was because one of Mrs. Hunts suitcases had not come off the conveyer belt. Jackie brought them here to see Coco while she returned to go and find out what happened to it, but all was forgotten when they came upon Colin and Coco in her office.

“What is your beef with Jackie?” Coco bristled in defence of her best friend.

“Nothing. You need to ask her what her beef with me and Abbott is.”

Coco raised her eyebrows. “What happened when I left high school to go be with my grandmother?”

“Nothing as far as I know; she had a couple of choice words for me, and I didn’t deny it. She tried to make my life a living hell but then stopped abruptly and then she would just glare at me instead until we graduated.”

“Hmmm, surprised she didn’t dig a hole for you to fall into.” Coco grinned, then tilted her head in question. “What do you mean by beef with Abbott?”

He shrugged. “I happened upon them one day in the hallway, with her in the process of pushing him away. She glanced up and saw me, then walked away in a hurry with her books. Abbott stepped to follow her, and I called him to see what was going on. I asked about it and he said it was nothing. He claimed he was trying to find out how you were doing and your grandmother.”

Colin moved toward her. “How is your grandmother doing now?”

Coco’s face softened at the mention of her grandmother. “She is doing well now; the scare we had was that she wasn’t taking care of herself and her insulin and almost lost her foot and sight. It finally made her realize that her diabetes was serious. She has changed her diet and now runs the sunup walking club for seniors and they keep each other accountable and check in on each other every day that way.”

“Good. I was glad to hear she’d been doing better and was out of the hospital when you left during the school year to go and see her.”

She now looked at him with a dawning expression on her face and he froze. “It was you that sent those flowers every day to the hospital for my grandmother.”

She continued, her face now etched with surprise. “My grandmother was a beloved teacher in Barbados; we just thought it was someone from her parish or past student. But it was you and you remembered that she loved Caesalpinia pulcherrima and then had it planted in her garden when she returned home.”

“That was you?” Her father said, also sounding surprised as he re-entered the boardroom.

“Yes.”

“Why?” Linnel looked at him suspiciously.

He could only shrug. “Seemed the right thing to do, knowing how important Coco’s grandmother meant to her.”

“Oh really, especially after breaking Coco’s heart the way you did.” Linnel scoffed in disbelief.

Colin clenched his jaw because he would have to go into why he broke up with her. It had been a serious decision for himself at the time, but he didn’t want to go into it now nor in front of her parents. He already was a deficit in their eyes right now.

“Well, okay, I can see you don’t want to talk about it right now and we can revisit the breakup later.” Vye glanced down at her watch. “We have to get checked in and also grab lunch with friends in town before attending the welcome party for Keith with Coco.”

“Who is Keith?” Colin questioned stiffly.

“The new High Commissioner from Barbados. We are attending his welcome party tonight.” Vye explained.

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