Page 146 of Ten Years and Then…
“I know.” She was whispering, too, and she had a blissed-out expression he’d never quite seen before on her face. He probably wore the same exact one.
“That massage, her hands, I’ve never felt anything like that. I think she got every single muscle.” Almost. The masseuse had tactfully avoided the most sensitive areas, which he appreciated.
He understood why they had this quiet room as part of the package. Both he and Bianca needed a spa attendant to help them off the massage table and to walk the twenty feet here. This was a perfect way to reacclimate back to normality before whatever Bianca had planned for the rest of the day.
Well, after the brunch buffet with cocktails once they left the quiet room. That was included in the package as well.
“Me, too,” Bianca said. “I’ve had massages before, but this was something else.”
That was a perfect description. He wondered if the spa on the Empress of the Seas two years ago was this nice. And what it would have been like to share an experience like this with Nora.
Even the quiet room couldn’t silence thoughts of her, apparently.
Nora, around the same time
They were in the pool in the basement. It felt sort of like swimming in a cave—a five-star cave with soft, fluffy towels and designer pool chairs.
“Did the swim help any?” Rachel asked. “I know you had a hard time getting to sleep last night.”
Nora appreciated that her aunt put it so gently. “It was really good. I can’t remember the last time I went swimming.”
The last time she’d even been near a swimming pool was two years ago.
On the cruise.
Sitting there on a pool chair with Daniel, saying goodbye to him again.
Well, the swim had helped.
“Nora.” Rachel didn’t need to say anything more. Her aunt knew exactly what she was thinking now.
“I know, Rachel. I’m trying. It’s just—he’s everywhere. And nowhere. And I don’t know what to do about it.”
Rachel slapped the arm of her pool chair. “Well, I do. We’re going to dry off, and go upstairs and get dressed, and I’ll check my messages just in case, and then we’re going to go shopping and we won’t stop until we hit the credit limit on all our cards. If that doesn’t get your mind off of Daniel, I don’t know what will.”
Nora had a zero balance on all three of her credit cards, and a high limit on each of them. Maybe spending several thousand dollars would exorcise thoughts of him, at least for a little while.
Daniel, around noon
Bianca wouldn’t appreciate what he was doing right now, but since she was trying to listen to messages on her cell phone up in her room, she really didn’t have a leg to stand on. What kind of work emergency could she possibly have the day before New Year’s Eve? The UNC Charlotte campus was closed for winter break, none of her employees in the career center were even in the office to call her.
So he was using these few minutes to check email; Daniel had spotted a single computer for guest use tucked away in a dark corner of the lobby when they’d gotten back from the ballet last night.
There were a hundred messages, but only a handful that seemed important.
One was from Kristin Chambers—good old Red—with a subject line of “Help me! This is an emergency!” Her company was being bought out—just like QNS had been nearly three years ago. She was naturally afraid for her job. If she wanted to move to Charlotte, he’d do everything he could to get her on his team, and he was fairly certain Mr. Dellaplane would go along with it.
Another one was from Mr. Dellaplane, titled “Let’s meet when you return.” There was a big opportunity coming open in the near future, according to his boss, and he wanted to discuss it as soon as Daniel was back in the office. That was great news—and if they wanted to promote him, that made it even more likely they’d listen to him if he pushed to hire Red.
The last one was a company-wide announcement, titled “Major strategic acquisition.” Daniel managed to read the first paragraph, talking about Piedmont’s first expansion into the Northeast by purchasing a local networking company, before Bianca waved a hand in front of his face.
“What are you doing? This is a vacation!” She read off the screen. “You don’t have time for major strategic acquisitions.” Bianca chuckled, and took the mouse out of his hand and closed his email out. “Actually, I lied. Major strategic acquisitions is exactly the plan for this afternoon. The Galeries Lafayette awaits!”
Daniel assumed that meant a store, or maybe a whole mall. That was fine; there’d be plenty of sights to see on the way there, and he ought to buy gifts for his parents, and Lisa, and Mr. Dellaplane and Nora…
No, not Nora.
He knew he’d have to remind himself of that all afternoon long; he’d probably see something she’d love everywhere he looked.
