Page 30 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘How’s Drew taking the news?’ I asked Breton as I pulled clean clothes from my drawer, in preparation for my shower.

He was quiet for some time. ‘Drew’s gone back to England,’ he said in a low voice, sounding defeated by the news.

‘What?’ I asked, stopping in my tracks. ‘Like, for good?’

Breton let out a sigh, ‘I don’t think so. Mom said he still had a bunch of his things at the reno house.’

‘Tell me what happened…’

‘I don’t think there’s too much to tell. He’s been having a hard go. He’s been talking about going to visit his friends, take a holiday. Your dad’s been encouraging it, Drew really needed to get away to clear his head. Abby sent us all messages the other day to let us know we’d be called to give testimony, and because our names were down as witnesses, the defense will want depositions from us.

‘He drove to your dad’s office that day, just days before Thanksgiving, dropped off your car and went to the airport. He bought a one-way ticket to London and won’t answer our calls, texts or emails,’ Breton summarized the situation for me.

‘Brett, he’s gone…’ I felt the tears rolling down my cheek.

‘Nah, he’ll be back.’

‘You don’t know that,’ I implored.

‘I do, he’s booked a trip to Mauritius with a few of his guy friends, they leave tomorrow, and he’s still in contact with Joe, the guy he hired as his assistant. If he wasn't coming back, he would have told Joe and wouldn’t be replying to emails from customers and potential customers.’

‘But what if…’

‘But nothing, he’ll be back. We’ll get him back, but he needs to get his head straight first.’

‘He’s that bad?’ I started to sob.

‘He thinks the girl he loves is dead, and he blames himself for letting you go.’

‘He didn’t let me go, I went, and I broke his heart knowingly,’ I cried.

‘Jessa, it’s all for the best,’ he tried to placate me. ‘I’m almost done with my thesis, I’ll be defending next month and then I’ll start working on our stuff more.’

‘Ok…’ I drawled. He’d been telling me this for months now, but we were no more ahead now than we were when I left.

‘I promise, your dad’s involved now, he’s already asking for timelines.’ I let out a snort laugh, that was so my father. ‘You good?’ he asked me.

‘I’m ok.’

‘What are you going to do now?’

‘Shower and then go out to watch some reality TV show in the common area where some people hang out.’

‘Good,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Just call if you need to talk. Don’t worry about Drew, he’s going to be back.’

~

The retreat was beautiful, situated on acres of oceanfront on the east coast, with sandy beaches for miles. The buildings were modern, airy and light thanks to all the windows. I had my own private room with views of the water on the third floor. The first floor housed all the workout areas, overlooking the water and back yard with sitting areas and outdoor eating areas. The kitchen and some training and meeting rooms were in the front of the building along with a media room where guests typically lounged in the evenings after eating, showering and journaling.

The program was intense, and they were not shy about working me very hard, pushing me to keep working harder and harder every time I reached a milestone. As much as I hated it at times, it was also the best thing. I’d never been able to push myself physically or dig deep personally. As my physical shape changed, the clarity of what I wanted to do with my life was starting to take form.

The other guests came and went, some stayed the weekend, some a week, a few stayed two weeks. No one had stayed more than two weeks since I've been here. I was starting to get used to the constant turnaround. I wasn’t here to make friends but the more my physical appearance changed, the more I tried to socialize, joining groups during the week to watch TV or a movie. Meals were always served at specific times and guests ate together. Unless it was raining, I always sat at the same table outside in the shade. More times than not, I had other guests join me, and from time to time, one or more of the instructors ate with me, as I’d gotten to know them over the past two months.

I had withdrawn a bit over the past couple of days, with talking to my family for the first time in months and the news that Drew was really suffering.

I took a walk on the beach after eating dinner alone and ran into Marcus, the lead trainer I worked with and the one person I spent the most time with here. Occasionally we’d eat together if his schedule allowed. We’d chat, talk about TV shows, movies, books, and some current news. He was the best trainer here. He was also close to my age, easy on the eyes and we seemed to have a lot in common. If I wasn’t still in love with Drew and trying to find myself, he might have been able to pique my interest.

‘Hey,’ I greeted him with a smile. He was also super friendly with me. I wanted to believe it was genuine and not only because he was on the payroll of the exorbitantly expensive retreat. He always made a point to check in with me at least once a day to ask how I was doing, check my progress and see if any adjustments were needed if it appeared I was plateauing.

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