One Simple Step (Journey Series) (4 page)

I was looking to have fun, but I still wanted to keep my job. And girls would happen eventually, I was a guy and all, but I really wasn’t looking to jump into anything right away. And I wasn’t looking for a bunch of random hookups like Danny said I needed.

“Yeah, sorry about that, Leo. I just needed some time, but I’m good now and ready to get back to work.”

“Good,” he replied quickly, handing me a thick stack of papers as he walked past me in the small corner office that we shared that was tucked right behind the reservations’ desk. “Because we had two housekeepers quit while you were gone, and I had to fire Caroline.”

My eyebrows shot up right away at the mention of Caroline, one of our best employees. She had been loved by the guests at the front desk for her bubbly personality and that extra step that she always took to make sure their stay at the resort was the best. But if Leo had chosen to fire her, I really had no room to question it. He was the only person above me at the resort, and was in the process of training me to take over so he could retire sometime soon. Running a place like The Reef Plaza was a dream that I had for as long as I could even remember.

“Alright, well I’ll go through these resumes and start setting up some interviews. I’ll have some good help hired in no time. Anything else need my attention right away?”

“No, kid, I think we’re good. Glad to have you back.” He closed the door, leaving me to what looked like an endless stack of papers.

I lost myself quickly, narrowing down possible prospects, and began making phone calls for interviews. By the time I was finished, I glanced at my watch and saw that my shift was about over. Danny had been bothering me to meet him at Clammy’s, thinking that I wouldn’t want to hang out with him once I got back to work, but a beer sounded really good right now, and I really didn’t want to sit in an empty apartment. The place seemed empty even though I still had Gunther there.

My mom had already tried to get me to move back in with her and my dad, but that was probably the last thing I needed to do right now. She was a little disappointed, but I knew she was at least happy that Kara and I were over, even though she would never say anything. Kara always had a bit of an attitude with her, pretty much about everything, even though my mom was one of the easiest people in the world to get along with. It got on Kara’s last nerve that I actually liked to go over to my parents’ house for family dinners every once in a while. I think she was just a little jealous that she hadn’t had that same type of atmosphere with her own family while she was growing up.

I shut my laptop and flicked off the lights, heading to the employee parking lot, sending Danny a message that I would be there soon. He answered quickly, probably not expecting that I was going to meet up with them tonight. I checked my phone one more time before tucking it back into my pocket. I felt like a dumbass, still thinking that Kara might come to her senses and come back. I was a guy. I was supposed to be the one who didn’t care, got over it, and moved on with my life. How in the hell did she do it so easily? I really wish I knew.

Ally

“Rise and shine, Al.” I groaned when I felt a set of hands on my shoulders, slightly shaking me, and rolled over to my stomach, hoping that I could just fall back into my deep sleep where everything was right with the world.

“Ally.” I heard Remy’s usual carefree voice come out sternly, before her body landed hard on my back and she proceeded to bounce up and down on me. I tried to ignore her as best as I could but for such a petite girl she was literally smashing me, and if I didn’t stop her, I was likely to suffocate. Not the way I was planning on leaving this world.

“Alright, I’m up, I’m up.” I twisted my body around, and slowly sat up, blinking at the blinding light that was pouring in through the now open curtains. I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was almost seven p.m. “Why exactly did I need to get up? Aren’t you heading into work soon?”

“Because.” Remy licked her lips, putting on what I think was supposed to be her mean face, if that was even possible. Remy wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone look as if she was about to rip me a new one.

“You need to get out of this funk, Al. I know I told you to take some time to heal, but I didn’t mean that you needed to lay your ass in bed all day. It’s not healthy. I need to see just a little bit of my happy-go lucky Ally. So, here.” She shoved a large paper cup into one hand, and her phone into the other. “I picked up one of those Chai tea latte thingies that you like so much. And Leah wants to talk to you,” she added on quickly, before giving me a guilty look and hurrying out of the room.

That little…I wasn’t even given the chance to get angry at Remy before I heard Leah’s voice, and I knew I was going to have to get this over with. I couldn’t hide forever.

“Yup, I’m here, L. What’s up?”

“What’s up? Really, Al? That’s what—” I heard her take a deep breath, and her voice sounded a little bit calmer when she began to speak again. “Al, why didn’t you call me? I would have been there for you in a second. Instead, I had to hear about what happened from Remy.”

I could hear the hurt in her voice that I hadn’t confided in her. Normally, Leah and I always turned to each other in difficult situations.

“I know, Leah. I’m sorry, I just needed a little bit of time.” Really, I needed more time, but apparently, Remy didn’t think so. “Plus, you’re a little busy right now. You can’t just put your life on hold every time something goes wrong in mine.”

I finally took a sip of the tea that Remy had remembered I liked so much. It tasted heavenly, and for the first time in my week of mourning, I actually felt a little better. But then I ran a hand through my hair, and suddenly felt like I needed a shower badly.

“Ally, I would’ve figured something out. You could have just come home so I could take care of you. And it’s not like this is just a bad break up with a boyfriend or something. I’m assuming you’re div—”

“Don’t say that word,” I interrupted quickly. “I really don’t want to think about
that
right now.”

“Ok-ay,” she dragged out, clearly annoyed that I was avoiding the main reason she had called. “Well, I’m at least going to call him an asshole. In fact, I’d really like to beat the shit out of him. I can’t believe he would do something like that to you. Who in their right mind would really screw something up with
you
? I know he didn’t find anyone else more amazing. I’m sure the girl is a total slut and—”

“You definitely got that one right,” I muttered, stopping her before that picture popped up in my head again. Not going there.

“But, I’m over it. And I know I’ll have to deal with Teddy sooner or later. Do me a favor and contain yourself on the whole beating his ass thing. I don’t think Caleb and Ava would survive without their mama around, and neither would I.”

“Yeah, well, Chase might just beat me to it. Well, I’m going to let you go. Apparently, Remy has a night out planned, so I wouldn’t want to keep you from having a little bit of fun. Just promise me one thing?”

“Sure,” I replied absentmindedly, more focused on what exactly Remy had planned for us. A girls’ night in, binging on ice cream and watching sappy movies, actually sounded pretty good.

“Answer your damn phone next time I call.”

“Fine, Miss Bossy.”

“Oh, and I already talked to your mom. Call her, she’s worried,” she added in a sweet voice. The call ended before I could yell at her, so I tossed the phone on the bed, knowing that I would eventually have to call my mom now.

My phone had been turned off since I got here, but since Leah decided to be a little tattletale, I couldn’t play the avoiding game anymore. Next to Leah, my mom was one of the people that I talked to most often, and knew I could always count on her being there, no matter what. I’m sure she was a little hurt that she had to hear about what happened from Leah, and not her own daughter, but I understood why Leah did it.

Now I just needed to see what Remy had in store for the night.

Chapter 5

Nick

“I don’t know, Mom. I just don’t think it’s a very good idea... Actually, I’ve been thinking of buying a place... Okay, I’ll think about it... Alright... Love you too... Yeah, I’ll be over for Sunday dinner.”

“Your mom still trying to get you to move in?” Danny asked, as he topped off my glass and pushed it towards me.

“She’s trying, but it’s not happening. No way in hell.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Riley piped in. “Be a little awkward with all of the rebound action you’re gonna get. I don’t think the girls would be too impressed if you took ‘em home to your mommy’s house.”

I rolled my eyes at the three of them who were all grinning widely at me. “I’m not gonna go out and screw every girl in sight just because my girlfriend broke up with me.” Even though I had thought about it—on definitely more than one occasion—but I had never really been that kind of guy. I left that to Danny.

“Look.” Danny threw an arm around my shoulder, and I could already tell how much he had to drink before I got there by the way that one single word came out slurred. “When you were dating Kara, you were a major douche. It was like she was working some kind of witch craftery on your brain or some shit. No offense,” he added, like that was supposed to make him not sound like an ass.

“Captain Douche Lord, actually.” Grant smirked before shoving a plate full of wings at me, like they were some sort of peace offering or something. “Not that we minded. All of the chicks in high school were always after you even when you were with Kara. And when you turned ‘em down, we benefitted.”

“So glad I helped you guys out,” I muttered, “but I really don’t want to talk about this shit anymore.”

“Fine, but at least do one thing for me. If you do it, I swear I won’t mention Kara’s name ever again.” Danny drained the rest of his glass, and motioned to the waitress for another pitcher. Just what he needed.

I hesitated for just a second. Normally, I would tell Danny to fuck off, but he had been going on and on about Kara ever since the breakup. How big of a bitch she was, how she had taken my balls along with her—the list goes on and on, and I’m sure would never stop. “Alright. What is it?”

His lips curved into a smile and he sat up straighter, probably surprised that I had actually agreed. “Awesome, buddy. I promise you won’t regret this. Alright, I get to pick a girl, and you—”

“No way, deal’s off,” I protested abruptly. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to go screw some random girl that you pick out.” First of all, knowing Danny, he would pick out the fifty-year old leather skinned bartender just to fuck with me, and second, I didn’t think I was really ready. Especially not with the bartender. Yeah, that would
never
happen.

“Whoa, hear me out, man. I was going to say, before you so rudely interrupted, that I get to pick a girl here tonight, and all you have to do is go talk to her.” He held his hands out in front of himself defensively when I looked at him suspiciously with narrowed eyes. “I swear that’s it.”

“Ok-ay,” I dragged out. “I think I can handle that. And then you’re done with all of the Kara bullshit?”

“So done.”

“Alright, I’m in.”

“Good, ‘cause I already found your target.” Danny tipped his head towards the bar and all of us turned towards that direction.

“Which one?”

“Hmm...” He rubbed his chin and looked between the two girls that all four of us were currently staring at blatantly. Luckily, they seemed pretty engrossed in conversation so they didn’t notice us looking like stalkers.

“Well, that’s kind of a hard choice. I’m kind of considering that one for myself.” His head pointed towards the direction of the girl on the left, the one that I would have chosen, if I had to pick or even wanted to.

“She’s sexy as hell even without trying, but she also looks like a little bit of a mess. The emotional ones are always more fun.” He wiggled his eyebrows at us and then reached into his pocket, pulling out a coin. “So, I guess we’ll just let this decide for us. Call it in the air.”

Ally

“I can’t believe I actually agreed to this,” I huffed out as I took a long sip of my much-needed margarita. Remy smiled at me, twirling a piece of her fire-red hair that was stick straight at the moment and flowed to the middle of her back, which was bare from the low cut dress she had picked out for the night.

Next to her, I felt like a bag lady.

“Ally, there’s no way I would’ve let you stay home for a second longer. I know you won’t be over it for a while, but lying in bed all day, not showering, and barely eating, is not healthy. And besides, I needed a night out, too.”

I pursed my lips at her, but bit my tongue.

I really did not want to be at this bar. I’d rather be curled up in bed with the blanket over my head, pretending all was right in the world. But Remy really did look like she needed this.

She seemed to work non-stop, and I hadn’t heard her mention any friends or guys since I had gotten here, which was extremely strange. Remy hadn’t been a hardcore partier or serial dater when we were at school, but she always knew how to have a good time. So, I guess I would suck it up, and
try
to enjoy myself. “Well, you could’ve at least given me a little bit of warning before you dragged me out. I’m sure I look like a hot mess.”

“Oh, please,” she said, giving me an eye roll. “I don’t think that’s possible even if you tried. And clearly he doesn’t care,” she murmured, with one eyebrow raised.

I could feel someone behind me before I even turned. I stifled a groan as I twisted around, and saw a guy grinning back at me. This had been one of the main reasons I didn’t want to go out. I wasn’t looking to be hit on or seen as a piece of ass by a bunch of horny guys looking for a random hookup. And this guy would probably be one of the last I would pick if I were interested.