“The bra is a nice touch,” he said, “but you didn’t need to stack the odds in your favor.” He smiled, if possible, even wider. “Everything has always been carrying me toward you.”
I smiled. Reached out with one hand to press Play on the CD player. Eased myself next to him on the hospital bed, careful not to hurt him.
He ran his fingers through my hair, drew my lips to his again.
Quiet, no need for words, we listened to “Inertia” on repeat.
Dear reader, I want to assure you that this is not a story about love or romance, regardless of what you may have read on the cover. There are quite enough of those stories already, thank you very much. No, this is a story about two people who insisted that love was only for fools.
The first of our two heroes was Lena Cole. She had piercing blue eyes, beautifully precise features, and long black hair pulled back in a practical yet not unattractive way. She moved through the grounds of the Hotel del Arte Spa and Resort with the confidence that came from experience and routine. Although just shy of eighteen, in the few summers she had worked at the resort, she had made herself an indispensable member of the staff.
She passed the dining room, laid for breakfast. “Good morning, Ms. Nalone.”
An older woman with bleach-blond hair and a deep tan sipped her mimosa. “Good morning, Lena.”
Lena Cole knew the name and habits of every guest of the past three years and could recognize them on sight. Ms. Nalone, a divorcée several times over, was a regular. Her son, Vito Nalone, age nineteen, would not be out of bed for at least another hour.
Lena continued down the hallway. As she passed the game room, she said, “Nearly time to start work, Zeke.”
A spritely boy of sixteen with spiky black hair sat on a beanbag, destroying zombies on a massive flat-screen TV. He wore the white polo shirt and tan khaki shorts that were required of all the resort staff. He shut off the game and gave Lena a sharp salute.
Lena smiled and moved on, greeting guests and nodding cordially to other staff members. When she reached the lobby, she saw the manager. Like Lena and Zeke, Brice Ghello wore the staff uniform. His hair was very short, with only a little fringe of bangs that jutted out perfectly parallel to the ground.
“Lena, good, I was just about to text you.” Brice examined his clipboard as if it contained all the truths of the universe, which, to his mind, it did. “I need you to pick up Arlo Kean at the train station.”
“Oh yes,” said Lena. “The new boy. Have you decided where to put him yet?”
Brice shook his head. “Bring him to orientation at noon. I’ll decide then. Oh, but make sure you check on the Ficollos before you go.”
“I was just on my way.”
Lena rode the elevator up to the penthouse suite. Magnus Ficollo was the owner. But he was not the sort of owner who saved the penthouse for special VIPs. To his mind, the whole point of owning a resort was so he could take the penthouse whenever he and his daughter liked. And at the beginning of summer—when the spring rains had stopped but the intense heat of midsummer had not yet begun—they liked it very much.
It was Lena’s primary responsibility to ensure that Mr. Ficollo and his beloved daughter, Isabella, had everything they needed. When she knocked on their door, Isabella opened it.
Isabella’s eyes went wide, and she threw her arms around Lena. “It’s so great to see you! How was your school year?”
Lena smiled warmly and took a moment to return the embrace before gently disentangling herself. In the years that she had worked for the Ficollos, she had learned that Isabella, like many international jet-setting heiresses to billions of dollars, already had everything she needed, except a good friend. “Productive as always, Miss Ficollo.”
“But did you have any fun?” Isabella’s eyes were bright, and her smile was as relentlessly perky as it had been the previous summer.
“I’m sure I did, Miss Ficollo.”
Isabella squeezed her hands. “Did you see? My hedge maze is finished!”
“It turned out beautifully.”
Isabella towed Lena over to the balcony, where they could see the layout of the entire resort. There was the pool and wet bar, the tennis and basketball courts, the gardens, the golf course, and the latest edition to the grounds—the hedge maze, installed especially for Isabella. She sighed happily. “It’s everything I wanted. This is going to be an amazing summer.”
“Just as wonderful as last year,” said Lena.
“Are you up for a tennis match this morning?”
“I’m afraid I have to pick up the new staff member from the train station,” said Lena. “Can we postpone until the afternoon?”
“Of course we can,” said Isabella. “A new staff member? How exciting! I love new people.”
Lena wrinkled her pert nose. “New people bring change.”
* * *
If you haven’t already guessed, the second of our heroes is the aforementioned new employee, Arlo Kean. Unlike Lena, Arlo was quite accustomed to change. Three schools in as many years, each more strict than the last. His mother might have been mad at him for being expelled with such frequency, except she had a habit of changing jobs and boyfriends every year as well. But what Arlo and his mother lacked in reliability, they made up for in adaptability. That was how his mother had started dating one of the wealthiest men in New York City. This latest boyfriend had found a summer job for Arlo at a fancy country resort. Compared to his warehouse job last summer, this one sounded like three months of heaven.
As Arlo disembarked from the train, he raked his fingers through his light-brown, curly hair. It needed a trim, and it fell in his eyes often enough that it was probably on purpose. He scanned the crowd, looking for the person who was supposed to pick him up. He grinned when he saw a girl around his age holding a sign that said “Kean.” This girl had the sort of beauty that changed depending on the angle you viewed her. Looking at her one way, her features were as elegant and sharp as a blade. Looking at her another, her eyes blazed with an inner fire. As it happened, Arlo liked to play with both knives and matches.
Still smiling, he stepped up to her and pointed at the sign. “That’s me.”
She looked at him appraisingly. “Well, I suppose you’ll add to the aesthetics, if nothing else. Come on. You’re the last staff member to arrive. We have to be back at the resort by noon.”
As he followed her to the small parking lot beside the train station, he decided that adding to the aesthetics was a compliment. “You’re staff at the resort?”
“Yep.” She pushed the key chain button to unlock the black hybrid SUV.
“Then I can’t imagine how the aesthetics could possibly be improved,” he said, as he climbed into the passenger seat.
She smiled faintly as she started the car. “I believe there is always room for improvement.”
“So, do you have a boyfriend?”
“Nope,” she said calmly, her eyes not leaving the road.
“Want one?”
“Nope.”
“Oh,” said Arlo. “Yeah. I like to keep things casual, too.”
She turned her sharp gaze upon him. “I bet you do.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that.”
She returned her attention to the road. “What way did you mean it?”
“Uh…” Arlo flipped through several possible responses and rejected each in turn. “Maybe I should just shut up and look pretty.”
“I was about to suggest that,” she said.
Thus ended the first meeting of our two heroes, dear reader, without a meet cute or love-at-first-sight moment. After all, such things only happen in silly romances. Even if this were a love story—which it most certainly isn’t—I know that discerning readers like you would never tolerate such banal contrivances.