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“That’s because you’re not a little kid, but you’ll always be my little boy,” she said, grabbing him and pulling him into her lap.

Wyatt groaned, but let her cuddle him for a moment. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, Wyatt.”

17

Kelsey was looking forward to landing in St. Thomas and going back to the beach. That was where she could put all the work and the stress of this looming project behind her.

It had only been three weeks since she’d seen Isabella. Dana and Emma had stayed with her for almost two weeks, then Kelsey met with all her clients, whether it was via Zoom, phone, or email. She wanted to be sure no problems would come up while she and Isabella were on their first monthly adventure.

She leaned her head back against the airplane seat and smiled. Kelsey had taken extra care to pack for this trip whereas the month before she was content to throw her swimsuits, shorts, and T-shirts in her suitcase. She told herself that she chose particular outfits this time because they would be making videos, but she knew deep down Isabella was the reason she wanted to look nice.

Honestly, she couldn’t wait to see her. She’d admitted that to herself this morning as she got ready to leave her house. They talked or texted most days, but she missed the way they walked arm in arm across the resort, and the little nudges they gave each other. Then there was Isabella’s smile. She loved to tease Kelsey with what Isabella liked to call her winning smile, but it was the little smiles they exchanged when they shared a look that sometimes took Kelsey’s breath away.

When she got on the plane that morning she’d decided to be more aware of the time she and Isabella spent together privately. They were simply good friends, getting to know more about each other and having fun spending time together. Did there need to be more than that?

Kelsey looked at her watch and found that they’d be landing in Charlotte soon. She didn’t have to change planes and Isabella would be boarding for the flight to St. Thomas not long after they landed. They had plenty to discuss and planned to start with a video before they took off. Kelsey had things ready to upload to the website and had already posted several notices about the yearlong vacations to the Virgin Islands.

She was pleased to see several comments from people already following their journey. Kelsey checked a few other behind-the-scenes features of the website she’d built in to make sure it was ready to handle the traffic. Soon, the flight attendant asked her to put her laptop away as they prepared to land.

The scenery out the window kept getting closer and closer until the plane touched the runway. Kelsey felt her heart speed up at the thought of seeing Isabella.

It didn’t take long for the plane to taxi to the gate and people who weren’t continuing to St. Thomas began to get off. Kelsey took out her phone to check her email and texts. There were texts from both Dana and Emma, then she saw a picture from Isabella.

She was standing at the gate, pointing to the sign that read St. Thomas with that winning smile. Kelsey chuckled at the message below the picture: Can’t wait to see you.

“I can’t wait to see you,” Kelsey mumbled. She tried to tell herself she was excited to start this job, but really she was just as excited to see Isabella. Kelsey wondered if they hadn’t come up with this idea if she and Isabella would be seeing each other again. She liked to believe they would, that their connection was that strong from the beginning.

“Excuse me ma’am, but you’re in my seat.”

Kelsey laughed and looked up into Isabella’s smiling face. She wanted to play along but couldn’t stop herself from jumping up and hugging Isabella. When she pulled away their eyes met and neither of them said anything for a moment. They simply smiled at each other.

“Uh, are you trying to claim the window seat?” Kelsey said, finally finding her voice.

“Come on, you had it all the way from Denver,” Isabella replied.

Kelsey chuckled. “You always get your way.” She held Isabella’s upper arms and squeezed past her until she was standing in the aisle. Kelsey noticed a bag standing next to their row and recognized it as one of Isabella’s from their Christmas trip.

“Isn’t this yours?”

“Yep.”

Kelsey picked it up and put it in the overhead bin. “Did you check your other one?”

“Have a seat,” Isabella said, patting the seat next to her. Kelsey sat down while Isabella settled into the window seat. “You’re not going to believe this, but that’s the only bag I brought.”

Kelsey raised her brows and shook her head. “No way.”

“Yep. We’re going to show those folks traveling along with us that you don’t have to pack a bunch of clothes to have a good time,” Isabella explained. “Besides, we only need outfits for three days.”

This trip was all about winter at the beach. They were leaving on a Monday, had plans for the next three days, and then would return home on Friday.

“We really only need swimsuits and shorts for this trip,” Kelsey said. “The next one will require evening wear.”

“Yep. We’ll dress up for Valentine’s Day.”

“I’m so ready to be back at the beach,” Kelsey said.