Page 32 of Accidental Getaway

I spent Saturday hiding from everyone. I never left my room. To his credit, Niko left me alone. Ana, on the other hand, stopped by my room a few times to check on me. I told her I was fine but had a lot of work to catch up on, which was true. It just wasn’t the reason I couldn’t get out of bed.

In similar fashion, I spent most of this morning debating whether I should attend Alexander’s birthday party.

I don’t want any more accidental run-ins or problems. But I promised Niko I would be there, so I put on the only clean outfit I have left other than my suit for the board meeting tomorrow.

I head to the pool in a white-and-lavender seersucker sundress and pray I’ll be able to avoid Malcolm.

There’s no way he would want anything to do with the party. At least I have that on my side.

When I arrive, I’m awestruck. The party looks incredible, even better than I imagined.

Ana and Niko are directing last-minute preparations when I sneak in with a group of arriving guests.

Alexander is supposed to start his shift in ten minutes, after which someone will go to the front desk to report a duck prank at the pool.

When Alexander arrives to investigate, we’ll all yell “surprise” and send a replacement concierge to the front desk.

Excited energy crackles in the air as everyone waits for the big moment. But I feel more like I’m walking through water—trying to find excitement when the prevailing emotion I’ve felt for the last forty-eight hours is dread.

I walk around the pool deck, surveying the party.

A giant banner reads “Happy Birthday, Alexander,” and the pool is full of inflatable ducks and pool toys.

To one side of the pool is a photo station, complete with the photo board Niko and I had played with in the hallway and a more glamorous photo backdrop with lighting and a photographer.

On the far side of the pool, a giant balloon arch stretches over a handful of carnival games and prize boards.

I want to love it, to feel something other than the uneasiness in my gut, but I can’t find the emotions I need.

The party is so quirky and silly, even with all the glamour.

However, the only the thing I can think about is how disturbed Niko’s dad was by our photoshoot in the hotel hallway.

That’s going to be the only thing he sees when I stand up in the board meeting on Monday: a rubber duck with a purple polka-dot bikini. He’s never going to take me seriously.

I turn away from the games and wander over to a tent filled with mountains of food: salads, fruit, pastries, and a gyro station where a chef waits to cut fresh slices of lamb from a rotating spit. It all looks amazing, and yet I have no appetite.

As if on cue, I hear Ana call my name. I turn to see her walking toward me in the most gorgeous bohemian-style yellow dress, her hair in a loose braid over her shoulder. “Jenni, I’m so glad to see you. Are you okay?”

When Ana wraps me in a hug, guilt sinks into my stomach, cold and heavy.

If I tell her how badly I’m hurting right now, she’ll try to convince me, again, to tell Niko what is going on.

After the way he had reacted to Malcolm last night, the thought of telling him about my past feels excruciating.

He would never understand. I have had too many people ask me how I ended up in a relationship with someone so awful.

I have had too many people ask me why I didn’t leave earlier or tell anyone what had been happening.

I don’t think I could handle that kind of judgment from Niko too.

“Oh, yeah,” I say when she lets me go. “I’m feeling much better.”

I’m no longer puking into my toilet, so I guess it’s not a lie.

“Did Niko tell you? That sneaky, sneaky man!” She looks around as if wanting to slap him on the wrist. “He offered me a job! Doing events and community outreach!”

Ana squeals in excitement and gives me another hug, just in time for a hush to go over the crowd.

Alexander must be on his way. Ana and I join the back of the crowd congregating on the pool deck.

Within a minute, Alexander bursts through the doors of the hotel, a look of determination on his face.

The crowd erupts in cheers, and he appears to melt, his hands rising to his mouth in shock.

Niko shouts, “Happy birthday!” and claps Alexander on the back.

“What—what is all of this?”

“There was a little rumor going around the hotel that you have never had a birthday party,” Niko replies. “We couldn’t let that continue.”

“All of this for me? For me?” Alexander takes in the party, looking like he might cry. Then he bursts into laughter and turns on Niko. “The ducks! You! You are the one with the ducks!”

Niko puts his hands up in the air. “Guilty as charged. Now let’s party!”

With the crowd cheering again, Niko and Alexander get swept up in people wanting to wish happy birthday to the man of the hour. It’s so full of joy.

Ana squeezes my hand. “Should we go say hi? ”

Niko and Alexander are moving in our general direction, both looking like the sun is shining just for them.

Niko’s hair is relaxed, and he has a five-o’clock shadow I haven’t seen on him before.

All I want is for that smile to land in my direction.

I crave it. Except I’m not ready to face him. I feel dizzy just thinking about it.

“Actually, I need to run to the bathroom,” I tell Ana. “I’ll be right back.”

I sneak past the crowd and into the hotel, looking for the nearest restroom. I just need a minute to collect myself, to throw some cold water on my face.

I cross the hallway from the pool door and head toward the exercise suite. There’s a changing room in there, and I’m willing to bet it has a bathroom.

“Hey, Jen! Slow down.”

The voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard, just like it does when it’s in my head. I turn. Malcom has caught up to me in the hallway. I’m too drained to panic the way I did the last two times I saw him. Now all I feel is akin to defeat.

“Can you please just leave me alone? No one here knows about us, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Whoa, whoa, I’m not looking to fight,” he says. “I just wanted to thank you.”

What does that mean? Thank me for what?

“If you hadn’t posted on Instagram about your trip, I wouldn’t have recognized this hotel when it came up in a planning meeting.

Dad was planning to pass it off to an associate.

I told him I would take it as a favor to Dimitri.

Like he said, he’s been a client for years.

My family vacations at his vineyards every year. Don’t you remember?”

I can hear my pulse pounding in my ears.

I remember my second summer internship at Prewitt Luxury.

Malcolm and I had been on-and-off for a year, and I was ready to break things off.

But then he said he would tell his family about us and make it official.

He said he would bring me on the family trip to Greece.

But at the last minute, he told me it wasn’t going to work out.

He hadn’t told his family and it wasn’t a good timing.

I had my bags packed and everything. He left without me.

That was a Psomas winery? And the one he went to last fall with his now-fiancée? How had I missed this so completely? How had I missed the connection?

But Malcolm didn’t. Because that’s the way his mind works—always finding some opportunity to manipulate and control. I should have seen this coming.

“You knew I was here, and you came anyway?”

“Dimitri was thrilled at the prospect. He thinks this hotel is just the start of a catalog of properties across Greece, maybe even into Italy. He just wants his son to be successful. You understand.”

I feel weak, as if blood is draining out of my body. Malcolm did all of this. On purpose. He knew I was here, and he sought Niko out as a client because of it.

“Why?” I whisper, unsure if I really want the answer. “Why did you do all of this? Just to hurt me?”

“No. Absolutely not. I’m devastated you would think that.”

Give me a break. Malcolm is the king of turning everything back around to favor himself—make it look like he’s the victim. I shake my head, fighting off tears, fighting for words.

“I’m a director now, and I need to start building my own portfolio of clients. I saw an incredible opportunity, and I had to take it. That’s just business. It’s nothing personal.”

I want to scream. Just because you want a client, you think it’s okay to steal them from me? After everything else you have done to ruin my career? That’s not personal?

I don’t have it in me to start that fight. I never won an argument when we were together, and I’m not going to win this one.

“Fine. Whatever. What do you want from me? ”

“Jen, come on.” Malcolm’s words drip with condescension, as if I’m crazy to think he would be anything less than cordial. “Can’t we be friends? Just because we broke up doesn’t mean there has to be any animosity.”

I roll my eyes. Malcolm has always been a bit delusional, but this is just too much. “Do you really think I want to be friends with you? Please, just leave me alone.”

I try to turn toward the bathroom, but Malcolm puts a hand on my arm, turning me back toward him. I brace myself, ready to push him away, but he throws his hands in the air, feigning innocence.

“I’ll admit that mistakes were made, by both of us,” he says, with emphasis on the word “both.” Heat blooms across my cheeks.

I am not proud of the way I acted toward the end of that relationship.

We had some pretty big fights, and I was so desperate to defend myself and prove that the manipulation wasn’t just in my head that I said and did some pretty ugly things.

“And I’m really sorry about that,” Malcolm continues, motioning for me to take a seat on a nearby bench. I sit, but only because if I do what he says, this will be over faster.

“I think you should come back to Chicago, back to your old job. It was a mistake to fire you like that.”

I laugh out loud. It’s an angry shell of a laugh. That is honestly the last thing I expected him to say. In fact, I would have been less surprised if he had told me he was buying me a house.

“At Prewitt Luxury? Working with you? Are you kidding?”

“No, I’m not.” Malcolm acts hurt I would even suggest it.

“I tried to fix things as soon as I got back to the office. I was going to tell everyone it was a misunderstanding. I had just been trying to save face in front of the client. But you were already gone. You ran away before the dust could settle.”

He’s right. It has been my biggest regret.

For months afterward, I had lain awake at night thinking of other ways I could have handled the situation.

I knew he couldn’t just fire me like that.

I could have gone to HR and asked for a performance improvement plan or to be moved to a different management team.

I didn’t, though. I just ran away. I should have stuck it out in Chicago until I found another job.

I should have told someone about our relationship and how Malcolm mistreated me.

Desperation and fear kept me silent. It felt like people would have taken Malcolm’s side anywhere I turned.

I stare at the wall, not daring to consider what he’s offering.

“You’re far too talented and smart to be an assistant at some tiny, play-pretend agency.” Malcolm inches closer to me. “You deserve better than that.”

So he knows I’m just an assistant? What did he do, call Amber and snoop around? I wouldn’t put it past him. I hate myself for feeling some tiny validation in his words, even though I know it’s all part of some game he’s playing.

“It’s a terrible idea for us to work together again.”

“I know what you’re afraid of. I really do,” Malcolm says, grimacing.

He puts his head in his hands and groans in regret.

“I threw you under the bus a few times, but I was under so much pressure to make director that I was desperate. It would be different now. We can start over. You don’t even have to work directly under me.

I can get you a spot anywhere in the firm. ”

I laugh. Does he really think I’m going to fall for this? I want my old life back, but not this way—not by his hand.

“Jen, you and I both know the board is never going to choose your agency over my firm. It’s simply a matter of experience and resources.”

He puts his hand on mine, and I flinch, but Malcolm pulls away immediately, acting like he doesn’t understand my aversion to his touch.

I don’t respond. I’m not considering the job. If I had to bet, there is no job. He’ll have some excuse when push comes to shove. But what he said about the board meeting cuts like a knife, because he’s right. Who, in their right mind, would choose me over Malcolm?

“All I have to do is make one call, and we could get you signed on as a senior associate.”

I stare at the floor, not speaking.

“I know it’s a lot to consider,” Malcolm says. “Just let me know, okay? Preferably before the meeting, so we don’t waste anyone’s time tomorrow.”

Malcolm walks away, knowing he has sufficiently shredded any confidence I had left. I don’t know what I was thinking, hoping I still had any sort of shot of making this work. The only way this ends is in humiliation.