Page 25

maggie

A fter a long day lounging in the sun and another group dinner, I wander to the bar to have a few drinks and clear my head a bit.

I’m so confused about this damn goalie; why the hell is he toying with my mind and Melissa Joan Heart?

Is he secretly a fan of Sabrina the Teenage Witch?

Was the show Clarissa Explains It All super popular in Russia?

I take another sip of my third Coco Loco of the night, trying to dull my mind of the thoughts of him.

My damn heart is at war with my mind and body, and I fully blame Melissa for all this confusion.

“Maggie James? Is that you?” a female voice calls across the bar. As I see her approaching, it’s literally the last person I expect to see here.

“Shelly?! Oh my God! What are you doing here?” I scream as she gives me a big hug.

“My family owns this resort. We’re here for our annual company retreat for Harbor Glow this week.”

I shoot straight up in my chair, my mind finally catching up to what was right in front of me.

The artwork in the room. “Holy shit, Shelly, your family owns the resort? That’s so fucking cool!

Miguel!” I shout down at the bartender who’s been serving me, “A Coco Loco for my friend here!” He looks my way, giving me a nod, his expression changing as he makes his way toward us, realizing who is sitting next to me.

“Ms. Phillips, always a pleasure to have you here. I’ll get your drink right away.”

“Miguel, how many times have I told you to call me Shelly?” He shakes his head as he walks away to make her drink.

She turns to me, grabbing my hand with a mournful look I don’t expect on her face.

“Maggie, I am so sorry about the campaign getting cancelled. I was livid with my father. We got in a huge fight about it, but him and his damn antiquated ways of doing business overruled me. He actually threatened to fire me. Me! His own daughter ! All over a campaign. Jackass pulled me out of all creative decisions for the rest of the launch.”

My stomach sinks, my own pain mirroring hers. Looks like I wasn’t the only one ousted over that. “Shit, I’m so sorry Shelly. I had no idea. Why didn’t you reach out?”

“I couldn’t. He forbade me. Said I got too—how did he put it?

—too friendly with our service provider,” she says in a deep voice, imitating her dad.

“He claimed I wasn’t thinking with my business brain.

One of his finer pompous asshole moments, I can assure you.

Why can’t I have a drink and get along with people I’m working with? God, he’s so stuck in the eighties.”

Miguel steps over with her drink, and she takes a giant gulp, slamming the glass down on the bar.

I stifle a giggle. “Wow. So, I guess the retreat is going well then?”

She throws her head back in laughter. “You have no idea. The shareholders are all men. Men in their sixties and seventies. They think they have such an intense understanding of women’s beauty products.

My grandmother, God rest her soul, founded this company.

She knew what she was doing. Her son only looks at dollars.

I love my dad, because he’s my dad, but also could strangle him with that decorative fishing net hanging on the wall over there. ”

“Trust me, my parents are both lawyers, so I’ve been there. Cheers to parents!” I say, sarcastically raising my glass to clink with hers.

“So, Maggie,” Shelly takes another drink, “what are you doing here at the resort? Are you on vacation? Relaxing, I hope?”

“Kinda. Do you remember my friend Olivia? I think you met her at happy hour a couple of times. She’s getting married. Well, actually…she’s already married. This is just a repeat of the ceremony with a big celebration this time.”

Shelly squeals and claps her hands in excitement.

“Yes! I remember her; I love a beach wedding! You know my family does own the resort, so if there’s any issues or anything, shoot me a text and let me know!

I really owe you big time.” Her excitement quickly fades as she looks at me, her eyes narrowed and full of regret.

“Maggie, I just want to apologize again. I loved your ideas and all your designs. They were so creative, so different. I told my dad this company was dying, that we needed something fresh. He refused to listen. They didn’t even use the product we spent millions in R&D on!

They just went back to the same formula they’d been using for years.

And now, the new campaign is out with the old product. And guess what? Our sales are awful.”

“Yeah, I heard through the rumor mill things weren’t going well.

I got pulled off the entire campaign, and Bill, also in his sixties, took over.

A bunch of sixty-year-old men trying to market a line of female anti-aging products, and it’s not doing well?

Imagine that!” I tease as we both snort and take another big chug of our drinks .

Shelly leans in toward me, glancing around the crowded bar. “Can I tell you a secret? You can’t tell a soul.”

What is with everyone needing me to keep secrets all of a sudden?

“Of course. You know I’m always here for the tea.”

“Part of the reason I couldn’t push back much is because I’ve been working behind the scenes to start my own company.

I need to keep things going at Harbor Glow until one final thing falls into place so I can finance it, but at the beginning of the year, I should be able to start it up.

My family is not interested in this line of all-natural anti-aging products I know there is a huge market for.

And I would love to have you help with all the branding. ”

My heart jumps with excitement at the thought of another potential client, and a way out of Lakeshore.

“Seriously?! Shelly, that’s amazing for you, and I would love that!

I’m actually in talks with another company about doing a complete rebrand with them.

I’ve been…I’ve been thinking about branching out on my own too. ”

“You totally should! I, for one, will be using you and only you for my new company. Let me know how I can help. I have connections to real estate spaces. Shit, I’m looking at a space for my new building and I’d be happy to see if we can work something out for you to rent space there from me. It might help us both out.”

“That would be amazing! I’m hoping to get out of Lakeshore by the end of the year. Sometimes I guess the universe just makes things happen, huh?”

As the words leave my mouth, I realize maybe the universe also happens to be pushing me toward a broody goalie who is driving me absolutely crazy this week. I wonder if this little situation was caused by Shelly’s company too?

“So, this is a random question, but is your company retreat why my reservation got cancelled?”

She blinks, the blood draining from her face.

“Wait…what?! No! We would never cancel a guest’s reservation.

This retreat is the sa me week every year, so our rooms are booked a year in advance,” she says, shock in her eyes.

“Your reservation was cancelled? You’re staying here still?

Or are you? I’m so confused…but obviously I can help if you need it.

Shit, you can room with me if you need to. ”

I hesitate before opening my mouth to tell her about my current sleeping situation, but then I realize it may be nice to have a friend outside of the group of people I’m traveling with to chat with about all this. “I’m sort of bunking up with the best man at the wedding.”

She lifts a brow, her eyes already sparking with interest. “Define ‘bunking up’.”

It’s…” I let out a loud sigh, “…it’s really fucking complicated.”

“Well, I could use another drink or two, so,” she motions to Miguel for another round, “fill me in.”

When we finally leave the bar, I hobble my way, quite unsteadily, back to our room. Wow, I do not remember the door handle spinning like this earlier today. I hold my key card against it, thankful when it pops open, stumbling through the door and slamming it shut behind me.

“Magdalina, are you okay?” Vladi and his damn sexy reading glasses yell from across the room.

“I told you not to call me that anymore, you assshh…asshhhh…ass-e-role!” I slur, kicking my shoes across the floor and bracing myself against the wall. I think I drunk, drank? maybe one drink too many.

Vladi jumps out of bed and is at my side in an instant. “You should not be out so late drinking by yourself.”

“I wasn’t alone, you big oaf.” I try unsuccessfully to pull out of his grip .

His eyes narrow, jealousy bubbling like lava from a volcano. “Were you with someone?” he growls through gritted teeth.

I meet his jealousy with my own rage, spewing my response back as venomously as I can. “How dare you ask if I was with anyone? Not that it’s any of your business, but I saw my friend Shelly here, and we hung out at the bar.”

His eyes soften as they fall to the floor, his shoulders slumping in regret.

“What does it even matter, Wolfie?” I scream at him, pushing against his chest. Tears well up, my eyes unable to hold them in as I try and slur out the rest of my sentence through my sniffles, “You don’t want me.”

The regret on his face morphs into sadness. No, wait…his face is starting to spin. Shit… now the room is spinning too.

“Oh God…I feel sick. I need to get to the bathroom…I need to-”