Page 74 of Swept Away

They flew out on Sunday. And I don’t expect them to come back for a few more days.I don’t know how many exactly.

They're taking care of some business overseas–they flew to South America–and I didn’t want to ask too many questions, especially since they weren’t keen to offer more information.

They didn’t act as if they were doing anything in secret.Yet they didn’t feel the need to share their private affairs with me, which works for me.

I wanted them gone–I’m joking, of course–so I could focus on my work.

Now that I’ve finished my projects, I can collect my money and have a few days for myself–a rare occurrence this summer since I have worked almost every day.

My thumb moves over the screen without touching the accept button. I’m still pondering. What if it’s them?

I hope everything is all right.

Having mixed feelings about it, I finally take the call, bring my phone to my ear, and speak.

“Yes?”

Static comes to me first, and then the distorted sound of some garbled voices.

“Hello?” I say again before a woman’s voice draws in closer, and I hear my mother speak.

“Gemma?” she says in her unmistakable sweet voice.

The corners of my lips lift into a smile.

“Mom…? Where are you?” I ask, grappling with surprise.

Tina Stone–Vines, my beloved mother, gives me one of her signature crystalline laughs.

“I wanted to call you and give you the news first before you talk to Lizzy.”

Lizzy is Charlize, my mother’s sister.

She is the aunt who allowed me to live in her apartment, which is the place I’m currently occupying.

My smile dies out.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, worried.

She laughs, entertained.

“Of course it is. Why do you always have to assume the worst about me?”

I smile again.

“I don’t know. The fact that I haven’t heard from you in like three months. Where are you now?”

“We hopped on another cruise. And we’re headed to Aruba.”

“Um… we?”

“Uh-huh,” she says, a grin tinging her voice.

There’s a reason my mother’s last name is hyphenated. She’s had a very tumultuous romantic life.

She loves the idea of falling in love, and she absolutely despises being sidetracked by anything negative in a romantic story.

Be it a short, exhilarating adventure, or a well-thought-out, old-style courtship followed by a marriage proposal.