Page 11 of The Other Side of Paradise (Story of Paradise #2)
Allison
Halfway through the morning shift was when I got my confirmation, because Ryan’s expression told me what had happened without her having to say a word.
Girl looked a little too happy, even though she was here back at the resort waiting to have an ugly confrontation with her family, from the sounds of things, and when I asked her about it, she snorted.
“Yeah, no, not looking forward to it,” she said, looking around the lobby, quiet on a Wednesday morning.
“I can imagine,” I said, thinking back to Stella—the whole thing with her father out on the walkway next to her room. Stella panicking to get out of the conversation. “Your family’s a lot,” was what I settled for saying.
Ryan gave me a noncommittal shrug, as if to say no arguments here. “Still,” she said, “they’ve been blowing up my phone, so I figured I should finally have a proper talk…”
And yet she was all too happy right now. I folded my arms on the desk, leaning in with a big smile on my features. “So,” I said, “how did last night go?”
“What?” She went suddenly scarlet, and I couldn’t believe this girl was supposedly a journalist, not with that level of flimsiness in conversation. I’d never seen anything so obviously written on someone’s face. I raised my eyebrows, fighting back a smile.
“The club?”
She stared blankly, eyes wide, and at length, she said, “Ah… yeah. It was… it was nice.”
I snorted. “Damn, you’re losing it. Congrats on it going well.”
She put her hands up, protesting weakly. “It wasn’t—I didn’t pick someone up at the club.”
I laughed. “So you hooked up with BB instead?”
“What—no, I, uh,” she mumbled, looking around frantically, having a complete crisis from the looks of things. “We didn’t do anything,” she said, the most half-assed lie I’d heard in my life.
“You are such a liar,” I snorted. “Just admit to it. I’ve been rooting for it. You two are cute.”
“Uh…” She wrung her hands, fumbling like an awkward middle schooler, before she gave in, hanging her head. “Just don’t… tell anybody.”
“I won’t, jeez,” I laughed. “Congrats. I could tell you two were so into each other. So does this mean BB’s going to stop trying to push me into someone’s bed, now that you two are going to spend the week being all cutesy holding hands together?
” I tried to say it casually—would rather die than admit I actually wanted every bit of help I could get with getting into someone’s…
at least into a date with someone. I don’t think I did a good job playing it cool, but luckily, Ryan did a worse job.
“Uh… Allison, it’s not—” She cleared her throat hard. “We aren’t dating, you know, just, er…”
I laughed. “Okay, but it’s not just sex, either, is it?
” I put my hands on my hips. “Something between a serious relationship and no-strings casual sex. That’s what BB usually does anyway.
You know—a fling. All the intimacy and tender things without trying to make it a commitment.
Don’t pretend that’s not what you’re after. I see through you.”
She huffed. “You think I know what I’m after?”
I gave her a look. If she thought she was a mess, I didn’t want to know what she thought I was. “Honestly, kinda, yeah,” I said. “You seem like you’ve got your ducks in a row.”
She scowled. “I am laying low on vacation because my family is spending time with my ex-boyfriend instead of me, having a fling with the girl my ex tried to cheat with. What part of that looks like ducks in a row to you, ma’am?”
I laughed, but a sudden movement from across the lobby cut me off, and I got a stab of anxious worry in my gut when I saw the door swing open and a woman I recognized as Ryan’s mother swept into the lobby, and then—to make matters worse, the two I’d realized were her grandparents, including the woman who still hadn’t forgiven me for not accepting Hilton rewards points.
I stepped back, my throat tight. “Oh—yikes,” I said, briefly weighing whether I was supposed to say something to save Ryan from the situation.
I doubted there was much I could do, though.
Maybe start talking about Hilton reward points. I grimaced. “Good luck.”
Ryan’s mother, a shorter woman with a curvy figure, swept across the room to Ryan and pulled her into a hug that Ryan clearly didn’t want, and she gushed to her, “Ryan—my god, where have you been? Do you realize how much we’ve been worried about you?”
Ryan patted her awkwardly on the arm, the least interest in a hug I’d seen in some time. “I told you I was just fine,” she said lightly, and the mother stepped back from the hug, putting her hands up.
“You sent one text while you disappeared without a word! Just fine isn’t enough for us not to worry.”
Ryan drew her lips into a tight line, and I could see the resolution setting in on her features—she straightened her posture, and she said coolly, “I’ve been with a friend here. And I’ll probably continue to stay with her for the rest of the trip.”
A friend. Yeah. I doubted Ryan’s mom could handle the details at this point. The mother shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is a family vacation.”
And that was where the grandmother decided her input was needed, because she said, “Now, Ryan, you know, your mother put a lot of work into this. I know she didn’t raise you to be disrespectful.”
Ryan’s posture tightened, and then—I saw her relax into a kind of acceptance, folding her arms, and she spoke with a steely, level voice.
“No, if we’re talking about disrespect, then it all comes from a very different place.
Mom,” she said, turning to her, “I’m extremely disappointed in your reaction yesterday, to put it lightly.
I’m your daughter, and you believed Shane over me without even hearing me out, and you tried to bring my career change into it, which makes me feel like you’re always going to take Shane’s side because you’re disappointed in my career change. ”
It dropped like a grenade, Ryan’s mom looking sick and her grandparents going rigid, and I got a heavy feeling in my stomach when the door swung open for more people coming into the clown show this was turning into—
Including, specifically, Stella Valerie Bell.
I froze on the spot, my hands tensing up on the surface of the desk, trying to keep my reaction cool as I saw—this—Jesus, she was prettier than I remembered.
She swept in wearing an expensive-looking silky top tucked into jean shorts, her hair up in a loose bun, long silver jewelry around her neck that managed to look casual and expensive at the same time, and she moved like a blaze of fire across the room to where her gaze was solely on Ryan.
Her brother, too—walked into the room behind her—it took me a second to realize he was there.
“Jesus, Ryan, everyone’s been freaking out about you,” Stella said, and she turned to give a wild look at everyone there. “What’s going on? Don’t tell me we’re having another fight right now.”
The brother, who as far as I could tell liked to be quiet and stay out of things, sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I’m sure you’d like that,” he said.
The mom hunched her posture defensively, a sour look Ryan’s way. “Well,” she said, “Ryan was just telling me how she’d rather spend this trip with her friend instead.”
Ryan let out a frustrated sigh. “Mom. I’m not trying to start a fight. I’m trying to let you know how I feel.”
I froze up when the grandmother turned to give me a severe look, and she said, “Miss, tell me what room Ryan’s been staying in.”
“Uh—” I blanked. Shit, did she have to address me after Stella had come into the room? Stella wasn’t even looking at me, but her presence was the only thing I could feel. Ryan cut in between the two of us.
“Don’t drag her into this,” she said. “I booked a room at a different hotel altogether.”
The grandmother shook her head frustratedly. “You’re being ridiculous,” she said, and she moved around Ryan to face me again. “Have her room canceled and bring her things back to her own room.”
Jesus, this woman did not understand how hotels worked. Ryan shot her an incredulous look. “Grandma, it’s at a different hotel. ”
Stella stepped up to the desk too, and I got a dry mouth. Especially because she was even hotter when she was yelling, where she turned to her grandmother and said, “You literally want her to get pushed back in with her cheating ex-boyfriend? Force her to go share a room with him?”
The grandmother scowled, looking between them, and she said, “What are you talking about? I’m trying to keep this family together, Stella. This is ridiculous.”
At this point, even the mom seemed to want no part in this, and she cut in awkwardly. “Mom, please, it’s all right,” she said. “It’s not the 19th century. We’re not forcing Ryan to share a bed with the man we’ve picked out for her.”
The grandmother shot her a look. “She’s ruining this family vacation, Elizabeth. And after all the work you put in!”
Stella put her hands up. “ She’s ruining it?”
Ryan, clearly building with frustration, pinched the bridge of her nose. “Everybody—”
Stella turned to face Ryan. “Look, forget them,” she said, “we can go explore the island together or something—”
The grandmother cut in with, “Oh, no need. Apparently she’s got a friend .”
Stella gave Ryan a look. “You made a friend here?”
The brother laughed. “Ryan knows how to make friends.”