Page 19 of The Worst Vacation Crush

The job was mine!

I threw my underwear drawer open and riffled through a jumbled mass of undies until my fingers landed on a very special envelope. I’d written, re-written, and re-re-written the words on the paper inside until I was satisfied that my resignation letter was perfect.

One night last week, I’d stumbled on just the right farewell message. It was short. It was sweet. It was to the point. It said…

I QUIT!

It was perfect.

I kissed the envelope and did a sorry rendition of River Dance across my bedroom floor, throwing caution to the wind. Who cared what my gripey downstairs neighbor said. I was moving to O’ahu!

I sucked in a sharp breath. O’ahu was Kai’s home island.

Fireworks went off in my stomach, and I wondered just how small the island was. Kai said he was going to work with his dad if he didn’t get my job.

My job.It felt amazing to say that.

Mom said people in small towns ran into people they knew all the time. Was it the same way on small islands?

I pulled my vision board away from my chest just enough to get a good look at that photo of the hut—or more precisely—the beefcake standing next to it. I couldn’t help but wonder just how far this board could take me.

It couldn’t magically suck Kai into my life and keep him there, could it?

No, that was stupid. I hardly knew the man, and half of the time we’d spent together, all he’d done was get under my skin. We were definitely not meant to be.

Besides, Kai was a grown man with a free will. No amount of positive thinking from me was going to override that. He had hopes and dreams of his own.

A sickening thought hit me, and I laid the board down on my bed. I backed slowly away, my eyes never leaving the images of what was about to become my new tropical paradise home.

My dream-come-true was his crushed dream.

Supposing I ever did run into him on the island, would he hate me for being chosen over him for the job?

My stomach churned. What he thought of me probably shouldn’t have mattered so much. But it did.

It mattered a lot.