The Exception(7)

“Of course I will, and if you need my shoulder to lie on, it’s available.”

“Thanks, but the window is fine.”

I propped the pillow against the window and laid my head down against it.





Chapter Five


Drew



Wow, her story really hit a spot in my heart and I felt sorry for her. I could feel her pain as she talked about leaving her fiancé at the altar, and her parents, shit, I couldn’t imagine growing up like that. Just as we were about to land, Jillian opened her eyes and looked around.

“We’ll be landing in a couple of minutes. I can’t believe I’m landing in Hawaii in the dark.” I smirked.

“You had to have known when you booked the flight,” she spoke.

“This wasn’t my original flight. My other flight was delayed due to mechanical issues and then it got cancelled. This is the flight they put me on. I was supposed to arrive around three thirty pm, not nine fifty pm.”

“This was the only flight that had first class available when I booked it.”

“And when did you book this flight?” I asked.

“Two weeks ago. It was a backup, just in case. And as you can see, the just in case happened.”

When the plane arrived at the gate, I took Jillian’s carry-on bag from the overhead and handed it to her. After grabbing mine, I took a step back and let her out first.

“I’m going to use the bathroom before I head to baggage claim.”

“Oh. Okay. I can wait for you,” she spoke.

“You go ahead.”

I didn’t know how to say it. This shouldn’t have been so hard and I didn’t understand why it was. Maybe because we shared a connection on the plane. Who the hell knew.

“Actually, my girlfriend is meeting me. She flew in this morning.”

****

Jillian

Awkward moment. Was I surprised? No. I didn’t expect a man like him to be single and I never asked him why he was flying to Hawaii alone. I didn’t know what to say.

“That’s great.” My lips gave way to the smile that I had perfected. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. Thank you, Drew, for making my shitty day a little less shitty. It was nice to meet you.”

His lips formed a small smile as he held out his hand to me.

“It was nice to meet you too, Jillian. I hope everything works out for you and you find yourself.”

“Thank you.” I lightly shook his hand.

As I walked away, Drew called my name.

“Jillian?”

I turned around and took one last look at him.

“Do me a favor. Please be careful while you’re here. No matter where you go, there are always some crazy people around.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” I gave him a small wave and headed to baggage claim.

There was a part of me that was sad about saying goodbye to Drew Westbrook. He was the first nice person I’d met on my self-discovery journey. Talking to him for most of the day made me feel good. For the first time in my life, I felt happy inside. When I arrived at the baggage claim area, I saw a nice-looking gentleman holding up a sign with my name on it.

“That’s me.” I smiled.

“Ah, welcome to Hawaii, Miss Bell. I’m Kaleo, and it’s my pleasure to drive you to your hotel.”

“Nice to meet you, Kaleo.”

“Your luggage will be coming out right over here.”

As we were waiting for the luggage to be unloaded, I happened to glance over and saw Drew hugging a tall, blonde-haired woman. A lump formed in the back of my throat and I quickly looked away. I just wanted to get the hell out of here and to the hotel so I could climb into bed and sleep my troubles away. Finally, I saw my luggage come around and Kaleo picked it up and led me to the sedan that was parked right outside the doors. I had no choice but to pass by Drew and his girlfriend, so I kept my eyes looking straight ahead and pretended not to see them.

When Kaleo pulled up to the Kahala Hotel & Resort, he removed my bags from the trunk and the bellhop in front of the hotel grabbed them.

“Welcome to the Kahala Hotel & Resort.” He smiled.

I checked myself in, and when I turned around, I saw Drew and his girlfriend heading to the same elevators I was. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Why did he have to be staying at the same hotel?

“Hello.” He nodded.

“Hey.” I smiled. “Nice to see you again.”

The tall blonde narrowed her eye at me and I could see her claws emerge.

“Jess, this is Jillian. Her seat was next to mine on the plane.”

“Oh. Hello.” She extended her well-manicured hand with an unsure smile and daggering eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Jess.”

We stepped inside the elevator and the bellhop pushed the button for the Presidential Suite. No one spoke a word. This was awkward and there was no reason that it should have been. But then, why did I feel like I had done something wrong? As soon as the elevator doors opened, I stepped out and spoke to them, “Enjoy your vacation.”

“You too,” Drew replied while Jess gave me a slight nod.

Opening the door to my suite, the bellhop set my bags down in the bedroom. I reached in my pocket and pulled out some cash.

“Thank you for bringing my bags up.”