Roatan Plunge | Love Travels #2

Twenty - Óscar

The three days before the wedding are so full of things to prepare that Lorena and I have been spending time with each other constantly.

We've also been surrounded by everybody else.

I'm working really hard to convince myself the chaperones are a good thing, but I can't stop wishing we'd had time to just be us. That night will live in my head for the rest of my life. Waking and sleep. Happy and sad. It's constant.

Today is my last chance to soak up Lorena's laugh and revel in her touch. And I plan to spend every possible second memorizing everything. In case I'm right and I'll never meet someone quite like her.

I'm doing my best to hold it together for my brother. His wedding is this afternoon, but all I want to do is go find Lorena and ask her to give me a chance.

Maybe I could be what she needs. Maybe...

A knock rings through my room. Then it comes again. I'm not fit for company.

"Open the door, primo," Marcia calls from the other side. "We have a catastrophe."

The least welcome of interruptions.

But Marcia does not use the word catastrophe for nothing, so I don't worry about my unkempt status, racing across the room and dragging the door open.

There stands Marcia, looking even more dishevelled than me, hair all askew, standing in her pyjamas in the hallway.

"What happened?" I ask, letting her step into my room.

"Remember how Abel was going to get Sergio to come back just for our tour?"

I nod, but a rock settles in my stomach.

"Well, apparently Sergio didn't want to return to work for you and will be retaining his position with Abel's company and not taking the leave of absence we were promised."

"So Abel didn't manage to get him to come down?" I ask. "I can't fault him for that."

She grits her teeth together and slams herself down into the chair, the coffee she holds sloshing around in her cup. "I called Sergio this morning to discuss details, and it's way worse than that. Abel didn't even ask him to come."

"He what?" Now it's my turn to fall down to the bed, knees no longer wanting to hold me up.

"You heard me. He never even asked Sergio to come down. He just wanted to..."

"I know," I say, not wanting to finish her sentence any more than she does. He just wanted to control her and pull one over on me. He wanted control.

"Well, now that I know, of course Abel is leaving. I called security. He won't be at the wedding."

"You—"

But she cuts me off. "I know I need to leave him. My sister's friend is going to our place this afternoon to help the moving crew get all of my things out of the apartment and into storage. I'll deal with everything else when I get back."

"You doing okay?" I ask when she's done her interruption. "I knew what you'd done the minute you told me Abel screwed you over. No way you'd be wearing that if you weren't eager to escape your room."

She pretends to throw her coffee at me and then brings it up to her lips and takes a long sip. "I'll be okay," she sighs without opening her eyes.

"You will," I agree. I don't know how to respond right now. My mind is reeling with all the problems and what ifs. I cannot cancel on Porfirio, but I can't do this without Sergio and Marcia. But there's no way I'm telling her that and sending her right back into the arms of a man I'm trying very hard to not give a piece of my mind.