The Millionaire's Convenient Arrangement

Good Intentions . . . But

She managed to get through the rest of the dinner, the football game on TV, and all the hugs and farewells with a smile on her face. But as soon as they were in the car she turned to him.

"So explain to me why you told everyone we're going to Bimini for Christmas, and this is the first I've heard about it."

"I'm sorry. They were asking about your family and your plans, and I knew the second you said it was just you and Joey for the holidays, my mom would have insisted you join in the whole Perez family Christmas. My family can be a little overwhelming. And actually, the idea just occurred to me while we were at the table."

He glanced over with an apologetic smile. "If I'd thought of it earlier, I'd have mentioned it."

What kind of person decided on the spur of the moment to take off for the Bahamas in a few weeks? A person who owned his own business and had enough wealth and power to do whatever he wanted, she supposed.

"I just don't like people just assuming they can make plans for me." She had this lump in her throat that was making it hard to swallow. Was there anything in her life that she had control over anymore?

"Come on, Maria," Joey piped up from the back seat. "It sounds cool."

"I know it sounds cool." And if she refused to go, she'd be the bad guy with Joey.

"Look," Ritchie said, as he merged into traffic. "If you don't want to go, it's no big deal. But if you do, you'd be doing me a favor. We have some rental property there."

"We?"

"Jonathon, Sam, and I. It's an investment. We rent it out most of the year, but we left it open for two weeks over Christmas this year. Jon and I were planning on going down there, taking care of some repairs from the last tropical storm that went through there, and having some downtime."

"Oh, so Jonathon's going too?" Now it was beginning to make sense. He was leaving town for the holidays anyway and was feeling guilty about just leaving her and Joey here. Or maybe he was worried what kind of trouble Joey might get into while he was off school and Maria was pulling double shifts at the restaurant. Anyway, with Jonathon there, it would be more business.

"No, Jonathon has a trial coming up and can't take the time. It would have been the first vacation I've had in a long time. I was planning to just cancel it and deal with the repairs long distance." He looked over at Maria. "But then when everyone was talking about Christmas plans, I thought, why not just take you and Joey down there and make it a fun trip? How long has it been since you had a vacation?"

Had she ever had a vacation? Not since she studied that summer in Italy, when her future seemed full of nothing but good things.

Joey piped up from the back seat. "We took that trip to Disney, remember Maria?"

It had been Joey's 10th birthday, and it had taken her almost a year to save up enough money for the three-day park hopper passes, even with her Florida resident's discount. She'd chosen one of the economy family hotels on the property. She could have gotten a cheaper place to stay a few miles out, but figured the convenience of the free shuttle busses from the hotel to the parks, plus the huge kid-friendly pool and food court and refillable drink mugs was worth the price. But it made her heart ache now to think that a three-day trip to Orlando almost four years ago was the only vacation Joey had ever known.

"All right, let's do it," she said and heard Joey's whoop of delight. She just hoped she didn't regret it. If managing her conflicted feelings about Ritchie was difficult now in the day-to-day routine they'd established, she could only imagine how much harder it would be at a vacation paradise in the Bahamas.