I will speak to Ms. Delphine.” Cameron wanted to find her now, in fact. His need to see her has been growing ever since she’d walked away from him early that morning. “I’d like some concrete answers about those performance reviews, even if they do seem like minute fluctuations.”
He rose from his seat, liking the new plan more than he should. Damn it. Spending more time with Maresa didn’t mean anything was going to happen between them. As her boss, of course, he had a responsibility to ensure it didn’t.
And, without question, she had a great deal on her mind today of all days. But maybe that was all the more reason to give her a break from the concierge stand. Perhaps she’d welcome a few hours away from the demands of the guests.
“Certainly.” The hotel director followed him to the door. “There’s no one more well-versed in the hotel except for me.” His grin revealed a mouth full of shiny white veneers. “Stick close to her.”
Cameron planned to do just that.
* * *
“Have you seen Rafe?” Maresa asked Nancy, the waitress who worked in the lobby bar shortly after noon. “I wanted to eat lunch with him.”
Standing beside Nancy, a tall blonde goddess of a woman who probably made more in tips each week than Maresa made in a month, she peered out over the smattering of guests enjoying cocktails and the view. Her brother was nowhere in sight.
She had checked on Isla a few moments ago, assuring herself the baby was fine. She’d shared Trina’s notes about the baby’s schedule with the caregiver, discovering Isla’s birth certificate with the father’s name left blank and a birth date of ten weeks prior. And after placing a call to Trina’s mother, Maresa had obtained contact information for the girl’s father in Florida, who’d been able to give her a number for Trina herself. The girl had tearfully confirmed everything she said in her note—promising to give custody of the child to Rafe’s family since she wasn’t ready to be a mother and she didn’t trust her own mother to be a good guardian.
The young woman had been so distraught, Maresa had felt sorry for her. All the more so because Trina had tried to handle motherhood alone when she’d been so conflicted about having a baby in the first place.
Now, Maresa wanted to see Rafe for herself to make sure he was okay. What if Jaden had mentioned Isla to him? Or even just mentioned Trina leaving town? Rafe hadn’t asked about his girlfriend since regaining consciousness. She suspected Rafe would have been walking onto the ferry that morning the same time as Jaden was walking off.
Earlier that day, she’d left him a to-do list when she’d had an appointment to keep with the on-site restaurant’s chef. She’d given Rafe only two chores, and they were both jobs he’d done before so she didn’t think he’d have any trouble. He had to pick up some supplies at the gift shop and deliver flowers to one of the guests’ rooms.
“I saw him about an hour ago.” Nancy rang out a customer’s check. “He brought me this.” She pointed to the tiny purple wildflowers stuffed behind the engraved silver pin with her name on it. “He really is the sweetest.”
“Thank you for being so kind to him.” Maresa had witnessed enough people be impatient and rude to him that he’d become her barometer for her measure of a person. People who were nice to Rafe earned her respect.
“Kind to him?” Nancy tossed her head back and laughed, her long ponytail swishing. “That boy should earn half my tips since it’s Rafe who makes me smile when I feel like strangling some of my more demanding customers—like that Mr. Holmes.” She straightened the purple blooms with one hand and shoved the cash drawer closed with her hip. “These flowers from your brother are the nicest flowers any man has ever given me.”
Reassured for the moment, Maresa felt her heart squeeze at the words. Her brother had the capacity for great love despite the frustrations of his injury. Maybe he’d come to accept his daughter as part of his life down the road.
Until then, she needed to keep them both safely employed and earning benefits to take care of their family.
“It makes me happy to hear you say that.” Maresa turned on her heel, leaving Nancy to her job. “If you see him, will you let him know I’m having lunch down by the croquet field?”
“Sure thing.” Nancy lifted a tray full of drinks to take to another table. “Sometimes he hangs out in the break room if the Yankees are on the radio, you know. You might check if they play today.”
“Okay. Thanks.” She knew her brother liked listening to games on the radio. Being able to listen on his earbuds was always soothing for him.
Maresa hitched her knapsack with the insulated cooler onto her shoulder to carry out to the croquet area. The field didn’t officially open again until late afternoon when it cooled down, so no one minded if employees sat under the palm trees there for lunch. There were a handful of places like that on the private island—spots where guests didn’t venture that workers could enjoy. She needed a few minutes to collect herself. Come up with a plan for what she was going to do with a ten-week-old infant after work. And what she would tell Rafe about the baby since his counselor hadn’t yet returned her phone call.
Her phone vibrated just then as her sandals slapped along the smooth stone path dotted with exotic plantings on both sides. Her mother’s number filled the screen.
“Mom?” she answered quietly while passing behind the huge pool and cabanas that surrounded it. The area was busy with couples enjoying outdoor meals or having cocktails at the swim-up bar and families playing in the nearby surf. Seeing a mother share a bite of fresh pineapple with her little girl made Maresa’s breath catch. She’d once dreamed of being a mother to Jaden’s children until he betrayed her.
Now, she might be a single mother to her brother’s baby if Trina truly relinquished custody.
She scuttled deeper into the shade of some palms for her phone conversation, knowing she couldn’t blurt out Isla’s existence to her mom on the phone even though, in the days before her mother’s health had taken a downhill spiral, she might have been tempted to do just that.
“No need to worry.” Her mother’s breathing sounded labored. From stress? Or exertion? She tired so easily over the past few months. “I just wanted to let you know your brother came home.”
Maresa’s steps faltered. Stopped.
“Rafe is there? With you?” Panic tightened her shoulders and clenched her gut. She peered around the path to the croquet field, half hoping her brother would come strolling toward her anyhow, juggling some pilfered deck cushions for her to sit on for an impromptu picnic the way he did sometimes.
“He showed up about ten minutes ago. I would have called sooner, but he was upset and I had to calm him down. I guess the florist gave him a pager—”
“Oh no.” Already, Maresa could guess what had happened. “Those are really loud.” The devices vibrated and blinked, setting off obnoxious alarms that would startle anyone, let alone someone with nervous tendencies. The floral delivery must not have been prepared when Rafe arrived to pick it up, so they gave him the pager to let him know when it was ready.
“He got scared and dropped it, but I’m not sure where—” Her mother stopped speaking, and in the background, Maresa heard Rafe shouting “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know” in a frightened chorus.
Her gut knotted. How could she bring a ten-week-old into their home tonight, knowing how loud noises upset her brother?
“Tell him everything’s fine. I’ll find the pager.” Turning on her heel, she headed back toward the hotel. She thought the device turned itself off after a few minutes anyhow, but just in case it was still beeping, she’d rather find it before anyone else on staff. “I can probably retrace his steps since I sent him on those errands. I’ll deliver the flowers myself.”
“Honey, you’re taking on too much having him there with you. You don’t want to