Ready to Run

Chapter 5

At ten minutes to seven there was a crisp knock on her door. "I'll be right there," she called before taking one last look in the mirror.

Her white cotton sundress had a pleated skirt and a narrow navy blue belt, and a navy grosgrain ribbon held her hair back from her face. Mascara and lip gloss were her only makeup, as usual. Lexi prided herself on being put together and low maintenance at the same time.

As she opened the door, she was surprised to see Lukas waiting for her. She had expected, hoped for, Jack. Lukas, a close second in charm and good looks, was dapper in his khakis, crisp light pink shirt, blue blazer, and a bright pink bowtie.

"Hello, love. I thought I'd see if I could woo you away from my boy." He winked.

She laughed, "Give it your best shot."

He kissed her.

Taken completely by surprise, she found herself kissing him back, and liking it.

Regaining her senses, she pushed him away, politely. "Well, that was unexpected. And nice. But I'm not going to lead you on. If it's going to happen, it's going to be with him. Can we still be friends?"

"Of course, love. Honestly, there's a delicious bird from reception called Laura who's been making eyes at me and chatting me up. What do you think, shall I give her a whirl?"

Lexi shook her head. "You're that one of the bunch, aren't you? Whirl away. But as a nurse, I must remind you to be smart and be safe. Please tell me you boys are well stocked in the safety department?"

They began to walk toward the clubhouse.

"They've got us so many condoms it'd take a year to use them all. Really, though, we're not having half the fun you'd imagine. There may be some fun to be had with the lovely Laura, however."

"Yup. You're definitely that one."

Very little was said over dinner about Lexi's interview with Nigel. She learned more about Phillip and Emma's jobs. At the moment they were basically just making sure no one did anything foolish on vacation while working remotely to organize logistics for the upcoming video shoots.

Lexi was invited to join them the next afternoon for an outing on a rented yacht. There would be a photographer accompanying them for publicity shots. Lexi perked up at the mention of jet skis. Having grown up in an avid boating family on the Chesapeake Bay, she was the only one in the bunch who actually knew how to drive one. She looked forward to showing off a bit.

Later that night there would be dancing at the clubhouse, but after dinner they decided to visit the beach where a bonfire had been lit. Jack sat on one side of Lexi, Ewan on the other. Lukas was across the fire next to a lovely woman of thirty or thirty-five. Not quite old enough to be his mother. Laura. Fyn sat on the other side of Jack, talking to a handsome young man.

She felt Jack move closer, pressing his hip and thigh to hers. Ewan was close as well, vying valiantly for her attention.

"Ewan, you have interesting hair. That's not your natural color, obviously."

"Oh no. My hair's what they call dirty blonde. No character at all. Now see, this has character. In fact, I modeled it on a film character. Can you guess which one?"

It was spiky bleached blonde hair. It could have been a hundred characters. She shook her head.

"Here, I'll give you his most famous line..."

Lexi got it right away. "That's Slick - he's my favorite character in Ghost Life; it's such a beautiful film about such an ugly subject. I'm a fan of Tom Langford, he plays Slick. But he's not really Scottish, so isn't it traitorous to be a Scotsman trying to look like an Englishman pretending to be a Scotsman?"