Following Bliss (The Quest series) (9 page)

“Well I
appreciate your concern, but I can assure you that nothing even remotely
romantic or flirtatious has occurred between Kaley and I. Even her emails to me
about this retreat have been all business.” Daniel took a big bite of his
fro-yo to stall. He was confused by what Shelby was telling him, and upset that
she would insinuate that something besides him receiving a big break in his
career was occurring. “Do you normally feel jealous in your relationships?”

This lit a fire
under Shelby. She was simply trying to warn the guy before he arrived at the
lioness’ lair.

“Okay Daniel,
let’s be clear here—this is
not
about me being jealous, but rather me giving
you a heads-up on what you might potentially be stepping into. This woman is a
known seducer of her authors, and so excuse me for being concerned when she
invites a man I’m totally falling for to Maui for two weeks to be with her. And
then you tell me that she is being vague with details. Well, I wonder why
Daniel? Most likely because the only details she has in mind are getting into
bed with you.” Shelby knew she was overreacting, but she couldn’t stop herself.
She was falling
in love
with Daniel and now he was going to Maui and,
despite his mother’s nudging, Shelby wasn’t going with him. What if she lost
him for good?

Daniel’s jaw
tightened. Shelby was raising her voice and people were starting to notice. He
stood up.

“Shelby, let’s
take this outside where we won’t cause a scene,” he said through gritted teeth.

“My pleasure,”
Shelby retorted. She was angry. First at herself for saying something—she had
almost made it the whole way through without uttering a word of Kaley’s potentially
vile motives—and secondly, she was angry that Daniel was so defensive.

As they walked
down the sidewalks of Hawthorne, Daniel and Shelby didn’t say a word to each
other. The tension between them was thick as Shelby cursed herself and his
reaction, while Daniel’s mind spun. Why was Shelby acting so crazy? There was
no chance Kaley was interested in anything more than his book
Shannon Town.
What was going on?

When they
finally arrived at the car, Daniel spoke, turning to face Shelby.

“I’m sorry you
don’t trust Kaley Hamilton. But I do ask that you trust me. I know what I’m
doing here, okay?”

# # #

As Daniel
boarded Hawaiian Air flight 11, he wasn’t sure if he knew anything. When he
allowed himself to reflect on the possibilities for his book
Shannon Town,
as
well as the opportunity to spend two weeks in Maui, he was thrilled. But, that’s
where the joy stopped. The rest of it felt heavy. His argument with Shelby kept
replaying in his mind. How could she act like that? How could she insinuate
that this wasn’t a huge opportunity for him? And why did he keep feeling what
he could only describe as a nudge to have Shelby with him in Maui, even though
he wasn’t sure how that would go—especially since their fro-yo blow-up?

When he dropped
Shelby off, they had kissed briefly, although Shelby was barely able to make
eye contact with him. He didn’t feel good about how things ended before he
left, but he had been so frustrated that he couldn’t summon the energy to make
things better. As Daniel buckled into his coach seat for the five-hour flight
ahead, he couldn’t help but imagine what his life might be like when he was
flying back home. And what would come of he and Shelby? He honestly wasn’t
sure.

Daniel put on
his headphones to distract himself from the heavy feeling in his body. Radiohead’s
“Everything In Its Right Place” came on and Daniel let his mind drift to Maui,
to
Shannon Town,
Shelby, Kaley Hamilton, and all that lay before him.

The next thing
he knew, a woman was shaking him.

“Sir, sir—we’ve
landed in Maui. It’s time to get off the plane.”

Daniel rubbed
his eyes, coming back to his reality with a start. He looked up at the woman
and around him—the plane was empty. Somehow he had slept through the entire
flight and missed the landing. All he could remember were brief visions of his
dreams—it was like someone had drugged him. There were visions of his mother’s
face looking down sweetly at him, he and Shelby dancing in white on a beach and,
for some odd reason, a wispy outline of a woman dancing around with them.
Daniel rubbed his eyes again, trying to wake himself more fully. He felt as
though he had completely left his body and traveled somewhere else.

“I’m so sorry,
for some reason I completely conked out. Thank you for waking me.”

“No problem,
sir,” the young Hawaiian stewardess replied. “Sometimes coming to the islands
puts you in touch with a different reality. Happens all the time.”

Daniel looked up
at her curiously. She simply smiled, turned and headed to the back of the
plane. He thought her remark quite odd, but couldn’t give it much thought. He
had a meeting with Kaley Hamilton after he checked in. And he wanted to make
sure he wasn’t drooling with sleep in his eyes. He had to make every moment of
the trip count if he wanted his career to be anything like Steinbeck’s.

# # #

Daniel had never
been to Maui before and found himself utterly intoxicated with the palm trees, the
sultry warmth, and the smell of hibiscus flowers everywhere. He felt so in love
with the area that he upgraded to a Chevrolet Camaro convertible, so he could
fully enjoy the energy and scenery of Maui. Kaley Hamilton and friends were
staying in a small condominium complex in Kihei about a half hour from the
airport. The plan was that Daniel would get settled in (the group was at the
Grand Wailea spa for most of the day), and they would all meet up in the
courtyard for beverages and appetizers in the early evening.

It was only 2 p.m.,
so Daniel had a few hours before he had to be “on” to see Kaley and company
(which is what he decided he would now call the crew that Kaley had only
vaguely referred to). They had exchanged a few emails to set up the schedule
and travel arrangements, but Kaley had not been very forthcoming about what
type of meetings he should prepare for.

“Don’t worry
about preparing anything Daniel. We’ll keep it all very organic—it is Hawaii
after all. We’ll see how it unfolds and if
Shannon Town
might be a fit
for any of my publisher friends.”
Was all she had said via email.

The use of the
words “very organic” made Daniel uncomfortable. Whenever people wanted to keep
things organic, it usually meant there was zero plan. But, he couldn’t imagine
that Kaley Hamilton became an agent of such notoriety without planning these
types of occasions. Although…with Shelby’s allegations about Kaley’s motives
hanging in the air, Daniel wasn’t sure what to believe. But, his mind argued, the
fact that she felt his manuscript was quality enough to even be present at this
gathering with publishers was a huge compliment to him.

He had been
dreaming about this moment for quite some time. And he hoped that if things
were too “organic” he could nudge them back into line, a line that included him
signing on the dotted line to have his novel published for the entire world to
see. He had worked hard to get to this point, and he would be damned if he
frittered it away with an “organic” two weeks of being in front of major
players in the publishing industry, including Kaley Hamilton.

As he pulled up
to the complex he would be staying at for the next two weeks, Daniel was
impressed. It appeared to be about 12 units, two levels, formed in a “U” shape
with a beautiful courtyard in the middle. The complex was light yellow in color
and the grounds were beautifully landscaped with palm, mango, and avocado trees,
along with brightly colored flowers of every shape and size. Hibiscus flowers
in yellow, purple, and white lined the entire courtyard. In the middle sat a
sparkling swimming pool (that looked so good, Daniel wanted to dive right in),
two picnic tables, and a large barbeque. In the far corner between two palm
trees was a green-and-white hammock.

“They thought of
everything,” Daniel mumbled under his breath. He looked over at his empty
passenger seat and couldn’t help but imagine Shelby sitting there, taking all
of this in with him. Just thinking of her made him want to connect with her in
some way, but he didn’t know what to say or do since their last exchange. He
decided to send her a quick, generic text:
Just got 2 Maui—it’s gorgeous. Will
call soon. XO

Daniel grabbed
his bags and headed up to the complex. Kaley had FedEx-ed the key for his room,
so all he had to do was unpack his stuff and relax before everyone showed up.
He opened the door to room 11 and stood in awe. It was a simple studio, but it had
such a luscious Hawaiian feel with an authentic island theme that it took
Daniel everything he had not jump up and down on the bed like a little boy. Spending
two weeks in paradise was a complete gift from the gods to Daniel. Since his
trip to London right before his mother passed on 11 years ago, Daniel had not
traveled. It was as though the guilt of leaving when she needed him the most
paralyzed him from ever leaving again. Only the prospect of finally doing
something his mother would be proud of—to be a published author—could motivate
him to travel yet again.  And that’s why it was so important to him to have an
agent and publisher choose him, rather than self-publish. He needed the
validation, not just for himself, but for all the years he spent beating
himself up about not doing right by his mother.

Standing in the
middle of what would be his home for the next two weeks, Daniel took a good
look around, grinning from ear to ear. He had done it. This trip was going to
change his life—he could feel it. There was a small sitting area with a white,
purple and green floral couch with wicker accents, a coffee table, a
queen-sized bed with a beautiful floral bedspread, a small tiki brown desk, and
a kitchenette with breakfast bar and two wicker stools. The studio was decorated
with all purple, green and white, and soft brown wicker accents throughout. It
was then that Daniel noticed a large bouquet of flowers and a floral lei on the
breakfast bar. He set down his bags and walked over to the card sitting in
front of the bouquet.

Welcome to
Maui Daniel! I’m so excited you could be here to share in the Aloha spirit.
Love, Kaley

Love? Aloha
spirit? Odd. Daniel tried not to overthink it. She was a professional, and
maybe being in Hawaii just made her more relaxed. Maybe she didn’t want to be
overly focused on business.
Except that’s why I’m here
, he thought. He
had tried and had been successful to not put too much pressure on this trip (and
the time with Shelby certainly made things much easier, until the fro-yo
incident), but now that he was here, simmering in the loveliness of Hawaii, he
couldn’t help but feel a sense of urgency. A sense of,
c’mon let’s do this
.
It was like his adrenaline and testosterone were combining into a crazy-motivated
cocktail. He was going to have to find a way to take the edge off. He was in
Maui, he needed to relax.

Daniel walked
into the bathroom, noting that yet again purple, green and white dominated the
color scheme. He smiled when he saw the deep bathtub.
Shelby would love to
soak in this
, he thought. He imagined her, her hair piled high on top of
her head, relaxing in the tub, while Daniel brought her a glass of wine with “Sea
and Cake” playing in the background. He would love to sit there with her and
talk about anything at all, laugh with her and then, of course, help her get
out of the tub and into something more comfortable…

Right then a
text came through his phone. It was Shelby.
So glad u made it! Text pics whenever u can. Thinking of u! Xo

Daniel
immediately took a photo of the room and the bathtub and texted them to Shelby,
with a few x’s and o’s.

It was after
hitting “send” that Daniel felt a pain in his chest. He breathed into it, noticing
that it felt like regret.
I shouldn’t have let our last time together be an
argument. Maybe her intentions were solely out of concern and not jealously. I
should have tried harder to make it better or understand her point of view. And
I should have asked her to come here with me.
But, the fact of the matter
was that all the shoulds in the world weren’t going to change anything. What
was done, was done. If Daniel had any chance of pulling off a successful first
meeting with Kaley and company, he was going to have to focus on the task at
hand. He sat down at the breakfast bar, pulled his manuscript out of his
suitcase and started thumbing through it. It was a good book. It would be
published. He could feel it.

A slight breeze
drifted in through the window and the smell of the islands made him relax. He
had to trust that everything was happening as it was meant to. What transpired
over the next two weeks could set his career on fire and bring even more
meaning to his life. He needed to keep his focus positive, so that what he
wanted—Kaley Hamilton to represent his work, securing him a lucrative book deal
and for his work to reach mainstream America—could take place. Then, he could
see where things with Shelby would go next.

He was a man
with a plan.

Daniel checked
the time, noting he had about an hour-and-a-half before he needed to be clean-shaven
and ready to meet Kaley. He thought about lying down for a nap, but he wasn’t
tired. He had slept the entire five hour flight and felt energized. He decided
to go for a short walk down to the beach to experience the island manna for the
first time himself. He also wanted to take some photos to send to Shelby.

As he walked
down to the beach, he was overcome with a strong sense of gratitude and joy. It
was true that this past year hadn’t gone the way he would have liked. But, it
had allowed him to finish his novel, and it had led him to the Willamette
Writers Conference where he met Shelby—and meeting her had inspired him so much
creatively and personally that he had nailed the pitch with Kaley. Because of
that, he was here, at one of the most beautiful places on earth to meet publishers
and discuss his book
.
He had spent the past week with one of the most
beautiful, smart, amazing and sexy women he had ever met. When Shelby touched
him, his whole body melted.