20. Aiden

CHAPTER 20

AIDEN

A s June leads us through the hotel, it's like we're following a minotaur through a maze. All the corridors look the same except for various different yet generic photos of tropical vistas and fruit on blurred backgrounds. It's nice, but for the price tag I'd expect not to see fraying edges on the carpets.

June is babbling on about the oasis, telling us all about its history, how it used to be a vital stopping point for travelers and fortune seekers and how so many people died out in the plains and blah, blah, blah.

Is it bad that I really don't care about anything except Candice?

I should probably pretend to be making an effort, but Candice at least is nodding along and asking the occasional question, which I can kind of make noises to so I sound like I'm paying attention. It's hard when Candice is wearing a dress that shows off her legs and shoulders, and as I walk behind her I can't help looking. It's not my fault she cuts such a perfect silhouette.

We take a sharp left turn and find ourselves in a small, dimly lit conference room. But unlike any other conference room I've ever seen, there are no chairs or tables, just a wide circle of cushions on the floor and some red candles that definitely should not have been left unattended. We're also greeted by the heady smell of incense or perfume, an intense, fake floral scent. It's so strong that it stings my eyes, and I have to resist the urge to cough.

It's obvious which cushion in the circle is June's — it's surrounded by papers, cards and dice. My heart sinks at the realization that she's probably going to try and tell our fortunes or something.

Candice is not going to enjoy this.

"Welcome to the tranquility zone," says June, flinging her arms into the air and spinning in a circle that makes her dress swing wildly around her knees. "Will you both come and sit with me?"

She floats down to her cushion, her skirt billowing out around her, the draft making the flames of the candles flicker alarmingly. Surely there's a fire-safety-protocol incursion here.

Candice and I both share a look and reluctantly make our way over, each sitting on opposite sides of June. She glances at both of us in turn, her expression mystical. "Let's introduce ourselves again, even if we already know each other intimately. I can already sense a great divide here."

She gestures to me, and I clear my throat awkwardly. "Um…" is all I can manage.

"Let's try our names and one of our deepest hopes or wildest fears, shall we?" smiles June encouragingly. In the dull, wavering light, the shadows dance over her face, almost giving the illusion of her being underwater. "My name is Juniper, and one of my deepest hopes is to help give everyone I love the confidence and peace in their hearts to be truly themselves."

I'm glad that she gestures to Candice next, because I need time to think. Candice hums thoughtfully, her forehead creasing between her eyebrows. "I'm Candice, and my biggest hope is for my business to be successful."

"Wonderful," says June encouragingly. I think I find her genuine sincerity kind of annoying, actually. It makes it hard to be mad with her. "And…?"

"And my name is Aiden. And I guess my biggest fear is… failure."

Both of them give me a look I can only describe as withering. I guess that's a lame answer, but I couldn't think of anything else.

"Thank you for sharing," says June politely. She reaches down to pick up a deck of cards and fans them out in front of her. "Okay! So I'm still getting to know you folks, so we're going to start with a little round of compatibilities. Take a card."

We both obey. Candice looks at her card straightaway and smiles. What's there to smile about? It's a regular playing card. Mine's the three of clubs.

June's playing some sort of twisted game with us, though. I had thought "couples retreat" would mean something more like sitting by the pool and getting joint massages. Guess I should have read the information better, because this isn't what I expected at all.

"Okay. I'm going to ask three questions. Please answer as honestly as you can. But while being honest, we're going to try and lay some clues so we can guess each other's card. Got it?"

I nod, frowning, mirroring the discontented look Candice gives June, who seems not to notice, or else is so resilient to grumpy people dimming her cheery mood that she doesn't care.

"Okay," says Candice. "What do we win if we get it right?"

"Knowledge that you're meant to be," June grins, and I cringe. There's no way she can believe all this crap. "Question one: what would be your least favorite part of being trapped on a desert island?"

"Oh!" Candice bursts out, then shrinks as if she wasn't supposed to say anything yet.

"Don't hold back. We're in a safe space." Again, June wafts her hands around like she's chasing after incredibly slow-moving flies.

"I'd be the only one. I don't think I'd enjoy the isolation, and I'd miss my friends." She's keeping a straight face but she's trying to give me a clue. The ace?

June nods sagely, her earrings tinkling like wind chimes. They both look at me again, and I let honesty slip out before I can think about it. "I agree. I think I'd like maybe three days on my own, but I like other people, and I like running water."

Candice and I lock eyes, and I barely hear June's next question over my own thoughts. This game might be stupid, but it's unlocking the final lock on a part of my heart that's been bolted shut for years. I'm not over Candice Metcalf.

I don't think I ever will be if I don't leave here with her as my wife-to-be.

"Imagine," says June, her voice low as she tries to cast a scene, "you're going to the movies together on a date. What's the best snack?"

To my dismay, Candice winces at the word date . I'm going to have to try harder to charm her if I want to persuade her that what we felt that night was real. Because it was.

At the same time, Candice and I both say, "Popcorn." The ghost of a smile brushes over her face, making her look beautiful in the candlelight. If only this was a real date, getting to know her better with my own questions, in a restaurant over an expensive meal where I could see the candlelight reflected in her eyes before I leaned in to kiss her.

"The more buttery the better," I say. She nods in firm agreement.

It should annoy me the way June is sitting back, looking perfectly angelic like she's doing something magical, but it doesn't because the more Candice agrees with me, the more I believe this could really be something. Even if this isn't the way I want to do this, seeing her and chatting about anything other than work is lighting me up in ways I haven't felt since I kissed her eight years ago.

"Okay," says June, clapping her hands together and holding them in front of herself like she's praying. "Final question. Remember, honesty is the key here. Is your life everything you thought it would be when you were growing up?"

"Yeah," I say quickly, surprising even myself. "Dad always treated Fletcher Tech like an exclusive little club that I wasn't going to be allowed into, but I always knew he'd leave his legacy to me in the end."

June beams at me and, despite myself, the confession gives me a rush. Maybe this isn't so stupid after all. The restaurant plan is still better, but if June can get us to start being honest with each other, I'm going to owe her big time.

But I have that thought too quickly, because just as I thought that we were getting somewhere, Candice closes back up again, rolling into a prickly, defensive ball. "Yeah, I suppose," is all she says, and when June smiles gently at her to try and get her to articulate her thoughts, she shrugs. "Anyway, your card is the three of clubs."

I blink, my mouth dropping open. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," she says, pursing her lips like it was nothing. I didn't exactly give her a whole lot to work with.

"Well, you've got the ace… of hearts?" I guess, not confident in my choice at all.

Candice rotates her card slowly to show me the ace of hearts in her hands. June claps in delight. "Oh, brilliant. I love it when people are meant to be!"

"It's a guessing game," mutters Candice, her expression darkening as she folds her arms. "It doesn't prove anything."

June reaches out and puts her hand on Candice's knee. "Sometimes the threads of the universe know things that we don't yet and pull together to surprise us. It's important to keep an open heart and mind."

The way Candice recoils from June kind of makes me cringe, so before Candice can make any more snide comments, I say, "Okay, what's the next activity?"

With a flourish, June grabs another deck of cards and splits it elegantly in half so she can hand a stack to each of us. I take a look at the set I've been given and it seems to be a bunch of random questions with no particular theme at all.

"We're going to play This or That!" announces June with delight.

From the grimaces that Candice and I exchange, I get the feeling this is going to be a long night.