Chapter 17

Kelsey was looking forward to landing in St. Thomas and going back to the beach. That was where she could put all the work and the stress of this looming project behind her.

It had only been three weeks since she'd seen Isabella. Dana and Emma had stayed with her for almost two weeks, then Kelsey met with all her clients, whether it was via Zoom, phone, or email. She wanted to be sure no problems would come up while she and Isabella were on their first monthly adventure.

She leaned her head back against the airplane seat and smiled. Kelsey had taken extra care to pack for this trip whereas the month before she was content to throw her swimsuits, shorts, and T-shirts in her suitcase. She told herself that she chose particular outfits this time because they would be making videos, but she knew deep down Isabella was the reason she wanted to look nice.

Honestly, she couldn't wait to see her. She'd admitted that to herself this morning as she got ready to leave her house. They talked or texted most days, but she missed the way they walked arm in arm across the resort, and the little nudges they gave each other. Then there was Isabella's smile. She loved to tease Kelsey with what Isabella liked to call her winning smile, but it was the little smiles they exchanged when they shared a look that sometimes took Kelsey's breath away.

When she got on the plane that morning she'd decided to be more aware of the time she and Isabella spent together privately. They were simply good friends, getting to know more about each other and having fun spending time together. Did there need to be more than that?

Kelsey looked at her watch and found that they'd be landing in Charlotte soon. She didn't have to change planes and Isabella would be boarding for the flight to St. Thomas not long after they landed. They had plenty to discuss and planned to start with a video before they took off. Kelsey had things ready to upload to the website and had already posted several notices about the yearlong vacations to the Virgin Islands.

She was pleased to see several comments from people already following their journey. Kelsey checked a few other behind-the-scenes features of the website she'd built in to make sure it was ready to handle the traffic. Soon, the flight attendant asked her to put her laptop away as they prepared to land.

The scenery out the window kept getting closer and closer until the plane touched the runway. Kelsey felt her heart speed up at the thought of seeing Isabella.

It didn't take long for the plane to taxi to the gate and people who weren't continuing to St. Thomas began to get off. Kelsey took out her phone to check her email and texts. There were texts from both Dana and Emma, then she saw a picture from Isabella.

She was standing at the gate, pointing to the sign that read St. Thomas with that winning smile. Kelsey chuckled at the message below the picture: Can't wait to see you.

"I can't wait to see you," Kelsey mumbled. She tried to tell herself she was excited to start this job, but really she was just as excited to see Isabella. Kelsey wondered if they hadn't come up with this idea if she and Isabella would be seeing each other again. She liked to believe they would, that their connection was that strong from the beginning.

"Excuse me ma'am, but you're in my seat."

Kelsey laughed and looked up into Isabella's smiling face. She wanted to play along but couldn't stop herself from jumping up and hugging Isabella. When she pulled away their eyes met and neither of them said anything for a moment. They simply smiled at each other.

"Uh, are you trying to claim the window seat?" Kelsey said, finally finding her voice.

"Come on, you had it all the way from Denver," Isabella replied.

Kelsey chuckled. "You always get your way." She held Isabella's upper arms and squeezed past her until she was standing in the aisle. Kelsey noticed a bag standing next to their row and recognized it as one of Isabella's from their Christmas trip.

"Isn't this yours?"

"Yep."

Kelsey picked it up and put it in the overhead bin. "Did you check your other one?"

"Have a seat," Isabella said, patting the seat next to her. Kelsey sat down while Isabella settled into the window seat. "You're not going to believe this, but that's the only bag I brought."

Kelsey raised her brows and shook her head. "No way."

"Yep. We're going to show those folks traveling along with us that you don't have to pack a bunch of clothes to have a good time," Isabella explained. "Besides, we only need outfits for three days."

This trip was all about winter at the beach. They were leaving on a Monday, had plans for the next three days, and then would return home on Friday.

"We really only need swimsuits and shorts for this trip," Kelsey said. "The next one will require evening wear."

"Yep. We'll dress up for Valentine's Day."

"I'm so ready to be back at the beach," Kelsey said.

"I had no idea how much work it would take to get ready for this," Isabella said.

"But we're ready." Kelsey took out her phone. "Let's do the first video and I'll post it on the website before we take off. Have you seen all the comments so far?"

"I looked at them before I boarded. We have interest. Now, if we can keep it," Isabella said.

"Give them that winning smile," Kelsey said with a wink.

Isabella chuckled. "You know it."

"Ready?" Kelsey held the phone out so they would both be visible and pressed the record button.

Isabella welcomed their viewers and gave a quick summary of their yearlong fun beginning today. She promised to tell them more about her and Kelsey then gave a rundown of what was happening today.

Kelsey recounted how long the flight would be and what to expect when they got to St. Thomas. One thing they wanted to do was be open and transparent about every trip. They wanted the public to know what to expect, so when others hopefully joined them in St. Thomas, there would only be happy surprises.

"As our creative director, do you approve?" Kelsey asked as she replayed the video.

Isabella chuckled. "I do. What are you?"

"Hmm," Kelsey said, tilting her head. "I'm the technical director." She quickly uploaded the video to the site and in a few moments it was live.

"Look!" Isabella said. "We already have a few comments."

Kelsey widened her eyes. "People really are watching us."

"That's the idea, Kels," Isabella said with a grin.

"I know, but…"

"But?"

Kelsey shrugged.

"Un-uh, don't do that. People are going to love you. Look how quickly I fell for you," Isabella said.

Kelsey whipped her head around and stared.

Isabella gave her a confused look. "Come on, you fell for me just as fast, right?"

"Right," Kelsey said, willing her heart to slow down. Isabella didn't mean she was in love with Kelsey, just that they'd become friends quickly.

"See!" Isabella grinned. She held her phone up and leaned in until her head was touching Kelsey's. "How can people not love us?" She snapped several selfies then put her phone in her lap. She looked into Kelsey's eyes and smiled.

"What?" Kelsey asked, not sure why Isabella was staring at her.

"I missed you," Isabella said softly.

Kelsey returned her smile. "I missed you, too. It seemed a little crazy since we talked nearly every day."

Isabella reached for Kelsey's hand and intertwined their fingers. "I think we needed each other and that's why we came into each other's lives."

Kelsey furrowed her brow and wasn't sure what to say. Did she need Isabella? More importantly, did Isabella need her?

"I don't care how it happened, but I'm glad it did," Isabella added.

Kelsey smiled. "I am too."

Once they made it to the resort, Carmen swept them into her office and went over the schedule. They barely had enough time to put their bags in their rooms before they started recording and uploading posts to the website.

For this trip they were staying in one of the hotel rooms that overlooked the beach. The view was incredible and Isabella and Kelsey made it the focus of one of their posts as the sun went down.

"Everything looks good," Kelsey said as she checked on the analytics of the site. They had more and more comments as well as traffic to the website and it was working exactly as Kelsey had designed it.

Isabella chuckled. "Are you surprised? I'm not. You designed it."

Kelsey smiled. "Thanks, Bella."

Isabella sighed. "This is more involved than I thought."

"We'll get better at it," Kelsey said. "For now, I think our content is good. People are commenting and that's what we want."

"I know, but I didn't really enjoy our meal because we were trying to record, eat, edit, and upload it. I was too worried about getting the right angle of the sunset instead of watching it with you," Isabella complained.

Kelsey closed her laptop and walked over to where Isabella stood at the balcony door, staring out at the water. "How about we take a quick walk along the beach before we go to bed?"

Isabella turned around and gazed into Kelsey's soft hazel eyes. "Just for us, no videos?"

"Just for us."

As they left the building and walked out onto the sand, Isabella put her arm through Kelsey's. "Our rooms are nice, but we don't have our little spot behind our bungalows where we talked every evening."

"Let's give our balcony a try," Kelsey said.

"Do you think we'll be able to hear the water?"

"Maybe."

"I sound like a spoiled little brat," Isabella said.

Kelsey chuckled. "We're tired and doing something neither of us has ever done. Tomorrow will be better."

"I'm sure you're right. Let's go sit on your balcony."

"You know, we don't have to do the same things every time we come here," Kelsey said.

Isabella led them back to the building. "I like sitting on the beach with you."

"I like it too, but it may be just as nice sitting on the balcony," Kelsey said. "I'm not sure it matters where we are."

They walked along in silence and Isabella thought about what Kelsey said. It was easy to sit in the dark, listen to the waves, and talk about anything with Kelsey. She wasn't so sure it would be the same someplace else.

"We're still going to Peaches, right?" Isabella said as they got on the elevator.

"Yes!" Kelsey exclaimed. "We're going to Peaches every trip, whether we record from there or not. Those people are our friends."

"Okay, just making sure," Isabella said.

They got off the elevator and walked back into Kelsey's room. Kelsey moved toward the refrigerator and asked, "Do you want something to drink?"

"I'll take a bottle of water," Isabella said, opening the sliding door to the balcony.

Kelsey handed her a bottle of water but not before she turned the light off in the room. "How's that?"

Isabella chuckled. "There"s something about sitting in the dark at the beach, isn't there?'

"Yeah, it's soothing," Kelsey said.

"Thanks, Kels. I'm sorry I'm being so bitchy," Isabella said. "I promise I'll be better tomorrow."

"You're not being bitchy. Everything is going great, Bella. Because we're great. Where's that winning smile?"

"It's still here. I'm just resting it," Isabella said, taking a drink of her water.

"Is everything okay with you and Spencer?"

Isabella looked over at Kelsey. "Now what makes you ask that?"

"I don't know, you seem a little frustrated. The only time I"ve seen you like that is when Spencer is giving you problems."

Isabella sighed. "I'm not really frustrated with him. I just don't get how he goes out with a different woman every weekend."

"He does?"

"That's what my friends tell me. He never wanted to go out much after we had the boys. We had people over to our house or would go to friends' houses, but not very often. Since the divorce he goes out all the time."

"Hmm," Kelsey said. "We've already established that he's an idiot for letting you get away, but maybe he's not as dumb as I thought."

"What are you talking about?" Isabella asked, confused.

"Why would he want to go out when he could spend the evening at home with you? You can't make me believe any of your friends are more interesting than you."

Isabella chuckled. "Kelsey Kenny, you are something else."

Kelsey shrugged. "I've never been married, but if I'm in love with someone then that's the person I'd want to spend most of my time with."

Isabella stared at Kelsey through the darkness. She could see the lights from the resort reflecting in Kelsey's eyes. "Well that explains it then."

"Explains what?" Kelsey asked.

"Why we're a couple," Isabella said. "Don't tell me you've forgotten!"

Kelsey chuckled. "How could I forget that?"

"You make it sound so simple, but it's true. Why wouldn't you want to spend most of your time with the person you love? My next love is going to be like that."

"Next?"

"Yep. This will sound sappy, but I know my true love is waiting for me."

"That's not sappy," Kelsey said. "Maybe it's right here in the Virgin Islands."

Isabella stared at Kelsey as she looked out at the water. Kelsey slowly turned her gaze to Isabella's and their eyes locked. Isabella could feel her heart beating with Kelsey's. She remembered having the same feeling when they danced together Christmas night on the deck of their bungalow. Isabella had never felt so close to another person and here they were again.