I shake my head. “No.”
“Then why did your lip just twitch?”
“It does that when I’m angry.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” I deadpan.
“Well now my feelings are hurt. You really don’t think I’m funny? How will I ever recover?”
“Well I’m sure we can find a famous comedian in one of thethousandsof rooms in this place to help you. If we start looking now, maybe we’ll be able to finish checking all the rooms by the end of this week.”
“Ah so we’ve circled back to the root of the problem. You don’t like this resort?”
Guilt fills my chest as I take in his solemn expression. “The resort is beautiful Jake. It’s seriously the nicest place I’ve ever seen.”
“Then what’s the problem?” He cocks his head.
The problem is I have never been in a place this expensive, and I have no idea how I can ever pay your parents back—breathe, Eliana. Jake has put in so much effort to make thistrip special and to create some time to relax. The least I can do is just try to have fun.
I shake my head. “There’s no problem. I’m sorry. I just made some assumptions about what this trip was going to look like, which is my fault. This is amazing, Jake. More than amazing. Truly.”
He gives me a soft smile. “I brought you here because you deserve something special. My family always treats this trip as prime time to relax and decompress. I just thought after spending the past twenty-one years taking care of yourself and Josie, you’ve more than earned a week of relaxation. You deserve a week where you get to experience what it’s like to prioritize yourself.”
“I love your heart and your kindness, Jake. But I don’t want you to put all this extra pressure on yourself to make me happy. Life is filled with stress, and that’s okay. As long as I have you by my side.”
He presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “Fair enough. Would you at least like to know what I have planned for the rest of the week?”
There’s a part of me that screams “YES”, but I remind myself that I want to be more spontaneous and go with the flow. And that started with letting go of to-do lists and calendar events. “Nope. You can just surprise me. I know whatever you have planned will be great.”
“Just you wait and see what I have in store. I’ve taken the homework assignment of making this the best Christmas ever very seriously.”
“Glad you hear it. Because if you hadn’t, I would have to have a word with your tutor.” I laugh as he wraps an arm around my shoulder and leads me to our suite.
Chapter 41
Eliana
“So did I do a good job?” Jake’s soothing voice echoes off the thin glass walls of the star-gazing room. Because of course this hotel had everything I could ever want all in one place. When Jake opened the door and pulled me inside, I nearly burst into tears at the sheer magnitude of beauty in front of me.
“I can’t even remember the last time I was able to see this many stars. I could lay here forever.” I give his hand a squeeze while I rest my head on his chest, the two of us spread out on the padded floor.
He extends his other arm to point out more constellations. “That right there is Orion’s Belt.”
“It’s stunning.” I let out a content breath. Pointing to the three stars to the left, I ask, “What’s that one?”
“Umm…his helmet?” Jake’s uncertainty draws a laugh from me.
“Mmm, something tells me that’s not quite right.”
“Well, I never claimed to be an astrologer.”
“Astronomer,” I correct
“Same difference.”
“You’re right, they’re practically interchangeable careers,” I laugh.
