The Fast Lane

Chapter 30

"I am Sasha, the manager of this residence. And you are?" The man stood and looked down at us. His brown eyes were almost black. He was short and lanky and his black hair was graying. The wrinkles on his face had me guessing that he was about 50.

Harry straightened up in the pool and stuck out his hand. “I’m Harry, I bought the place a few months ago.”

Immediately Sasha’s hard face filled with surprise and embarrassment. “Sir, oh I am so sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt-” he spoke quickly and nervously.

Harry raised his hands as to shush him. “It’s okay! It’s okay,” he laughed. “It’s nice to meet you. I didn’t know I had a manager.”

Sasha straightened up and looked proud of the title. “Yes sir. You also have a kitchen staff and a cleaning staff.”

Harry raised his eyebrows and looked around at the parking lot through the trees surrounding the pool where we could now see three or four cars arriving. “And you’re getting paid?”

"Yes sir, you’ve been paying us for the last four months."

Harry’s eyes widened. “Well that’s good to know. I er- I suppose I should be meeting everyone now?”

Sasha nodded. “That would be good, sir. Would you like for me to round them up in the lobby?”

"Uh, yes. Yes that would be great. We’ll uh… We’ll get presentable and be there shortly," Harry nodded at me as I tried to cover myself up with my hands. I had forgotten that I was only in my bra and underwear. Sasha bowed slightly and walked away.

Harry sunk down into the water and came close to me. “I didn’t know I was paying them!” He whispered.

"How did you not??" I whispered, giggling.

"I just… I must have bought them when I bought the hotel." Harry shrugged. I giggled more when he grabbed my sides with his large hands and began to pull me to him. "I guess we should go get ready to meet the crew," he said,

kissing me and lifting me up out of the water. We dashed upstairs and got dressed. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, I saw that Harry was wearing a suit. “Too much?” He looked damn good but I nodded quickly.

"Be casual, you don’t want to scare them."

He changed back into his plaid shirt and a pair of jean shorts. He stuck his hands out beside him when he was finished and let me admire him for a moment. “Much better,” I said, taking his hand and pulling him out of the room.

Harry smacked my bum right before we entered the lobby so we were both giggling when we entered. We both stopped when we realized that 25 people were staring at us. Harry cleared his throat and I stood behind him as he addressed his staff.

"Er, hello. I’m Harry and I bought this place about 4 months ago. I’m excited to finally have a chance to come visit and I appreciate all of the maintenance you’ve been doing while I’ve been away." A young man in the back laughed. He was dark and lean, and he looked like a native. Harry cleared his throat and turned to look at me. I have him a reassuring smile. "Oh, and this is my love, Tristan." He pulled me into a side hug and grinned down at me. He looked back up at the group, almost waiting for someone to say something. I laughed silently as I began to realize that Harry was just bad at talking to groups.

I cleared my throat and smiled. “Um, why don’t we just go around the room and tell us your name and what you do.”

A man on the end of the group stood abruptly. “I am PeeDee, I run the zip-lines here with Jimbo, Luis, and Roland,” he said, pointing to the three men sitting with him. His accent was thick. I noticed as we went around the group that many of the people had a thick accent and I assumed many of them, if not all, were natives. When they finished introducing themselves, Sasha stepped forward. “What can we do for you now?”

Harry hesitated and looked around. “Er- nothing right now I don’t think…”

I cut him off. “Breakfast would be lovely. Maybe after we can zip-line?” I nodded at Harry and he began to nod with me.

"Yes. That would be good."

Sasha turned on his heels and faced the staff. He spoke Spanish quickly and forcefully at the group, shouting until they were all spread out, cooking for us, cleaning, or getting gear for zip-lining. Sasha turned to us. “Please, follow me to your table.”

Harry and I were baffled by the amount of service that we got for the rest of the day. People followed us until we told them to do something or told them to go away, but it was far from annoying. Harry invited the kitchen staff to join us for breakfast and the zip-line crew laughed and zipped under the canopy of trees for hours with us that day. We visited the stables that Harry didn’t know he had and rode the horses along the mountain until the sun started to set, and at the end of the day, Harry gathered and helped the kitchen staff make dinner for everyone. I talked to many of the men and women at dinner about their families and their lives in Costa Rica, and I was loving hearing stories about people and places until someone asked me about my family. I swallowed hard and thought of what to say. My dad left when I was young. My mom died. My sister was being held captive. “My family-” I began. Everyone got quiet to listen, but I stopped.

Harry reached over me to place a hot bowl of steaming vegetables in the center of the large group. He sat down next to me and reached for my hand under the table. He gave my hand a supportive squeeze and said, “We’ve both lost a lot of our families through a series of unfortunate events. I think we’ve kinda become a family to each other. Or that’s how I feel, at least. Is that how you feel?” Harry asked jokingly, but I knew it was a serious question. I felt my eyes fill with tears as I looked into his glowing green eyes and nodded slowly. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, earning us many “Awws” from the group.

Sasha stood. “Speaking of, I need to get home to my wife. Thank you so much for the meal, sir.” He bowed, and many of the other staff stood and did the same. They walked into the kitchen, leaving Harry and myself alone at the table. Harry got down on his knees next to my chair and held my head against his chest as I began to cry harder.

"I love you so much. I can’t lose you. I can’t," I sobbed. "We’ve been through too much together already and I’ve just come to realize that I can’t live without you anymore."

Harry stroked my hair and breathed slowly. “You won’t lose me. I promise. And I promise you won’t lose your sister either. We’ll save her and ourselves in the process. Trust me.” He put both hands on my cheeks and looked into my eyes, then kissing the falling tears off of my face. I didn’t know how we would save her, but right then Harry gave me so much hope for my sister that I believed him. I was determined. I wasn’t going to let Rich make me choose between Harry and my sister.