Chapter 24: Picking Up a Stray - Missy

Nice, 6:00 AM, July 1

I woke up with the sun as usual, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Dave sleeping peacefully next to me, a smile on his face. He looked so adorable that I couldn't help but give him a soft kiss on his forehead. One eye popped open and looked at me, and he put his arms around me and returned my kiss. "Good morning sweetie," he said.

I returned his greeting, and patted him on the head as I got out of bed. After visiting the bathroom, I went back to the bedroom. "You want to hit the sauna again?" I asked. He nodded, and we went to change. I poked my head in Jess' room and saw her and Cindy asleep in each others' arms. They looked so cute. I grabbed my digital camera and snapped a quick picture, then we headed to the fitness center.

Dave checked the temperature of the steam room, and after he nodded, we entered. The humidity hit me like a fist on the back of the head, and I could feel the incredible heat hitting me like a palpable wave, sending shock waves up and down my body. I took a medium-sized breath, and coughed gently as the thick steam entered my lungs. I felt my sinuses clearing and my skin took on a healthy sheen as I sweated out all the garbage in my system. This time we sat a bit closer together, and I smiled at Dave once we were both relatively comfortable. "How are you this morning?" I asked.

"I'm doing well. I think the steam room and sauna helped me get a bit more energy yesterday," said Dave, as he shifted positions. I could see his glistening body through the mist and I smiled. After a few more minutes of deep breathing, we felt a bit waterlogged and headed to the sauna.

Just like yesterday, Dave chose a spot on the top bench, but this time I came up and sat next to him. It was much warmer closer to the top of the room, but I enjoyed the dry heat. Sweat evaporated from my body but was quickly replaced by more perspiration, and our skin became a bit more pink at the heat. "I feel much more fit after all of our workouts on this trip," I said, while taking shallow breaths. "Even though we've been eating a lot, I think all of the walking and exercise has helped. I noticed I put on about a pound but I feel more trim,"

"Probably just building more muscle. You could afford to gain a few pounds anyways, you're a bit too skinny I think," Dave said. I disagreed and we chatted happily for a bit. After he doused the rocks, we sat on the lower bench until we couldn't stand the heat anymore and fled to change for our swim. We went through our swim and again found Cindy and Jess stretching in the gym when we finished at the pool. I guess Jess was really quite serious about her workouts and Cindy seemed to be a natural runner. Jess, Dave, and I did our chest/arms workout while Cindy ran, and we returned to the room for showers and breakfast.

Breakfast was a fairly casual affair, and we mostly chatted about what the plans for the day were, and we enjoyed a tasty but light meal of poached eggs, pastries, juice, and coffee. We got into our beachwear and headed out to the lobby to go to the beach. As we walked near the Promenade des Angles, I saw a fairly young girl sitting on a bench, her face in her hands, obviously crying. People walked by without paying much attention, but I walked up to the girl and asked in my high school French, "Quel est erroné?"

The others had grouped fairly close behind me at this point, and the girl looked up, eyes flushed with tears, and hesitantly said, "Je ne parle pas Français," She was clearly American.

"You're American," I said. "Whats wrong?"

She looked at me, her big blue eyes wet with tears. "I've been abandoned here!" she cried. I sat down next to her, and asked her to go on. "I came to Europe with my parents and sister. My parents went on a week-long cruise and my sister and I were going to meet up with them in Italy in a week. We came to Nice two days ago, and last night my sister went out and didn't come back. I went downstairs for breakfast in the morning and when I went back up to the room, it was locked and my keycard didn't work. When I had the hotel staff open the room, they said that my sister had checked out and all of our stuff was gone!"

Well, you didn't hear that every day. I put my arm around the girl and she suddenly burst into tears, crying on my shoulder. I patted her back and she sobbed quietly for a few minutes. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Michelle... Michelle Maxwell," she said softly. "I'm from Huntington Beach," she said.

Dave perked up at that. "Do you have a cousin named Ryan?" he asked.

Michelle nodded, giving Dave a strange look. "Do you know him?" she asked.

"Yes, I've worked with him on a few projects. Ryan actually might be able to help us sort this out," Dave said, pulling out his cell phone. He hit a key and put the phone to his ear. "Ryan?" he said. "Dave Huang here. Yes, I'm still in Europe. It's going fairly well, but I have a slight problem and it happens to involve a relative of yours, Michelle." He was a bit surprised that Ryan Maxwell didn't sound at all surprised to hear from him, especially as it was the middle of the night in California.

"She appears to be fine, but apparently her sister has vanished without a trace, and shes sort of stranded her in Nice. Here, let me put her on," Dave handed the phone to Michelle.

"Ryan? Oh my god, I'm so fucked," she said, suddenly putting her hand to her mouth and blushing, as she remembered she had an audience. "Sorry about that, yeah. Yes, I don't know where Ashley is. She didn't come home last night, and when I came up from breakfast, she'd apparently checked out and all of our stuff was gone. Ok, sure I'll put Dave back on," handing the phone back to Dave.

Ryan Maxwell was understandably upset over the news about his cousin, but you couldn't tell from the tone of his voice. He sounded as calm as usual. "Dave, my records show that Michelle and Ashley are supposed to rendezvous with their parents in Capri in a week's time. Are you still planning to be there in a week?"

"Yes, that's about right. You're saying that she's supposed to meet up with her family on the 6th?" Dave asked.

"Yes, at 5 PM. They're supposed to meet them at the port," replied Ryan.

"Yes, we will be in Capri on the 6th. Are you asking if we can bring her with us?" said Dave.

"I'd consider it a personal favor if you would. I hope it won't interfere with your vacation too much," said Ryan.

"Not at all, I'm sure it would be fine," said Dave, his enthusiasm only slightly forced.

"OK, I will take care of the situation with Ashley, and I'll let you know how that plays out," said Ryan, who hung up after the normal pleasantries, and Dave informed us about the conversation, with a few slight modifications for Michelle's benefit.

Well, that was a change, it looked like our traveling party just grew in size yet again. I turned to Michelle. "Ok sweetie, it looks like you're going to be with us for a few days. First off, lets go back up to our room and get you cleaned up, then you can come to the beach with us. If we're going to be hanging out for awhile, we should at least have fun. Ryan said that he knew about the situation with Ashley and he'd get it sorted out," I said. "After we hang out at the beach for awhile, we'll go shopping. Obviously you need some clothes." Michelle brightened at that. No young teenager could resist shopping. "Why don't you guys go ahead and head out to the beach. I'll take Michelle up to the room and we'll meet you back down here in a few minutes," I said, and they agreed.

Irvine, California, July 1, 1:00 AM

Meanwhile, Ryan Maxwell was pissed off. Despite his confident words earlier, he was worried about his cousin, and the situation didn't sound too healthy. He picked up the phone at his desk and hit a speed dial button. As he waited for a connection, he thought about the situation. Ryan was quite close to his cousins Michelle and Ashley, as he only had the one uncle on his father's side, his mother being an only child. His sister Lindsey and his two cousins were some of the few relatives he had. As Vice President of Consumer Operations at Concierge, Ryan had worked with Dave Huang on some projects, and they were actually in negotiations over a job offer. Dave was likely going to take on the position of Director of Travel Related Services, a job which he could mostly do from his own home. He was surprised to hear from Dave though, as they weren't particularly close, and even more surprised that it involved his cousin. Ryan wondered if this incident involved his position at all. As one of the top executives at one of the largest privately held companies in the world, he had to take these matters into consideration. No matter, the situation would be dealt with soon. The phone made the connection, and he heard the voice on the other end. "Daniels," came the monotone answer.