Chapter 1

Mark Reynolds needed a change. His divorce was finally over, and now he wanted to put as much distance between him and his past as he possibly could. The divorce was an ugly one, neither party won. And whatever “love” that remained on Mark’s part was destroyed in the fighting and bitterness of the divorce. But that was over now, and Mark just wanted to move on.

His job had been very sympathetic to his marital situation, and had given him the time off he needed for the multitude of hearings, meetings, and consultations necessary for him to get through the legal quagmire. Now that it was over however, he wanted a chance to regroup, collect himself, and plan out how to proceed from here. It was time to have a heart-to-heart with his boss.

“Mr. Jenkins?” he said, knocking on the door to his boss’s office. He peeked around the corner of the partially open door.

“Come on in Mark,” Mr. Jenkins said, “Have a seat. What can I do for you?”

“Thanks. Well Tom, as you know my divorce was finalized the other day. It wasn’t a pleasant thing, I mean no divorce is pleasant but for me and Amy, it was particularly hard. I don’t know if you ever heard the story behind our troubles, but it started a couple years back when I went on that sales trip to Boston – you know the Andrews account. Anyway, I come to find out that while I was away, my Amy was having an affair. And not just any affair ... she was fucking around on me with my best friend!

“I thought it was a one time thing and I was willing to let it go at that. I was hurt, to be sure, but I still loved Amy. So we talked it over and I thought we had gotten past it. But apparently not, because she met with him several times later. I caught her once, she had texted him and forgot to clear her phone afterwards. I picked up the phone accidentally thinking it was mine and found the message.

“And then when I went to that sales conference this past January, I found out she had spent the whole weekend with him. After that, I knew it could never work out. Amy just didn’t respect me as her husband and wouldn’t quit fucking around on me. So I filed for divorce and ... well you know the rest of the story.”

“Mark, I am so sorry that you and Amy came to this. It is terrible to see you two splitting up. I always looked at you and Amy as ‘the perfect couple’ – you know, the ‘Ken and Barbie’ of the company. But I guess even Ken and Barbie can break up if there is cheating going on.” Mr. Jenkins said.

“Yeah, well, it’s over now and I just want to forget the whole damn mess. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I would like to take some vacation time and clear my head. I just want to get away from town and away from all these memories for awhile and put my head back together.

“I know I have burned through a lot of my annual leave with all the meetings and hearings, but I’d like to use what I have left and whatever advanced leave I can get to have some time to regroup and figure things out. I’d even use some leave without pay if I have to,” Mark said.

“Mark you are a good employee and a good salesman. You have done this company well in the past. I don’t see why we can’t help you now. You don’t need to take any leave without pay. Let me look at the books and I’ll see what I can do for you. Come by my office after work today and I should have an answer for you.” Mr. Jenkins said.

“Thanks, boss. I appreciate it. I do like it here and want to do my best for the company. That’s why I need to sort all this out so I can focus on work again.” Mark said. He left the office and went back to his office to work some more on the account he was trying to get.

Quitting time came around and Mark stopped by Mr. Jenkins office again. This time the door was open and as Mark got to the doorway Mr. Jenkins invited him in.

“Mark I’ve been looking through the books. You’ve been with the company for almost nine years now, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right. It will be nine years this coming November.”

“And since you have been here our business has grown considerably, in no small part to your work.”

“Well, thanks boss, but it hasn’t all been my work. We have a great team here and we all work hard to grow the company.”

“That’s true, we do have a good team. Anyway, I see that you do have a little leave left on the books. And if I have it calculated you will earn another weeks worth of leave by the end of the year. So how much time off would you like to take, Mark?”

“Well if it’s possible I would like at least a couple weeks. Like I said earlier, this has been a pretty rough time for me.”

“Yes, I can imagine. Tell you what I can do for you, Mark. You have done us a good job since you have been with us. You have been here a long time and I don’t think you have intentions of leaving us, do you?”

“No sir. I’m not going anywhere. I like it here and I like the people I work with. I am happy here and don’t plan on leaving.”

“That’s good to know. I am going to grant your leave then. You have three days leave on the books now with another week to be earned by the end of the year. That is 10 days altogether. But because this has been so hard on you, and I know a bit about messy divorces myself, I am also going to let you have an additional 10 days off. You will get paid for them, so you won’t lose any money, just promise me you will come back ready to work.”

“That’s great, Tom. Thanks so much, this will help a lot. And yes I will come back ready to work.” Mark said. He left the office that night, happy knowing he was appreciated at work and that his boss was pleased with the job he was doing.

A week later, Mark was finishing up his last work day before starting his vacation. He had booked a trip to the Bahamas, a place he had always wanted to visit. He left the office that evening and headed straight for the airport. He had already packed and brought his bags to work in the trunk of his car.

He was excited about going on this trip and wanted to get started. He stopped at a fast food joint and grabbed a quick burger, fries, and soda before heading to the airport itself. His flight was due to leave Los Angeles International at 8:00 p.m. and with security and parking he wanted to get there a bit early.

He arrived at the airport in plenty of time. Parking the car, he took his bags, picked up his tickets and made it through security with a few minutes to find his gate and wait to board. The plane took off right at 8:00 p.m. as scheduled and once they reached cruising altitude, the pilot switched off the seat belt sign and Mark was able to spread out a bit and relax.

A little over 8 hours later, the plane landed in Miami International Airport and Mark had to change planes. He had an 2 hour layover so he had time to find the gate he needed for his connecting flight, grab something to eat (airline food never did appeal to Mark) and still have a chance to walk around and stretch his legs a bit.

He made his connecting flight and a little over an hour later, the plane was preparing to land in Nassau, the Bahamas. He then took a taxi from the airport to Paradise Island, a neighboring island just to the north of Nassau, connected by a half-mile long bridge.

The cab pulled up in front of the hotel Mark would be staying at and the driver helped get Mark’s bags out of the trunk while the hotel porter put them on a luggage cart and went with Mark to check in. Then Mark and the porter took his bags to his room and once his bags were in the room and he had tipped the porter, he flopped down in the king-sized bed for a well-deserved rest.

After around five hours of good sleep, Mark woke up feeling a lot more refreshed. His hotel room was on the 20th floor and on the north side. The attached balcony afforded him a pretty good view of the beach and some of the surrounding area. He decided to take a look around.

His hotel was conveniently close to the beach and since he came here because of the tropical island allure, it seemed like a good place to start. So he walked down to Atlantis Beach, a long strip of beautiful white sand on the northern edge of Paradise Island, about a block from his hotel.

As he walked down the beach, which at the time was sparcely populated, he saw a very attractive young woman emerging from the surf. She walked past him and smiled a dazzling smile as she went to her towel laid out on the white sand.