Mindy and Danny agreed that their trip from LaGuardia to Key West International Airport was an uncharacteristically seamless one. Even with a brief layover, everything seemed to remain on schedule (something that neither of them had experienced during their many travels). Their flight was devoid of any awkward travelers, they effortlessly reunited with their luggage, and the wait for the shuttle to their bed and breakfast was a notably short one. Danny read all of this as a bad sign as they rode through the island.
"There's no way we're about to make it through the whole day without something going wrong," Danny predicted with an air of confidence. There wasn't any anxiety in his voice, just certainty that their fortune could not be this good. "Watch us get to the B & B and there be no reservation."
Mindy turned from her window to look at Danny in amazement. "I can't believe you are choosing to overlook all of this beauty in order to be such grump. Look at all this," she implored as she returned her gaze to the view outside her shuttle window. "Palm trees, flowers, ridiculously clear water, no insane traffic…I mean, I love the city, but this is all so gorgeous. And we get to explore it all for seven days! How amazing is that?"
Danny smiled fondly at Mindy's enthusiasm, then obliged her and looked out of his window. New York was colorful, but the little bit of Key West he viewed whizzing by was vibrant. The air smelled delicious, the trees looked like they were dancing and, the most beautiful thing of all, nobody seemed like they were in a rush to be anywhere. The people he saw may have just been walking up and down the sidewalk, but their easy-going nature (or the simple fact that they were walking at a leisurely pace and, in some cases, actually smiling) was something to behold.
"Yeah, it's pretty amazing," Danny agreed wistfully. He turned to Mindy and nudged her gently with his shoulder in order to get her attention. "And I promise I'm going to set my grumpiness aside during this trip. I'm going to try to mimic your blinding optimism and just have a really great time with you."
Mindy rewarded him with a brilliant grin and gave him a quick pat on his knee. "I'd really like that. I can't wait to see Relaxed Danny. What's he like? Does he wear Tommy Bahama shirts?"
"No, never. I packed a lot of t-shirts, though, for your benefit."
"Careful, I don't think there's quite enough room in this van for that monster ego of yours," she countered dryly. Danny laughed as he looked out of the windshield. The van appeared to be slowing down as it approached a large cornflower blue house with a side gravel lot. A shiny metal sign pierced a perfectly manicured lawn and while he couldn't read it, he was sure that it read "Amelia Inn," their home for the next seven days.
"Min, I think we're here," he informed her in a low tone.
"That's it!" Mindy confirmed. "Wow, it looks even better than it does on the brochure! It's going to be so weird not staying in the usual hotel or resort. I can't wait to see the room!"
Mindy's mention of the room ushered in a mild panic in Danny. They never discussed the sleeping arrangement and, considering the original intent of the room, he was sure there was only one bed. He couldn't imagine that the rooms in this house were large enough to fit a cot and a king-size bed like a hotel suite would. This might be problematic, he thought. He looked at Mindy to see if she had arrived at same realization, but he found her readying her phone to snap a picture as they bumpily pulled into the gravel lot.
"Alright, we're here," the kind, portly driver announced. "I hope you two enjoy your stay!"
"Thank you, sir!" Mindy chirped as she unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled the latch on the door.
"I'll grab the luggage," Danny volunteered as he freed himself from his own seatbelt.
"Thanks!" Mindy replied as she rummaged through her woven tote bag and pulled out her wallet. She pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to the driver. "Here you go."
The man took the bill graciously. "Thank you both! Please tell Collette that Griffin says hi!"
"I will!" Mindy promised. She gave a quick nod of her head and headed to the back of the vehicle as Danny pulled out the last of their luggage.
"I've gotta say, Mindy, I'm impressed that you only brought two bags."
Mindy gave him a sly smile. "Well, technically there are four bags. I've packed two empty bags to carry all the stuff that I buy while I'm here."
"Of course," he said with a chuckle, shutting the back hatch. He patted the back of the van purposefully and Griffin recognized it as a sign that he was free to leave, pulling slowly out of the lot and back into the street. Mindy pointed at the small sign that said "Check In" with an arrow underneath, directing them to the far right side of the house. Danny grabbed two of the three suitcases, leaving Mindy to grab her smallest rolling bag before leading them both to the other side of the house. As they got closer, Danny noticed a door leading to office that was clearly not a part of the original structure, but later added. From where he was positioned, he could tell that there was far more to the property than what the facade lead passersby to believe.
Mindy opened the door to find a modest office with a large mahogany desk. Seated there was an older woman who had long, wavy red hair with a shock of gray in the very front. She looked comfortable in a light blue t-shirt with the Amelia Inn emblem at the top right. The woman looked up from her computer screen and gently smiled at them, her crystal blue eyes sparkling in the flood of sunlight that entered with the opening door.
"Welcome to the Amelia Inn!" She greeted. "How can I help you?"
"Hi," Mindy responded brightly. "We're checking in. We should be in the Hibiscus Room."
The woman immediately perked with understanding. "Yes, you must be the newlyweds! We've been expecting you. Congratulations!"
The uneasy expression on Mindy's face let Danny know that she had not expected such a personalized greeting. Mindy began to sputter "Oh, uh-no, not-"
"And you must be Elliot," the woman guessed as she peered around Mindy to talk to Danny. "We spoke a couple of weeks ago. My God, you're handsome!"
Danny grimaced, feeling bad for both Mindy and the oblivious woman. "Well, thanks, but I'm not Elliot."
"My husband's not here," Mindy jumped in. "Actually, I don't have a husband. I'm, uh, not married. This," she tried to lighten up as she pointed to her companion, "is my friend, Danny."
The woman looked confusedly back and forth between the two, trying to understand what was happening. "Oh?" Her face then eased into an expression of sudden understanding. "Oooooh. Okay, now I get it."
Knowing the conclusion she had arrived to, Danny quickly shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. We work together –"
"A workplace affair?" the woman gasped. "That's how it always starts."
"No, not an affair!" Mindy denied indignantly. "I simply did not get married, but Elliot was kind enough to allow me to keep the trip. I believe he may have called and spoke with someone about adjusting the reservation."
The woman immediately returned to her computer and started clicking her mouse. After a few moments, she pointed at the screen and shook her head. "Yes, here's the message. Mindy Lahiri, is it?"
Mindy nodded and the woman began typing away and without removing her focus from the screen, she added, "I'm so sorry. The desk clerk that works on Thursdays didn't pass along the message, that idiot."
"No, it's okay," Danny assured her. "In fact, I was wondering if you had a room available. I'd like to book it for the week, if possible."
Mindy turned around with a look of concern. "Danny, you don't have to do that! I didn't invite you here just so you'd have to spend a fortune."
"It's no big deal, Min," Danny replied in a low voice. "It'll be fine. I want us both to be comfortable."
"We actually have the Ophelia Room available," the woman interjected excitedly. "It's right next door to the Hibiscus Room and it also has a king-size bed."
"I'll take it." Danny pulled the wallet out of his back pocket and immediately removed his ID and credit card. The woman took it and checked him in quickly.
"You're all set, Mr. Castellano," she confirmed as she handed his cards back, along with a printed receipt. She turned around and opened a box mounted on the wall just behind her, pulling out two sets of keys before closing it. "I'd like to take you both to your rooms, but uh..." She trailed off and looked to Mindy. "Maybe you should wait a moment while I fix your room, Miss Lahiri. I think I'm going to need to make a few adjustments."
"Oh, please call me Mindy," Mindy pleaded with her. "And we're pretty tired, I think. If it's all the same to you, I'm sure I can deal with the room as it is now."
The woman raised her eyebrows helplessly, and simply stepped from around her desk and headed towards the door. "Well, alright. Please, let me take you to your rooms. My name is Collette."
Mindy's face broke into a smile and she gave the woman a little point. "Oh, you're Collette! Griffin told me to tell you hello!"
Collette turned around and looked to Mindy with hopeful eyes. "He did, did he?"
Mindy nodded and the woman blushed. There was a sudden smile on her face that she was trying very hard to contain. "That was certainly thoughtful of him."
She turned back around and grabbed the set of keys dangling on the hook next to the door and exited the office. Mindy turned to Danny, her mouth agape.
"Oh, Collette and the driver are totally banging," she whispered frantically. "Or Collette wants to bang him!
"That's none of our business, Min," Danny whispered back. "Now follow the nice lady."
They tailed Collette as she lead them outside of the office and into the main house. The floor and main wrapping staircase were of the same dark wood as the office desk. Danny noted the smell of lemon wood cleaner and immediately felt at ease. He could tell from just the entryway that the staff took great pride in this house. Collette continued casually up the steps as she informed Mindy of the different amenities.
"We serve a continental breakfast from six a.m. until nine a.m. in the front office. You may have noticed the large table across from the check-in desk; it becomes a buffet table in the mornings. Around the corner from the office there is a small, fully stocked bar in the garden. We have Happy Hour every day from four until five, free for all of our guests. If you're quick, you can catch the last fifteen minutes of it once you drop your stuff off. And, of course, there is the pool and hot tub in the back."
They reached the top of the steps where there were four doors with golden placards on them, bearing the names of each room. The Hibiscus Room was closest to the stairs on the right while the Ophelia Room , as Collette promised, was right next door.
"Okay, dear," Collette turned to Mindy. "We've arrived to your room first. Just…let me get in there before you settle in."
Without waiting for Mindy's affirmation, she keyed into the room and rushed inside. Mindy and Danny followed to find Collette scrambling around the bed, quickly gathering rose petals that had been strewn about the comforter. There were a pair of towels that had been folded into the shape of intertwining hearts in the middle of the flowery chaos, along with a clear covered container of chocolate-covered strawberries and a chilled bottle of wine on the neighboring night stand. Aside from the romantic décor obviously meant for a honeymoon, Danny found the room to be very nice: a plush rose-colored comforter on a large post bed, whicker furniture, a mahogany entertainment center, and a large sliding glass door that lead to a white balcony. From where he was standing it looked like she had a view of the pool.
"I am so sorry," Collette apologized sheepishly. Danny could feel the laughter bubbling in his chest and made an attempt to hide it by coughing. Mindy looked a little sickened by the sight.
"I will make sure to get everything out of here in a jiffy," Collette promised, stuffing the pedals down her shirt and reaching for the bucket of wine.
"No, leave the chocolates and wine," Mindy instructed her quickly. "In fact, if you have another bottle around here, go ahead and send it up."
Collette nodded and Danny offered to help her with the pedals as he took the handful that was in her clutches.
"Bless you," she sighed, still holding her shirt to her chest in order to prevent those pedals from escaping. "Now, Mindy, there is a directory by the phone, free wifi internet, and a list of contacts in case of a maintenance emergency or any other issues that may occur after the office closes. I've put your keys on the nightstand. The little brass key is for the main door and the copper-colored key is for your room. Please do not hesitate to call if you need anything."
Mindy smiled and gave a short nod. "Thanks, Collette, I will."
The woman smiled graciously, then turned to Danny. "Okay, your turn, handsome."
Danny dropped off the suitcase of Mindy's he had been carrying and quickly asked her, "So, what's the plan?"
Mindy set her suitcase down and began removing her jean jacket. "Well, I was thinking we could take some time to nap and decompress, then you can meet me in my room at seven and we can head to dinner? There's this seafood restaurant that Elliot wouldn't shut up about and now I'm too curious. It's supposed to be fairly close to here."
"Okay," Danny agreed and started heading towards his room. "I'll be here at seven, so don't take forever on your 'eyescaping,' or whatever you call it."
"Stop judging me," Mindy commanded as she shut her door.
Mindy took a final look in the full length mirror next to the TV. She was amused by her choice to wear lavender floral cocktail length dress with long sleeves. It was the same dress she had worn for a party months ago and Danny had mentioned in passing how much he liked it. The compliment really stuck with her because if there was one thing that Mindy had learned over the years of knowing him, it was that Danny Castellano did not hand out compliments unless he truly meant them. She wondered if he would remember it.
There was a knock on the door right at seven o' clock, which came as no surprise. She took a parting glance at her side fishtail braid before quickly making her way to the door and opening it to find Danny, clad in crisp, dark blue jeans and a plain grey crewneck sweater. His eyes immediately took her in and one corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. He pointed. "The dress!"
"You remember!" Mindy said with a smile. She grabbed the purse hanging from the nearby closet.
"So, did you wear that for me?" Danny asked as his eyebrows playfully wiggled up and down.
"Oh, please gag me!" Mindy forcefully turned him around as he laughed. She smiled at her friend as they descended down the stairs. Danny's arrogance in anybody else would bother her greatly. In him, though, she found that she didn't mind it quite as much.
While she hated to admit that Elliot had been right, The Crystal Seahorse was an enchanting establishment. The décor was elegant, the lighting was intimate, and the food was absolute perfection. All of that paired with the hospitality of the Key West locals made the entire experience something the Mindy would commit to her memory for a long time.
The evening was one of the best she'd had in a long time. Her and Danny drained a bottle of wine, ate delicious food, and talked without any lulls in conversation, unless they were eating. The talked about the practice, Staten Island, Rishi's latest struggles with med school, their favorite TV shows, and even speculated on the history between Collette and Griffin. There had been a lot of laughing, which Mindy realized she hadn't done in quite some time.
Mindy spotted a couple in the far right corner of the restaurant canoodling over a forgotten dessert. It was clear that they were on their honeymoon or celebrating a very important anniversary, as they could not keep their hands off of each other. Mindy expected to feel some form of jealousy course through her at any moment, but all it did was cause a brief moment of sadness with a little bit of curiosity.
"Hey, Danny?" Mindy called out softly, not removing her eyes from the couple. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
"I thought those were the only questions you knew how to ask," Danny joked with another half smile.
"This is true," Mindy admitted readily. "How did you know that Christina wasn't the one?"
Danny raised his eyebrows in surprise and shifted in his seat. "Mindy, are you sure you want to talk about this right now? I'm not trying to trigger any bad memories for you."
Mindy nodded. "It's fine. You kind of touched on it when you decided not to propose, but we never talked about it again." Mindy shrugged and picked up her diminishing glass of wine. "There had to be a reason."
Danny sat back in his chair and line of vision rose to the ceiling. He looked like he was thinking hard about the question and after a moment, he cleared his throat. "Well, there wasn't really anything too specific, event-wise. It was just a feeling that I had almost the entire time we were reconciled that I hadn't realize existed."
Mindy nodded her understanding. It's sounded familiar.
"I remember heading out to meet up with her and feeling this lead weight at the pit of my stomach. I wasn't nervous or excited or anxious, I just wanted to get it over with. It wasn't until moments before I was supposed to see her that I realized that it was the same feeling that I had when I had to return to our apartment, or when we had to go to therapy, or on our date nights. I just always had this looming feeling of wanting to be somewhere else. At first I thought I was just me being closed off and craving my own space because she always used to accuse me of being closed off. Then I would see my patients and I would feel that passion. I would visit my family and felt that excitement. I would be around you and I felt that ease."
Mindy's breath caught a little at his last statement. Though their communication had evolved greatly once they became close friends, affectionate admissions like that still took her by surprise.
"Wow," Mindy exhaled. "That stinks, Danny."
He shrugged and toyed with him empty glass. "Nah, it's fine. I just knew that forever wasn't supposed to feel like that. I still care about her, I'm always going to care about her, but I knew that I had to stop trying to force things to fit if I ever wanted a chance at happiness again."
Mindy smiled ruefully. "I get that."
Danny pushed his empty glass aside. "Well, I would ask you the precise moment you realized that Elliot wasn't the one, but I think that one is fairly obvious."
Snorting, Mindy replied. "Yeah, I think that moment was pretty clear. I think I had the same problem as you, though. Like, I had all these feelings of apprehension that I could never properly identify long before the wedding. Every time I felt judged or muzzled or muted, there was always a part of me that wondered if that was what I had to look forward to for the rest of my life. I just wanted to be married so badly at the time that I guess I just ignored it."
Danny had a look of concentration before asking, "Can I say something to you honestly, even if it comes off a little jerkish? I promise it's not my intention."
"Go for it."
There was a ghost of a smile on his lips, but also a hint of remorse in his eyes. "I'm really glad you didn't marry that guy. I couldn't stand him."
Mindy narrowed her eyes, but there was no stopping the smile spreading across her face. "Danny, why didn't you say anything?"
Averting his gaze just enough to lose complete eye contact with her, Danny answered. "Well, because seeing you happy is always going to be more important to me than my dislike of anyone else."
Smiling wider now, Mindy was rendered speechless. Thankfully, her dessert arrived in the form of an elaborate, colorful fruit tart. The server placed it in front of Mindy with a friendly smile and quickly departed from the table. She lit up.
"Ooh, this is exciting," she gushed. She immediately reached into her bag and pulled out her phone in order to snap a picture. Just as the flash went off, a fork from the opposite side of the table entered the frame. She looked up find Danny preparing to dig into her treat.
"Let's see what we have here," he said, his face betraying a sense of mischief.
"Uh, we have nothing," Mindy informed him firmly as she dragged the plate away from his fork. "I have an amazing fruit. You have nothing because you chose to skip dessert."
"I only skipped dessert because I knew you'd graciously share yours."
"Oh, we both know that's bullshit!"
Danny threw up his hands. "Hey, I'm planning on buying you more than a few drinks this week. Are you really saying that I can't try a little bite of your tart? What's a bite between good friends?"
Mindy groaned. "Danny, you are the worst."
Danny grinned confidently as he leaned forward and dug his fork into the pastry. "C'mon, you don't mean that."
Still feeling particularly moved by the sweetness he'd shown her earlier, she allowed one of the corners of her mouth to lift as she pushed the plate closer to the middle of the table, making it easier for them to share. She grabbed her own fork off the table. "You're right. I don't."
A/N: Hi, y'all! Thank you all so much for the support you've shown thus far! I'm excited to get to future chapters. There are moments that I'm eager to get to!
I just want to warn you all to expect a brief break before the next update, as I will be out of town until Sunday. I'm hoping to start on the next chapter tonight to give myself a leg-up, but I still have to pack!
Love love love, review review review, thank you thank you thank you!
Have a great evening, 7 MORE DAYS, I hope those of you at PaleyFest are enjoying yourselves, and Hollaatchyagirl,
Phunky