THE PERFECT GIFT

  WINTER K. WILLIS

  CONNECT WITH WINTER

  Winter K. Willis is a pseudonym for our two-person writing team. We like to think of it as our band name. We love telling our character's stories and hope that you enjoy reading them.

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  Copyright © 2023 by Winter K. Willis

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Celestial Bear Publishing

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The content of this book is for entertainment only and does not constitute as health, medical, legal or financial advice. Purchasing and/or reading this book does not retain consulting services from the authors in any capacity. For any health-related inquiries, please contact your healthcare providers.

  ALSO BY WINTER K. WILLIS

  THE WIFE INSIDE

  HOW THE AFFAIR ENDS

  BEHIND THE NEIGHBOR’S DOOR

  CONTENTS

  1. Chloe

  2. Jake

  3. Chloe

  4. Mary

  5. Jake

  6. Chloe

  7. Jerry

  8. Jake

  9. Chloe

  10. Jake

  11. Chloe

  12. Jerry

  13. Chloe

  14. Jerry

  15. Chloe

  16. Jake

  17. Chloe

  18. Jerry

  19. Chloe

  20. Jerry

  21. Jake

  22. Jerry

  23. Chloe

  24. Mary

  25. Jake

  26. Chloe

  27. Jerry

  28. Chloe

  29. Jerry

  30. Jake

  31. Chloe

  32. Chloe

  33. Mary (Past)

  34. Jerry (Past)

  35. Mary (Past)

  36. Chloe

  37. Jerry (Past)

  38. Chloe

  39. Jerry

  40. Chloe

  41. Chloe

  42. Chloe

  43. Mary (Past)

  44. Jerry (Past)

  45. Mary (Past)

  46. Jerry

  47. Chloe

  48. Jerry

  49. Chloe

  50. Jerry

  51. Chloe

  52. Mary (Earlier)

  53. Chloe

  54. Jerry

  55. Mary

  56. Jake (Past)

  57. Young Jake (Past)

  58. Mary (Flashback)

  59. Jake (Past)

  60. Chloe

  61. Jerry

  62. Chloe

  63. Chloe

  64. Chloe

  65. Mary

  66. Jerry

  A Letter From Winter

  Connect with Winter

  1

  CHLOE

  The ocean outside my room is calm and serene. The waters look almost like glass as the boat cuts through them. There’s no evidence of the storm that rocked the ship violently just a few hours ago and made me wish I hadn’t come. I spent the first few hours of the storm lying on my bed, praying for the rocking to stop. The incessant waves splashed the side of the boat with every dip, causing my heart to race and panic to set in. I eventually found myself in the bathroom, sitting in the bathtub with my arms wrapped around my legs, praying for it to be over.

  But the fear of the boat being decimated by the waves wasn’t the worst part. The erratic motion of the ship made me violently ill. In those moments, hovering over the toilet, I hated Tawni. I couldn’t believe she convinced me to get on this ship. What kind of island doesn’t have airport access? Even just a tiny plane would have been way faster than the days we’ve spent on this boat.

  I don’t remember this horrific journey from the last time I came to this place, but then again, I was only nine or ten. The years before I turned twelve only come to me in bits and pieces, but the memories I do have of this resort are some of my best ones with my dad. I only agreed to come on this adventure because I thought it might bring me closer to him.

  As soon as the waves stopped rocking the ship, I crawled out of the tub and back to my bed. I’ve spent hours lying there with my eyes closed, willing for the spinning to stop. It is now the middle of the morning. The motion sickness has finally subsided, but I feel beaten. My body feels as though it has run a marathon. I try to sit up and immediately lie back down as the walls begin to spin again.

  Note to self, never ride on a boat again.

  A knock sounds on the door. I groan. Please don’t make me get up. The knocking sounds again. It must be Tawni. I sigh deeply and swing my legs over the side of the bed, preparing myself to stand. Taking a deep breath, I rise. Feeling wobbly on my feet, I slowly make my way to the door and check the peephole. Tawni is standing in her bikini and sun hat with a bright smile on her face, holding two beach towels.

  No, she can’t expect me to go upstairs after all that last night.

  I slowly open the door.

  As soon as the crack is large enough for her to fit through, she rushes past me. “Chloe! Come on. We have to go up to the deck. It’s our last day. We have to make the most of it.”

  I glare at her. How is she so perky after last night? She rushes over to my dresser and starts rummaging through it, looking for my bikini.

  “What are you doing, Tawni?”

  “I’m helping you out, Chloe. We have to go upstairs.”

  “I don’t have to go anywhere. I spent the entire night sick. Did that storm not bother you?”

  “Oh, that? I slept through the whole thing,” she says flippantly.

  My jaw drops to the floor. “How? I thought we were gonna die several times over.”

  She waves her hand dismissively. “It was no big deal.

  This boat is big. I knew it wasn’t going to sink.”

  “You have a lot more trust than I do in this floating city. I mean, the fact that the entire thing floats when it weighs so many tons is the best reason not to trust it.”

  “You know there’s a science to it. The hull is shaped in a certain way that keeps it on the water. I don’t exactly understand it, but I know it’s safe. You shouldn’t have worried like that.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m never doing this again, so don’t even ask.”

  “Fine, but you’re here now, so you might as well enjoy it.”

  “Okay,” I say begrudgingly. I open a drawer and pull out my bathing suit. “I’ll go to the deck with you. Maybe the fresh air will help me feel better.”

  She stands up and looks at me, a concerned expression on her face. “You do kind of look like death.”

  “Thanks, Tawni,” I say sarcastically. “Your support means everything to me.”

  “I know,” she says, the sarcasm totally going over her head. “Hurry up. Let’s go get out of here.”

  Thirty minutes later, I find myself lying by the pool. The warm sun feels good against my skin. I look over at Tawni and admit it. “This was a good idea.”

  “I told you so. This resort that we’re going to is supposed to be one of the best in the world. Trust me, you’re not even going to remember last night once we get there.”

  “You know I went here one time with my dad as a kid, right?”

  “Shut up,” Tawni says. “Why did you never tell me?”

  “I don’t know. I just didn’t want you to be weird about it.”

  “But Chloe, your dad just passed away a couple of months ago. Are you sure you’re ready for something like this?” She looks at me with concern and puts her hand on my arm.

  “I’ll be fine. I actually think it will be good for me. The memories I have of this resort are some of the best ones I have with my dad.”

  “What do you remember? Is it amazing?” She asks excitedly.

  “I don’t remember much. I think my strongest memory is of swimming with the dolphins. They have this excursion where you can swim with a local pod in one of the coves. I remember being so mesmerized by them.”

  “Woah, that actually sounds kinda dangerous. I’m surprised your dad let you do that,” she says, shocked. “He always seemed to me like the cautious type.”

  “He is,” I chuckle. “He was... but I remember begging him incessantly until he finally gave in to get me to shut up.”

  “Sounds about right,” she says playfully.

  “Shut up,” I say, giving her a whack on the arm. “I’m not that demanding anymore.”

  “Sure,” she says, grinning at me.

  “Whatever, you’re just jealous of my time with the dolphins.”

  “Um, no. You can miss me with that death-defying activity,” she says, crossing her arms.

  I’ve known Tawni most of my life and she’s never been one to take huge risks. We met when we were both thirteen and while she was always the one trying to get me to get out an
d have a good time, it was always the type of fun that fell within the rules. I don’t think she ever skipped class a day in her life.

  “What else do you remember?” She asks.

  “I remember making a few friends, but I lost track of them once we left the island. I don’t even remember their names, but I do remember playing for hours together on the beach. It felt almost magical.”

  “It sounds like you had the time of your life, right?”

  I nod. “My dad was so happy when we were there. All the stresses of raising me by himself seemed to be temporarily lifted. I always wished he would go back to that person, but the stresses of work and responsibilities always seemed to weigh him down. Going here was the only real vacation I remember us taking together. I sometimes wonder if he’d still be alive if I had just forced him to take more time for himself to just rest.” I feel a lump forming in my throat as tears threaten to spill down my face.

  “You can’t do that to yourself. He was sick. There was nothing you could have done to prevent that.”

  “I know. I’m hoping that by coming back here, I’ll be reminded of the best times I had with him to help balance out the bad,” I say. I quickly wipe away a single tear that managed to escape and fall down my cheek. “Those last few months in and out of hospitals nearly destroyed me.”

  “See, I told you this was going to be good for you. My intuition is never wrong.”

  “Well, so far, I’ve spent half of this trip heaving into the toilet. I’m not so sure I trust your intuition.” My skin starts to tingle. I reach into my bag and grab my sunscreen. The last thing I need is a sunburn on top of the seasickness.

  “You’ll change your mind once we get there and have the time of our lives,” Tawni says confidently.

  Suddenly, she gazes towards the horizon. “Look,” she says excitedly, pointing to a small, tiny dot coming into view in the distance. “I think we’re almost there.”

  I shade my eyes and squint. The sunglasses I’m wearing aren’t quite dark enough to completely protect me from the sun’s glare. In the distance, I see a small island covered in what looks like palm trees. Relief floods my body. I can’t get off this boat soon enough. “We better get to our rooms and pack so we can be one of the first ones off.”

  Tawni looks at me and places her hand on my shoulder. “Listen, you’ve been through so much and have such a busy life. I don’t even know half of what you do, but you deserve a break. Once you get off this boat and onto that island, you’ll entirely forget about this ship and the seasickness.

  “You do realize we have to come back home on this ship, right? The ride home is probably going to ruin all the fun we might have on the island.”

  “Why do you always have to be so negative? Maybe you won’t get sick next time,” she says, shrugging.

  I look at her like she’s grown a third eyeball. “Do you not know me? Driving my own car even makes me sick sometimes.”

  “You never know. You gotta think positively, Chloe. This trip is going to be the best trip of our lives. Trust me.”

  “I hope so,” I say wistfully. Maybe she’s right. Maybe returning to this place will make me feel closer to my dad and bring me some kind of closure, but I can’t help but wonder if I’ve made a huge mistake.

  2

  JAKE

  My legs are unsteady as I walk down the plank towards solid ground. The trip was more violent than I expected. I mean, I knew that I was going to have to deal with some pretty bad waves on the ocean, but we ran through a storm that would cause anyone to lose their lunch. Aside from that storm, the trip was okay. I didn’t really take advantage of the amenities on the boat like I should have. Instead, I spent the majority of it being holed up, irritated, in my cabin.

  I can’t believe I’m even here. John, the CEO of my company, thought it would be a fantastic idea to send all the employees on a retreat to a South Pacific island in the middle of nowhere. This is the last place I want to be right now. I just got engaged to Stacia last week and the next thing you know, I’m getting on a boat and going away for fifteen days, traveling halfway across the world. I’d much rather be home with her. Still, I really should try to make the best of this trip.

  When my feet finally touch dry land, I take a deep breath and look around. The place looks oddly familiar, as if I’ve been here before, but I’m not exactly sure how. I shake my head, probably just some weird form of déjà vu or something.

  The resort itself is a large plantation-style building with smaller buildings scattered around it. Some of the buildings are in the middle of the property, while others offer oceanfront views. The expansive sandy beaches stretch for what seems like forever. Towering like a sentry in the distance, is a lighthouse. The sand is almost as white as snow. I’ve never seen anything like it. People are sunbathing while children run around them, splashing and playing in the water. The sight of the families makes me miss Stacia even more.

  I grab my phone out of my pocket and turn it on. “Please get a signal, please get a signal,” I whisper under my breath. As soon as it turns on, my heart sinks. The top right corner of my phone reads no service. Great. Now I’m here without a way to communicate. Not only is that going to be unbearable, but Stacia’s going to be pissed. I vow to myself to find the next landline phone I can and call Stacia to let her know of the situation. I’m dreading that conversation.

  I see a figure walking towards me intently, waving his arm frantically. “Hey, Jake! It’s me, Tim.”

  Tim, fantastic. He’s the one person in the office that I intentionally try to avoid on a regular basis. It’s not that he’s a bad guy; he just can’t stop talking. He talks incessantly about random stuff and I just don’t have the patience for him right now.

  “Hey, man, this place awesome,” he says when he reaches me.

  I look around again and have to admit, it is pretty great. I nod. “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. But I still don’t understand why we had to go so far just for a work retreat.”

  “Dude, why are you being so negative? This is the best thing that anybody has ever done for me, bringing me here,” he replies.

  I look at him quizzically. “You’ve never been on vacation?”

  “Not really. I’ve barely left Washington State, let alone gotten on a boat to travel to a secluded island. This is a first for me.”

  “Well, I hope you enjoy it, man,” I say as I begin walking towards the front desk. My pace is quick and he struggles to keep up with me.

  “Have you seen your room yet?” He asks.

  “No, that’s why I’m headed to the front desk, to get my key.”

  “Oh man, my room is awesome. It has a view of the water,” he says enthusiastically.

  I look at him, surprised. “Your room is on the water?”

  “No, man. But I can see the water from my room. It’s over there.” He points to a building in the middle of the island.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re happy about it,” I respond.

  “Yeah, maybe you’re next to me. We could hang out some nights, maybe do a luau or something.”

  “Maybe,” I reply, knowing full-well I’m going to try and avoid him as much as possible. “Hey, I gotta check my bags in. See you around?” I ask.