Rach said she would briefly state her thoughts, and if Kelly agreed, they could organize the travel details via email. Rach had met three teenage girls one week ago and, for some unknown reason, wanted to help them. Things had spiraled nearly out of control with her now becoming the girl's legal guardian, and they lived with her. Rach's problem was she had always been a loner and reared as an only child. Therefore she had no sense of relating closely with others, especially teenaged girls.
Rach absolutely did not regret her decision. However, she realized she needed input from someone on the ground who was experienced in relating to children. Pam had raved so much about Kelly caring for the Group Home residents that Rach thought,
BINGO
, Kelly's the one! Rach wanted Kelly's residents and a few others from St. John's to visit Tybee for fun, which was also a learning experience for Kelly's resident girls. Additionally, Rach wanted lots of one on one time with Kelly. She hoped to develop more insight into how she could improve Shels, Ames, and Moon lives. She wanted them to be happy and successful, especially attending university and earning a degree. Rach was totally sold on Kelly being able to help her. However, there were significant age gaps between the Group Home resident girls and Rach's three late teen girls. According to Pam, Rach and Kelly were basically the same age, university graduates, and nice people.
Finally, Rach was a business owner, with her company finances in great shape after only two years of operating. Rach had also earned lots of money investing in cheap stock during her final two years of study. She did not want to just throw money at the girls trying to buy their love. Rach wanted a family relationship with Shels, Ames, and Moon truly based on mutual love and respect.
Rach proposed to book a resort for thirty-five guests who included ten local persons and twenty-five people from the St. John's community. The ten days would be split evenly between fun and school-like activities, such as visiting the Girl Scout Museum in Savannah or a Sea Scavenger Hunt. Rach and Kelly would officially propose the ten-day travel to Tybee as a
Studycation
for the Group Home residents.
Rach ended the offer by stating that her company would fund the entire
Studycation
expense. This would include round trip travel by luxury coach, lodging, meals, museum tickets, and other valid travel expenses. What were Kelly's thoughts on the proposition?
Kelly replied
she was all for Rach's proposition of Tybee with no Sex
! She continued, seriously, a trip such as this would be awesome for her girls. However, she would need this request approved by Jai, Pam, and the Group Home Board.
Rach replied that they should iron out the wrinkles by email and phone, and then Kelly could present the completed proposal to the board. Rach wanted Kelly, the two resident assistants, and Pam and Jenny to travel with the girls to Tybee. There would be a few formal classes during the ten days. However, most of the education and fun activities would be in the form of field trips. Jenny should also know there was easy access to an excellent riding stable where she could hold a few equestrian training exercises.
Kelly said they should definitely do this but that she needed to run. See you next month if the board approved their proposal!
Kelly had several conversations with the local N. Florida Group Home Board Members and Rach, following up on their initial phone communication where Rach offered the travel proposal. She had tried to discretely learn more about Rach from others at St. John's; however, Rach's life seemed to be a well-kept secret. As far as anybody knew, Rach was an only child and a loner who was quite brilliant throughout her secondary school and university education. As a high school junior, she had received a full five-year MBA degree scholarship to the ACC University in Boston.
Tragedy struck in Rach's senior year of high school when her parents died in a boating accident. She recovered from this stressful event and graduated from university with honors. Rach then moved to Tybee and formed her company which was quite successful. Kelly could not glean much else about Rach's past, such as was she ever in a serious dating relationship.
Kelly finally cornered Pam one day after they met with the board to finalize approval of the Studycation. Kelly informed Pam that she had a bit of a dilemma and needed more information and details from her about Rach. In their most recent phone call, Rach had suggested that Kelly share a small suite with her for the Tybee Studycation. She and Kelly would have considerable more time to discuss Rach's new parenting situation in the evenings if they shared a small suite. Kelly said she felt Rach was honest and open, with no ulterior motive(s) when she suggested they share the suite during the visit. However, Kelly was quite intrigued about Rach, who seemed to be kind of a mystery to much of the St. John's community.
Pam smiled wickedly at Kelly and asked, had Kelly crushed on someone during their several phone conversations?
Kelly blushed brightly and said, stop it! She just wanted to learn a bit more about the person she had frequently talked with during the past two weeks.
Pam said she honestly knew very little about Rach, other than she came from the St. John's community and was quite innovative in business. Rach was seven years older than Pam's group of friends and a loner, so they had never hung out in N. Florida. Pam did not think Rach had ever seriously dated anyone and was often slyly called the introverted loner by a few folks at St. John's. Pam personally felt that Rach was a nice person who was a bit shy around most people. However, if Kelly was worried, she should politely decline Rach's offer and bunk in with her Group Home girls.
Kelly quickly responded that she had no reservations about sharing the suite with Rach. It actually could be fun for both of them. However, she was a young lady, so it was natural for her to be inquisitive about someone new.
Pam was on the run but gave Kelly a final
gem
to consider. Remember that she was also a mystery to Rach, and yet, she wanted to share a small suite with Kelly. Obviously, Rach felt comfortable with Kelly. After all, the two had spoken many times in the past two weeks. The Rach that most of St. John's knew had never before invited anyone to share her personal space. Therefore, it was very possible that Rach had changed a lot since she met the teenaged girls Shels, Ames, and Moon, who now lived with her.
Kelly thanked Pam for her insight and that she definitely would share quarters with Rach while on Tybee. She felt a pull toward Rach and was trying to understand girl-to-girl relationships. Kelly had never felt drawn to another woman before and was also intrigued to know how Rach felt about their budding friendship.
Kelly had spent several restless evenings pondering if there was an actual sexual attraction between her and Rach. Finally, she scolded herself, saying, Kelly, this is stupid. How could she be attracted to someone she never saw or met? Yet, her mind kept returning to the point that Rach invited Kelly deep into her personal space. There was not much more personal the two could get than sharing a small space for ten days.
Then crazy thoughts came to Kelly,
such as would she see Rach naked or did she want to see Rach naked
?
***
A month after Rach and Kelly's first conversation, the Group Home resident girls, along with their chaperones, were en route to Tybee for their Studycation. The board had approved Kelly's Studycation request because it was a well-developed plan which enriched the resident girls' lives. Kelly, her two resident assistants, Pam, Jenny, Kim, and Alice, accompanied the Group Home girls to Tybee. Pam and Jenny drove up to Tybee while Kelly, Kim, Alice, and everyone else traveled there on the luxury motorcoach.
Pam had several legal documents from her sister "2's" law firm for Rach to sign regarding her becoming the Guardian for Shels, Ames, and Moon. Pam and Jenny would witness Rach's signature and return the completed documents to the Law Firm when the Studycation was finished. The next time Rach visited N. Florida, she could initial the documents again, and the Law Firm would notarize them.
Rach had booked them into a small year-round tourist hotel and resort, and their group occupied a complete wing on the resort side. The younger girls, aged seven to twelve, shared a large suite with several small fold-out beds. Pam and Jenny were the counselors for this group. The teen girls, aged thirteen to fifteen, shared another large suite with Kelly's two resident assistants, who were the counselors for those girls. Shels, Ames, and Moon would share a large double room connected to this quite large suite. Rach's three girls were in the same age range as Kelly's two resident assistants, so they should enjoy being a part of that group.
Rach and Kelly also shared a suite in this wing as previously planned. The two of them had developed an easy-going relationship planning the Studycation, so Rach wanted to talk a lot with Kelly about how she related to the older Group Home girls.
There were many activities scheduled for the next ten days, but the first stop on Tybee was a brief tour of Rach's business and then a late lunch at Angie's restaurant. Everyone was definitely hungry following the three-hour motorcoach ride. Angie greeted the group and told them there were six special selections on the menu to choose for their lunch. Each selection included a salad, dessert choice, and soft drinks. The younger children could choose jello fruit cups instead of salads, and there would be several plates of fries for everyone. She also informed the adults that Angie's was an alcohol-free family restaurant.
After Angie finished discussing the menu items, Rach stood and informed everyone that most of their meals would be there. Breakfast was excluded since it was included in the resort room package. Angie's was a ten-minute walk from their office and served as her company's dining room. The restaurant would also deliver boxed lunches when work was extremely busy. Finally, if anyone had any specific dietary restrictions, please make sure that Angie knew. She would strive to offer enjoyable foods within their dietary needs.
