Plot help with a larger project

[janewheeler]

As I was poking around my in-progress stories today, I went back and read some snippets for a novella I've been working on for well over a year. I have a bunch of scenes plotted out, but the backstory of why they're thrown together again is really giving me trouble. So I thought I'd come to y'all (I've shared the general idea with a couple of you, so this might sound familiar.)

Our hero and heroine were hot and heavy about ten years ago. He disappeared off the face of the earth, and she was very hurt, but she chalked it up to him being a brash, golden boy athlete who did whatever he felt like simply because he could.

So flash forward, and she finds him again: successful businessman, etc. Somehow, they end up getting together for some sort of weekend retreat or something. She is hoping to get some answers about the reasons he ran away, while perhaps getting some action (because, duh, he's still hot).

So he picks her up, chemistry's still there... and suddenly, when they're already at this unspecified place and can't back out so easily, she finds out that he was seriously injured years ago and now needs a brace and a cane to walk. (Hey, I write what I like...) She's shocked, not because she is turned off, but because she's had this mistaken image of him in her head as this selfish, two-dimensional person. Now she realizes that he's been through a lot more than she knew -- sure, he might still be a selfish jerk (or not), but he suddenly seems much more human than she'd given him credit for. All of her assumptions about him, and her interpretation of what might have happened, get thrown out the window.

And then they keep things going, butting heads and having sex and doing all sorts of romancey things, for another six weeks or so, at which point he tells her he loves her, other crazy emotional climax stuff happens, and... scene.

So I need both a reason for them to get back in touch/create the sexy weekend AND a reason they have to keep working together. I've come up with tons of weird scenarios, but they're too convoluted. It can't be something like a college reunion, because that might work for the first part but not why they're still doing stuff for six more weeks. (I don't think a simple Friends With Benefits situation would allow for what I'm going for emotionally.)

Any ideas?

[~Z28gal~]

Are they the only ones on this retreat together? If your story allows for other people around, maybe they could both be on a committee to plan a college reunion? Or... they were both hired to design a new building/ad campaign for the college? Could also be some sort of "give back to the community" thing - bringing successful men/women from a small town back together to develop plans for a local hospital, for example.

[janewheeler]

Hmmm... I like that. I think there are some aspects where he has to get roped into the situation, and I don't know why I didn't think about that before (especially since I have served on any number of alumni/planning committees in my day!)

[Inigo Montoya]

I don't have ideas... but where ever it winds up I want to read it.