They were different than Jule expected. More beautiful. Almost frightening. They were dark and slippery. Water flowed in and around them, making pools that looked warm in the sun. Some of the rocks were covered with soft green algae.
There was no one else around.
Immie stripped down to her bathing suit and slid into the largest pool without a word. She was tan and wore a black bikini with a string around the neck.
Jule felt like a thick, masculine person suddenly. The muscles she worked so hard on seemed oafish, and the pale blue suit she’d worn all summer tacky.
“Is it warm?” she asked, about the shallow pool.
“Pretty warm,” said Immie. She was bent over, splashing water up her arms and across the back of her neck. Jule was annoyed with Immie for sulking. After all, it wasn’t her fault that Imogen had scraped her foot. All Jule was guilty of was saying she wanted to rent a boat and see Culebrita.
Immie was a spoiled child who pouted when she didn’t get her way. It was one of her limitations. No one ever said no to Imogen Sokoloff.
“Shall we go up to the lighthouse?” Jule asked. It was the highest point on the island.
“We can.”
Jule wanted Immie to show enthusiasm. But Immie wouldn’t.
“Is your foot okay?”
“Probably.”
“Do youwantto walk up to the lighthouse?”
“I could.”
“But do you want to?”
“What do you want me to say, Jule? ‘Oh, it is my dream to see a lighthouse’? On the Vineyard I saw an effing lighthouse every single day of my life. You want me to say I am dying to hike up there with my bloody foot in this crazy heat to see a tiny building that looks like a million tiny buildings I’ve seen a million times before? Is that what you want?”
“No.”
“What do you want, then?”
“I was just asking.”
“I want to go back to the hotel.”
“But we just got here.”
Imogen climbed out of the water and pulled on her clothes, shoving her feet into her sandals. “Can we please go back? I want to call Forrest. My phone doesn’t work here.”
Jule dried her legs off and put on her shoes. “Why do you want to call Forrest?”
“Because he’s my boyfriend and I miss him,” said Immie. “What did you think? That I broke up with him?”
“I didn’t think anything.”
“I didn’t break up with him. I came to Culebra for a break, is all.”
Jule shouldered the bag they were sharing. “You want to go back, let’s go back.”
Jule felt drained of all the joy she’d felt the past few days. Everything seemed hot and ordinary.
They had pulled the boat pretty far onshore, and when they returned to the beach they had to push it across the sand. Then they jumped in and dislodged the oars from the rack, using them to guide the boat into water deep enough that it began to float and they could start the motor.
Imogen didn’t speak much.
