Lisa pulled her own pair of identical aviators out of her tote bag and pushed them onto her nose. The three of us pushed our faces together, and Lisa snapped a photo with her phone.
"Awww, aren't you guys so cute?" Kimberly teased before she squealed and took off running towards a black van where her fiancé stood with another man. Adam opened his arms, Kimberly jumped into them, and they kissed.
"Hey, everyone! This is Francis," she said when she'd extricated herself from her fiancé to gesture at the brown-skinned man in the white button-down shirt and black pants standing next to him. "He is the best tour guide and driver in all of Barbados."
"Well, I don't know about all that," Francis said. "But it would be my honor to show your family around our beautiful island."
We climbed into the van and made the half-hour drive to the resort with Francis happily answering RJ's dozens of questions about everything we passed. He insisted on sitting in the front seat, most likely to get a better view of the scenery, but I also knew that he had a smaller chance of making unwanted contact with anyone. My brother was really sensitive about being touched. He was also particular about which fabric he could wear without irritation. He rarely hugged or shook hands. Our handshake routine took years to perfect, and it hasn't changed in sixteen years.
We pulled up to The Sterling, and it was as beautiful as Kimmy described. Adam led us through the grounds of the resort to the apartment we would be staying in. We entered the apartment and looked around.
“I called ahead and had the apartment baby-proofed for CJ,” Kimberly said.
I looked around and saw the sharp edges had been wrapped with foam, and all of the outlets had covers on them. "They also closed the pool." She pointed to the balcony.
“Wait, is this the apartment that you and Adam stayed in last February?”
“Yeah, why?” She narrowed her eyes, clearly a step ahead of me.
“How many times has it been disinfected since then?” I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
Kimberly smirked and gave me the finger.
Lisa and the rest of my family were exploring the balcony while I walked around the apartment. There were two large bedrooms on either side. One was smaller than the other. The third bedroom was in the middle, and it had two twin-sized beds. I planned to order a portable bed to sleep in so Lisa wouldn't feel uncomfortable, and the travel crib Kimberly ordered for CJ was sitting in the living room. The largest room made the most sense, so I pushed the crib into the master bedroom and had started to drag the rest of our luggage down the hall when my mother stopped me.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m unpacking our stuff.”
"Not in our room you're not."
“Ma, this is the biggest room. I need a spare bed and room for CJ’s crib. The other bedroom has a private balcony and a bathroom. Can’t you and Dad take that one?”
She tipped her head and glared at me, which was all the answer I needed.
"Boy, what are you doing in our room?" Dad walked in, taking off his Panama hat and dropping it on the dresser.
“Cole thought he was taking the big room,” my mom replied in a bored voice.
Dad laughed. “Oh, he did, huh?”
"Fine." I grabbed the bags, piled them into the crib and pushed them down the hall into the room with two beds. RJ had already opened his suitcase and meticulously laid out his clothes in a system of organization only he understood.
"Hey, man. We need to switch rooms. You can have the room with the big bed and the balcony."
"No, thanks. This is good." He didn't bother to look up at me. He just continued to stack and restack his folded polo shirts.
“RJ, I need this room. Lisa and I need two beds.”
“Well, if it was that important to you, you should have taken this room first.”
“Why can’t you just switch with me?”
He stopped, stood, and faced me. “This room is in the exact center of the apartment. It has the closest proximity to the kitchen and the bathroom. It has an ocean view and access to a larger balcony.”
“You know the master suite has an ocean view.”
"Yeah, but that's Mom and Dad's room. Mom and Dad always get the biggest room," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
