chaptersixteen
Cassie
There are, undoubtedly, lots of people who would love to spend the next four days doing nothing but laying on the beach, listening to the surf, sipping cocktails, and dabbling in a future with skin cancer.
There are, possibly, even people who wouldn’t mind doing those things with their co-workers, their ex, and their ex’s fiancee.
But I seriously doubt that this is anyone in the world who would want to do those things, with those people, while nursing a broken heart.
Not that Nick broke my heart.
Of course, he didn’t break my heart.
I barely know him.
Besides which, my relationship with Tripp ended only a few months ago. So there’s no way I could have fallen in love with Nick in just a few days, so soon after my breakup with Tripp.
Ergo, when I said, while nursing a broken heart, what I actually meant was while nursing a bruised ego and lady bits that were so thoroughly loved by Nick, I’m pretty sure he’s ruined me for other men.
My point is this: I can’t stay here.
I come to this realization around dinner time when it becomes blatantly and tragically obvious that Nick is not coming back.
I wander through the main palapa around mid-after and catch one of the staff talking about a boat coming to pick up a guest. Which sounds about right.
Nick… this great guy, with abs for days, an amazing sense of humor, and a tongue seemingly custom made for my clit, tells me he loves me and what do I do?
I drive him away.
After I hear the rumor about the boat, I call it. Nick left. And there’s no way I’m going to stick around without him.
I’m halfway through packing my bag before it occurs to me that I don’t have any Navy SEALs conveniently located on nearby islands and therefore I will have to actually make real travel arrangements.
So, I grab my phone and trudge over to the main palapa to look for Clara. Admittedly, she probably can’t get me off the island tonight, but the sooner I make plans for the morning, the better.
I find Clara working on her laptop in the manager’s office, which is just off the main dining room. She’s got her blond hair in the same dutch braids she wore on the first day, her glasses up on top of her head, and a smear of sunscreen still visible on her nose.
She doesn’t look up when I knock on the doorframe, but holds up a finger of one hand in a just-a-minute gesture. She’s typing furiously, a scowl on her face.
Then she clicks dramatically, and I think I hear her mutter, “Take that, you dastard,” before looking up at me and smiling sweetly. “Did you need something?”
I open my mouth, try to move past my confusion but then can’t. “Did you mean bastard?”
“What?”
“You just muttered, take that, you dastard.”
“No, I didn’t.” She smiles, cheerful, wide-eyed, and clearly faking it.
“It’s just that dastard is a pretty archaic word and—” I cut myself off, because she doesn’t need a Scrabble-based lecture. Instead, I try again. “Can you arrange a boat trip to Caye Caulker for me in the morning?”
I pull up the travel app on my phone and double check the flights. If I can make it to Caye Caulker before 10:00 am, I can get on a flight to Belize City and then catch another flight to Houston. I’ll be back in Austin by tomorrow night.
“Oh, do you want to schedule an excursion?” She bustles over to a display rack on the wall and starts yanking out brochures. “Because pretty much all the excursions that depart from Caye Caulker can also leave from here and—”
“Actually, I was going to catch the ten-thirty puddle jumper to Belize City.”
“Oh, in that case, I know a guy who does amazing tours of the Belize Zoo. And a different guy who does an all-day trip to the Mayan ruins. For that one, you’d have to leave at—”
