I blow out a breath, burying a thousand curses. The staff on the boat have gone as quiet and as still as the air.
I smile. Cheerfully. “Eli, why don’t you go to the mainland onThe Rogue? I will takeThe Gambitover to Libélula and fetch my husband.”
“Miss, I don’t think—”
I ignore him and stomp off towardThe Gambit. He follows, but before he can offer any more advice, I point to the line mooring the boat to the dock. “Can you get that?”
“You should let me go.”
“No. He’s my husband. I’ll go.”
Eli curses under his breath. Something about a good for nothing…something-something. I took Spanish in school, and still haven’t picked up enough of the curse words to know what Eli called Jonah.
As much as it warms my heart to know that this family I’ve found at the Blue Crown is protective of me, I try to keep them out of this—whatever this is—between Jonah and me. After all, he’s my husband. For now and until we get a divorce, the resort is as much his as it is mine. If something were to happen to me, he’d be the owner and their boss.
Despite my attempts to shield them, they know. They know that we’re married but haven’t seen one another in over a year. I try so hard to always be cheerful, to always see the bright side of things. I’m good at that! I have a lifetime of experience smiling through loneliness.
But, yeah. I’m pretty sure the staff knows I wish my marriage was different.
How could I not wish that, when everyone who actually spends time with Jonah talks about how amazing he is?
His mother constantly texts me stories of him from his childhood and pictures of him as gawky teenager. Raul, who worked at the resort when I was a kid, says great things about him. There have even been guests who arranged day trips over to Libélula and came back raving about how gentle he is with the turtles.
So of course I wish I knew him better. That I could meet the guy everyone else gets to see. But, since he doesn’t like me—for whatever reason—all I get to see is the asshole side of him. The guy who doesn’t want to see me, ever, and who bites my head off when I jokingly call him hubby.
But even if he can’t stand me, he’s still my husband. He’s still the childhood friend of my best friend. He’s still the son of a woman I’m increasingly attached to. So…no. There’s no way in hell I’m leaving him to ride out the storm by himself on that island.
Besides which, I have a brand new pair of big girl panties I bought just for dealing with Jonah. Might as well cut the tags off, pull them on, and get my ass over to his island to try them out.
I smile at Eli, and this time it’s genuine. “No. I got this. Take the staff to the mainland. Jonah and I will meet you there.”
Unless I murder him.
Nah. I won’t murder him.
Probably.
Besides, if I’m going to his island to drag him to safety, I’m going to do something so much worse than murder him. I’m going to see him in person. Which for him, is a fate worse than death.
chaptertwelve
Jonah
There’s a reason people talk about the calm before the storm.
Even if you’ve never lived through a hurricane, that phrase sounds foreboding. Too many people focus on thebefore the stormpart of that phrase. Me, I appreciate the calm.
The calm is a chance to get done the shit that needs doing before things go south. There are plenty of storms in life that you don’t see coming. Plenty of shit that’s going to blindside you and knock you on your ass.
So if I ever have the luxury of a little peace and quiet before a storm hits, I’m going to damn well make the most of it.
Since I have been kicked in the balls by plenty of life’s storms, Tropical Storm Sylvia, which is currently simmering due east of here in the Caribbean Sea, doesn’t scare me.
I don’t have a death wish, but I’ve been in plenty of situations that were more dangerous than a tropical storm. Even if Sylvia upgrades to a hurricane, I’m staying.
I have too much work to do and too many people depending on me who I won’t abandon.
And by people, I mean turtles.
