“Yeah, don’t you remember? We were here for like two hours. We were talkinga lot,” Edie said.
Austin screwed up his face to convey his confusion, but Edie thought it a bit overdone. He was clearly mostly a model and not much of an actor. So much for all that accent work. Maybe he could do voice acting.
“Man, I’m sorry, I really don’t remember. The sun must be getting to me, because you two seem truly unforgettable.”
“Are you putting us on?” Edie asked.
“Putting you on …?”
“Are you messing with us? Trying to neg us or something?” Rose asked, her anger apparent now, even to the bartender.
Austin’s smile dropped away. “No, no. I’m sorry, I really don’t remember. I didn’t mean to offend, you seem very nice. Like you said, working like a dog. I must just be tired or something.”
Edie wasn’t impressed. She and Rose kept their sunglasses on and ordered two black coffees and two bloody marys with all the fixings, heavy on the vodka. Austin prepped their drinks rapidly, clearly trying to appease them with his big smile and easy laugh, but Edie and Rose already felt snubbed and took their drinks to a shady corner near the edge of the bar’s concrete pad to drink while they people-watched.
“I guess you were right about Mr. Austin behind the bar yesterday. Playing stupid games and trying to snub us, probably trying to bring us down a peg,” Edie said as she sipped at her bloody mary.
“I can’t blame you for trying to see the good in people. It makes you a nice person, but you know I can sense a faker from a mile away, and that one is a real biff.”
“Ugh. It’s too bad because he does make a damn good bevvy.”
They each took a drink to confirm and nodded.
“What do you think they’re going to do about that dead guy?” Edie asked Rose after a moment of silence between them. “I mean … do you think they’ll let people leave early if they want to?”
Rose sighed and picked up her glass.
“Eden, what it is is probably nothing. I know you’re all shook up over what you think you saw, and I understand that, but how can you be sure? It was dark. We were off our tits on whatever those drugs were. It could have been a dummy that was thrown over the edge. I didn’t see it. You shouted and pushed me so I ran.”
Edie stared Rose down hard. Edie knew Rose to be stony in the past but never in the face of death.
“I know what I saw, Rose. I know what Iheard!And I want to leave.”
“Don’t you think,” Rose said, stirring her drink, “that if something had happened, they would have said something already, at least to make sure people avoid dangerous parts of the island like that?"
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Let me put it a different way, then.” She put down her drink to give Edie undivided attention in a way that made her feel small. “That guy talking about ghosts last night got you in your head, someone threw something over the edge of the waterfall, you were high and assumed it was a body, and you panicked and ran. I’m not trying to be mean, other people fell for it too because it was dark and everyone was fucked up on something, but justthinkabout it clearly for a moment. There’s no reason for you to be upset or want to leave. Just forget about it and try to enjoy yourself.”
Edie let the noise of the restaurant bubble up between them, and after a few minutes, she knew the time to say something in response had passed.
After drinks, they decided to go to a standup paddle board yoga class. Edie could get some pictures of Rose in the athletic wear she needed to model for work, so long as Rose didn’t fall into the water and get the clothes wet. That wouldn’t look very mind and body balance of her.
They went to the tent to change, Rose into a yellow sports bra and shorts set with a matching headband to keep her curls pushed off her forehead and ears, Edie into a blue swimsuit and sheer cover skirt. Maybe it wasn’t the most practical thing to wear for a yoga class, even if she shed the skirt, but it would be cute in photos.
When they reached the calm cove at the center of the island, the instructor stood with her boards scattered on the sand, and Edie’s gaze drifted to the woods. A shiver went down her spine despite the heat. Even in the bright morning sunshine, the pine forest remained as dense and dark as it had appeared to her last night.
“Hey there!” The tiny Korean woman in an Island Xperience polo and white sport skort greeted them. “Feel free to take a board and a paddle each. If you don’t have dry bags, you can just leave your belongings on the beach. We have a guard nearby keeping an eye on things.”
Four people already stood on boards in the light blue water of the cove, waiting for class to begin. Edie and Rose placed their phones on Edie’s skirt in the sand and picked up the boards closest to them. Rose took off for the water, but Edie couldn’t help herself. She turned to the instructor.
“Have you heard anything about the accident last night?”
“Accident?” the instructor asked.
Two men in board shorts with six-pack abs approached, and the instructor told them to pick their boards.
“Yeah, there was a party in the woods last night and a guy died,” Edie said.
