Page 19 of Playing It Forward

“Let me guess. This is your bikini top and you dropped it in the water to entertain them. Please tell me you’re not topless under your t-shirt.”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s black. You can’t see anything.”

In other words, she’s topless. I groan.

She jumps off her paddleboard into the water. “You’re such a fuddy duddy. Topless isn’t a big deal.”

“Says the woman who’s spent most of her life at hippie beaches surfing.”

She smirks. “Surfing topless is an experience everyone should have before they die.”

“I don’t have time for this. I need to make sure the mermaid tail booth is set up.” I glance around. “Alaia was supposed to work at the ticket booth but she’s off with her ‘boyfriend’ instead.”

May snorts. “Boyfriend? Right.”

We both know Alaia isn’t really dating Tanner Long, the wide receiver for the Seals. Our friend didn’t tell us the truth, but she’d never jump into dating Tanner. She’s too serious about her career to let it be tarnished by the NFL’s favorite bad boy.

I frown. “The situation is going to bite her in the ass.”

May wiggles her eyebrows. “Biting can be fun.”

“It’s not going to be the good kind of biting.” The kind that makes your entire body explode. I shiver.

May pats my arm. “Don’t worry; those twin sisters of hers won’t let anything bad happen to her.”

“What about you? Who’s going to make sure nothing bad happens to you?”

Her nose wrinkles. “Why would anything bad happen to me? I’m not the one in an arrangement with an NFL player.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You aren’t?”

Brock Porter, a fullback on the Seals team, has a son, Jace, she’s been teaching to surf. She’s also spending a lot of time with Jace out of the water. With his dad around.

“This is your fault,” she mumbles before splashing me.

“Splashing me doesn’t change the truth,” I holler as I hurry away.

I scan the area as I make my way to the mermaid tail booth. There’s no trash to be seen. Good. Picnic tables are scattered around the lagoon for spectators. Good. Food and drink vendors are set up and ready to start selling. Good.

My lips purse when I notice the mermaid tails scattered on the ground. Siena is typing on her phone instead of sorting out the mermaid tails.

“How are participants supposed to choose their mermaid tail if they’re laying all over the ground and not organized by size? We can’t have a Mermaid Lagoon Race if the women aren’t wearing mermaid tails.”

Siena glances up from her phone. “Sorry. Emergency.”

Mother of moonshine. I can’t yell at her if she’s dealing with a legal emergency. She’s the island’s favorite defense attorney. I won’t be responsible for someone spending the weekend in jail.

“Fine. Go. I’ll find someone else to work at the booth.” I don’t know who, since all the smugglers who volunteered to help out today already have jobs, but I’ll figure it out. Maybe I can work the ticket booth and the mermaid tail booth at the same time?

“It’s not a legal emergency. My apartment is flooded.”

“Son of a bootlegger. I’m sorry, Siena. You can stay with me until it’s fixed.”

“It’s not my apartment. It’s my rental.”

“Where’s Corbin going to stay?”

Everyone knows Corbin Cox, a tight end for the Seals, rented her apartment for the summer. How could we not after they had a shouting match the day he arrived?