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“That makes me nervous.”
“It will be fine. I have a guy down there, Calvin, who takes care of everything for me. He’ll meet you at the airport. Take you to the rental house. Make sure you have everything.”
“I know… and it will be good for me.” She squeezed him. “An adventure.”
“I have to go to bed early. Have to be up at 4am. You want to spend the night?”
She agreed and they brushed their teeth, changed into pajamas, and completed the other mundane going to bed rituals. She slid under the down comforter beside him and snuggled into the crook of his arm. He kissed her, but didn’t make a move to take it any further. That was fine with Mia. She listened to him breath until she thought he’d fallen asleep. She shifted in his arms and he pulled her closer.
“I love you, Mia,” he said.
She waited a second before replying, to let those words sink it. Then she repeated his sentiment back to him and fell asleep against his chest.
*
Mia slept long past Blaine’s 4am wake up time. She got herself out of bed, went home and finished her packing. It was hard to believe that in two days she’d be settling in to a rented beach cottage for the rest of the summer… or what Blaine considered a cottage, anyway. For all she knew, Blaine’s idea of a cottage could be her idea of a mansion.
She met a few girlfriends for coffee and stopped by her parent’s house to drop off Perdita, her dachshund. She dumped all of Perdita’s accoutrements with her mother: dog bed, leashes, sweater (seemed pointless in the south Florida heat but you never know) dog food, treats, nail clippers chew toys and Perdita’s favorite blanket. She bid her canine daughter a tearful farewell. Perdita didn’t seem too concerned. She sat at Mama Maria’s feet as she made chicken salad and waited for dropped morsels. She gave Mia a commiserating
lick, but that was it.
It took two trips in her tiny Prius to get all Mia’s luggage to Blaine’s condo. By the time she’d settled down in front of the TV, she realized it was almost 4pm. She checked her phone, but still nothing from Blaine. She frowned, but reminded herself that he didn’t have cell service off shore. He’d said he’d be back at the marina around five in the afternoon, but maybe he was running behind.
She watched the news and then some reality television, but when seven o’clock rolled around and she still hadn’t heard anything, she began to worry in earnest. She called her mom for an outsider’s opinion.
“What should I do, Mom?” Mia asked.
Mia could almost see Maria pacing her kitchen with Perdita skittering around her heels. “Mimi, Mimi, I’m not sure what to say. Have you called him?”
“Yes. Over and over. It goes straight to voicemail.”
“Oh dear. Perhaps he’s sunk? Perhaps a wave crashed on his boat? Or maybe a shark…”
“Come on, Mom! Next you’ll be saying he was abducted by pirates.”
“In Cuba, there are pirates—“
“Okay, this isn’t helping.”
“Here is my true opinion, Mia. Go to the marina and ask the men there to radio him or whatever they do.”
“Good idea. I’m going now.”
“Tell me what happens! I will say some Hail Mary’s.”
Mia said goodbye to her mom and slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops. She drove to the marina as fast as she could without provoking the state troopers that lurked the interstate. She leaned over the steering wheel. The witch’s theme song from the Wizard of Oz, the one that plays whenever the green-faced antagonist appears on her bike or her broom, ran through Mia’s head.
She parked the car and trotted into the marina’s office. She looked out the window, in the hope of seeing the Wanderlust, but its slip was empty. She checked her watch. 8pm. It would be dark soon.
She dinged the little bell on the front desk. A fat man in a Jimmy Buffet tee shirt emerged from some back room. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. Or, I hope so. I’m a friend of Blaine Daniels. The Wanderlust.”
“Right.”
“He was supposed to be in at five, and I haven’t heard from him.”
The fat man nodded. “Another woman called in about thirty minutes ago. Wife of one of his clients. She hadn’t heard anything either.”
