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I was the first one down for breakfast. I knew when I left my room that Nellie would be looking for me, but I didn’t need help getting ready and I wanted to get moving. One of the crew saw me enter and offered me a coffee, but I declined and headed to find the kitchen. Marcus might not let me in his kitchen at this hour, but I went anyways. I could hear all kinds of commotion on the other side of the swinging doors, so I quietly stuck my head in.
“Good morning,” I called out to the whole room. “I’m not coming in, just seeing about that magic.”
“Good morning, Miss Jade. I told you.” Marcus gestured around the room. “As if it never happened. Now go be a good girl and sit proper like the others.”
“Aw, come on. I don’t want to. Can I help cook? Or maybe watch? I may learn something from you.” I stepped further into the kitchen and the others looked up in surprise. “It’s your turn, after all, to teach me something.”
“I see you will not let me forget that. Maybe tonight, or after all of this is over.” Marcus took me by the shoulders and walked me to the doors. “Go on now. We don’t want to cause problems with the others.”
“You just don’t want your kitchen staff to know you’re a big softie.” I kissed his cheek and hurried away.
No one was on the patio yet, but a few crew members were on the beach setting up the volleyball court. I was on my way to see if I could help when I heard the seaplane fly over the island. I did an about-face and headed to the dock. I hadn’t seen the guys in a few days and I wanted to hear about the marina.
“Girlie, I knew that was you on the beach.” Charlie was the first one out.
It never gets old, watching these big men get out of that little plane.
“Yeah, it’s hard to break old habits, but I slept in today an extra hour.” I hugged each one as they approached. “You look different. Something is weirdly different. What is it?”
“Jokes. She has jokes this early in the morning.” Lou adjusted his tank top. “You like our volleyball outfits?”
“You four are playing volleyball with girls?” I chuckled. “These outfits, that’s what’s weird. Where’d they come from? Because this doesn’t look like military issue.”
“They were delivered to the marina yesterday by one of the fellas that work for Mr. Hawthorne,” Robert said. “I could’ve gone for a better color than red. We look like lifeguards.”
“Yeah, we need to put in our request for outfits to be in black,” Lou said. “We’re not one of those Baywatch boys.”
“You guys are too funny. Are you having breakfast too?” I asked, walking along the dock with them.
“Sure are. I needed a break from Lou’s cooking, so we came early,” Robert said.
“Keep that up and you’ll be cooking,” Lou growled.
I looked ahead to the patio area and could see more of the girls were up. I didn’t want to discuss my father or the marina in front of them, so I stopped walking.
“Tell me, what’s going on at the marina?” I asked all of them. “I want to know everything.”
“It’s slow, as you already knew, but I made a website and had a friend do some promoting,” Gunner said. “I’ve been going through your bills and that mess of an office, getting it organized.”
“Yeah, Dad wasn’t very interested in doing any of that the last six months, and I barely had time to run the day-to-day,” I sighed. “I’m going to make sure all those old bills get paid when I’m done here, so don’t worry about those. Just keep the day-to-day going.”
“What old bills? Mrs. Hawthorne had everything paid off. The marina is no longer running in the red.” Gunner took his sunglasses off. “Relax Jade, this is what she does. She didn’t mean any harm.”
“I know, but it makes me feel more indebted. I only promised to be one of the girls, not bethe wife. I groaned. “Now I feel like I have to do more.”
“Just be you. She’s not expecting more than that. I had a long chat with her.” Gunner wiped his glasses on his shirt. “You never know, you just might like him if you let yourself.”
“What, now you’re cupid? Is that what all this red is about.” I looked behind him. “I don’t see any arrows.”
“Wise guy. You better bring some of that to the volleyball court later.” Gunner nodded to keep walking. “Seriously though, just have fun. They’re good people.”
“I’m trying and, seriously though…what else is going on at the marina?” I prodded more. “If you keep me in the dark, I’ll only worry.”
“I got all the engines repaired and the docks are completed.” Charlie slowed to walk next to me. “We started a jet ski tour and water skiing.”
“We don’t have jet skis, Charlie,” I paused, “or do we?”
“You have ten of them just like the ones Sawyer bought for the island,” Charlie smiled. “I picked them out and we already have ten tours booked for this week.”
