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“Fine,” Lacey suddenly says, tossing a rumpled Kleenex into the middle of the table. “Fine, we’ll go on Tai’s boat.” Then her eyes meet mine and there’s some sort of look in them that I don’t like. “But only if Daisy comes with us.”
I blink at her. “Sorry, what?”
Meanwhile Tai and Richard both break out into laughter, Richard doing that annoying slapping his knee thing. Who does that?
“Your sister? On a boat?” Richard can hardly breathe.
“Yeah, so what?” Lacey asks.
I mean, Richard has a point, but even so.
“Lacey,” I say carefully. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
And I’m absolutely shocked that she’d actually invite me. Since when has she wanted to do any kind of bonding? Maybe getting married is making her turn a new leaf, maybe…
Then I recognize that look in her eyes.
This isn’t about bonding.
This is a challenge.
“Oh, please,” Lacey says, reaching across the table and putting her hand on mine. “It would be so good for us to finally get to spend some quality time together. You and me, sister to sister.”
She’s really laying it on thick.
“Besides,” she adds. “With Tai, that’s an uneven number. I hate uneven numbers. With you it would be four.”
“I don’t know…” I say. There’s a part of me that is actually considering the idea, just because I’m secretly afraid to go back home to my life of nothing.
There’s another part of me that feels like I’m stepping into a trap.
And there’s another part that wants to prove that I can do this.
“She won’t last a day,” Tai says with a dry chuckle.
I glare at him, hackles rising. “Excuse me?”
Tai gives me a wicked grin. Stupid sexy smile.
“You yourself admitted to me that drinking cocktails at the dock is your kind of sailing. You won’t last a day.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Lacey says with a sigh.
“Wait, what?” I protest. “Just because I like some cocktails—”
“Last night you definitely proved that,” Tai mutters.
I feel my cheeks flame as I try to ignore that. “It doesn’t mean that I’m not up for a little adventure. Don’t you remember me as a kid, Lacey? I wanted to be a marine biologist. I wanted to be one so badly that I used to steal rides on the fishing boats out of Newport. I volunteered at the Newport Aquarium every summer. I was obsessed. The ocean never scared me, it fascinated me.”
“Every girl wants to be a marine biologist as a child,” Richard comments.
Lacey nods. “And one day you just decided to give up on that idea and move onto something less hard.”
“Okay, whoa. Things are getting a little personal now,” I tell her.
“Look,” Tai says, coming over to us, raising his hands for a moment. “If Daisy really thinks she can handle it, I say the more the merrier.”
I give him a look. Oh do you now?
“Where are you going to sleep?” Richard asks him. “There are only two cabins.”
“Two cabins?” I repeat. “How small is this boat?”
Tai glowers at me. “It’s not small. It’s a forty-two-foot Tayana.” He looks to Richard. “And I’ll sleep on the couch. I’ve had naps on it before, it’s comfortable enough.”
“Enough for a ten day voyage?” Lacey asks. “Maybe Daisy should have the couch since we’re going to need the captain operating at his best.”
Everyone is looking at me.
I shrug. “Fine, I’ll take the couch. Whatever.”
“You will not take the couch,” Tai tells me.
“So does this actually mean you’re coming?” Lacey asks.
“What about your flight home?” questions Richard.
“I guess I’ll look into changing it.”
“Air New Zealand does flights out of Fiji,” says Tai. “You’ll probably be able to fly straight home from there.”
“Good,” I say. “Then it’s settled.” I look at everyone. “Isn’t it?”
They all exchange glances, brows raised, and at that moment I can tell that I was never meant to come, that I wasn’t part of the plan.
But none of this was part of the plan, was it?
And I’m up for the challenge.
I’m not backing down.
“It’s settled then,” Lacey says, exhaling loudly. “The honeymoon is still on. Four’s company.”
Tai puts his beer down on the table. “Well if that’s that, I’m going to head down to the boat and start prepping it. If we leave tomorrow, there’s a bloody lot of things I need to get done.”
He goes back into the house and I get out of my chair, following him inside.
“Hey,” I call out as I walk over and see him grabbing a glass of water in the kitchen. “Is this going to be okay?”
He frowns at me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…a last-minute voyage across the Pacific,” I say. “Don’t you have to spend months planning this?”
He shrugs. “As long as you have all the best equipment and the right food and a steadfast boat in capable hands, no. Not for a ten-day passage.” He gulps down the glass of water, then studies me. “I wouldn’t go if I couldn’t handle it. And to be honest, in a way I’m glad this happened. I’m sure Richard and Lacey would have been fine on their own on the other boat but…sometimes that passage can get pretty gnarly. Would hate for a storm to have caught them when Richard doesn’t have the experience.”
