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“I don’t know what that is, but I’m still not going.” Doris stuck out her lip in a pout.
“How does the cage diving thing work?” Sylvie asked.
“Well, I was planning on having us go to Australia to cage dive with the great whites.”
Doris let out a little squeal. “Great Whites? Aren’t those the biggest and scariest ones!?”
I grinned. “Yep. All the more thrilling for my adventure.”
Her lip quivered.
“Me and Percy always watched Shark Week together, and we both thought that cage diving with Great White was the ultimate adventure. Now I’m going to do it, and I’m doing it whether you ninnies are with me or not.”
“We’re with you,” Sylvie said decidedly. “We’ll be on Xanax, but we’re with you.”
“So, Australia?” Alice asked. “That's where we’re headed next?”
I lifted my finger. “Actually, we kinda lucked out. I did some looking this morning, and it turns out that Guadalupe Island down here in Mexico is one of the best cage diving experiences around. I actually watched it on Shark Week, and we got lucky. This time of the year is called the “Time of the Titans” because the biggest Great Whites in the world migrate right through Guadalupe Island. We can swim with them!”
Doris made the sign of the cross.
“Three Xanax, Alice. I’m gonna need three Xanax,” Sylvie stated.
“Screw that. I’m taking the whole bottle,” Alice snorted.
“Ah, don’t be worried. The boat I found today is high-class all the way. They’ve got luxury suites, a hot tub, and, you’ll like this Alice, a bar.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“And they use a hookah system for diving, so we don’t even need to learn how to scuba dive. It’s very safe and top-of-the-line everything. I think we should book with them.”
“As long as they have a bar, I’m in. Just send me the details, and I’ll make the booking,” Alice agreed.
“Awesome. It’s four days, three nights—”
“Whoa!” Doris lifted her hands. “You mean this isn’t just an hour-long excursion of terror? We’ll be on a boat surrounded by sharks fordays!?”
“It’s a hike-on boat over to Guadalupe Island. Four days and three nights is the shortest trip they offer. But you don’t have to be in the water the whole time. I mean, they offer endless dives, so I’ll be swimming with the sharks as much as I can, but you ladies can just sun yourselves on the upper deck if you don’t want to keep going in.”
“I’ll be at the bar,” Alice said just as the server arrived with her martini. “Marinating myself in these babies.”
I bit my lip instead of firing off the snarky comment that usually would have come.
“What?” Alice tipped her head.
“Nothing.” I cleared my throat.
She set her drink down so hard it nearly spilled her precious vodka. “Okay. Enough.”
“Enough what?” Sylvie asked.
“Enough of the kid gloves. Since we got off that ship yesterday, you’re all treating me like some China doll held together by Scotch tape. All day at the pool, you fawned over me like a child. I’m fine. Things didn’t work out with Alejandro. It’s no big deal. Now stop acting strange around me, or I’m going to pack up and fly home. I’m not spending this trip like some weeks-long funeral procession.”
“We’re just worried about you is all, dear.” Doris puckered her lips.
“Well, don’t.” Alice lifted her eyebrows along with her chin. “I’m fine.”
I knew she wasn’t. We all did. Alice may be tougher than any other broad I’d ever met, and she was doing a damn good job trying to hide it, but there was no concealing the sadness brewing inside her blue eyes. But as someone who also didn’t like sharing my ooey gooey feelings, I understood her need for us to carry on like nothing had happened. If that’s how she wanted to handle whatever the hell had gone down with Alejandro, then we owed it to her to respect it.
