Page 7 of The Honeymoon Heist

He pointed out to the ocean and said, “They’re watching us right now. They’ll come up when we leave.”

Chapter 6

Amena watched the boat break free from the small platform of stone, then looked at Pike, wondering if he would follow through. She really wanted to explore the upper chamber, but also knew this was supposed to be a vacation for Pike and Jennifer alone. She didn’t want to be seen as interrupting that, as she was lucky to even have been invited.

She looked into the cavern above the stalactites, seeing the area no ordinary tourists were allowed to enter, and yearned to explore it. The grotto itself was split between a lower chamber on the water, where they—along with every other tourist—had explored earlier, and the upper chamber, which was off-limits. Like Pike, it was something that appealed to her, and she wanted to explore it.

What was up there?

She glanced back to Pike and Jennifer, both underneath the deck of the boat Pike had rented, seeing Jennifer shake her head. And she knew that was the end. She sighed, not unduly upset. It was, after all, their honeymoon.

She sat down on the gunwale of the boat, wondering about the menu of the dockside restaurant Jennifer had found. She hoped it had chicken fingers. She was a little sick of eating something that was supposed to “excite” her palate when it didn’t satisfy her hunger.

Honestly, she’d felt a little like a third wheel since they’d arrived—which she was—and didn’t enjoy sitting on top of the deck to see her two “parents” decide what she was allowed to do. Maybe she shouldn’t have come at all.

She glanced back down and saw them arguing again and came close to telling Pike to forget the whole idea, not wanting to be the reason for a fight, then saw Jennifer lean into Pike and kiss him on the lips. Pike took the kiss and then wrapped his arms around her, drawing her into an embrace. They remained like that for a full minute. Then Pike broke the embrace, kissing her on the forehead. He said something to her, and she waggled her finger again, shaking her head. It brought a smile to Amena’s face even as she knew that meant they weren’t going up.

Pike never did anything Jennifer didn’t want. He just wouldn’t. That kiss was the death knell. They weren’t going to explore the cavern no matter what Pike wanted, because he cared too much for Jennifer to cross her. And she did, too.

But shereallywanted to see that cave.

She saw Pike look her way and ducked her head, pretending to fiddle with something on the deck. Jennifer pulled a small marine radio off of a shelf and handed it to him, and she wondered what that was about. Pike came out from the bottom of the boat and said, “So, we going to see what’s up there or what?”

She said, “Not if Jennifer doesn’t want to. I’m not being a part of that.”

Pike said, “Jennifer’s just upset she can’t go up there with us because someone has to stay in the boat. We’re good.”

Amena looked down inside the hull and saw Jennifer raise her hands in a “what am I supposed to do” pose.

Amena laughed and said, “Let’s go!”

Pike glanced toward the grotto, saying, “Did that other boat finally leave?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what they were doing, but they’re gone.”

He pointed to the line where they’d tied up to a buoy, saying, “Okay. First Mate, untie us. It’s getting dark and we have a restaurant reservation.”

He went behind the wheel and fired up the engine. She scampered to the front of the boat, leaning out until half her body was hanging over the water, and Pike shouted, “Whoa. Hang on there. Jennifer, can you lend a hand?”

Jennifer came out from below, shook her head at Pike, and went to the bow. Amena said, “You really don’t mind?”

Jennifer smiled and said, “Look, if this is the only stupid thing Pike does on this trip, I’ll be ahead. It’s like a gasket letting off pressure. He gets a thrill, and I get to prevent a catastrophe.”

Jennifer turned back to Pike and said, “A little forward. We need some slack.”

The boat began to inch toward the buoy, and Amena said, “So you’re not mad at me?”

“No, doodlebug, of course not. Just don’t let him do anything stupid.”

Amena grinned and leaned over, removed the rope from the buoy anchor, then shouted, “We’re free.”

She felt Pike gun the engine, and both of them grabbed for something to hold on to, Jennifer rolling her eyes and Amena giggling. In two minutes, Pike was sliding the craft into the makeshift stone dock, saying, “Get the bumpers ready. I don’t want to pay for damage to this thing.”

Both Amena and Jennifer grabbed the rubber bumpers and flipped them over the side just as the boat kissed the rock, harder than was necessary. Pike grimaced, then said, “Probably need a little practice on that.”

Jennifer laughed, jumped to the dock with a line, and anchored the boat, saying, “You two go have fun, but don’t take too long. It’s about a twenty-minute ride to the restaurant, and our reservation is in an hour.”

Pike jumped onto the stone and held out his hands, helping Amena across the hull. He said, “We’ll only be a few minutes.”

---