Page 26 of As a Last Resort
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”
Josie beamed, fully committed to her new life mission of keeping a secret.“I’ll have your bags brought around for you.You just let me know if you need anything else in the meantime.”
“Great, thanks.Oh, what’s the internet password for the room?”
“Oh, um, I’m afraid it’s not too great out here,” she answered apologetically.“A hit-or-miss kind of thing on the island, as you know.But it’siheartseastars, all lower case.”She passed me a key with a teal starfish buoy attached to it.“I put you in 1A, best little cabin in the place.First teal bungalow on your right out the door, facing the water.”
“Thanks, Josie.”
We walked back toward the front door and I fiddled with the key in my hand.
“Thanks for the help with my luggage.And my mom.”
“Wouldn’t want my boat being sunk.Then you’d be stuck here forever.”He kept looking at me with his deadpan face.Was he serious?Was he joking?Why did I question my life’s existence when he looked at me like that?
“Don’t forget the free happy hour at four!”Josie called out from behind us.“It’s a local winery, you won’t want to miss it!”
“There’s a winery on the island?”I whispered to Austin as we walked out the door together.
“Winerymight be a generous description,” he muttered.
The thick wall of Florida heat rolled over me like a wave once we stepped outside.“I forgot how hot it was here.”I fanned myself with the Sea-Doo rental pamphlet Josie gave me.
He stopped and stared at me, squinting his eyes just a tad as they roamed over my face.I think the last time he saw me I was in the middle of blooming teenage acne and braces.Yes, I was one of the lucky ones who got both in high school, the metal mouth addition on the back end of one of my mom’s kicks to make everything around us seemingly perfect, including teeth.
I ran my tongue over my teeth out of habit.“What?”
“Good to see you, Scuttle.”He smirked as he turned and walked back to the boat, not looking back a single time.
I opened the front door of the cabin into an alternate world of seafoam-green accessories and whitewashed wicker furniture.Adingcame through on my phone.
IVY:did you make it alive
ME:Affirmative.
IVY:how’s the sea anemone
ME:Starfish
IVY:same
ME:As charming as ever
IVY:sending over updated list of places for DD, per Glenn
ME:Wonderful.Is my plant alive?
IVY:we’ll talk about it later
ME:I’ve been gone 12 hours
IVY:like i said, not really my thing
I paused.While I was a pretty private person at work, Ivy had been my assistant for two years.She unfortunately had an unavoidable front-row seat to some of the drama.My mother called my office enough (when I didn’t answer my cell phone fast enough) for her to get the gist of the situation and to have a vague understanding of our dynamic.
ME:I saw my mother already.
IVY:on a scale from gizmo to gremlin
