Page 195 of Better When Shared
Makai snickered, and I knew exactly what he was thinking.
Hui beamed, opening containers to reveal dumplings, rice, and what appeared to be some kind of spicy chicken. “Sit, sit! Eat while it’s hot.
We settled in the cockpit, the same space where hours earlier we’d engaged in activities that would have scandalized Skylar and her grandmother. Imogen winced as she sat, and I placed a protective arm around her waist, steadying her.
“So the engine just died?” Skylar asked, leaning over the controls and flipping a few switches. “No warning?”
“None,” Makai confirmed, accepting a container from Hui and taking a big bite of a steamed bao bun. “We were lucky we were someplace safe to anchor for the night.”
“Maybe it was fate,” Hui said. “Some things happen for important reasons.”
Skylar rolled her eyes. “It was a dead battery. Look, it’s not even turning over. I wonder if the battery is just old, or if the alternator is going out.”
“We’ll get it checked,” Makai assured her, then took a big bite of rice. “But first, lunch.”
“These are delicious,” Imogen said as she bit into a dumpling. “Did you make them yourself, Hui?”
The conversation drifted to safer topics—Hui’s cooking, the weather, the upcoming wedding Imogen was coordinating. I kept my arm around my wife’s waist, acutely aware of how tender she must be feeling after our enthusiastic activities. Every time our eyes met, I saw the same mix of satisfaction and disbelief I felt myself.
It wasn’t until we’d unloaded the ship and said our goodbyes that I realized that today was the last of the five days I had booked with Salish Sea Adventure Tours.
Was that it for our fun with Makai? I hoped not.
Chapter 12
Makai
That evening, I lounged in one of the vintage Adirondack chairs on the porch of my ranch house, nursing a beer. Skylar sat across from me in the comfy swing we’d found at a garage sale last summer, her feet propped on the railing.
Everything felt normal—the familiar weight of the bottle in my hand, the distant call of an osprey hunting over the water, the gentle evening breeze carrying the scent of cedar and salt. Everything except the ache of my muscles and the restless feeling in my chest that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried to drown it.
“So, while you were busy playing castaway with your sexy British tourists, we had our biggest day of the season.” Skylar tipped her bottle toward me. “Booked out all the mountain bikes, both the kayak tours, and Tony took a family of five out for surf lessons.”
“That’s awesome.” I forced enthusiasm into my voice. “Tony’s getting pretty good with the beginners, huh?”
“Yeah, he’s finally stopped telling kids they paddle like drowning puppies.” She snorted, taking another swig of beer.
Skylar launched into a detailed account of everything I’d missed during my two-day sailing trip. The bookings, the equipment maintenance, the calls from potential corporate clients looking for team-building packages. I nodded at the right moments, made appropriate sounds of interest, but my mind kept drifting back to the boat.
“Earth to Makai.” Skylar waved her hand in front of my face. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
“What? Yeah, of course.” I straightened in my chair. “The, uh, corporate bookings sound promising.”
“I was talking about the busted inflatable paddleboard.” She narrowed her eyes, studying me over the rim of her beer bottle. “You’re thinking about them again, aren’t you? The fancy British couple.”
Heat crawled up my neck. “Just thinking about work stuff. The boat engine needs fixing.”
“Bullshit.” Skylar kicked my shin with her bare foot. “You’ve got that same dopey, distracted look you always get when you’ve found a new fling.”
I rolled my eyes, trying to play it cool. “I’m not dopey.”
She leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “Come on, spill it. What happened out there? Engine really die, or did you sabotage it to get more time with your hot clients?”
“The engine died. Jesus, I’m not a psycho.” I picked at the label on my bottle, avoiding her eyes. “We got lucky with the wind this morning.”
“Got lucky, huh?” Skylar smirked. “Is that a double entendre? You’ve been acting weird all afternoon. Distracted. Got that stupid smile on your face when you think no one’s looking.”
I tried to frown, to erase whatever expression had given me away. This wasn’t like me. I didn’t get hung up on tourists. That was my number one rule. Casual fun with visitors was fine, great even, but I never allowed anything that could hurt when they inevitably left. I’d learned that lesson the hard way.
