by C. L. Stone
“Outside?” I asked.
“The baths are outdoors,” she said. “We don’t wear clothes into the bath. There is a wall to separate the men from the women.”
Well, then what was the point of me being here? I wasn’t sure I wanted to get naked to get into the hot bath and just sit there. Did I have to talk to them through the wall? If Marc and Blake were talking to this guy, why was I here? Maybe I should focus on someone else if they were already getting friendly with whoever was there.
The woman encouraged me onward. I thought she was going to stay right there until I actually did everything she said. Once I was at the lockers, I turned to ask her about wearing the shoes in the shower, but she had disappeared.
I unraveled the candy in my hand, a butterscotch. I popped it into my mouth, the noise echoing in the large empty room. The air was chilly, too. I scanned the room, detecting areas I couldn’t see behind, like more lockers, and walked around, looking for other people. I knew there weren’t any but I was paranoid.
I debated simply leaving but I was in need of a shower anyway. Maybe I’d drown and die before I could become any more embarrassed by the boys or do any more harm.
What was wrong with me? Why did I keep thinking like that?
I wished I didn’t have to be here just now. I wished Corey was there to talk to, so I could straighten out the mess.
I found the towels, undressed and put my dress and glasses in the locker. My flip flops smacked loudly against the tile as I moved around, the sound reverberating in the quiet room.
I showered, rinsing off the coffee and juice and used some of the provided soap to make sure I was clean. I didn’t wash my hair. There wasn’t any shampoo, just soap.
When I was done, I went to the door. Shouldn’t I have a bathing suit? If there was a wall, I guess it didn’t matter. Nude bathing. I tried to picture it, recalling movies with Japanese or Roman baths. I didn’t think they still did that.
Next to the exit to the hot baths, there were baskets with small towels, just big enough to put around your waist, some hair ties and additional slippers. Outside slippers. There was a second empty basket marked for bathroom slippers. I took the bathroom slippers off and put the new ones on. Slippers for everything.
I took one of the hair ties, too. I pulled my hair back into a bun. I was going for a look more than anything else, just in case someone walked in, I still needed to look like Kitty, the little nerd girl. I tugged out a few strands, framing my face.
Then I thought about the glasses. I went back for them, bypassing doing the slipper routine. I put on the glasses and headed out, wrapped up in the bath towel.
There was a narrow beige tile foot path between bamboo fences, and along the side of the path was a rock bed with various blue and white flowers of different colors growing between the rocks. The whole scene shifted from cold locker room to beautiful garden, and natural surroundings. The style was very clean. I wondered if this really was anything like Japan.
With my skin still wet from the shower, the light autumn breeze outside chilled my body. I pulled the towel tighter around myself just to retain a bit of warmth.
The path went around the side of the spa wall, opening up slightly to a wide patio, with deck chairs, another flip flop holder, and some bins with additional towels. There was a fence surrounding the entire area, secluding bath visitors from the rest of the ship. A quiet reprieve from cruise life.
At the end of the patio was the stair that went down into water. The bath looked to be a large, curved pool, with a black bottom. Creepy. It was hard to tell how deep it was. The bath twisted around a larger part of the rock garden on the left, and then the edge of the pool stretched out to the fence on the right and out ahead of me. There were trees and rocks that looked like they encircled the entire thing. There was a rock formation in the middle of the wide bath, designed like a place to sit in the middle. I couldn’t see around the bend of the bath to the left, but I imagined it was more fence: the wall that separated men from women. A Japanese bath seemed to be more like a big, steaming swimming pool with a garden surrounding it.
I was glad there weren’t any other women here to try to make conversation with. I could get used to a place like this.
I removed the slippers, keeping them by the pool instead of putting them in the basket, and I discarded the towel near them. Maybe I could use the moment to try to recall what I’d said, and to give myself a new plan.
I stuck my foot into the water, testing it. There was a lot of heat, but with being outside in the cool fall air, I wanted the warmth.
I eased my way into the bath. There wasn’t a scent like a pool, heavy with chlorine. There was something else, a slight sulfur smell. Then the breeze picked up a little and I was smelling flowers: lilies and other sweet flowers I didn’t know the names of.
The waster was hotter the further down I dipped myself in, but I went slowly to adjust. Once I was as far as my knees, I noticed the water was colored, a green-blue hue. When I got fully in, the color hid my chest and everything down below. You could walk around without people gawking at your nakedness. Thoughtful, but still creepy. The pond-like bath made me think there might be fish. Okay, there couldn’t be, but still. I was weirded out.
Warm water felt good, a little too warm at first but I got used to it. I turned in the water, checking out the blue and white flowers blossoming. There was a bamboo fountain among the flower beds, and water sprinkled into a bowl, providing a gentle sound in the otherwise quiet area. I went to the edge of the bath, feeling the rocks along the sides that made up the natural landscaping. Then I wondered if the rocks in the middle sitting area were real or just designed to look like rock.
The bottom of the bath was a little slippery, and there was something like sand at the bottom. If I moved my foot from side to side, I could feel a pool bottom, but I could feel the sand swirling around the sides of my feet.
I didn’t like the feeling. I tried just walking on my toes, but it lifted me a bit too far out of the water and my nipples poked out. The whole bath was the same level, just high enough for you to stand in the colored water and have your shoulders out.
I lifted my feet, swimming to go around the bend so I could check out the rest of the area.
I gasped when there wasn’t a fence, like I had expected.
Around the bend, the bath opened up. There was a wall, separating the bath in two, but it was short, and only went up to just under the water line. The other half of the bath was like the women’s side, just slight differences in shape.
Blake, Marc and a third man were on the other side, sitting by the edge near the wall. Blake was sitting higher than the others, and I could see the side of his bare butt and hip as he soaked in the sun with just his legs in the water. Naked. They all had to be naked.
That thought made me almost choke.
I stopped short in a swimming stroke, and stood in the pool, covering my breasts quickly. The splash drew their attention and they all turned, including Blake. I was too far out from the bend now to go back and pretend I hadn’t been there.
I should have figured there was more to this than simply swimming alone on this side of the hot bath. There was just enough room on the women’s side to get into the pool before coming out to the open area that was in view of the men’s section. Unless you were out of the water, like Blake, you were completely covered, nothing worse than wearing a strapless dress. It was still incredibly intimidating to be nude in the water with them.
Blake did nothing to cover himself, only smiled. His hair was dry, and the longer strands swept around the nape of his neck. I didn’t see any blood and wondered if there was makeup along his neck, causing a bit of discoloration. There were tan lines at his waist and thigh. His butt was pale. I couldn’t see the front between his legs with the way he was sitting, just his hip, although I hated to admit I was curious. He sported a pack of abs, and hip lines. His wide chest and arms and his lean waist had that model-like look. “Well, well,�
�� he said. “Kitty has come to play.”
I looked at Marc quickly, knowing I was wide-eyed and wild. What in the world are we doing here? Why didn’t you warn me?
Marc was in the bath, but his elbows were up on the ledge out of the water, taking in sun on his chest while keep in his waist in the water. His arms bulged, as did his shoulders. He was broader than Blake, more meat on his bones. His hair was wet and had been brushed to the side, half hanging over his blue eye. “Hi,” he said, smiling at me.
No help from him. He was enjoying this.
The man with them was middle-aged, with salt and pepper hair, and a long nose and otherwise uninteresting features. He looked over his shoulder at me and shrugged absently. He stood in the water, a hairy chest sticking out over middle-aged flab. I didn’t spot a wedding ring but that didn’t mean he wasn’t married. He seemed at ease and his shoulders were looking a little pink. “There’s hardly ever women on that side. Not a lot of them like the hot baths. It’s not like the real Japanese onsens, you know. In Japan, the onsen is an actual hot spring. The water is different.”
He seemed like a rambler. The guys wanted to drag me into this? I waded toward the wall, planning to stand right next to it until they left and I could get back. I was masked by the water but still felt incredibly uncomfortable. I forced a smile, reaching up from the water to adjust the glasses, only to get droplets of water on them, making it harder to see. No way to clean them off. Now I really felt like a dork. “How...is the water different?” I asked, hoping to get him to start again and distract the others.
The man turned, addressing me, but not really looking at me, but at the fence, the flowers, the sky—maybe he didn’t want to embarrass me. Maybe this was what happened in Japan and he was familiar with the protocol. “Hot spring water has a smell. Sometimes it’s like sulfur like they try to do here, but it’s way stronger. They perfume the water to mask the scent. Or they have lots of flowers around so you smell flowers instead of sulfur. They did a decent job trying to mimic here, but it’s still fake.”
Marc slid deeper into the water and waded over to the short wall and me. He hung his arms over, splashing his hands on the women’s side of the bath. “I like this place,” he said. “I could get used to this.”
I tightened my arms around my chest and made a face at him. Get used to this? Why not just go skinny dipping with Fancy in the big pool? I checked and rechecked to see if I was showing any body parts but I didn’t see anything.
There was a splash and I turned my head. Blake had slid into the water. They were all in the water now, walking around. The older man leaned back as though he was going to float on his back, but just before his belly breached the water, he righted himself and continued wading.
I let out a breath, relieved to know I wouldn’t have to observe old man junk while I was here.
Blake kept himself between us and the man, obviously trying to keep the older man in a conversation. “So you go to Japan often? I’ve only been twice. I keep meaning to go back.”
“I go whenever I can,” the older man said. “The women are much nicer there. I prefer Japan to South Korea. Or China. I think because the women have to be nice to you there. No offense of course.”
My first instinct was to make a face, and I turned my head away so he wouldn’t notice. He liked women who had to be nice to him? Maybe because he didn’t have much personality or the body to attract a wife.
I supposed with the way the wall was and with the water being colored, they couldn’t see more of me than I could see of them. I had my arms wrapped around my chest, holding onto my shoulders to cover myself. I went closer to the wall, and faced it, trying to hang my elbows over, standing near Marc.
When I let go of my breasts, to my horror, they floated, becoming perkier than usual. I covered them again with one arm, feeling awkward exposing them. I kept one arm on the wall, trying to look normal for the old man’s sake. Being this close to the wall made me feel like I had more cover.
Blake and Marc watched me, smiling. Were they getting along now? Or were they just laughing at me?
“I didn’t know you were coming onboard, Kitty,” Blake said with a mocking grin.
“Do you know her?” Marc said, turning his head toward Blake although he kept his body leaning on the wall near me. He didn’t touch, only smiled at my face. I got a hint they had a plan. This might be why they wanted me here. They wanted to talk about me.
“We’re in some of the same circles,” Blake said. When the man walked around the large rock formation and came back, Blake addressed him. “Did you say something about your work and having to travel?”
“International real estate is big business,” the man said. “Why? Are you looking to invest?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he said and then he looked directly at me. “Last time, I trusted Kitty to manage my investing, and, well, let’s just say I got less than I put in.”
“Investing is risky business,” Marc said. “There’s never a guarantee. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t like losing.” Blake swam toward the middle wall now, but he kept his body aimed toward the older man. “Mr. Cline, do you lose in your investments?”
Mr. Cline waded closer, until he was on the edge of the rock formation and sat on it, facing us. “Never.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” Blake said. “Although she said the same thing.”
“It really depends on what you’re investing,” Marc said. “Kitty usually never loses. That’s why Mr. Murdock hired her.”
This was a script, part of the rumor Blake was trying to spread. I waited to see where they were going to take it.
“Mr. Murdock doesn’t like to lose, either,” Mr. Cline said. He smacked his lips together. He squinted his eyes, too, and I wondered if he normally wore glasses. “I’m sure if Kitty was hired by him, that there’s really little risk. Truthfully, I never heard him talk about the investments.”
Blake harrumphed. “He tried to get me to put in money with him. Then I learned it was Kitty, and had to decline. I hated to do that. He was really eager. Said it was the best investment he’d ever made. I was about to throw in a good chunk from some foreign investments.” He winked at me. “No offense, Kitty. It’s just business.”
Mr. Cline angled his head at Blake. “You should have trusted him.”
“Would you have if you were in my shoes?”
“I have,” he said. “On occasion. I might have a few hundred thousand, give or take, with Murdock. These days, I have an assistant who keeps track of it all. It’s always good to diversify.”
“I hear you,” Blake said. He turned his head, looking right at my eyes. “Like I said, I don’t like losing.”
“How is business, Kitty?” Marc asked, a small smile on the side of his mouth. He was trying not to laugh, probably at calling me Kitty.
I reached under his forearm hanging in the water on the women’s side. “Fine,” I said as I pinched. Hard.
He moved his arm away, splashing at me but not saying anything.
“Can’t be too fine,” Blake said. “I haven’t even seen Mr. Murdock for a while. I heard there was a bit of trouble.”
I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. I looked at Marc, who stared at me with his mismatched eyes. I waded by the wall, settling onto my feet on the slick bottom of the bath, stirring up sand. I still didn’t like it, but I was bobbing around and the movement of the water was pushing me away from the wall. “I...uh...haven’t really heard from Mr. Murdock in a while. I had to stop what I was doing, no taking in anymore investments. So if you’re looking to do something, I’m afraid I have to wait to hear from him.”
Mr. Cline looked at me now, the first time he really addressed me directly. “How do you stop when he’s gone?”
“He was my contact,” I said. “I have a list of account numbers and amounts. He comes to me with new account numbers and tells me to do...what I do. I don’t know what
belongs to who. He kept things private like that.”
“He was always over-cautious,” Mr. Cline said. “He was the only one you spoke to?”
I nodded. “I think he likes it like that. More control and little risk if he kept such information separate. I was hoping he’d show up on this cruise to give me some direction.”
“I don’t think he will,” Mr. Cline said. “Things aren’t exactly good. But I wouldn’t worry about it. He wouldn’t let investors hang in the dark for long.” He kicked his legs out, swishing them in the water.
I shared a look with Blake and then with Marc. I got the feeling Mr. Cline knew more about Mr. Murdock and his investments than we did. He seemed sure Mr. Murdock would be back. Had he heard something?
Blake stretched his arms out and then licked his lips. “Boy, I tell you what. These warm baths make me mighty thirsty.”
“How long have we been in here?” Mr. Cline asked.
Blake shifted his arm to check out the Rolex on his wrist. “Whoops. Almost forty minutes.” I didn’t think it had really been that long but he might have been lying to get things rolling.
“Already?” Mr. Cline sunk into the water again. “We should step out. Take a break. That’s a bit long. Your insides are going to cook.”
“No wonder I’m thirsty,” Blake said. He waded next to Mr. Cline, and then clapped his hand on his shoulder in a friendly move. “Are you a Scotch or a bourbon man?”
“Scotch,” he said. He nodded in my direction without looking at me. “Have a good bath, Miss Lane.”
“See ya, Kitty,” Blake said.
I did a short wave, but then gripped the wall again.
They moved on around the bend and out of my view. I blew out a breath between my lips, releasing my chest to cover my face with both hands. That had been both terrifying and nerve-wracking. I wasn’t cut out for this, lying to people about who I was for the long term, trying to keep up with a fake me. Maybe I needed to learn computer hacking like Corey or stick to listening like Doyle.