“But we can get to it by land? We don’t have to snorkel it?”
“You can do both. But finding the land entrance is really hard. I barely remember it.”
“I’m pretty sure I fell down that hole last night.”
“Even better,” Rafe said, nodding his head. “I knew you weren’t always a useless wench.”
“Gee, thanks, Rafe.”
“Um, I hate to intervene here, but what hole did you fall down last night?” Beau asked. I looked up to see both Beau and Cash looking at me with equally annoyed expression. Luna just shrugged as if to say I was on my own and took a sip of her beer, leaning over to chime in on the clothing conversation the other two women were having.
“Um, yeah, about that.”
“You did what?” Cash said, his handsome face darkening.
I quickly filled them in, doing my best to minimize what had happened, but I could see they weren’t happy with me.
“Keep it quiet, okay?” I asked, nodding to where Mama Jean expounded on crystals versus sequins.
“Fine, but you can’t do that shit, Althea,” Beau said, shaking his head.
“I know, I know. I wasn’t thinking. I got it.” This time I took a long slug of my beer.
“This was the intel you wanted to add to my knowledge?” Cash asked.
“Indeed.”
“Well, I’ll thank you for it, but could we please be smarter in the future?”
“I blame the rum,” I grumbled.
“I blame your impulsiveness,” Beau said.
“Why is she impulsive?” Mama Jean asked, suddenly breaking into the conversation.
“I have a tendency to say the wrong things at the wrong time,” I said, thinking up an excuse on the fly. “They’re worried I’ll embarrass myself at the gala tonight.”
“I don’t tink so. They are plenty of colorful people in attendance tonight. You won’t embarrass anyone. ’Specially de Flamingo King. He don’t embarrass for nothing.”
“Do you like him?” I asked. Might as well get some more intel on him from a local.
“I do like him. He’s loud, but I don’t mind de loud men. It’s de quiet ones I worry over.”
“His son’s quiet,” I observed, and I saw Mama Jean’s shoulders tighten up. “Do you worry about him?”
“I said all I’m going to say,” Mama Jean said.
Miss Elva glared at me, then turned back to Mama Jean. “Ignore her. She’s just looking out for me because David’s taken a shine to me.”
“Oh child, you got yourself a live one there.” They both slapped the table and laughed.
“Don’t I know it, honeychild, don’t I know it!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It turned out we wouldn’t have to say goodbye to Mama Jean for long, as she was also attending the gala that evening.
“Dat Flamingo King, he a nice man. He don’t come ’ere and stick his nose up at de locals all fancy-like. He welcomes us all.”
“It’s de truth,” Calvin admitted, smiling as he approached the bar. I hadn’t heard him pull up.
“Calvin, Mama Jean tells me you paint. Is she pulling one over on me or are those gorgeous paintings yours?”
“Naw, she not lying. Those are mine. I just like to dabble in my free time. I tink it’s good for my brain. I like it.”
“Calvin, they’re fantastic. I am in love with the dolphin one,” I exclaimed.
“You can have it then. No charge.”
“Excuse me?” Mama Jean said, putting a hand on her hip. “I’m not refunding this woman.”
“No, Calvin, that’s not how you do business. I sell my underwater photos too. In fact, all of us are in the business of creating things and selling them, in one way or the other. Your work has value. Please, I insist on paying for it.”
“All right, then. Thank you, Miss Althea.”
“Can you fit it in the van?”
“I’ll go wrap it up now.” Calvin disappeared, and we all got up to head to the store. Calvin bubble-wrapped the painting and Mama Jean finished packing up Miss Elva’s new clothes.
“We’ll see you later.” I smiled at Mama Jean, liking her vibe, and we all trooped out to the van.
“Now, I can tour you more, or we go back to the villa so you have a couple hours to get ready for tonight.”
“Villa,” Miss Elva declared, and I couldn’t have agreed more. This girl could use a long luxurious nap in my cool air-conditioned room before I faced tonight.
“But what about looking for my cave?” Rafe hissed in my ear.
“I thought we agreed it was the one by the villa,” I whispered back. Cash gave me the side-eye.
“Yeah, but what if I remembered wrong?”
“Then we’ll go look for it tomorrow. Honestly, I’m pretty sure this is what you’re describing. Just calm down. We’ll find it,” I whispered, and then held my hand up in his face when he tried to keep chattering at me. Where was Hank when I needed him? My dog would have chased Rafe away for long enough that I could get some peace and quiet.
Luckily, it wasn’t a long drive to the villa and soon we were all standing outside in the sun once more, packages in hand, and discussions about the evening going on.
“Hair and makeup will be by at five,” Calvin said as he left.
I turned and looked at Luna. “Hair and makeup?”
“The Flamingo King offered.” Luna shrugged.
“So that gives us three hours to nap?”
“It does. Especially since you don’t have to do your own hair and makeup,” Luna pointed out. I could have crowed in delight.
“I’d ask to join you, but I genuinely think right now you’d rather sleep than what I had in mind,” Cash said into my ear.
I winced, smiling up at him apologetically. “Don’t get me wrong. What you have in mind sounds… exciting.” My body flushed at the thought. “But, yes, I’m equally as turned on by the thought of three hours of blissful nap time with nothing to interrupt me.”
“I’m competing with sleep these days.” Cash shook his head.
“Just today. Not all days.” I shrugged. New Althea was working on being as honest as possible. If Cash was going to be interested in me again, he needed to see Althea unfiltered. Which sometimes meant I’d rather sleep in my ugly pajamas and not put makeup on than have a sexy tumble in bed.
This was one of those times.
“Enjoy your nap. I’m going to have a wander-about,” Cash said, which I took to mean he was going to scope for the cave I had told him about. Good; at least I’d have someone else looking for it. I was certainly crap with navigation, and I definitely hadn’t been paying much attention to where I was going last night.
“Look for the single palm. I think I saw a path.”
“On it.”
With that we all traipsed inside. For the most part, we’d mutually agreed we would disappear to our rooms for a rest. Beau looked at me and I knew that face meant we had more to discuss, but for now I just shook my head. I was bone tired and the beer from lunch was making me sleepy. Closing my door, I turned the air conditioner on low and stripped, falling naked into bed and pulling the cool sheet over me. It had been a long night and an emotionally charged day, and all I wanted to do was escape into the sweet bliss of sleep.
“Althea?”
“What?” I shot up in bed, belatedly remembering to grab the sheet to cover my chest, but it was only Luna anyway.
“It’s four thirty. I thought you might want a little time to wake up so you don’t bite the head off the poor makeup girl.” Luna knew me well.
“Oh, phew, okay. Man, I was just lights out there.” I blinked and looked around blearily.
“You needed it. Weird day.”
“I’d say.”
“How are you feeling about it all?”
“I’m… I don’t know. I’m worried for Miss Elva. Something’s going on here and I don’t know who’s at the bottom of it. But I also really like the Flamingo King. And I like that
Cash is here, and he’s already checking into things.”
“Is he?”
“Yeah. David was going to invest with him in his new resort, but Cash is careful about who he partners with. He’s here poking around.”
“That makes me feel better.”
“Me too.”
“Does he make you feel safe?”
“He does.”
“What are you going to do about him?”
“I don’t know. I’m beyond attracted to him. It isn’t attraction that’s the issue. It’s me fitting into his world. This time around, if we do date for a bit, I’m going to be as open and unfiltered Althea as I can be.”
“That’s the way you should always be.”
“But I still have feelings for Trace.”
“Of course you do.”
“I’m confused. I feel like I’m doing something wrong.”
“Have you lied to either man?”
“Nope.”
“Have you been honest about your feelings for both?”
“Mostly. My feelings for Cash are murky, but he knows I’m attracted to him.”
“As long as you walk your path in truth, then you’re doing nothing wrong. Just don’t play games, be honest, and do what feels right for you in the moment. That’s all any of us can do, Althea. There’s no right answer in how you navigate relationships. So long as you’re honest.”
“I’m not a good liar.”
“Nope. You’re complete shit at lying.”
“So you’re saying that so long as I’m truthful with everyone, I can sleep with Cash?”
“As long as everyone knows the score. If Cash still wants to step up to bat, then I’d say have fun.”
“Huh. Well, then. Tonight just got a lot more interesting.”
“That it did. And you’re going to look stunning. Cash is going to swallow his tongue when he sees you.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Me either. Now get in the shower and have a cup of coffee so your brain is working.”
“Luna?”
“Yes?” Luna stopped and looked back in at me. My heart swelled with loving her so much.
“I love you. In case I don’t tell you enough. You’re the best friend I could have. I’m blessed to have you in my life.”
“Althea, that’s really sweet of you,” Luna said, coming back in and giving me a big hug. “I love you too.”
“I told you I’m being open and honest. I just realized that maybe I didn’t say that enough to my friends. I don’t want you to think I take you for granted.”
“I know you don’t. I’m honored to call you my friend too.”
“Really?” I asked, and tears spiked my eyes.
“Don’t you dare,” Luna warned, glaring at the sheen that filled my eyes.
“I’m doing nothing. It’s nothing,” I promised, getting up and streaking toward the bathroom. “Damn air conditioner messing with my allergies.”
“Nice butt,” Luna called into the bathroom, and I laughed so hard that I did cry this time.
That’s what friends were for, after all.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I don’t get what the point of all this is,” I complained to Luna. “I’m just going to sweat it all off.”
“No you won’t,” the makeup girl, Irene, promised. “I do all the beach weddings here. You just put a little milk of magnesia on the skin first and then we do a spray foundation.”
“I’m not getting married though. So why the fuss?”
“Because every once in a while it’s nice to dress up and make yourself look beautiful. Not that you’re not beautiful every day, but it’s nice to showcase the goods once in a while,” Irene said. Then I had to shut my mouth because she was spraying stuff on my face.
“It’s fun to be a little extra once in a while,” Luna said from across the kitchen table where she was getting her hair curled. “Plus, you have a sexy man who can see you all dolled up, so that’s an added bonus.”
“Sexy men are always an added bonus,” Irene agreed.
“Hers is hot. He looks like Channing Tatum,” Luna said.
Irene paused. “I saw him earlier! He was wandering around outside in that hot sun. I think when he took his shirt off the entire van of makeup girls cheered.”
“That would be the one,” I said and smiled.
“Damn, girl,” Irene said. Succinct, she was.
“Indeed.”
“What are you wearing tonight?” the hair girl, Lisa, asked me.
“A rose gold gown. Shimmery.”
“Perfect. We’ll just work with your curls, because this humidity is a nightmare. I’ll just touch them up a bit, and we’ll maybe braid it back on one side, sweeping it over the other shoulder?”
“You’re the boss,” I said with a shrug.
“It’ll be great, trust me,” Lisa said. Her hair was done up in a series of intricate braids, with beads woven through. It looked complicated and exotic, so I did indeed trust her.
“Done,” Irene said, and she and Lisa switched. Lisa chattered away about the party as she deftly braided and curled my hair. In what felt like no time, I was pronounced ready to go.
“I’ll help you with your dress, and you with mine,” Luna said. Lisa had swept her blond hair back into a low loose bun, one of those ones that looked effortless, but took forever to make perfect. A few wisps of hair were artfully left out, and her makeup made her blue eyes huge in her face.
“You look like an angel.”
“Just wait until you see my dress.”
I followed Luna into her room and laughed at the sexy fringy short white beaded dress she had hanging on the closet door.
“Is this gala-appropriate?”
“It’s a seventies soul gala,” Luna reminded me and I held the dress over her head and zipped her up. Turning, she struck a pose, and I smiled as all the fringes on her dress sparkled and moved.
“It’s perfect. You now look like a disco witch.”
“Even better. I’m ready to bust out some soul moves tonight.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Here, let me get you in your dress. Then I want to have a quick video chat with Mathias so he can see how good I look and make him miss me even more.”
“That man is besotted with you already.”
“I know. But since he can’t be here, I like to include him all I can. Plus it makes my welcome home that much sweeter… and naughtier.”
“Thatta girl,” I said and held my arms up while Luna helped me into the shimmery rose gold gown, securing the shoulder and the side zip so that it draped over me in one fluid column. Standing back, Luna whistled.
“Cash is going to swallow his tongue.”
“I hope not, I have plans for that tongue.”
“Althea Rose!” Beau chided from the doorway, and I turned, blushing but also laughing.
“Sorry, that was crude.”
“That’s okay, I like crude. And you both are spectacular.”
“So are you. I like the sequined sport coat.”
“Wait until you see Miss Elva. I think we’re going to be the talk of the party when we all enter together.”
I followed Beau into the main room while Luna made her call to Mathias. Stopping dead in my tracks, I started laughing.
“Child, I know you aren’t laughing at me.”
“I am, but in a good way. You’re miraculous.”
“Of course I am,” Miss Elva said, tossing her hair. She was a vision in a dripping caftan in shimmery gold, with a stunning set of fringy sequined butterfly wings attached to her back in black and gold. It should have looked insane. Instead it looked avant garde.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I said, circling her. The dress clung to her every curve and yet shifted and moved as she walked, and the wings seemed to flutter of their own accord as the fringe moved and danced.
“You think David will like it?”
It wasn’t like Miss Elva to be unsure of
herself, and I wondered just how much she liked the Flamingo King.
“I think he’ll love it.”
“I love it. You’re a vision, my lovemountain,” Rafe said, hovering over her, his face tinged with sadness. I knew he was working really hard on accepting that he had to share Miss Elva with other men. He was showing remarkable restraint, which surprised me. Who would have thought the pirate ghost could exhibit personal growth?
“Pictures,” Irene insisted as Luna came to join the four of us. Taking her phone, Irene snapped a series of us in our finery, smiling brightly at the camera, dripping in sequins and shimmer in the middle of our own private villa.
Looking at the picture, my stomach turned. I couldn’t help but feel like this was the calm before the storm.
Luna caught my look. “What’s up?”
“Be on guard tonight,” I said, “Something’s off. I feel it.”
“Child, you got your gris-gris on you?”
“Tucked in shoe,” I admitted.
“Good,” Miss Elva said and then looked at us. “If Althea says something’s up, then something’s up. I know we want to party tonight, but how about we not drink for a bit? Get the lay of the land? Keep our wits about us.”
“I have no problem with that,” Beau said. “I trust you.”
“I think we should have a check-in point. It’s going to be a massive party, and we might lose each other.”
Miss Elva eyed me balefully.
“Well, you’ll be hard to lose. But you know what I mean.”
“We check in every hour on the hour? At the food tent. If I can’t have drinks, I want snacks,” Miss Elva decided.
“What are we looking out for?” Beau asked.
“I don’t know. Keep an eye on Randall and Calvin. Something’s up with those two.”
“Got it. I’ll see if I can pull any more information from the delightful Captain Woodley.”
“Do that. The rest of you, just – you know, do what you do best.” I shrugged. As motivational speeches went, it wasn’t my finest.
A Sixer of Tequila Page 14