Reckless Girls(20)

Amma doesn’t seem satisfied by that response, her frown only deepening, but then someone steps out onto the deck of the catamaran.

Even from a distance, I can tell he’s rich. Working at the resorts in Maui gave me a kind of sixth sense when it came to the type. His hair was probably once brown, but he’s been outside enough to give it that sun-streaked look women pay a lot of money for. Aviator sunglasses, mirrored, reflect the blue, blue water, and he flashes a million-dollar smile as he lifts an arm to wave to us.

“Ahoy!” he calls out, and I can practically feel Nico roll his eyes behind me. Still, he waves back at the guy, just as a woman makes her way up onto the deck to join him.

She’s also blond, hair whipping in her face as she leans over the railing to gaze out at us. She’s wearing cutoffs that ride up her tan thighs, and an oversized button-down that probably belongs to the guy. Sun-kissed and beautiful, they look like an ad for hard seltzer, and I feel grubby in my own loose-fitting shorts and an old V-neck.

Beside me, Amma’s hands have clenched into fists as she stares at the couple. Her lips are a thin line, white around the edges, and when I nudge her with my elbow, she startles like she’d forgotten I was there.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Relax,” Brittany says to her friend. “The more the merrier!”

“That’s not it,” Amma says quietly. By now, the man is climbing into the small dinghy attached to the side of the catamaran, clearly planning to come over and say hello in person.

“Bet they have some quality booze on that boat,” Nico mutters in my ear as he slings an arm around my waist. He smells like sweat and sunblock, and the skin on his nose is peeling just the littlest bit. I don’t even want to know how I look. A crust of salt has settled on my skin, and I know my hair is a wreck.

The tender idles next to us, the guy still grinning. “Welcome to paradise!” he calls, and I realize he’s Australian.

Of course he is.

“Hey, thanks, man,” Nico says, and the guy gestures at the side of the Susannah.

“Permission to board?”

“Aye-aye,” Nico replies, and within a couple of minutes, the guy is standing there on the deck of our boat, somehow making it feel dingier with his own general shininess.

“Jake Kelly,” he says, offering a hand to Nico, who shakes it before introducing all of us.

“So, what brings you all the way out here?” Jake asks warmly. Close up, he’s even better looking than I’d assumed. Amazing what money can do, the gloss it can give you.

“Same thing that brought you here, I’d guess,” Nico says. I notice the way he flexes his biceps just the littlest bit. His arms have a darker tan and are definitely bigger than Jake’s, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

Boys.

“Oh, so you’re also here looking for buried treasure?” Jake replies, his eyebrows raised over the frames of his sunglasses, before laughing and clapping a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “Fucking with you, mate. We’re just here for a good time off the beaten path.”

“Same,” Brittany says, stepping forward. She’s changed into a brightly patterned pink-and-green bikini, and I see Jake give her an admiring look that somehow isn’t sleazy, a quick head-to-toe glance that doesn’t make you feel like you need a shower afterward.

Brittany’s smile gets a little slyer, one hip cocked as she nods her head in the direction of his boat.

“Have you and your wife been here long?”

Subtle.

Jake glances over his shoulder. “Girlfriend,” he corrects. “Eliza. And no, just a couple of days. You’re lucky you got in when you did. Had some ugly weather the day we arrived.”

Nico brightens, launching into a story about the storm we were caught in—probably the same nasty weather Jake mentioned—and bored by this obvious show of machismo, I head for the stern to get a better look at the island.

Amma is already standing there, arms folded tightly around her body, and as I get closer, I realize there are twin tracks of tears on her cheeks.

Alarmed, I reach out and lay a hand on her arm. “You okay?”

She startles, and reaches up to swipe at her damp cheeks. “Yeah, sorry. Just … guess I got kind of overwhelmed, you know? That we’re finally here, but also it’s the beginning of the end.”

I definitely get feeling that way at the end of a vacation—wanting to soak in what you can even as you’re already anticipating the impending return to reality. But it seems a little weird to cry when a trip like this is just beginning.

But Amma is a little weird. Brittany is easier to be around, not nearly as prickly. Once again, I wonder how they became friends, what keeps them together when they actually seem pretty different.

Instead, I smile at Amma and nod toward the island. “Think of it as the beginning of the beginning,” I say. “The beginning of two weeks in this amazing place with no one around.”

“No one except those two,” Amma whispers quickly, as Jake approaches us.

“So, Nico here says your group might be amenable to a beach party tonight?”

Amma stiffens, and I worry she’s going to say no. But then a switch seems to flip, and she gives Jake a million-watt smile, so convincing that for a moment, I wonder if I imagined her earlier discomfort. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”