Troubles in Paradise (Paradise #3)(24)
“It’s too bad we can’t meet at the villa in Little Cinnamon,” Shane says. He turns to Lillibet. “Maia’s dad…it was your dad, right? Your real dad that nobody knew about? Yeah, he was really rich and owned this huge villa with a two-story pool. Maia gets to hang out there whenever she wants.”
“A two-story pool?” Lillibet says.
Maia feels like her heart is being stung by a swarm of bees. She has confided a lot to Shane, but the things she told him were private, and here he is, telling everyone.
Maia shrugs. She isn’t about to admit that the villa has been seized by the FBI. She can’t afford to be any more “famous” at Antilles than she already is.
Colton and Bright are watching a YouTube video of surfing in Portugal on Bright’s phone, and Joanie joins them. Maia nearly says, I thought we said no phones, but she doesn’t want to sound like a teacher or a parent.
“I have no service,” Maia says—to no one, because Shane is now telling Lillibet the gory details of getting his braces off. Maia could join in and say, That sounds like medieval torture, but she knows three’s a crowd. She takes a minute to study Shane and Lillibet together. They’re just two kids talking, right? Or does Shane like Lillibet? They move on to the topic of their math teacher, then to something that happened at morning meeting the day before, and then Shane relates all the near-death experiences he’s had taking the shuttle to Antilles from the Red Hook ferry. Maia smiles to herself, pretending to be deep in thought. If Lillibet is here because she wanted to meet Maia, then why is she talking only to Shane? Maia doesn’t go to Antilles. She wants to, but her mother said not until ninth grade.
Maia wonders if there will be enough money to pay for Antilles, or college—Irene had said she’d handle it, since Russ was gone, but now Irene has no money. What if Huck hasn’t saved enough and Maia can’t go to college in the States like she wants to?
She feels like demanding everyone’s attention so she can bring up this monumental issue—her entire future hangs in the balance—but looking around, she realizes no one will care. Colton and Bright are engrossed in the video; Joanie is shamelessly hanging over Colton’s shoulder (later, Maia will suggest Joanie stop being so obvious). Lillibet and Shane are talking, and maybe they’ve inched closer together, maybe Lillibet is flipping her hair for Shane’s benefit.
Here is the group the five of them created because they had no one to talk to about the important stuff, and Maia still has no one to talk to about the important stuff.
She sits unnoticed for five minutes, ten—then the boys’ interest in the video ends and Colton says, “This clubhouse sucks. There’s nothing to do.”
Maia can’t help herself. “We were supposed to talk,” she says. “Remember?” Remember crying on the beach about your parents and remember who was there to listen?
Lillibet checks her phone. “I’ve got to go,” she says. “My dad’s coming to get me in our boat in twenty minutes and I have to get down to the beach.” She looks at Shane. “Do you want a ride back to Chocolate Hole? It’s on our way.”
Shane raises his eyebrows. He seems like a different person without his braces. Older. Out of Maia’s league.
“Can you take…” he starts, casting his eyes around.
“I live in Coral Bay,” Joanie says. “Wrong direction.”
“It should probably be just you,” Lillibet says. “My dad knows you.”
Say no, Maia thinks. She and Shane can hike back up to the Centerline together. She’ll share her sandwich with him, her banana. They can help each other up the steep parts. It’s frightening how bad she wants this.
“Okay,” Shane says. He stands up and gives the rest of them a wave. His eyes linger on Maia and she looks down into her lap. She knows it’s unreasonable to expect Shane to turn down a boat ride home. It’s a ten-minute walk downhill to the beach—Lillibet will be fine in her flip-flops after all—and then he’ll be back in Chocolate Hole ten minutes after that. But still, it feels like Shane is choosing Lillibet over Maia.
There are goodbyes but they don’t pick another day and time to meet. Shane and Lillibet race each other down the trail, with Lillibet, predictably, shrieking. Maia’s insides have become crumbling ruins. Ahhh—but just like Par Force, she has a sturdy foundation. It’s a nice thought that doesn’t make her feel any better.
“I’m leaving too,” Maia announces.
“Well, wait for us,” Joanie says.
“Yeah,” Bright says, and he tugs on Maia’s ponytail. “Wait for us.”
Maia backhands Bright against the chest. She dislikes anyone touching her hair. Bright grabs her arm and pokes her in the ribs, then tries to tickle her. She shoos him away.
“My mom can probably give you a ride home,” Bright says to Maia. “It’s not that far.”
Bright lives on Gifft Hill, across from the school. It’s not that far but it’s not close either. Bright probably has a crush on her. He used to like Posie Alvarez, but that’s over. Maia thinks about how easy it would be if she could just transfer the feelings she has for Shane to Bright. Bright is in her grade and he goes to Gifft Hill. He’s tall and he’s good at sports and his parents own a rental-car company, which is cool because he gets driven around in all these brand-new Jeeps in juicy colors. But Maia likes Bright only as a friend. Probably because she knows him too well; she remembers when he threw up during library time in second grade.