Charlotte sighs. “Oh, Tessa. Don’t you hear yourself? Get out of your own way for once and just take a leap of faith.”
“I’m thinking about it. You know I like to think things through.”
“Thinking things through is the opposite of taking a leap of faith.”
“I know. I’m just... He’s too good to be true. I need to slow things down and protect myself.”
“Okay, Crazy Girl. You do you. Have fun bicycling down a volcano. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Nut Job.Aloha.”
44
Tessa
When all two hundred of us return to the resort from our amazing bike ride down a huge, dormant volcano, we descend upon the massive swimming pool area to hang out and relax in the sunshine before it’s time to get ready for the luau.
While one group floats on inner tubes around a lazy river, another one hops into the large pool to play a fierce game of water-volleyball (while wearing their spiffy colored jerseys, of course) and still another group cannonballs into the pool with no apparent agenda beyond making a gigantic splash. And what am I doing? Lying on a lounge chair at the edge of the pool in my black string bikini, a piña colada and smutty book both by my side, my body slathered in coconut-scented sunscreen.Heaven.
I pick up my book, but, despite my best efforts, I can’t seem to focus on it, not with the impromptu “show” currently happening in the pool. Specifically, the Morgan brothers plus their honorary brother, Zander, are pretending to be dolphins under the deft command of their “trainer,” eight-year-old Coco, who’s standing on the ledge of the pool, directing her enthusiastic fleet with hand signals and chirpy, giggle-filled vocal commands.
Keane and Zander are definitely the “lead” dolphins (man, those boys are giving it their all), but Colby, Ryan, and Dax are no slouches in the dolphin-department, either. Oh my gosh, I can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard. Oh, wait. Yes, I can. When Keane told me the preposterous story of how he met his best friend in a locker room. And when Dax told me the history behind his band’s name. And when Ryan told me the story of how he wiped his shitty little five-year-old ass on his momma’s prized Christmas hand towel. And when Kat told me she used to go into bars and pretend she’d just escaped from a cult. And this morning when Mr. Morgan pedaled playfully past Keane on his bike and yelled, “Eat my dust, sucker!” over his shoulder. And on and on.
My eyes widen.
Oh my God.
I just realized something: I’m totally and completely in love with the entire Morgan family. Every last one of them. Well, except for Ryan, of course. I’m not in love with Ryan. I scoff to myself. Of course not. He might not be a liar, but he’s still a manwhore. And I’d better not forget it.
“Hey, Tessa,” a voice says, drawing me out of my rambling thoughts.
I look to my left. It’s Sarah with Henn’s girlfriend, Hannah, both of them in dripping wet bikinis, motioning to two vacant loungers next to me.
“Are these open?” Sarah asks.
“All yours,” I say.
The ladies make themselves comfortable.
“We were taking a bathroom-break from floating around the lazy river and saw you lying here all alone.”
“Oh, I’m just hanging out, watching the dolphin show.” I motion to the pool and both ladies check out the “dolphins” for a long beat.
“Who’s the little girl?” Sarah asks, laughing.
“Coco. One of the Morgan cousins just married her dad.”
“Aw,” Hannah says. “Those boys are so sweet to make Coco feel so included.”
“The Morgan boys are all really sweet like that,” Sarah says.
“Their momma must have taught them well,” Hannah says.
We all watch the show for several minutes, commenting and giggling about the boys’ ridiculous (but strangely sexy) dolphin maneuvers, and, finally, when Ryan opens his arms to Coco and coaxes her to jump into them from the ledge of the pool, we all simultaneously gasp and swoon.
“Oh my God, that was hot,” Hannah blurts. “Muscles and tattoos and pierced nipples and a leaping, laughing little girl? Jesus God, I suddenly wanna grab Henn and drag him to our room.”
We all laugh.
