It’s a small miracle when the boathouse clerk finally leads them outside onto the dock, coming to a halt near a slightly damaged, off-white speedboat. He hands Charlotte a set of keys and two bags of snorkel equipment.
“Buena suerte,” he says, void of any emotion, and disappears back into the house.
“Not a word,” Charlotte says, holding up a finger as she takes their assigned boat in. In her peripherals, Riley mimes zipping her lips.
Charlotte decides to bite the bullet and throws the equipment followed by her own tote into the speedboat, before crawling in herself. Driven by a need to be chivalrous, she turns around and extends a hand for Riley to take.
Riley, who is usually the protective one, makes a small uncomfortable sound in the back of her throat when she steps into the boat with Charlotte’s help.
“You good?” Charlotte checks in, steadying Riley by the hips.
“Yeah,” comes the hoarse reply. “So what’s the plan, exactly?”
“I was gonna take us snorkeling to see the reefs,” Charlotte explains. “Supposedly there are sea turtles too.”
“Cool, cool,” Riley says, taking in her surroundings in the small boat. “Cool,” she repeats, and sits down on a plastic bench.
“You don’t seem cool, cool, cool,” Charlotte dryly remarks. “Do you not like snorkeling?”
“Love snorkeling. Not a huge fan of boats.”
Shit. Of course. She should’ve checked with Riley before booking.
“I am so sorry,” Charlotte utters awkwardly. “Uhm, we don’t have to do this. We can just go for a walk, or—”
“It’s fine.” Riley’s smile is a little pained. “As long as we can take a break when I need it. I would really love to see the turtles. I’m fine in the water. It’s being in the boat that makes me sick.”
“Of course we can take breaks,” Charlotte promises. “You tell me whatever you need, okay?”
Riley laughs and looks up at her with an undefined sparkle in her eye. “I will.”
Not entirely convinced, Charlotte spins to jam the key into the ignition of the speedboat. She turns it and it sputters a few times before the engine roars to life. For all the bad luck she’s had with this trip so far, at least the boat has a steering wheel that seems fairly easy to manage.
“You good?” she asks over her shoulder.
“Have you driven a boat before?” Riley shouts over the noise of the engine.
Charlotte doesn’t want to lie, but she knows the truth isn’t comforting either. “I have a car, and this seems less complicated,” she says. “Less things to bump into!”
“Sure!” Riley calls out, shaking her head as she readjusts her hat. “I am putting all my faith in you, I hope you know that.”
“Can you get the line?” Charlotte points at the rope connecting the boat to the dock, and watches with an endeared smile as Riley bravely reels it in while trying to keep her balance. “Look at you, sailor,” she compliments her. When she winks at Riley, she can see it has the same effect on her as it does the other way around.
“Let’s go find some turtles!”
A good twenty minutes later, Charlotte gently rubs Riley’s back as she hangs over the side of the boat, seconds away from spilling her breakfast into the ocean. “It’s alright, you’re doing amazing.”
“There goes my sexy image.” Riley’s hooded eyes give away how miserable she feels under the scorching sun. Her hat lies somewhere forgotten on the floor of the boat.
“Assuming you had one in the first place,” Charlotte jokes, leaving her hand connected to the skin of Riley’s back as she rummages through her tote in search of a bottle of water.
“Hey, I am sexy,” Riley counters, slightly offended, but her knuckles whiten around the edge of the boat and it looks like her lights are about to go out any minute.
“Sorry I went too fast,” Charlotte says, screwing the cap off the bottle and handing it to Riley.
“Too slow,” Riley murmurs between a couple of grateful sips. “Your body can’t really feel the waves if you go fast enough.” She puts the bottle on the bench and slumps down, dipping her wrists in the cool ocean water. At least she seems to be able to keep her stomach contents to herself.
“Didn’t think I’d have you begging to go harder this early into the date,” Charlotte snickers, which turns into a cackle when Riley turns her head to scowl at her.
