Still, I knew better than to bring it up to Saylor again. She wasn’t gonna budge.
So if I couldn’t exhaust my mind, maybe exhausting my body would help.
As Saylor and I left the dining hut, I turned to her with what I hoped was a charming smile. “How about we grab a kayak and check out the island from the water?”
She bit her bottom lip as her eyes danced between me and the calm water behind me. “I’ve never done it before. Is it hard?”
“Nah, you just gotta be smart about it. Take the current into consideration and try not to brain your partner with your oar. Piece of cake.”
“Okay.” She didn’t sound sure, but she followed me to the equipment desk, and we checked out a kayak, life vests, and oars. Samu helped me carry it down to the beach and gave us the usual safety spiel.
Saylor’s eyes grew wider the longer he talked.
I cleared my throat, and when Samu looked my way, I shook my head slightly.
His speech ended abruptly. “Yeah. So that’s it. Just wear your life vests at all times, and have fun. And don’t forget to sign up for some fishing later, Mal. I gotta get back on the water. She’s calling my name.”
“Sure thing, Samu. Thanks.”
He left with a wave and once he was a safe distance away, Saylor turned to me with a weird expression. “Who is she?”
“What?” I looked up from buckling my life vest.
“He said: ‘She’s calling my name.’ Who’s she?”
“Ah,waitui[wye-too-ee].” I reached toward her and finished clipping the buckles on her vest.
Her eyes widened even more.
“You ever seeMoana?”
She nodded.
“Kinda like that. Samu has a deep cultural connection with the water.” I stepped back and picked up an oar. “You want front or back?”
She blinked a few times then shook her head. “Uh, whichever you don’t want.”
“I should probably take back, so we get where we wanna go.”
“Okay.”
After a shaky start, we pushed off from the beach, and before long were stroking against the current but parallel to the beach. I’d learned from my last time that you didn’t want to go the other way. Nothing was worse than trying to row against the current once you were already gassed.
Saylor was quiet at first. She paddled smoothly with me, careful not to collide oars. But since I was mostly steering now, there was little danger of tangling.
Suddenly she laughed.
I smiled at the sound. “What’s so funny?”
She shrugged. “I just never would’ve labeled you a Disney fan, that’s all.”
“I feel like I should be insulted.”
“Well, just with the whole man-bun, tattoos, and lithe muscles, I would’ve pegged you as anti-corporation, anti-billionaires, and maybe a yoga enthusiast.”
I cracked up. Pulling my oar out of the water because I didn’t want to lose it, I bent over in my seat and laughed so hard tears burned my eyes. “Shit, that’s funny. Me, a yogi.” I laughed some more as I put my oar back in the water to steer. “I can’t wait to tell Gio.”
And then I sobered. Gio hadn’t been taking my calls or replying to my texts since we got off tour. He’d gone underground. I really hoped he hadn’t relapsed. Maybe he and his girl had gone to Vegas and were living it up like he’d been talking about weeks ago.
