“My stomach says otherwise,” Matthew moans, grabbing for one of the muffins. His brother side-eyes him.
“Maybe you should have considered that before your fifth glass of scotch.”
So I’m not the only one who overindulged yesterday. Stevengives me a sideways look from across the bar. This is going to be a long morning.
“Ok,” Jules, ever the diplomat, stands up and claps her hands together. I take it she’s as eager as I am to end this episode of Family Feud. “I’m going to get dressed. Jim says the kayaks should be ready in ten.”
“I’ll go with you,” Steven and I say simultaneously, and he winks at me just as I shove another cinnamon roll in my mouth for good measure. Behind us, I can hear Matthew and Harry bickering about Matthew’s overly strong cologne.
It doesn’t take me long to prep for our morning snorkel sesh, but I’m so excited I forget to close my sunscreen and sit right on it, staining the back of my floral bikini bottoms zinc white. After trying in vain to rub it off, I give up and throw on another big t-shirt over my swimsuit. My phone buzzes as I’m about to head out.
It’s Marianne.
“Hello?”
“Bula, babe! How’s lifestyles of the rich and famous? Have you run into DiCaprio yet?”
“Sadly, no Leo,” I tell her, instantly relieved to hear her voice. “But plenty of entitled male energy to go around.”
“I take it things haven’t improved with Le Capitan?”
“He’s literallythe worst,” I seethe. “He treats me like a feral raccoon. I wish I could put a curse on him.”
“Stella!”
“Not a real curse—just the kind where he’ll never be able to find two matching socks again. Or every water bottle he ever owns gets a tiny leak in it. Anything to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off his stupid face. ”
“I don’t know Stella. I haven’t heard you talk about anything this passionately since the last presidential debate.”
“It’s notpassion,”I spit. “It’s rage. Caleb is a wealth-worshiping,entitled jerk who’d probably throw his own mother overboard if the Warrens asked him to.”
“Stella!” I hear Jules call from the hall.
“Shoot, I gotta run.”
“Enjoy your ragefest. If I see any voodoo dolls in the gift shop, I’ll be sure to send one your way.”
When I make it up to the swim deck, the rest of the family are waiting beside three spotless neon kayaks as Jim helps them in.
I don’t realize til everyone’s seated that the last empty kayak is, like the rest of them, a double.
“Uh, is this one for me?” I ask.
“Sorry, we don’t have any single kayaks on board,” Jim tells me. “Should be fine though, just a little extra exercise for ya.”
“You can follow us on the reef,” Harry offers enthusiastically. “We’ll have a triple safety team!”
I look over at my sister’s massive life jacket. If her swimming abilities are anything to go by, we’ll be lucky if we make it ten feet away from the kayak.
“Oh no,” Jules says, shaking her head. “We can’t force Stella to tag along with us slowpokes. She’s a crazy good swimmer. Jim, can you come out with us? Show us some of the better spots?”
“Wish I could—I have some prep to do before the rest arrive. But we’ll have eyes on you from here. As long as you don’t venture more than twenty yards from the shore, you’re perfectly safe.”
I grab my snorkel bag from Jim’s feet and climb down the ladder into the green kayak. The plastic frame is so polished, you’d think it’d never been in the ocean before.
Do the Warrens throw away their used kayaks after every trip? Donate them to poor starving orphans?
But just as I’m about to push off, Captain Caleb marches past.
