“No.”
“That feels final.”
“It is breakfast, not a relationship.”
She looked at me.
“I was not going to make the comparison.”
“You thought about it.”
“Briefly.”
At the café, Rosa looked at us once and placed two egg sandwiches on the counter.
“You burned food,” she said to Annie.
“The stove misunderstood my intentions.”
“Stove has judgment.”
Hank entered behind us with Captain Pancake, who immediately pressed his body against Annie’s legs.
Rosa looked at me.
“She slept at your house?”
“I live at my house.”
“That is not answer.”
“It is the answer available.”
Rosa smiled and poured coffee.
Nothing else happened.
There was no announcement, no interrogation, and no island-wide celebration. Hank fed Captain Pancake a piece of egg while pretending not to, and Annie finished her sandwich without dropping any of it.
At Reef Rascal, the morning rush began before I had unlocked the equipment cage.
A family of four needed snorkel sizes. Two divers arrived without their certification cards. Mateo could not find the fuel receipt, though it was later discovered in his own wallet.
Annie stood near the counter, uncertain where to put herself.
“What can I do?”
I handed her a stack of rental forms.
“Check that every box is complete. Do not accept signatures from children, dogs, or anyone claiming paperwork interferes with spiritual freedom.”
“That sounds specific.”
“Experience creates policy.”
She took the forms.
A girl near the fin rack stared at her for almost a minute before approaching.
