I wave, but inside I want to run and hide like a hermit crab in its shell. If only they made those human sized, that would be perfect for how I’m feeling right now.
I go inside and put on my swimsuit and sunscreen, tie up my hair, and grab the cutest pair of sandals I can find. I can’t let him confuse my day.
Happily, I settle in next to Stella and Lucille at the pool with my novel. Stella says something about how Luke has taken the girls mini golfing and then to a water park for the day so it’s just us girls. That suits me just fine.
The three of us women spend all day chatting in the loungers and swimming in the pool, and it’s glorious being tucked away in the confines of the resort instead of feeling exposed on the beach. At one point, Lucille grows tired so Stella walks her to her room for a nap.
Before Stella returns, I feel a strange presence casting a shadow over my closed eyes. I open them and say, “Hi, you’re in my sun, can you move?”
A strange man chuckles when he hands me a cocktail that I didn’t order.
I don’t take it.
“Do I know you?”
“You will, soon enough.”
I squint up at him through my sunglasses and see a tall, beefy fellow sporting brightly colored board shorts and hairy knuckles. Although I don’t personally have a problem with board shorts, I do care about rules and regulations.
“This resort has a dress code for the pool area. Board shorts are not allowed. Fitted swimsuits only.”
He guffaws in that typical way certain people guffaw when they don’t think the rules apply to them, and it raises my blood pressure slightly.
“I noticed you drinking these last night at the bar with your friends. And I saw how that one skinny dude was bothering you so I thought I’d introduce myself and let you know I’ll keep an eye out in case he bothers you again.”
My lips open as if I’m about to inform him that the man from last night, Hugo, was not bothering me. But this man is a stranger and I don’t owe him an explanation.
“No, thank you,” I say with a smile.
“Too early to drink? Haha, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere, and you are on vacation.”
Some people just don't know how to take a hint.
“It’s not that. It’s just that I don’t want one right now. And I definitely don’t take drinks offered to me directly from the hands of a stranger.”
His face changes from cheesy to offended in a snap. “What, you think I’m trying to roofie you?”
I smile even bigger and enunciate harder. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t know you at all.”
He sputters and his voice gets a bit louder now. “Just trying to be nice. What the fuck do you think, I’m going to try to pull that kind of shit at a nice resort like this?”
I do not like the way he’s trying to make me feel, and I am done. “Sir, I know one solitary fact about you, and that is you don’t give a rat’s ass about rules or about minding your own business. So, it follows that I would be concerned that you have an inflated sense of entitlement. So let me inform you. I am not obligated to take a drink from a stranger, and if you were a nice person, you would understand.”
I’m not exactly raising my voice, but it’s not at its usual pitch.
There must be some kind of homing device attached to me, because the next voice I hear is Hugo’s.
“This guy bothering you, Laney?”
The hairy knuckle guy makes another gas bag sort of noise. “We are just fine, thanks. But I’ll take an order of French fries, since you’re asking.”
I roll my eyes at both of them and stand up. Sweetly, I say to the guy with the drink, “Enjoy drinking alone until you learn how to take no for an answer.” To Hugo I say, “Thank you, Hugo. You’re a doll, really. But I’m handling it. And I saw your sign on the beach this morning. It was lovely of you. But I need to tell you something. These big gestures don’t mean anything to me.”
Just then, a worker from the hotel appears and addresses Hugo. “Sir, are you a guest here?”
“No. He ain’t,” says cocktail guy.
Hugo puts up his hands. “No, he’s right. I’m not a guest here. I was just talking to my friend. I live down the beach—”
The server cuts him off. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave if you’re not a guest of the resort, or else I will be forced to call security.”
Hugo nods. “I got it. I get it.”
I watch him walk out of the gated pool area onto the beach.
“Hugo, wait.”
He turns around and says, “If I had real money, I would show you what a real big romantic gesture is,” he says.
And with that, he walks away.
The hairy knuckled man has wandered away too, and soon Stella returns to the pool.
Let’s go for a dip in the ocean,” I suggest. “I need to clear my head.”
“Everything OK?” Stella asks.
I nod. “Yeah. No. I don’t know. It’s been a weird morning.”
Without another word, Stella slips her arm through mine and we wander out into the surf together. I dive into the waves head first, because there is nothing quite like sticking my head underwater to block out the silliness of the world around me.
Chapter 15
Hugo
She looks like Venus emerging from the sea, and I feel like a perv.
I’m home, dammit. I’m just trying to enjoy my day on my boat on the water, and she’s right there. I’m not trying to peep, but she’s ... right ... there.
God, look at her. All wild
