“So now you care only about the land?” Tilda says. “What about the hundreds of thousands of dollars my parents have poured into building this place? That doesn’t interest you, I guess. Unless it gives you a chance to meet one-on-one with a hot woman, then you’re front and center.” She understands in that moment that Dunk “forgot” Olive’s lunch that day on purpose so he could meet alone with Swan.
“You’re acting like a possessive child. If you’re so worried about what you and your parents are building, then protect it, mate. I’m protecting what’s mine, then I’m getting out of Dodge.”
“I’m not going with you, Dunk. I’m staying on Lovango.”
“I didn’t invite you,” Dunk says. “Did I?”
Did he? No, he didn’t. Tilda can’t believe how much she hates him in this moment. She isn’t sure how to respond but she wants to pour gasoline on his heart and set it on fire with her words.
But she isn’t quick enough. Dunk hangs up.
“I’m not your mate!” she says.
Tilda calls her parents and the three of them make a plan. Granger will get their caretaker to shutter the Peter Bay house. Tilda will meet with Keith and they’ll secure Lovango the best they can. There are tens of thousands of dollars of building materials to protect. Tilda will shutter the cottage herself. There are three generators on the island; Tilda will get gas for all of them and stock up on provisions. She needs to go soon; the markets on St. John will be complete pandemonium. Or maybe not. Maybe she’s overreacting.
“You’ll stay at Peter Bay,” Granger says.
“No,” Tilda says. “I’m staying over here.”
“Tilda,” Lauren says.
“The cottage is sturdy, Mom,” Tilda says. “It faces northwest and the storm is coming from the east-southeast. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want you staying by yourself,” Lauren says. “Call a friend. Or ask Keith to stay with you.”
“Keith has a family, Mom. Little kids.”
“Where’s Dunk?” Granger asks. “Will he be there with you?”
“He’s going to Vegas,” Tilda says.
“Vegas!” Lauren cries.
“I don’t know why you started seeing him,” Granger says. “That had disaster written all over it.”
You were the one who sent us away together, Tilda thinks. What did you expect would happen? Though there she goes again, acting like a child, not taking responsibility for her own decisions. She entered the relationship with Dunk of her own free will—and yes, it was a disaster.
“What about Cash?” Lauren says. “Cash is so sweet.”
Cash is sweet. And cool. And superior to Dunk in every way, starting with the fact that Cash would never abandon Tilda on Lovango with a hurricane coming and go to Vegas with his filthy-rich degenerate buddy. But Cash is also very, very angry with Tilda. And can she blame him? A couple months earlier, Tilda reached out to him via text just to see how he was doing, and he’d shut her down, saying, Fine, thanks for asking. Tilda deserved no more than this; she’d been awful to him, so awful that, frankly, she doesn’t like to think about it. She ditched him for Duncan Huntley because…why? Dunk is rich, Dunk has a beautiful boat and an enormous villa with staff and a G-wagon and a lovely dog. Dunk has built and sold companies. Listening to Dunk’s accent gave her a buzz. When they were on vacation together, he wowed her with how generously he tipped and how much he knew about the islands; he seemed like an evolved person who cared about the actual place and the actual people, and he made Tilda want to be more than just a resort tourist. All of Dunk’s weird rituals made Tilda think he was enlightened and interesting. He knew a lot about old punk rock, which wasn’t too surprising because he was in a band, but then one morning at breakfast on St. Lucia, he had identified Brahms, then Mozart, then Schubert coming from the piano player, and Tilda had been gobsmacked by his range.
Fine, he has range, but he’s a jerk—and by jerk, Tilda means a lot of other things she’s too polite to say.
She closes her eyes and does her own meditating. It was a mistake to date Dunk. Everyone could see that but her. But she’s young, and Tilda is at least self-aware enough to admit failure, pick herself up, and dust herself off. She needs to apologize, big-time, to Swan Seeley. She will do that—but right now, there’s a hurricane bearing down.
There’s another person to whom she owes an apology, and this one can’t wait.
She calls Cash. Huck
A hurricane watch is issued for the U.S. Virgin Islands. The clock starts ticking; they have forty-eight hours.
Cash calls Huck. “I need a favor.”
Huck closes his eyes and summons every bit of patience he has as Cash talks. Cash would like a ride over to Lovango Cay because he’s going to wait out the hurricane in a cottage on a cliff overlooking Congo Cay and Jost Van Dyke with…Tilda Payne, the girl who left him for the guy who bought Lovango.
“I have no other way to get over there,” Cash says.
Huck and Irene swing down to the Happy Hibiscus so Huck can pick up Cash and drop off Irene. They find Cash and Baker talking in Baker’s driveway. Cash throws his duffel in the back of Huck’s truck.
“Are you sure about this?” Huck says. “I can take you there, but once I do, that’s it. I won’t be able to get you until after the storm passes.”
“It’s a terrible idea, bro,” Baker says. “We should all stay here at the Hibiscus. Together. Besides, Tilda screwed you over, and the second she crooks her finger, you run back to her? Seems a little weak.”
Huck’s glad Baker is the one who said this.
“She’s all by herself,” Cash says. “Dunk left her. He’s flying to Vegas with one of the guys in his so-called band.”
What a douche-canoe, Huck thinks.
“She made her bed,” Baker
