“We have the kids,” Brad said. “We’d have to get a sitter, and that’s not going to be easy for a full week.”
“And Laura and I are swamped at work. Plus, Megan’s been baking at home because she’s so behind…”
Andy looked at Jaren. “What about you, man? You guys are always talking about how you want to take vacations but something’s always coming up so you can’t afford them. Everything’s included! Food, stay, flight over, everything. And Nolan doesn’t need a sitter.” His eyes lit up. “Hey, maybe Nolan could watch your kids!” He looked toward us again, and my stomach tensed at the thought.
Jaren twisted his mouth. “Yeah, I mean, it’d be great, but can we afford to take the time off work? If I’m not working, I’m not getting paid.”
“And we’re short-staffed as it is,” Natasha pointed out. “Until Erica gets back from maternity leave, I don’t know if I can ask for any time off.”
“You’re the manager,” Andy argued.
“Yes, but I don’t get to say when I come and go if we’re short-staffed. Being there is my job,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Andy.”
I watched Jaren, watching her with an incredulous expression. Andy dropped his hands to the table, his jaw dropping open. “Okay, so…so, none of you want to go?”
He looked to his right, past Emily, to Megan, then Nick, then me, then Brad, then Jaren, then Natasha. At first, no one spoke. Feeling incredibly guilty, I leaned forward.
“It’s not that we,” I moved a hand between Brad and me to show I was only speaking for us, “don’t want to go, it’s just that it seems like we won’t be able to make it work.”
“But have you even tried?” he asked, obviously disappointed. “Come on, the Brad and Laura I knew in college wouldn’t have turned this down. Is this what becoming adults has done to us? Come on, guys, life is short, right? It’s so short, and we can’t just sit around saying no to things that aren’t convenient. This trip,” he laughed dryly, “this trip is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
“All right, we’ll go,” I heard Nick say, causing me to dart my gaze in his direction.
Andy’s face lit up as Megan’s did. “You will?”
Nick threw an arm over Megan’s shoulders. “Yeah, why not? We could use a practice honeymoon, don’t you think?”
She leaned her head onto his shoulder. “Oh, Nicky! Yes, it will be perfect.” She sat back up, resting her hands on Emily’s shoulder. “Thank you so much for thinking of us, honestly. I’m just over the moon about this experience.”
Emily smiled at her, nodding gently. “Of course. It was my pleasure. It’ll be good to travel with some familiar faces.”
“Okay, so who else is in? We’ve got two on board,” Andy said, patting the table excitedly as Lila reappeared with Emily’s bright pink cocktail.
“Sorry, guys. I’ll be right back to take your orders,” she said, dashing to the table across from us with the rest of the drinks on her full tray.
When she walked away, Natasha looked at Jaren, who cocked his head to the side. “I mean, if you trust Nolan, I guess I’m good with it,” he said. “We’ll have to save up to cover the week without work.”
“Oh, so now you’re good with it? Nick jumps on board, and suddenly you’re good?” She rolled her eyes playfully, turning back to Andy. “I’ll have to talk to my team at work, see about moving some shifts around to make sure we have coverage.”
“But you’ll go?” Andy asked.
She pursed her lips, dragging out a long inhale. When she met Jaren’s eyes, he gave a dubious nod, and she copied it. “We’ll go.”
All eyes fell on me, waiting for what we’d say. At that point, we were incredibly outnumbered. On one hand, I could desperately use a vacation, but on the other, it was such short notice. And I hated the thought of being away from the girls for that amount of time.
“Come on now,” Nick teased, bumping my arm with his. “You don’t need my permission, but I’m giving you the week off, too. We’ll go half capacity, let Heather and Kelsea fill the schedules with cleanings for the week.”
“Can we even afford to do that?”
“We can do whatever we want. We’re the bosses,” he said with a wink. I looked away, then glanced at Brad.
“What do you think?”
Brad seemed conflicted. “What about the girls?”
I chewed my lip in thought. “We could take them down to my parents, I suppose. Depending on where the flight leaves from, I mean. Maybe we could drive to Florida and fly from there?”
He nodded. “I’m fine with it if you are,” he lowered his voice, “but we don’t have to go if you aren’t comfortable with it.”
I closed my eyes, picturing the sand, sun, and sea already, despite the growing lump of worry in my belly. “Okay,” I said, opening my eyes and looking at Andy. “We’ll do it.”
“All right,” he said, a little too loudly, pounding a palm on the table and lifting it up for high fives.
We all laughed, because as with so much else in our lives, we were all in it together. Andy tossed around awkward high fives, though we were all seemingly lost in our own thoughts as Lila came back to take our orders.
I should’ve been more excited than I was—and maybe I should’ve taken that as a sign.
I thought the worst that could happen was that I’d miss the girls too much. Or get a bad sunburn. Maybe the budget would be a little shorter that month when all was said and done, but all in all, it would be the trip of our lives. A vacation to remember.
It was a vacation I’d remember, that’s for sure.
But I had no idea that what I thought would be the worst wouldn’t even scratch the surface of the nightmare that was about to unfold.
Chapter Six
Laura
I spent the plane ride to the first island
