Page 41 of No Escape

“Of course, not,” he said. “Oscar is a grown man. Your mother is a grown woman. It was an innocent mishap.” He paused and then looked at me. “What did your dad do?”

“Dad? He didn’t do anything.”

“That’s good, at least.”

“Why would you say that?” It took me a minute to get there. “Wait. Don’t be ridiculous. My dad isnotgoing to blame you for the lizard.”

He gave me a pointed look that indicated I hadn’t convinced him. “Okay, now I’m feeling like I need to start a family disaster spreadsheet. We already have a pretty good start on it if you include the shooting the first time you had dinner with my parents, the scare at our engagement party, crazy Santa at the airport, throwing up with Oscar, and now my mom flashing your stepdad. I’m sure I’m forgetting several others.”

“You are.” He put his hand over mine. “But no spreadsheet. Everything’s fine with our families.”

He sounded confident, but it didn’t quite extinguish that small, niggling doubt that things on the family front weren’t going as smoothly as I’d hoped. “Well, I guess I should look on the bright side. We have two escape puzzles completed. I wish I knew how many more we have to go. I just hope we’re as successful as before.”

Slash rested his forearms on his thighs as he leaned forward. “I suspect the puzzles will get increasingly difficult. We have to be sure to carefully review the instructions to each room or location, because they may offer the most valuable clues.”

“I agree. Also, one thing I also observed is a focus on mathematics—numbers and patterns. That seems to hold for both challenges and will likely play a continued role in the puzzles.”

“Undoubtedly. What did you think of the capability of your team?”

“I was pleasantly surprised,” I said. “Everyone is quite clever and adept, including my mother. She was amazing. In fact, she was the one who found the hidden code on the statue that led to us solving the puzzle.”

“I’ve also been pleasantly surprised. Stefan’s girlfriend, Alessa, is quite intelligent and resourceful. We’re lucky to have such talented families, aren’t we?”

“We are.” I put my head on his shoulder, slipping my hand through his. I’d had more than my fill of people this morning, and I wished we could stay here and skip lunch. But I could hear Slash’s stomach growling, so I sucked it up and stood.

“Time to eat,” I said as cheerfully as I could.

He gave me a look like he knew what I was thinking, but hunger won out and he didn’t argue. We exited the room hand in hand, heading down the marble staircase until we reached the dining room. I was relieved to discover we could sit where we wanted for lunch, so I followed Slash, who headed toward an empty seat next to Father Armando.

“Congratulations on solving the first two challenges,” the priest said as we sat down. “I knew you’d do it.”

“Two down and several more to go,” I cautioned him.

“Of course. But I have no doubt you’ll succeed. Keep up the good work.”

Juliette sat next me, and Oscar joined her. The table quickly filled up, and conversation inevitably turned toward the challenges of the morning and who had done what to figure out the puzzles. The conversation seemed animated and easy. If the point of the escape rooms was to get to know everyone better, it was certainly working.

I was a nervous wreck sitting next to Juliette without my teenage table-etiquette model nearby, so my anxiety heightened as the food arrived. I remembered to put my napkin on my lap, but my hands shook when Slash asked me to pass a plate of meats and cheese. I accidentally dumped a third of the plate on the tablecloth while handing it off to him. Slash calmly ate it from the table without missing a beat while chatting with his mother. I loved him so much for that and appreciated that Juliette hadn’t pointed it out, either.

After eating sliced pears drizzled with caramel for dessert, I sat back in my chair, full and needing a serious nap. I thought it a clever strategy for the staff to feed us like this—to keep us lethargic and off our mental game.

Lorenzo arrived and told us we’d have one hour to rest after lunch before reporting back to the dining room to receive our next challenge.

People began chatting, with some filing out of the dining room for downtime before the next challenge. Juliette excused herself from the table and went over to speak with Alessa, while Gio waved Slash over to tell him something. That left Oscar and me alone at our little corner of the table.

“So, Lexi,” Oscar said, leaning forward. “I meant to tell you, I noticed something interesting in the garden today.”

“You mean other than that crazy maze?”

“Exactly. In fact, I was quite surprised to see the island has its own little apiary.”

I looked at him in astonishment. “Beehives? Here?”

“Yes, it’s quite extraordinary. The staff must produce their own honey.”

“That’s…unexpected,” I said cautiously.

“Well, anyway, I thought maybe you’d enjoy getting a closer look at the apiary with me. I’d be delighted to tell you all about the beehives.”

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