Page 21 of Love Overboard
The two found interest in anything but her. Their faces moved this way and that, as if they hadn’t heard the question. Emily picked at a fishnet drying on top of a blue plastic barrel.
Jon’s lips twitched. That explained why they’d jumped at his offer to come with them. The Shippers were up to their old matchmaking tricks.
“Buenos días. Hello.” A young man in his twenties approached them. He wore ragged jean shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and a dirty white captain’s hat. “Are you Mrs. Emily?”
“Yes, I’m Emily.” She navigated around Lacey and shook his hand.
Lacey switched her attention to Jon. “I’m here to watch over them. You can return to the ship. I’m sure you’re wanted there.”
“Marcel is covering for me. He owed me a favor.”
“But … you’re the cruise director. You work fifteen-hour days. You can’t take off.”
“Even cruise directors get a little time away. You know that.” Truth be told, he had lots to do. But her veiled insistence that he wasn’t welcome irked him.
Lacey turned her back to him. She walked closer to the waiting motorboat and muttered, “Flaking out again.”
“What did you say?” Jon came around in front of her.
“The paint is flaking, and it seems awfully small.” Lacey motioned to the compact craft. It was a faded lime green, about the length of a minivan, with a blue tarp stretched across the metal-frame canopy to block the sun. An outboard motor hung off the rear. “I don’t think we’ll all fit.”
“No. No.” Fernando bounced around and waved his hands. “Mrs. Emily said four people. It is good.”
He fanned his arm toward the boat, and everyone climbed aboard. Jon sat in front to take the brunt of the sea spray, while the women lined the side. Fernando fired up the engine. They pulled away from the wooden pier and were soon jetting through the crystal-blue water.
Jon’s eyes traveled to Lacey like a homing pigeon, but her leave-me-alone expression was less than encouraging. Next to her, Gerry lost inches to her stature with each bounce of the boat.
“Are you okay, Gerry?” Jon shouted above the motor. “You look a little green around the gills.”
Her lips twisted into what might have been a smile on dry land. At sea, it was more likely the precursor to losing her breakfast.
“Serves her right,” Lacey muttered as Fernando killed the motor.
“What did you say, dear?” Emily leaned in from her right side.
“Nothing.”
Jon pressed his lips together to keep from chuckling. Did the lady not hear Lacey, or was she calling her out? He guessed the latter.
Their guide slowed to point out a famous landmark, then tugged on the engine cord, and they were off again. After fifty-five minutes of bounding through the choppy waves like a clown on a pogo stick, even Jon prayed for a reprieve. They cheered when the red-and-white El Grande Lighthouse appeared in the distance.
Fernando dropped the anchor when the boat was a few yards from the beach. He jumped into the shallow water and beckoned to his customers. “You come and wade ashore.” He waved his arm toward the sandy stretch.
“Gerry, are you sure you can make it?” Jon rested a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s ask him to take us home.”
“No.” She stood and swayed. “I’m fit as a fiddle. Truly.” She put her hand on his. “I must observe the lighthouse. It’s important to me.”
Lacey grimaced and shook her head at him. He ran the different scenarios in his mind, but Gerry’s pleading trumped everything else. Jon grabbed the rim of the boat and vaulted over. He landed knee-deep in water. The bottom of his shorts soaked up the surf, and the breeze blew his hair in all directions. He turned and faced away from the waiting women.
“You’re already woozy.” He stretched his arms behind him in Gerry’s direction. “How about I give you a piggyback to shore?”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. It’s been sixty years since my last piggyback ride.”
“Then I say you’re about due.” Jon peeked back at her and grinned. “Climb on.”
“Yes, do what he says, Ms. Paroo.” Lacey led her toward Jon. “It will be safer.”
Gerry held on to Lacey’s arm as Jon maneuvered closer to the boat. The retired librarian squatted and sat on the edge, swung her legs, and wrapped her thin arms around his neck. He took hold under her knees and pulled the rest of her down.
