Page 9 of Since We're Here
At least Stella in London is in the same time zone as I am.
Can’t wait till I mess this up.
Reese
Did you get to Saint Lucia okay? Let us know you’re safe and sound!
Reese
And send pictures immediately! We’re supposed to get eight to twelve inches of snow overnight in Jersey
Stella
Explain in great detail how delightful the weather is. It’s cold and gray in London
Reese
I just looked it up—it’s eighty-five and sunny on Saint Lucia. I hate you!
Reese fakes it really well. I know she’s still upset from our last fight, when I told her I picked an internship in the Caribbean so I can see Blue. The joke’s on her, though—I’m not doing an internshiporseeing Blue.
I notice she didn’t ask about him in her texts.
Blue was an American who had traded his days in a corporate cubicle farm to teach surf lessons in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. I fell for him almost instantly. It was the island air, the nights listening to the waves with our toes in warm sand, and the sheer lack of clothing. Absolute bliss.
After heading back from a hot and romantic month together, Blue and I talked daily through texts and FaceTime until we met up for a long weekend in December in Miami. It was a little awkward at first since I hadn’t seen him in six weeks, but after a few hours, everything seemed great.
Until after New Year’s.
He was busy all the time. I told myself it was fine, that we didn’t have to talk every day. I didn’t let myself complain to Reese, and I didn’t want to bother Stella, who was busy with her life in London. So, when the opportunity came up, I decided to surprise him by grabbing the resort internship located on Saint Lucia.
Thank god I logged onto Instagram and found his new girl’s account before leaving. She’d tagged him multiple times while always in a bikini with a surfboard, at first posing innocently next to him, then progressing to biceps pressed together, then his arm around her shoulders, then, in the last one, they were kissing on the beach, the sunrise in the background. I was sure they’d been there all night.
We broke up over text. He called us a holiday fling.
Aunt Evelyn wanted me to change my life for the better with her bucket list and inheritance. She wanted me to volunteer for something—so I volunteered to build houses for a month. She wanted me to take a vacation—so I went to Saint Lucia, combining the volunteer work with a beach holiday. And she wanted me to use her money to build my future—so I quit my job and registered for a one-year hospitality program.
But I think I missed the point. I fell right back into my old bad habits with Blue. My great-aunt would be so disappointed.
A quick glance at the window shows gray skies outside the flat. I squeeze my eyes shut. The weather is not delightful in Dingle. It is not eighty-five degrees.
Well, maybe in this flat it is. I kick the duvet completely off my body.
Is it even safe that my sisters don’t know which continent I’m on right now? In Jersey, I’m always telling Reese where I am. I even share my location with her on the regular. What if I get kidnapped, or hospitalized, or something while I’m across the Atlantic?
And how am I going to send them proof-of-life photos that should have a white, sandy background when I’m in this awful country where it’s freaking freezing and I haven’t seen evidence of the sun?
I tap out a text as I assume at some point Reese will panic about me not responding.
Me
Sorry, passed out early last night! Safe and sound at the resort. About to go explore
Then I do the time zone math: it’s ten o’clock in the morning here and in London. Take away five hours for Jersey and sixhours for Saint Lucia, so it’s five o’clock and four o’clock in the morning. Well, shit. I’ve already messed it up just by texting them.
I do a quick search for Saint Lucia sunrise photos, then another search for sunrise time and realize it’s hours away. Oops! I switch to a Saint Lucia sunset search and screenshot a few that don’t look too professional. I have some great pictures from when I was there in the fall, but my sisters have seen all of those.
Me
