Page 64 of Winter in Paradise
“Something like that,” Irene says. She smiles at Anna. “Thank you for bringing Floyd down. It’s a lovely surprise. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Irene leaves the kitchen.
When Anna turns to Cash, she expects him to be angry or offended—but she’s beaming. “That went much better than I expected,” she says.
Baker and Floyd come up from the beach and the adults agree that the best course of action is for all of them to drop off Anna at the St. John Guest Suites and then for the menfolk to pick up dinner at Uncle Joe’s B.B.Q. Baker seems nervous and agitated. He drives like a bat out of hell all the way to Chocolate Hole, and when he pulls into the driveway to drop Anna off, he says, “How many nights did you book?”
“Two,” Anna says. “And I thought you would come back with us.”
“No!” Baker says, his voice like a hammer. “As you can see, my mother needs me.”
“Cash is here to care for Irene,” Anna says. “But you have a child who needs you. I need you.”
“What you mean is that you need me to come home and be a parent because you’re too busy to do it.”
Cash glances at Floyd. He has headphones in and is fully engrossed in his iPad, but still.
“Don’t do this here,” Cash says. “I don’t want to hear it, and neither does you-know-who.”
“Cash is right,” Anna says.
“I’m not leaving in two days,” Baker says.
“We’ll discuss later,” Anna says. She gets out of the Jeep, grabs her bag, pokes her head in the backseat window. “Thanks for coming to get us, Cash. Floyd, I’ll see you at some point tomorrow.” Floyd doesn’t look up. Anna removes one of his ear buds. “See you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Floyd says. “Bye.”
Maybe she’s not the most maternal presence, but Cash still finds his sister-in-law impressive. He notices her posture as she goes to greet the owners, trailing her roller bag behind her, the picture of extreme self-confidence, uncompromising in her principles.
A person, Anna said to Irene. Another doctor, who happens to be female. Cash chuckles and moves to the front seat, next to Baker.
“Don’t kill me,” he says.
Turns out Baker isn’t angry. Scratch that: he is angry, but his anger is secondary to his panic. He had told Ayers he would take her to Caneel Bay the following night—dinner, hotel, the whole enchilada.
“I had to text her and cancel,” Baker says. His voice is low, even though Floyd still has his headphones in. “I told her our sister showed up unexpectedly.”
“Our sister?” Cash says. “You lied to her?”
“I didn’t lie,” Baker says. “She’s your sister.”
“She’s my sister-in-law,” Cash says. “She’s your wife.”
“I couldn’t very well tell Ayers my wife showed up.”
“Estranged wife,” Cash says. “You could have said your estranged wife showed up with your child out of the blue and you need a few days to deal with it. Ayers is cool. She would understand.”
“Ayers is cool,” Baker mimics. “You have no idea whether she’s cool or not cool. Stop pretending like you know her better than I do.”
“I wasn’t saying that. But I have spent time with her, and I do happen to think she’s cool. I hiked with her, and we went on Treasure Island together. I’m sure it comes as a crushing blow, but she likes me.”
“She may like you just fine,” Baker says. “But she likes me more. All women like me better, Cash, starting with that sweet little… what was her name?”
Claire Bellows, Cash thinks.
“Claire Bellows,” Baker says. “I bet you still haven’t forgiven me for Claire Bellows.”
“Claire Bellows was my girlfriend,” Cash says. “And you slept with her—not because you liked her, but because you wanted to prove to me that you could.”
“You knew Anna and Floyd were coming,” Baker says. “And you didn’t tell me.”
