Caribbean Cruising Read online

  Whoa! Where did that thought come from?

  “What’s wrong?” Brooke asked. “You look seriously upset.”

  “I was just thinking about my friends back home, trying to decide what to get them.”

  A little white lie that I didn’t think would really hurt anyone. If Brooke and I had a history, I could tell her the truth. Julie would understand my confusion, would help me sort out my feelings and frustrations. But Brooke, well, she was just a pal. Someone I’d recently met. Secrets and yearnings weren’t something I was ready to share with her.

  “You should probably get them something local,” Brooke suggested.

  I’d almost forgotten what she was talking about. “Good idea.”

  I ended up with dangling bracelets for my friends—and the toe ring for Ryan.

  Brooke and I scoured through the shops with our wallets getting thinner and the bags we carried getting heavier. Candles, more jewelry, clothes. While shopping on the islands I planned to only use the money I’d earned and saved for this trip, but there were too many wonderful things to choose from.

  Although we would have liked to have shopped until we dropped, we didn’t have time. We’d even shopped for tattoos, but I hadn’t purchased anything there, nor had I done any piercing.

  I had decided that having any needles placed into my skin could wait until I got home and could be sure the establishment was hygienic and up on the health laws. No reason to get carried away so early into vacation.

  We barely had time to return to the ship, cart our bags to our cabins, change into shorts and a bathing-suit top, and head back into town. We hooked up with the guys at Enrique’s Parasailing.

  I’d neglected to mention to Ryan that others would be joining us when he’d given me the reservation information that morning. Now he looked exactly as I figured he would when he discovered the truth: not happy.

  And I didn’t blame him. I should have told him what had developed, and given him the option of telling me to forget the whole thing before we had an audience.

  “We’re taking dumb, dumber, and dumbest along?” he asked.

  “I invited Brooke, Brooke invited them. The guys aren’t really that bad. I was thinking the more the merrier.” I furrowed my brow. “Although I’m surprised they were able to get seats on the same boat as us. I figured there would have to be some adjustments made.”

  “Not when I reserved the boat.”

  I lifted my eyebrows. “You reserved the whole boat? Not just a couple of spaces?”

  He shrugged. “Walter took care of it.”

  “He is way too generous.”

  “Tell me about it. He likes to go first class, and he can afford it, so why not?”

  “I guess. I just always feel badly spending his money. Will it be a problem for these guys to come along?”

  “I guess not.”

  He didn’t sound utterly convinced or convincing.

  “Hey, look!” Cameron called out. “We got food here. Dog, this is going to be too cool.”

  I looked at Ryan. “You brought food?”

  “I thought you might be hungry after shopping all morning,” Ryan said.

  “Oh.” I felt uncomfortable with his consideration, and wondered if he’d been planning for us to picnic somewhere. I really should have checked with him about inviting people before I let Brooke take over the excursion.

  I wanted to make things up to Ryan. I reached into my pocket. “I bought you a present.”

  “You did?”

  He brightened up so much with my pronouncement that I felt guiltier because the present was supposed to be a joke. Still, I pressed it into his palm.

  “A ring?” he said in disbelief.

  “A toe ring.”

  He chuckled, crouched, and slipped it onto his second toe. He was wearing baggy shorts and sandals. Somehow the ring seemed to belong.

  “Hey, not bad,” he said with a grin.

  “It was supposed to be a joke,” I admitted, “because you said girls talk about toe rings. But it really does look good on you.”

  “Does this mean we’re going steady?” he asked.

  My eyes grew big and round. “No way. That idea never crossed my mind.”

  “Are you guys going to mess around all day or what?” Brooke asked. “I’m ready to fly the friendly skies.”

  We all climbed aboard the speed boat. We met Pete, who would be driving the boat, and Rick, who would be helping us harness up. We took our seats and headed out toward the blue waters.

  “Anyone parasailed before?” I asked.

  “No way, dude,” David said.

  The others all shook their heads. Everyone except Ryan.

  He was sitting beside me, and I couldn’t help thinking that if he wasn’t Walter’s godson, I’d’ve shown a lot more interest in him. But in all fairness I couldn’t do that when I wanted something short-term for the cruise. And he certainly hadn’t given any indication that he wanted anything more than someone to pal around with. I figured our getting involved would only lead to our being uncomfortable around each other when our paths crossed at school or at Walter’s.

  “You’ve parasailed,” I said to him, finding myself intrigued by him when I knew I shouldn’t be.

  “Catalina and Mackinac Islands, in the Pacific and on the Great Lakes. And of course, off the coast of Texas.”

  “You must like it then,” I said.

  “It’s totally cool.”

  I really thought Ryan was being a good sport with the unexpected company. Everyone was dipping into the ice chest, helping themselves to drinks as we cruised out beyond the harbor.

  The boat slowed. Rick crouched down in the middle of where we were all sitting. His flowered shirt was completely unbuttoned, his baseball cap on backward. He was barefoot and deeply tanned. I figured most of these guys were envying him his job. Casual, in the sun, and on the water. What could be better?

  “Okay,” Rick began, “you paid to have the boat for two hours. Takes about thirty minutes to get you up and to get you back down, so some of you are going to have to go in tandem.”

  “I’ll go with Lindsay,” Ryan said before anyone else could get a word out.

  I knew he’d responded quickly simply because he was watching out for me, as Walter had requested. I might have objected if I’d been interested in any of the other guys traveling with us.

  “How exactly does ‘in tandem’ work?” I asked.

  “You’re harnessed together and go up at the same time,” Rick explained.

  Harnessed together? I darted a quick glance over at Ryan. I had a vision of us plummeting into the sea like a sack of rocks. I looked back at Rick. “Won’t we weigh too much?”

  “Nah. You’ll be fine.” He gave me a wink.

  “Now which of you guys is going to pair up with the other babe?”

  The “other” babe? That meant he considered me a babe. I gave him a closer inspection, but couldn’t quite see me hanging around with a beach bum. Not that he was a total bum.

  He was working. I couldn’t figure out if he was a student just here for the summer, or someone who’d come for vacation and decided not to leave. He probably spent a lot of time doing his own parasailing, or snorkeling, or wind surfing. Out on the ocean almost every water sport I could imagine was going on. For someone who was into outdoor water activities, life here would be quite idyllic. Playing all the time.

  After much discussion, shoving around like two-year-olds, the guys Brooke had invited finally decided that Michael would be the one to go up with her.

  David shoved Ryan’s shoulder. “So how come we didn’t have any discussion on who gets to go up with Lindsay?”

  “I called it.”

  “Yeah, dog, but that’s not fair. None of us had a chance.”

  Ryan leaned toward him. “Tell you what, dog. You pay for the boat rental, and you can take her up.”

  David gave him a cocky grin. “How much, man?”

  Ryan leaned closer and, with