Day 1
Two and half hours in the car with a bickering couple was not my idea of fun. It’s not like Levaughn and I didn’t know we were playing the part of buffer this week, but when Nadine and Christopher asked us to vacation with them in Maine we figured they’d be trying to work things out. Instead, all we heard were constant digs about Christopher sleeping with her Aunt Patti.
Granted, she had every right to nail his ass to the wall. If I was in her position I would’ve castrated the cheatin’ bastard with a dull butter knife. Slow and painful. Exactly the way he hurt her. I still might.
Levaughn veered down a dirt road that led to seasonal homes speckled along the shores of Long Lake, wooden arrows with last names pointing in every direction, showing which driveway belonged to each house. You needed dough to own these places. Most folks rented their getaway homes for x-amount of weeks per summer to help cover the property taxes. Except for the celebrities who used their cribs as an escape from screaming fans.
Word was, Good Morning, America anchors, well-known actors, and high-profile journalists called Sunset Cove at Long Lake home. Nadine, of course, loved the idea of swimming in the same water as the rich and famous. Not me. Who cares what kind of money they had? They still dealt with life’s bullshit like the rest of us. Albeit, their bank accounts probably lessened the burden.
An awkward silence hung in the air as the four of us exited my jeep. I laced my fingers with Levaughn’s and urged him toward the beach. A full, tangerine sun mirrored off gentle currents, spreading warmth over the sand beneath my bare feet. Maybe a week away wasn’t such a bad idea. After all that had happened over the last few weeks—by that I mean my time spent with a serial killer dubbed Mr. Mayhem—I could use some R&R.
In the distance, ca-caw, ca-caw, ca-caw sent dread through my system. Against my will, I mumbled, “Poe?”
Levaughn caught it. “Did you just say what I think you said?”
“Did I say that out loud?” I sloughed off a shrug. “I’m being paranoid. Don’t listen to me. Besides, it’s impossible, right?”
“Impossible? No. Highly unlikely? Absolutely.” In a circular motion he rubbed my back, and every finger swirl sent tingles up my spine. “You okay? You seem a little stressed out.”
“Seriously? Look at me. I’m the poster child of cool.” I winked. “You should know that by now.”
“Believe me, I do. And if I forget for a half-second, you’re right there to remind me.” He returned the wink.
Mm-mmm. I let my gaze trace him up and down—a tasty treat dangled in front of a hungry lioness. Already this week was lookin’ up. That is, if we could steal private time away from our housemates, who kept bickering behind us.
Fed up, I whirled around. “Will you two shut the hell up already? This week’s supposed to be a time where you talk things through, not bitch at each other. We’re sick of hearin’ it.” That’s where I’d planned to drop it, but I needed to get something else off my chest. To get Nadine to pay attention I lifted my shades and stared her straight in the eye. “Look. If you can’t get over being engaged to a scumbag you can never trust again, then walk away. You’ve got nothin’ to be ashamed of.”
Her mouth opened and closed but no words escaped.
Christopher, on the other hand, had plenty to gripe about. “Stay out of it. I made one mistake. One!” Disregarding me and Levaughn as if we weren’t a foot away, he turned his attention to Nadine, tossing her the sad, puppy dog look.
I almost puked on his geeky boat shoes.
“I’d never hurt you again,” he said. “I wuv you, sugarplum.”
“Seriously, dude?” I blurted. “From incessant yappin’ to baby talk in two-point-four seconds? That’s gotta be some kind of record. You’re good, I’ll give ya that. Nay, your make-up week has just began. How ‘bout you roll with it so we all can have a good time?”
As usual, she caved to her fiancé’s charm. “Aww, I wuv you too.”
Oh, man, here we go. Archie and Edith Bunker just morphed into the Care Bears. Without a word, I spun on my heels and returned to Levaughn. “After all that bitchin’, now they’re in googly-eyed mode.”
“That’s a good thing.” He swept me into his strong chest, kissed my forehead, and my annoyance melted away like marshmallows held over a raging fire pit. “This might be the perfect time to check out the house. Did the realtor happen to mention if the bedrooms each have at least queen-sized beds?”
“Crap.” I shoved out of his clutches. “The master has a king, the others have twins, I think. C’mon.” I grabbed his hand, dragged him behind me. “We need that room. No way are we sleeping in bunkbeds.”
“Wait.” He loosened his grip, and our hands parted. “I’ll get the luggage and meet you there. Don’t leave that bedroom till I get there.” His gaze fled to Nadine and Christopher, and then returned. “They’re still swooning over each other. Don’t run. If Nay catches on, we’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Okay, cool, but hurry. Without luggage, it’ll be harder to stake our claim.”
Within five minutes, six max, we met in the master suite. What a pad, too, with our own private bathroom, whirlpool tub, and vaulted ceilings. How Christopher afforded this place on an electrician’s salary, I had no idea. But hey, I wasn’t complaining. For not beating the shit out of him—and believe me, I would’ve taught him a lesson he’d never forget if Nadine had given me the greenlight—we scored a free vacation out of the deal.
Guilt did amazing things to people, like making Mr. Tight Wad open his wallet.
“Not too shabby, eh?” I asked Levaughn as he unzipped his suitcase. Too bad he didn’t unzip something else, if you catch my drift.
“This place rocks. Did you check out the rest of the house? There’s another bedroom with a queen-sized bed but no private bath.”
“Cool beans. Between you and me, I was startin’ to feel guilty about stickin’ them with twin beds.”
“I know, me too. Ya think we should take the room without the bathroom?”
“Nah.” I swatted a dismissive hand. “For all we know, they could start fighting again. Why waste the whirlpool?”
His sideways smirk and chuckle under his breath indicated he had late-night plans for us in that tub. Giddy up, cowboy. Yeehaw!
Ahem. I cleared my throat, tried to scrub the image from my mind till we found some time alone. In my world, romance and sex weren’t group activities.
After we unpacked, we checked out the rest of the two-story house. Gorgeous pine floors throughout, tasteful decor in country meets feng shui, with barn-board accents, built-in appliances, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Sunset Cove, and overstuffed furniture you could spend days in. Under an oak tree in the backyard a hammock-for-two swayed in the breeze coming off the lake.
Standing in the living room, two wave runners caught my attention. They zipped across the water, whitewashing their wakes. I’d never been one to sunbathe on a beach, but renting two watercrafts? I was all over that idea like death watch beetles to a decaying corpse. Similar to wooden nutcrackers along a fireplace mantel, tall pines edged the lake. In the distance, a log cabin nestled among a plethora of trees on the private island. If it weren’t for its fire-engine-red metal roof and fieldstone chimney running up the outside, it’d be completely concealed. What a perfect place to escape the other vacationers.
Elbowing Levaughn, I pointed to the island. “Let’s go there.”
“On the pontoon boat?”
“The what?”
“Pontoon boat. It’s tied to the dock out back.”
“Is that included in the rental?”
“Looks like it. The keys are hanging on the hook by the garage door. Oh, before I forget, the garage is jam-packed with all kinds of stuff. I even found a couple wave runners behind a pile of rafts, inner tubes, and floating lounge chairs.”
“Only two?”
“Yeah, but each wave runner seats three people.”
“Awesome. You don’t mind ridin’ bitch, right?” Again, I winked. “Let’s check ‘em out. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Nay and her dog will wanna hang here. Besides, Christopher’s wants are irrelevant.”
“You’ve gotta stop callin’ him that, at least during our time here.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t insult the canine community. My bad.” I hooked an arm, prompting him to follow. “C’mon. I’m dyin’ to explore the island.”