Chapter Fourteen - MAC
I can sorta see Five’s point. Sorta. But he’s Five fucking Aston. He’s got so much going for him. And yeah, that’s not a guarantee, but there’s no such thing as a guarantee in life. At the very least he’s got the odds stacked in his favor.
I should probably be more worried than I am. I don’t have shit compared to him. Well, except the other Misters. I think Mysterious and Match make up for most of what I’m lacking. And I’d never count Corporate out when it comes to sneaky plans. Dude had that secret his whole life and never told anyone. It’s impressive. Not to mention Tori. Jesus. And Katja. And Cindy. Plus, Nolan can fly a plane and a helicopter. And he’s rich as fuck. He’s got way more money than I do these days, so we have no shortage of funding.
Nope. I’m not gonna worry about shit unless I have to, and so far I see no evidence that we’re still in danger. I’m not blind. I know that the security I feel today can turn into imminent danger tomorrow, but why worry about tomorrow when today is all you got?
“You’re not gonna stay here, are you?” I ask Ellie as I walk up to the table under the palapa. Ellie is out by the pool with Ming, Rory, and the girls. Cindy is here now too. Busy talking to her newly acquired nieces.
“Nah,” Ellie says, sliding her arm behind my back and hooking a finger into the belt loop of my cargo shorts. “I hear today is date day.”
“Is it?” I chuckle.
“Yes. Cindy just said so.”
“What’d I say?” she asks, coming towards us.
“It’s date day, right?”
She frowns and looks up at me. “Yeah. We wanna have a date day. But I’m in charge of the date planning since Pax is all fucking morose and shit, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Why’s he morose?” I ask. Morose isn’t a word I’d normally use to describe Mr. Mysterious.
Cindy blows out a long sigh. “I think he’s worried about getting married.”
I squint my eyes at her. “Worried how?”
“He’s been singing this stupid song since yesterday. He was even humming it in his sleep.”
“What song?” I ask.
“I Wanna Be an Airborne Ranger.” She sings out the title and I recognize it immediately from some movie I saw as a kid.
“Hmm…” I say.
“Yeah.” She huffs. “He’s already missing his life of blood and danger. How can marriage compete with that?”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Ellie says.
“No?” Cindy says. “Well, I do. Which means I need a really good idea for date day. Help me!”
“You should do what Mac did to win me over,” Ellie says.
“What’d I do?” I ask.
Ellie shoots me an annoyed look. “The scavenger hunt?”
“Oh, yeah.” I laugh. “That was pretty fucking cool.”
“Scavenger hunt…” Cindy thinks this over for a few seconds. “That sounds fun. Tell me all about it.”
So Ellie starts talking and we relive the night together—leaving out most of the sexy stuff—as Cindy listens.
Date day, huh? Not a bad idea. I mean, Ellie has been down about this baby stuff. I should make her forget about it by planning a date day. So I say, “Hey, I’ll catch up with you later,” and then leave to go find Nolan. He is, after all. Mr. fucking Romantic. He’ll have a good idea about what makes a good date day.
I turn a corner on a jungle path and practically bump into him. “Hey,” I say. “Where you going?”
“Up to Five’s house.” He eyes me for a second.
I wait for him to add to that, but he doesn’t, so I say, “Why?”
“Just… just… no reason.”
OK. Whatever. Romantic can keep his damn secrets. “Well, I need some advice.”
“’Bout what?” he asks, looking past me, down the path.
“Date day. Apparently Cindy is doing this date day thing—”
“That was my fucking idea,” he interjects.
“Well, that makes sense. And thank you, because it seems to have caught on and I’m doing it too. Which is why I was looking for you. I need a good date day, dude. Something that will make Ellie forget about not being pregnant.”
He scrubs a hand down his face as he thinks. “Just go the dirty sex route,” he finally says. “I gotta go.”
And then he’s off.
Fucker.
Dirty sex route. I dunno. I mean, I’m pretty good at the dirty sex stuff. Well… the fun kind, at least. But I could’ve used a little fucking guidance, ya know?
Fucker.
And now I’m pissed that Cindy is taking my scavenger hunt idea. Because that was goddamned clever. And I really need a clever idea.
This is the day before our wedding. I need to show Ellie how much I love her. My idea needs to be original and fun. Romantic and sexy. It needs to be everything. Just like that night we fell in love.
I need surprises. But how do you surprise someone you’ve shown all your secrets to? We own a helicopter, so I can’t even pretend that a helicopter ride around the Caribbean would work. We’ve been on a boat, we’ve been scuba diving, and there’s no way in hell I can make a picnic on the beach good enough to wow the woman I love.
Just then Corporate appears on a path up ahead, crossing the path I’m already on. “Hey!” I call out.
He turns, frowns, and then says, “What’s up?”
“I need an idea, dude. For a date day.”
“Date day. You’re doing that too? Seems to be the thing to do today.”
“I need something good, West. What can I do on this island?”
“You can take my boat if you want.”
“Where to?” I ask. “I mean, where the fuck is there to go?”
He thinks for a second. Like maybe he’s picturing the sea in his head trying to come up with a destination. “There’s an island about ten miles west of here. They have caves there.”
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“It’s my fucking job to know that. So I checked the whole area out before we came. You can take her into that cave. There might be tourists there, though. Ethan loved it when we stopped on the way here. Had the time of his life scrambling around exploring.”
“Hmmm…” I say, thinking. “I dunno. Sounds kinda dangerous.”
Corporate snort-laughs. “OK, well, I gotta ago. I’m thinking up my own date day.”
“What’s your idea?” I ask.
“Fuck you,” he says. “I’m not telling you my amazing plan.” But then he turns, reaching into his pocket, and throws me some keys.
I catch them in my hand. Stare at them for a second.
“Take the boat, Mac. Go see that island. Go walk in those caves. Or just lie on the beach and play with the pigs. And if that doesn’t work, tell her something amazing. Something you’d never tell anyone else. I’ve got the coordinates set up in my navigation because we’re gonna stop on our way home. Take her there. It’s been a long time since you did something spontaneous.”
He walks away.
“I’m spontaneous!” I call back. “Fuck you! I’m totally spontaneous.”
“No,” he yells back, already out of sight. “You’re predictable.”
Fuck him.
Am I predictable?
I ask myself that all the way down to the marina where I look at his boat and wonder if I should risk some time off the island. Inside I find the coordinates in the GPS system, and look at the backlit screen as it charts a course.
Ten miles. It’s not so far.
I leave the boat and stand on the deck. Look up at the sky. Nothing but blue. Not a single cloud.
The ocean is pretty calm today. Almost like glass. I stare at it. Then look back at Five’s island and make a promise to myself and my future wife.