Float Plan - Trish Doller Page 0,24
relationship.”
“Oh. No,” I say. “We’re just traveling together.”
Sara smiles. “He’s a bit of a dish I’d like to sample.”
In my head, Keane is the man who saved my ass in the most literal sense, but seeing him through her lens brings him into sharper focus. God, how did I not see him? “Yeah, I guess he … is.”
Her laugh is low and smoky. “Did you only now realize?”
“No. I mean … maybe?”
Her perfect eyebrows arch. “Does this change your answer?”
I don’t want to lay claim to Keane Sullivan, but suddenly I feel a fierce protectiveness when I think about his leg. Will Sara feel the same when she finds out? Or will she see him as flawed? “No. He’s not mine.”
Back on deck, it’s as though Keane has been amplified and I notice everything. How his smile always looks like he’s on the brink of laughter. The expansiveness of his gestures when he talks, as if the whole world is invited to his personal party. And his shoulders are … perfect. Looking at him is like looking at a bare light bulb and when I close my eyes, I can still see his outline.
Sara doesn’t take up her old space beside James. Instead she moves closer to Keane, and it swirls up a storm of unease in me. Not jealousy, but a sense that she had better be worthy of him. And I feel ridiculous because their affair is none of my business.
It is past midnight when James stubs out his last cigarette and unfolds from the seat and waves. “I’m calling it a night. Pleasure meeting you both.”
“Where are you headed next?” Rohan asks me. Sara touches Keane’s arm and laughs. He’s telling her a story about another sailboat race, and her smile, her undivided attention, has made him angle his body toward hers.
“We’re hopping our way toward the Turks and Caicos,” I say. “Rum Cay tomorrow, then Samana and Mayaguana.”
Rohan takes a long swig of beer. “We’re going ashore at Port Howe in the morning,” he says. “Perhaps you could join us, and we can travel together to Rum Cay the following day.”
“I love that idea,” Sara says, interrupting Keane. “Anna, you and I could sail together on your boat. Leave these boys behind.”
“What do you think?” I ask Keane, trying to telegraph my concern that Cat Island is not a part of Ben’s plan. But Keane doesn’t pick up my signals, and says, “Sounds grand.”
“Then we have a date.” Rohan says it like an official proclamation. He stands and begins gathering the empty green bottles that litter the table. His arms full, he wishes us a good night and heads off into the cabin. We are down to three and one of us does not belong.
“I think I’ll head back to the boat. If you, um—” I stop, not wanting to sound like I expect them to fall into bed together the moment I leave, even though I’m pretty sure that will happen. “I can come back in the—”
“No sense in that,” Keane says. “I’m ready to go.”
If Sara is disappointed, she disguises it with good manners, kissing us on both cheeks and telling us how happy she is to meet us. “Anna, seriously. The two of us sailing. Consider it. And call over in the morning if you want to go ashore with us.”
“We will.”
Keane leans toward her, and whispers something that makes her lips curl into a sly, sexy smile, and we leave.
“Nice crowd,” he says as we row the short distance between boats. He faces Chemineau and I wonder if Sara is still standing on deck, if he is looking at her.
“Yeah.”
“Everything okay?”
I nod, but the truth is, I’m not sure. Now that I’ve seen Keane in a different light, I can’t go back to seeing him any other way. He is a man—an exceptionally good-looking man—and we are together on a small boat. The thought makes me nervous in a way it didn’t before. “Long day. A little too much beer. But it was fun.”
“Do you want to stay another day?”
“I don’t know.”
“Whatever you want, Anna, is what I want,” he says. “But for what it’s worth, there are sights on the island you might like to see, including a plantation in ruin and a beautiful abandoned monastery.”
Even though this island is not on Ben’s route, I would like to see it. “Okay, let’s stay.”
ghosts (10)
Keane is wearing jeans again when we climb down the swim ladder into Rohan’s inflatable, and Sara shifts