be relaxing by myself today. And I certainly don’t want to endure another one of those burgers or another hour of her insights on my family.
“She’s sure,” I say to Marjorie.
“Oh, all right, dearie,” Marjorie sighs. “Some other time. Although honestly, I’m not sure how much time I’ve got.”
She’s messing with me, I’m almost sure of it. Her eyes are dancing again with mischief. She probably knows I’m not talking to my mother.
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll see you in minute,” I say into my phone as the hostess leads Marjorie away to a table.
“Really? Are you coming over?” Nick asks hopefully.
“No,” I say. “Not until Saturday. But thanks. You just did me a solid.”
“You’re welcome,” he says.
There’s a pause. “I can’t find any condoms,” he admits then, glumly.
“I guess that’s it, then,” I say. “No tea for us.”
Maybe him not finding condoms is a sign.
“But I still want tea, if you still want tea. Do you still want tea?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“Then I’ll get the condoms. Somewhere. Somehow,” he promises.
“They’ve got to have them in the hotel shops. This is a hotel. People get busy in hotels. They’re going to need condoms.”
“I looked all over the resort,” he says. “There’s nothing on the shelves.”
“Did you ask the cashier?”
Silence.
“You didn’t ask the cashier,” I say accusingly.
He grunts like I’ve just asked him to do something painful. “Maybe if I got the right cashier? It’s hard to go right up and ask. There’s got to be a pharmacy around here somewhere. Or a gas station.”
I stop walking. “No gas station condoms.”
“I’m sure gas station condoms are just as effective as—”
“No gas station condoms,” I repeat firmly. “This is not a joke, Nick.”
“Yes. We’re very serious. I remember.”
“Let me know,” I say. “Seriously. Soon.”
“Okay,” he says, and I hang up.
The line to the paddleboard rental is even longer than it was a few minutes ago.
I sigh and head toward the back of the line.
But before I reach it, I spot Afton and Abby waiting in the middle of the line, both red-cheeked and sweating in the heat. Afton is, predictably, on her phone.
“I don’t know,” she’s saying as I approach from behind them. “We’re going to be here for a while, and then maybe go make those flower necklace things. Probably not until late tonight. I’ll text you.”
“Hey,” I say loudly, startling both my sisters. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re going paddleboarding!” Abby cries. “It’s going to be so much fun!”
“Oh, now you want to go paddleboarding.” Unbelievable. But maybe I can work this to my advantage. “Can I . . .” I lower my voice. “Cut in with you?”
Abby gasps. “You want to cut in the line?”
Now everybody in the line is glaring at me.
“No, no,” I explain. “We’re sisters. You were saving my place.” My gaze meets Afton’s. “Because that’s what sisters do.”
She stares at me a moment, considering. “No,” she says flatly. “You can’t cut with us. But if you want to swap, that’d be okay.”
“Swap?”
“You take Abby. You get to go paddleboarding. I get to go see Michael. We both get what we want. It’s a win-win.”
Yeah, maybe, but it also sounds like a lose-lose.
“No.” I reject her offer without even giving it too much thought. Pop would call this cutting off my nose to spite my face.
But this is my day. Mom assigned Afton to be the babysitter today, because Mom’s finally recognizing—too little, too late, perhaps—that I deserve some time for myself.
“Have a good time, you two,” I say to my sisters. Then I walk off. Back to the only place I can think to go.
Back to the room.
I don’t want to go back there, of course, the scene of my mother’s crime, but it’s too hot to go anywhere else. I don’t have my usual hundred dollars, so I can’t go shopping, or out to eat on my own somewhere, or to the spa. So the room seems like the reasonable choice.
On the way, I stop at one of the gift shops to peruse the toiletries section. Nick was right.
No condoms.
Using my peripheral vision, I glance at the cashier. He is currently, like everyone else, engrossed in his phone. He’s also, like everybody who works at this hotel, tan and tall and fairly attractive.
I try to imagine myself going up to the counter and asking this man if they sell condoms.
I picture the look on his face when I ask.
And what if they’re expensive? As we’ve already established, I don’t have much money.