Chapter Ten
Jennie pushed the poke around her salad plate absentmindedly, her thoughts elsewhere. The weather was perfect on Half Moon Cay, the sun high in the clear blue sky, and a mild breeze helped cut the heat. People all around her were laughing and relaxed in that vacation sort of way. And Jennie would be too if her morning hadn't gone so terribly wrong.
Finding Lisa in her room this morning would have been a welcome thing, had she not been pleasuring herself to the thought of her and not known she was standing nearby, watching. Jennie had been too flustered and embarrassed in the moment to be mad. And honestly, she wasn't mad, just sort of mortified. Once she'd covered herself and had a moment to think, she wasn't feeling shameful as much as curious. Just how long had Lisa been standing there?
She replayed the events in her head and had to laugh. Lisa had certainly looked shocked, but Jennie saw something else there: Lisa also looked a little turned on. Watching Lisa fumble and practically fall out of her room helped to lessen her embarrassment, even if only a little. And she might be laughing about it now, but she wasn't so sure she would be when she had to face Lisa later, which seemed inevitable.
She reached into her beach bag and pulled out the papers Lisa had slid under her door. One was the ship's itinerary for the day. Lisa had starred a samba class on the Lido deck and jotted down in her small print, this is fun. At the bottom of the itinerary was information about departing and reboarding the ship. And below that Lisa had circled and starred the bold print that designated the final boarding time for the ship. This was accompanied by a drawing of a winky face.
Jennie smiled and pushed that aside, reaching for the island map behind it. The map was double-sided; one side depicted the entire island with all sorts of geography markers and longitude and latitude information that was way over her head, but the other side showed the most visited tourist attractions. Just about each one had a note from Lisa, informing her whether it was a waste of time or not. She'd written little tidbits about what type of travel to and from would be required and reasonable pricing for each.
Jennie circled the area offshore where she was scheduled to have her snorkel adventure and drew a line to the edge of the page. Along the paper's perimeter, Lisa had written out detailed instructions about a secret tiny coral reef at the edge of the island where the beach met the rocks. Lisa told her to ditch the original snorkeling area once she'd had the safety lesson and head there instead. Jennie was excited to see what Lisa had recommended—she felt special getting what she considered an insider's scoop.
The third paper in the stack was the one Jennie had seen slide under her door last. She'd read this quickly scrawled note in Lisa's clean but small handwriting over about a dozen times today and it made her laugh every time.
Enjoy HMC (Half Moon Cay, but shorthand)! The water is clear and beautiful, and the weather should be great. Sorry for walking in on you just now. Maybe next time leave a sock on the door...or use the slider like I told you...or put the dead bolt on. Any or all of the above would have worked. But still, sorry. Have a good time on the island but don't ignore the bold print like you did the privacy marker. ;) PS. I left you a set of snorkel gear at the departure zone of the ship. Just ask Angela to find it for you—the rental equipment on the island sucks. PPS. Sorry again.
"Ready to snorkel, buddy?" Barb returned to their lunch table with an enthusiastic jig. When Jennie had mentioned that she wasn't going to cancel the snorkeling excursion Irene had set up, Barb had offered to join her. She was glad she'd taken her up on it. Cruising alone was one thing, but it was much more fun to have someone to island hop with. Barb was excellent company.
"I am." Jennie abandoned the remainder of her salad and packed up her beach bag. "Lisa said stay for the safety protocol so we don't drown, but then head to the rocks. I understand there's a bit of a walk—still interested?"
