The irish blessing, p.7
The Irish Blessing, page 7
“Neither one. I knew you were here. I’ve been talking to Mel and her two friends on the upper deck. She’s a little spitfire.”
“Oh, no. Mel isn’t getting out of hand, is she?” I playfully wrinkled my nose at him. “I don’t have to go up there and tie her up, do I?”
“No. Mel’s not that bad.” Shane shook his head and chuckled. “She’s just a ball of energy and has those two boys mesmerized. She’ll have them wrapped around her little finger before the afternoon is over. Liz, I have to tell you. The freckles on your nose and cheeks are adorable. Has anyone told you that before?”
“My mother when I was a little girl.”
“That was a nondisclosure type of answer.”
“And that was a comment typical for a lawyer.”
The two of us laughed, and my heart skipped a beat when Shane smiled at me.
“You’re different, Liz. You seem down-to-earth and honest, and I like that in you. I get the impression I can talk to you about anything, and you’ll understand.” Shane looked down at the deck and shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m babbling and saying this stuff to you. Anyway, I’m just glad you’re here.” Shane smiled and put his hand over mine on the bench.
The boat stopped, and Marcus and Ryan went to anchor it.
“I need to get my snorkeling equipment and bag from the upper deck. I’ll be right back.” Shane walked to the back of the boat and disappeared up the stairs.
Marcus stood in the middle of the deck. “This is the barrier reef. Anyone wishing to snorkel or swim is welcome to leave the boat. You can use the diving board and the slide if you’re hanging around here instead. The reef is behind the boat for those snorkeling. Please be careful not to touch any of the coral or sea life. We’ll be here for ninety minutes. If you need help with anything, let Ryan, Ben, or me know, and we’ll help you.”
Shane returned from the upper deck, accompanied by Dylan and Margaret. He took his snorkeling equipment from his bag and then shoved the bag under the bench.
“Are we ready to snorkel?” Dylan looked back and forth between the group as he stood in front of Patrick.
“Caitlin and I are ready. Let’s get going,” Patrick said.
Patrick and Caitlin stood with their snorkeling equipment in hand and followed Dylan and Margaret to the cutout in the side of the boat. They put on their gear and eased into the water one at a time down the ladder.
Shane removed his shirt, tossing it down on the bench.
I couldn’t help it. My gaze went instantly to Shane’s chest and moved downward across his stomach to his lower region. As I fought to quell the image in my mind, he turned toward me. I quickly put my head down. I had no intention of letting Shane catch me checking him out.
“Aren’t you going in?”
I looked up at Shane. “I am, but I thought I’d wait for Mel. I imagine she’ll be coming down from the upper deck any minute.”
“I’ll see you out there, then.” Shane walked over to the side of the boat. After putting on his gear, he eased into the water.
After waiting a little while, Mel still hadn’t come down from the upper deck. Not knowing her plan, I decided to go out by myself. I put on my fins and shuffled over to the side of the boat. Looking out toward the reef, I spotted Shane and the others. I thought it best to go in another direction since Anna would be watching from the upper deck. Getting ready to go in, I looked down at the water. It was wonderfully clear, the bottom appearing so close it seemed as if I could reach out and touch it. After putting on my mask and snorkel, I jumped feetfirst from the deck, the salty liquid cool against my skin as I came up to the surface. Taking a moment to get my bearings, I swam toward the reef.
The view in front of me was spellbinding. I took my time as I explored, the ocean floor alternating between flat sandy spots and ridges of colorful coral. After swimming around a large cluster of coral shaped like an elk’s antlers, I found myself amid a school of yellow fish with thin horizontal blue stripes, their bodies darting back and forth around me. Something caught my attention off to my left. I dove to the bottom, finding a giant anemone. It had long white tentacles with tips a beautiful lavender, the arms waving gracefully with the current. Finished exploring the seabed, I came across a turtle as I swam back to the surface, the pattern on its legs resembling an artwork of black mosaic tile.
I was treading water when I caught a movement next to me. A wave of terror hit me as I swiveled in the water, coming face-to-face with a long, snakelike fish with two rows of fang-like teeth. It was staring at me with the evilest eyes I’d ever seen. I identified the creature as a barracuda, having researched reef fish in the area before the trip. Fear bubbled up inside me as the tidbits of information I’d learned about them swirled inside my head. These fish were ferocious and opportunistic predators. They hunted by sight rather than smell and, on occasion, attacked humans. Shiny objects attracted them—the items mistaken as the fish’s prey.
I swam along the surface, trying to escape the predator, but it stayed next to me. I slowed down, and it matched my speed. With panic threatening to overtake me, I dove under the water and swam around the coral, hoping the fish would get distracted and leave me alone. But when I surfaced, it was still at my side. Only now, it was closer.
“You’ve gone out kind of far. Are you okay?” Shane was suddenly next to me.
“Oh my God. I have a barracuda following me, and I can’t get it to go away.” My heart was pounding as I turned to face Shane.
“Oh, shit. Where is it?”
I spun around in the water and pointed. “It’s over there.” The barracuda was five feet away from me and eyeing me like I was its meal.
“Okay, we have to get back to the boat. Let’s see if it’ll leave if I swim next to you.”
We started swimming towards the boat, Shane placing himself between the fish and me as we swam. Trying to get my attention, Shane grabbed my arm. Pointing to his left, he was trying to tell me the creature was gone. I shook my head and pointed in the other direction. The barracuda had gone underneath us and come up on my right side. Now, it was only three feet from me and pacing us.
Shane motioned for me to stop. “It isn’t going away. We have to figure out what’s attracting it. They like jewelry. Are you wearing any?” His eyes darted back and forth between the fish and me.
I shook my head, keeping a wary eye on the barracuda. “No, I don’t have any jewelry on me.” My eyes suddenly grew wide. “It’s my swimsuit.”
“I don’t understand.” Shane stared at me, wrinkles stretching across his forehead.
“There’s a silver ring on each side of my bikini bottom. I have another on the front of my top.” I touched the ring between my breasts, the metal hard underneath my fingertips. “You’ll have to try to cover them up.”
“Okay. You’ll have to explain to me how to do that.”
“The rings have material gathered tightly at each side. You’ll have to spread the material out to cover up the metal. My hands are shaking so badly, I don’t think I can do it.”
Shane put his head under the water. His hands were on my hip as he worked at spreading the material out around the ring. After a minute or so, Shane moved to my other hip and did the same thing. He surfaced in front of me and reached for the one between my breasts, stopping just short of touching it. “Are you sure you want me to do this?”
“The barracuda can eat me, or you can touch my chest. Which would you prefer?”
“I don’t think it’s going to eat you.”
“Are you sure? Did you see the way it’s looking at me? I think there’s a menu printed on my backside that says breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“All right. I’ll fix it.” He spread the material out around the ring, careful not to touch my breasts. “Okay. It’s covered up. Let’s see if this works.” Shane looked for the barracuda. It was still a couple of feet away from me.
We started swimming back to the boat. Shane placed himself between the fish and me once again. This time, when he signaled the barracuda had disappeared from his side, I confirmed it was gone from mine as well. Finally reaching the boat, I climbed up the ladder and stepped onto the deck. Shane climbed up behind me. We walked over to Caitlin and Patrick and sat on the bench next to them. Neither one of us said a word.
“What on earth happened out there?” Caitlin’s eyes darted back and forth between Shane and me. “Everybody came back except you two. We could see you out there, but we couldn’t begin to guess what you were doing.”
“Liz had a barracuda following her, and she couldn’t get it to go away.” Shane ran his hand through his wet hair and leaned back against the fiberglass wall.
“A barracuda? No way. Are you serious?” Dylan put his arm around Margaret’s shoulders as she walked up and joined him.
“I’m very serious,” Shane said. “The damn thing stayed next to her regardless of what she tried.”
“How did you get it to go away?” Margaret had a horrified look on her face.
“I finally figured out it was after the rings on my swimsuit. Shane helped me spread the material around them so they were no longer visible, and the barracuda took off.” I shivered, picturing the evil-looking predator taking a bite of my flesh. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to excuse me. I need to sit in the sun.” I left the group and went to the front deck, wanting to be alone.
Marcus and Ryan pulled anchor, and we motored to our next stop to look for conch. Several people joined the two of them in the water to try their luck at finding the mollusks in the seagrass. Only here for half an hour, I decided to stay on the catamaran and observe. Mel and her two friends came down from the upper deck and joined me.
“Liz, this is Greg.” Mel pointed to the man sitting next to her, his arm around her shoulder. Then she nodded toward the freckled redhead sitting next to me. “That’s Greg’s cousin, Brandon. These guys are from Charleston. They came here for a friend’s wedding.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I looked at Mel. “Did you go snorkeling earlier? I waited for you and then went out by myself.”
“I went snorkeling with these two. I didn’t see you when we came down from the upper deck. You must have gone out to snorkel already.” Mel laid her hand on Greg’s leg. “We heard about your escapade with the barracuda and how Shane rescued you. It pissed Anna off like crazy. You should have seen her pacing back and forth.” Mel snickered. “What was that you said earlier about avoiding someone?”
“I’ve learned something new since then. I’ll have to tell you about it later.” I turned to the redhead. He and his cousin looked young. My guess was their early twenties. “Brandon, what do you do in Charleston?”
“I’m a senior engineer at Air Alliance. I’m the youngest person there in that position. Normally, you hire in as an assistant engineer, but they saw I was overqualified for entry-level and hired me two positions above that.” Brandon seemed to look down his nose at me while he talked.
I was about to ask him how long he’d been employed with the company when he began another round of bragging.
“My company hired me right out of college. They jumped on my employment application since I was top of my class. I’ve only been there for two months, but it should be easy to work my way into management.” Brandon’s face flushed, and he stuck his chin in the air as he boasted about himself once again.
“Well, good for you.” I couldn’t help imagining a complete set of peacock feathers magically shooting out from his back. It would be fitting with the way he was preening. I cleared my throat to camouflage the chuckle that was trying to escape. “You’ll have to excuse me. I need to talk to my friend.” I returned to the seat next to Caitlin, now alone since Shane and Patrick were standing at the bar.
“Running away from Mel’s friends, are you?” Caitlin raised a brow at me.
“Well, yes. I suppose. Those guys are too young, and the redhead is pretentious. They’re not exactly my cup of tea.”
Marcus stood in the middle of the deck to make another announcement. “Hey, everyone. This is Iguana Island, also known as Little Water Cay. The island is a protected habitat for the rock iguanas native to the area. We’ll be here for about an hour. You’re free to swim and snorkel in the area. Ryan will demonstrate how to open the conch we harvested earlier on the beach. Then we’ll make conch salad and have some sandwiches.”
Shane was still conversing with Patrick at the bar, and Dylan and Margaret had now joined them. Not wanting to intrude on them, I decided to explore the island.
I turned to Caitlin. “I’m going to take a walk. I’ll be back in a while.” I stood and pulled my cell phone from my bag.
“We’re going to watch the conch demonstration and go for a swim. We’ll see you in a bit,” Caitlin said.
I checked the time on my cell phone and disembarked from the catamaran, heading inland. After cresting a hill and crossing a patch of bushy vegetation, I walked across a vast stretch of white sand on the other side of the cay. Finally reaching the shoreline, I set my phone down on the beach and waded out in the warm shallow water. Alone, I began to relax. It wasn’t long before I found myself thinking about Shane. Was he wondering where I had gone or even looking for me? Wanting to quell my thoughts, I dove underwater and swam for a short distance. Then I headed back to the beach.
I sat in the sand next to my cell phone, Shane back in my thoughts. I’d fallen for him. No, it was much more than that. The man had stolen my heart. There was a tightening in my lower body as I imagined him making love to me and holding me in his arms. I scooped up a handful of sand, feeling the grains slip through my fingers. Did he feel as strongly about me? Was I relationship material or just a passing fancy to him? I brought my knees to my chest and rested my head on them. I guess time would tell how serious this was.
I looked at the time on my cell phone. I’d been gone for forty-five minutes and needed to get back. I stood and headed back toward the boat. When I reached the crest of the hill, I could see the crew was packing up. I hurried toward the beach.
“Hey, we wondered where you went. I have a couple of sandwiches left. Take one before I pack them away.” Marcus pointed to a small folding table with leftover food on it. “I have to run down the beach and gather up some of the stragglers. I’ll be back.” He jogged down the sand toward a group of people in the distance.
“Liz.”
I jumped and swung around to the voice behind me. “Shane. You scared me. I didn’t hear you walk up.”
“Sorry. I was coming from the other side of the cay. I was looking for you. I got worried when you didn’t come back.” Shane cocked his head at me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just went for a long walk. Now I’m hungry. Marcus told me to eat a sandwich before he packs them away.” I picked up a roast beef sandwich and started eating it—my stomach growling in the process.
“We should head back to the boat. Come on. I’ll walk you back.” Shane put his hand on the small of my back and escorted me across the sand toward the water. “So, where did you go earlier?”
“I found a shallow little inlet on the other side of the cay and went swimming. Were you really worried?” I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye, trying not to make it too apparent that I cared how he felt.
“Yes, I was worried about you.” He chuckled and dropped his hand from my back. “Plus, I wanted to make sure one of Mel’s little friends didn’t try to steal you away from me.”
I smiled to myself, my heart fluttering. Shane cared about me. Was it possible he felt the same way I did, our budding romance much more than a temporary attraction?
Anna was suddenly standing in front of us, blocking our path.
“I need to talk to you. Right now,” she said, the tone in her voice angry and demanding. She stood there staring at Shane. “It’s important. You can at least give me that courtesy.” She focused her attention on me next, her lips tight and her eyes like the cold steel of a dagger. “I’m sure Liz won’t mind giving us some privacy.”
“I’m going to sit with Caitlin.” I spun around and climbed the ladder to the catamaran’s deck, a gut-churning feeling in the pit of my stomach as I tried to guess what she wanted. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
“You’re back. Take a seat.” Caitlin patted the bench next to her. Then she saw the look on my face. “What happened? You look upset.”
“Anna stopped us when Shane and I got back to the boat. She said she had to talk to him, so I came here. Shane’s with her down on the beach.”
“That woman just doesn’t give up. But that’s all right. Once Shane gets home, she’ll be completely out of the picture.” Caitlin patted my hand and gave me a reassuring smile.
Shane walked across the deck a few minutes later, stopping next to one of the bench seats at the front of the boat. He ran his hand through his hair, a scowl spreading across his face as Anna approached him once again. They were in an animated discussion, and then Shane turned to walk away. Anna grabbed his arm to hold him back.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. What is going on?” Caitlin appeared irritated, her mouth tight as she looked at Patrick.
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough since we’ve started sailing back to Grace Bay, and it’s a short trip.” Patrick slipped his arm around Caitlin’s shoulder. “Don’t get yourself all worked up either. Anna may be a conniving woman, but Shane can manage himself just fine.”
I stared at Shane, feeling powerless. He looked upset, and I wanted to do something to help him. But I didn’t dare get between him and Anna. I looked down at the deck as the catamaran cut through the water, its hull rising with the swells—the breeze cool on my warm face. I wasn’t sure what to do.
CHAPTER 6
A PAINFUL GOODBYE
We arrived back at Grace Bay. After gathering my belongings, I joined the other guests and waited my turn to disembark from the catamaran. Shane was still in an animated conversation with Anna, only now they were at the back of the boat. Clueless as to what was going on between them, I decided to go back to my room and wait to find out.
