The Truth About Ever After (6 page)

“I’m
sure it will be wonderful,” he said, pulling me close to kiss the top of my
hair. “But we’re a full ten minutes early and no one else is anywhere near
being here yet, so let’s just chill for a minute, okay?”

I
sighed. He had a point. We were supposed to be meeting the rest of our party in
the lobby so we could all board the van that would take us to our chartered
boat. I had arranged the whole excursion myself, which meant I had spent the
last two days planning and thinking about it. Of course, I was more excited
than the others; they had no way of knowing how awesome this was going to be.

“Can
I get you anything, Mrs. Thompson, Mr. Thompson?”

A
waiter had appeared from God knows where, holding a tray filled with champagne
glasses.

“Mimosas?”
I asked eagerly.

She
shook her head. “
Bellinis
. But I could go and make
mimosas if you’d rather.”

“No,
bellinis
are great,” I told her, smiling politely and
reaching for one. Eric hesitated for a moment before taking one himself. The
waitress nodded politely at us and drifted off to the other side of the lobby.

“Come
on,” I told Eric. “Let’s go sit.”

I
led him across the marble floor to the other end of the lobby, near the front
doors, and sank down into a comfortable loveseat, pulling Eric next to me.

“She
didn’t offer drinks to anyone else,” he said, looking preoccupied.

“What?”

“That
waitress. She just appeared with drinks for us, didn’t charge us, knew us by
name. And I didn’t see her offering anything to anyone else.”

I
looked across the lobby. Sure enough, there were several other clusters of
people standing and sitting around the room, and none of them had champagne
glasses. I shrugged.

“We’re
suite guests, Eric. It’s probably just a perk.”

He
shook his head, looking bemused. “You know, it doesn’t matter how often stuff
like that happens, I’ll just never get used to it.”

I
raised an eyebrow at him, taking a sip of my
bellini
. It was delicious. “Would you rather we
didn’t have the yummy drinks in our hands right now?”

“No,”
he said quickly. “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. It just…it
seems like a lot.”

“Eric,”
I said, trying to be patient. “Places like this always go out of their way for
suite guests. Repeat business and referrals are everything in this business. Daddy’s
staff at the hotels does the same thing. Sure, it’s a little much, but it’d be
rude to make a big deal out of it. All we can do is be polite and gracious. And
tip really good.”

He
smiled at me, before his face turned serious. “You handle it all so well.”

I
felt a little uncomfortable. I knew he was referring to my family’s wealth. “I
didn’t really have a choice,” I said, not mentioning all the times that I
hadn’t
handled it well, not well at all.
People didn’t like to hear about that, didn’t want some poor-little-rich-girl
story. It made you look spoiled and ungrateful.

Before
he could respond, I saw Annie and Nate heading across the lobby toward us,
holding hands. I had to smile. They were so cute together, even though they
seemed mismatched. Annie’s style fit her personality—quirky, bold, and
dramatic. Just looking at her you could tell she was an artist, as if she
emanated creativity. Nate, at first glance, was much more straight-laced. He
worked as an engineer for Ford, and was every bit as comfortable in suits as he
was in
polos
and shorts. He was your more typical,
all-American guy. It was for this reason that Annie had resisted his affections
for so long, convinced he wasn’t her type.

Love conquers all
, I thought to myself, grinning at the
thought of what Annie would say if she could hear me being so corny and
sentimental.

“Are
we late?” Nate asked as they approached.

“Nope,”
Eric said. “Kiki was a little overeager to get going, if you can believe it.”

They
all laughed and I stuck out my tongue at Eric.

“Ginny
called,” Annie said. “The sitter just got there so she was going through some
instructions before they headed down.” She rolled her eyes at that, and I
pictured Ginny badgering the poor sitter with a million instructions.

“How’s
Danny feeling about being left behind?” Eric asked.

“Kid’s
pissed,” Annie said.

“Oh,
poor Danny,” I said as everyone laughed.

Annie
smirked. “He’ll cheer up once he realizes he can wrap the sitter around his
little finger.”

“Oh,
God, don’t even say that,” Josh said, coming up behind us. “Ginny is terrified
of leaving them here as it is.”

“The
childcare staff at this resort is top-notch,” I assured them. “The kids will
have a blast.”

“I
hope so,” Ginny said as she joined us. “Do you think my cell phone will work
out on the boat? God, maybe I should just stay here.”

“Stop
worrying,” Annie said, exasperated. “The kids will be fine.”

“The
boat is chartered through the resort,” I told her, thinking kindness might help
more than exasperation. “If they need us for anything they can get a hold of
the captain through the radio.”

“Really?”
Ginny said, her face relaxing. “Well, that makes me feel better.”

“We’re
just waiting on Eric’s cousin…” I said, peering around the small group. I could
make out our van, waiting for us in the circle drive at the front of the
resort. We didn’t have to wait long; soon Jeff and his girlfriend Mandy were
hurrying toward us from the elevator, apologizing for being late.

I
felt my excitement grow another notch as the eight of us settled into the van.
I knew from my phone calls with the concierge that we had a short
fifteen-minute drive to the dock, where we would board the speedboat that would
take us out to the private beach and snorkel site. I couldn’t wait!

“Kiki,
I just love your sundress,” Mandy said from the seat behind me, leaning forward
so that her face was practically right next to mine. I didn’t know Mandy all
that well, as she was a rather new addition to Jeff’s dating rotation. She
seemed nice enough, but something about her made me uncomfortable. Maybe it was
the way she was always complimenting my clothes or shoes or jewelry. She seemed
overly interested in
things
. Sure
enough…

“Is
that Donna Karan?” she asked, smiling at me in a way that didn’t quite meet her
eyes.

“Nope,”
I said. “Target. Last season.”

I
saw Annie grin at me from the corner of my eye.

“Oh,”
Mandy said, sounding somewhat put-off. “Well, it’s super cute.”

“Thanks,”
I said, before pointedly turning my attention to the window and the view of the
town beyond.

I
had always loved travel, long before my parents could afford to take us to
exotic locales such as this. Even when our trips only took us as far as the
other side of the state, I absolutely loved seeing the way other people lived,
the shops they had, the kind of houses they lived in, the different ways they
expressed style. The Bahamas were no different, and
I was
soon fascinated by the sight of the brightly colored clapboard houses
.

The
drive to the dock was almost too fast. I had just started to really enjoy
myself when we turned off the main road to park beside the dock. I made a
mental note to myself to plan a
sight-seeing
tour
later in the week.

“Here
we go,” I said excitedly, clapping my hands. From the parking lot I could see
the speedboat that would take us to our destination, bobbing gently in the
water beside the dock.

The
eight of us hopped out of the van and headed down to the dock. I made sure to
thank and tip the driver before I left, earning me a wink from Eric. Down on
the dock
we were welcomed by a young man,
probably in
his early twenties, standing with another small group of tourists.

“Welcome
to the
Ripper
,” he called out, waving
us over. He had that lovely lilting Bahamian accent. On our first night in town
Matt had told me that he bet they exaggerated to make the tourists happy, but I
refused to be swayed by his cynicism.

“Everyone
ready for the ride of your lives?” he asked. The people in the other group
cheered and I couldn’t help but join in.

The
driver explained to us what would happen on the boat, going through the safety
procedures. The
Ripper
was more than
just a form of transportation—it had been billed as one of the best
thrill rides on the islands. I felt a little nervous as the driver,
Carl,
came around to check on our restraints and collect our
belongings, explaining that anything loose needed to be stowed up front.

“Okay,”
Billy called out, as Carl started the engine and began to maneuver us away from
the dock. “Carl here is
gonna
get us going. Once
we’re out of the harbor area here he’ll be able to kick up the speed a bit. And
once we reached the protected bay on the far side of the island, we’ll do some
spins. Everybody ready?”

This
time I wasn’t the only one in our group cheering in response. Even Annie was
yelling and raising her hands in the rock and roll signal.

Once
we were free of the harbor, Carl started to pick up speed. I laughed with glee
as we sped out across the water, the land rushing past us in a blur. “This is
awesome!” Eric called next to me; I could barely hear him over the rush of the
wind. Spray was kicking up from the water, tickling my face and my thighs. If
the concierge at the hotel
was
to be believed, we’d
all be a whole lot more drenched than this soon.

The
ride took about twenty minutes—not nearly enough time for me to stop
enjoying it. In the distance I could see a small undeveloped island
;
our destination. But the ride wasn’t over yet, not by a
long shot.

“Okay,”
Billy called, standing up to face us. He braced himself with both hands on the
two front seats, the speed of the boat threatening to send him sprawling into
Carl if he let go. “We’re about to enter the bay. Everyone hold on, and prepare
to get soaked!”

Billy
sat down next to the driver. I looked over at Eric; he had a massive grin on
his face and was holding onto the straps of his restraints like his life
depended on it.

“Scared?”
he called over the wind.

“Not
even close!” I yelled back.

“Let’s
SPIN!” Billy called from the front of the boat.

Suddenly
the world tilted around me as Carl pulled a complete three-sixty. The speed we
had going into the spin combined with the suddenness of his execution created a
giant splash of water to cover the boat. It was terrifying and exhilarating,
just like being on an amusement park ride but faster—much faster.

As
we came out of the spin I heard laughing and cheering all around me. The other
passengers had enjoyed it as much as I had.

“How
was that?” Billy called, standing again. We all hooted our approval.

“Not
very excited,” he said, shaking his head in mock sadness. “You must not have
liked it. We’ll head to the beach now.”

We
all howled and screamed, making Billy grin. “Again?” he asked.

For the next ten minutes or so Carl raced
the little speedboat across the water, executing perfectly timed three-sixties.
By the time he slowed down I felt dizzy
and giddy—and was also soaking wet. No wonder they had us stow our
belongings at the front of the boat.

Carl
took us smoothly to the small dock at the little island. “Thank you for being
our passengers!” Billy called out. “We hope you enjoyed your time on the
Ripper
!”

We
applauded for Carl and Billy once more as they made their way through the boat,
helping us undo our restraints. When I finally stood I felt a little shaky.
That was intense.

Off
the boat we were led over to the beach, where another group of guides was
standing next to several large bins. They waited for the entire group to join
them before they began their explanation on snorkeling equipment and the proper
way to handle the stingrays.

“I’m
not so sure about this,” Ginny was saying, eying the water with apprehension.
“Aren’t stingrays dangerous?”

“Our
stingrays are as friendly as our locals,” a guide said, stopping in front of
her to adjust the straps of her life belt. “You’re in no danger here,
gorgeous.”

He
let his hands linger on her shoulders for a bit longer than was strictly
necessary, causing Josh to grimace. I laughed to myself—Ginny was
completely oblivious. Being ogled by every man she met was probably old news to
her by now.

The
guides led us all out into the water. From here I could see that the area we
were in was fenced off with nets in the water. I figured that must mean that
the rays were already here, that we were, in fact, in their cage. The
realization sent a little shiver of fear down my spine.