Olivia deliberately scheduled her flight for the day before everyone else was due to arrive on the island. She preferred to orient herself to a new place without an audience who already knew all her foibles. Strangers didn’t know that her awkward mannerisms and inability to accurately anticipate what was appropriate in social situations were more than a one-time lapse. But her college friends had gotten to know her at the height of her awkwardness and would only laugh at every misstep, triggering an escalating spiral of additional mistakes. She wanted to enjoy this trip, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to relax if it started out like that. So she took an extra day off work and paid for an extra night at the resort. Money well spent, in her mind, even if this vacation was going to wipe out most of her savings and her PTO for the rest of the year.
New environments only magnified her social anxiety, even beautiful, relaxing environments like the Conch Shell Resort situated on the blindingly white beaches of Gibbous Bay. Softened by the barrier reefs ringing the islands, the gentle waves that lapped at the beaches created a sound exactly like her favorite setting on her sound machine. And yet, she didn’t have a routine established here, she didn’t know the social mores or expectations associated with island life or even how to activate the outdoor shower next to the beach. (She’d struggled with the lever for several minutes before one of the staff members demonstrated that it was a push button and not a rotating switch.)
She needed to spend a little time on the island in the company of strangers who probably wouldn’t remember her the next day and learn the ropes, find the bathrooms, the hotel shop, the restaurant, study the island map and do a little exploring. The more she knew about the place she was staying the more it felt like home and the less she worried about how she would handle unexpected situations. Before leaving on the trip, she had thoroughly researched the island and discovered a number of interesting facts about its history, the best authentic spots to visit to learn about local culture, the region’s culinary specialties and how to behave less like a tourist.
Armed with this information, she rented a bicycle and ventured out on the poorly labeled island roads in search of the downtown strip of shops that catered to tourists. She wasn’t interested in these shops but the square just beyond them where local artists displayed their crafts. Most of these were also overpriced boondoggles, but as an art history major she had a keen eye for authentic talent sprinkled among all the cheap junk. She found very little that fell into this category until she saw a stall filled with what appeared at first to be trash. On closer inspection, she recognized distorted everyday objects and then realized that what these discarded items had been expertly transformed into new forms by an artist’s hands. Strands of rope and scraps of plastic had been woven into baskets, bowls and jewelry, along with bits of sea glass, metal and concrete. Olivia was especially attracted to an oblong slab of concrete adorned with graffiti that had been framed in a shadow box.
The woman seated in the stall smiled self-consciously up at Olivia and she felt an immediate kinship with the quiet, unassuming woman. “Do you have any questions?” she asked.
Olivia pointed to the bit of graffiti. “Where is this from?”
“Outside city hall. Just found it on the ground.”
Following the woman’s gesture toward the brightly painted buildings of main street, Olivia bit her lower lip. “But I don’t understand. Did it fall off the building or…”
The woman laughed as if it hadn’t occurred to her that someone might ask that question. “Oh, no. It fell in the storm. The last hurricane.” She spread her hands out over the collection of objects on the table, and Olivia noticed the thick calluses on her skin. “All of these are remnants of that storm, debris from damage to the town or items that washed up on shore.”
“Amazing,” Olivia breathed, taking a fresh look at all of the items now that she knew the significance. A necklace caught her eye. Beads made out of glass, metal and plastic that had been worn down by the sea into smooth ovals. The metal was burnished to a dull sheen, flecks of paint still visible in places, but the glass and plastic were foggy like frosted glass. She picked it up before she realized what she was doing, holding it up to catch the sunlight in the beads.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” the woman asked. “I’ve been collecting the materials for that necklace over the last ten years.”
Olivia pulled out her credit card without even looking for the price. It didn’t matter how much it cost or how much was left in her bank account. She knew that she had to have it.
///
Sloane tapped his rings against his suitcase handle in a complicated rhythm while flicking through the news on his phone without really looking at it. He had twenty unread emails already (and he’d only been away from the office half of a day) but he was resisting the urge to look at them.
He could feel the weight of Zoe’s amused gaze focused on him, a warmth not unlike the brilliant sunlight pouring through the airport windows. Her hand came to rest on top of his, stopping the drum beat by weaving their fingers together. A smile leapt to his lips without his permission, but he managed to keep his eyes focused on his phone long enough to actually read a headline even though it fell out of his head as soon as he read it.
“I’m just checking the news,” he said to her to make it clear that he wasn’t breaking his promise already. Locking the phone, he slid it back into his pocket. “I’m not doing work.”
“I know,” she said smugly, and the trust in her voice made him sigh.
“How much longer are they going to be?” he asked, nodding at the couple still staring in mixed annoyance and hopefulness at the baggage claim.
“Not much longer, I hope. I haven’t seen a new bag pop up in a while now.”
“They lost it. Obviously.”
Zoe grimaced. “Jade is not going to take that well.”
Rolling his eyes, Sloane scoffed. “Jade doesn’t take anything well. You should have seen her at the surprise birthday party we threw her when she was seven. She could throw a fit while winning the lottery.”
“Maybe we should just go ahead to the resort? I bet they’ll have a little shop where she can buy a few things to get her by.”
His phone began buzzing in his pocket and he pulled it out without thinking. As soon as he saw the name on the screen, he glanced at Zoe and hit the ignore button.
“Pete?” she asked.
“It’s fine. I told him I’d be out of touch.”
“Just answer it. It could be important.”
He smiled sweetly. “No way. I made a promise.”
She just slapped him on the arm. “Answer it already.”
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By the time he pulled the phone out again, it had gone to voicemail. “Too late. I’ll just have to check in later. After we get to the resort.”
Ethan was walking over to them at this point. They could see Jade stalking over to the airport counter with such violent strides that her carryon bounced against her slender back. Ethan, on the other hand, strolled across the polished tile with his hands in his pockets and his backpack hanging casually from one shoulder. He was one chill dude, which was a good thing given how often Jade turned into a hot mess. Sloane thought Ethan was good for his sister, probably the best guy she had dated in her tumultuous love life. Hopefully she could keep him.
“Looks like we’ll be here a while,” Ethan said with a yawn. “Her bag got lost so we have to fill out some paperwork. You should go ahead to the resort. We’ll meet you at the pool once we’ve gotten checked in.”
Sloane was already starting to walk away when Zoe shifted her weight to one foot and frowned. “Are you sure? We could wait a little longer.”
“No need. They say the shuttle runs every fifteen minutes to Gibbous Bay. We’ll be right behind you.”
“Okay,” Zoe said reluctantly, glancing at Sloane and shaking her head when she saw the eagerness in his eyes. “Tell Jade I’m sorry about her bag.”
The shuttle pulled away from the curb as soon as they stepped outside and Sloane groaned.
Zoe seemed relieved. “It’s okay. We’ll just wait for the next one. Maybe Jade and Ethan will be done by then.”
“No way. I need to get out of these clothes and jump into a pool—or better yet, the ocean.” He held up a hand to flag a cab.
///
“I still can’t believe it. I mean, we only had one plane change and we were stuck in that stupid airport for an hour and a half. How long does it take to transfer luggage anyway? We barely walked 500 feet from one gate to the next!”
Jade continued her tirade as they packed into the weathered airport shuttle with a couple of middle aged couples dressed in gaudy patterned shirts and khaki shorts as if they were on safari. The older travelers shot dirty looks at Jade as she ranted, but Ethan was so accustomed to her constant stream of speech that it no longer distracted him. He had learned to tune in when she was actually saying something relevant and zone out through the rest without her overflow of emotion even causing a ripple in his own mood. He was deep into the flow now, admiring the quality of the light this close to the equator and trying to identify the tangle of smells that had hit his nostrils as soon as they stepped outside the airport. A potent, spicy-sweet fragrance had caught his attention first and he suspected it was emanating from the vibrant red flowers lining the road.
While he gazed out the window and took in the glimpse of a distant glimmer of ocean, Jade continued to talk, using that trick she had of speaking while breathing in as well as out so that she wouldn’t have to pause for breath. She was always like this when she was excited, and although her words sounded angry, he knew that she would have been ranting about something else if she hadn’t lost her bag. Jade’s personality was intense at most times. The only thing that changed was the mood which she was intensely experiencing and sharing with those around her. On the plane she had been intensely happy—so happy that he had convince her to get some wine instead of the coffee she had considered because he was afraid she would start bouncing off the cabin walls if she drank another drop of caffeine.
The airport shuttle jostled and bounced over the rough pavement on their way to the resort, and eventually Jade changed subjects after an especially large bump forced her to catch her breath.
“Can you believe Sloane and Zoe bought first class tickets? I mean, I know Sloane’s startup is doing well, but who knows how long that will last? There are dozens of those fitness tracker things on the market and bigger names than him throwing money at them. Don’t you think it’s a little irresponsible?” she actually paused long enough to catch Ethan’s eye, and he laughed in surprise.
“Since when have you been concerned with responsibility?”
“Since my big brother started throwing money down the drain. He thinks he’s some hot shot CEO, but his business has been around less than a year. He hasn’t even paid taxes on all that money yet!”
“Taxes?” he arched a brow at her. “Who are you? Maybe you lost more than your bag on that flight.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she pursed her lips at him and shook her head. Clearly nothing he said was going to lighten her mood. He glanced back at the windshield hoping that once they arrived at the hotel they could stop off at the bar and get a quick cocktail to take the edge off all the travel.
“All I’m saying,” she continued a moment later, “is that I’m not going to bail Key out when his little bubble bursts.”
He smirked at that. Jade was not exactly a penny pincher herself. Her bank account tended to teeter from month to month and the money that revolved out often exceeded the money coming in. If he hadn’t cosigned on the apartment she couldn’t have kept up with the rent.
“Stop smiling, mister. You know I’m right. Just you watch. I bet you fifty dollars he’s staying in some expensive penthouse at this place.”
He wasn’t about to take that bet because she was probably right. Jade fell silent for the first time since she was working on the crossword in the airline magazine on the plane, and Ethan took advantage of the quiet to introduce himself to the couple in the seat in front of them. Mr. and Mrs. Mortigan were from Cincinnati, he learned, and they were celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary. They expressed their sympathy to Jade about her lost bag, but that was Ethan’s last chance to converse with them since she quickly took over the conversation again.
The shuttle took a sharp left down a narrow road lined with palm trees and he squinted at the pink and gold gate at the end of the drive. He saw when they got closer that the arched gate was tiled with bits of shell that shimmered in the light and a fountain in the center of the courtyard featured a golden conch shell the size of the shuttle. As the shuttle came to a stop in front of the open air office at the front of the hotel, several members of the staff took their luggage and greeted them with refreshing cucumber cocktails.
He saw a familiar face waiting for them in the foyer.
“Micah!” he called out when he saw the lanky man leaning against a column and sipping a cucumber cocktail. Micah had never quite lost the look of a teenager with messy dirty blond hair, a long face that had never quite filled in and awkward limbs that always seemed a bit too large for his body. Somehow Ethan had expected him to have changed in the time since he saw him last, but he looked exactly the same.
Waving casually with a mild expression warming his features, Micah didn’t move from the column, his eyes darting toward Jade as she told the sad story of the lost luggage to yet another person. Ethan took the hint and crossed the foyer to Micah.
“Have you been here long?”
Micah shrugged. “My plane landed a couple hours ago, but it was too early to check into my room so I just, you know, wandered.”
Chuckling, Ethan shook his head. That was another thing about Micah that apparently hadn’t changed. He’d always been a free spirit and fiercely independent. “Wandered where?”
“Here and there. Do you know there’s a Fish Fry tomorrow night? Apparently it’s a big deal on the island.”
Wincing, Ethan admitted, “Sounds like fun. But I think Zoe signed us all up for a sunset sail tomorrow night.”
“That sounds like Zoe.” Micah’s expression hadn’t changed, but something about his eyes had softened. Micah and Zoe had grown up together. They were in the same class through high school and had at least two classes in common even then. It wasn’t until college that this changed, but by then everyone saw each other more outside of class than in it.
They heard Jade coming via the wooden heels of her platform sandals before he saw her, and Ethan noticed that Micah’s shoulders tensed ever so slightly.
“They said that they’ll take care of picking up my luggage from the airport as soon as it arrives,” she announced to Ethan. Then, after a beat in which both men remained silent, Ethan thought he could hear the gears in her head shifting as she shifted her attention. “Micah! How long have you been here? Did Ethan tell you how the stupid airline lost my bag. It’s just like our trip to Spain. I lost my checked bag on the way back. Do you remember that, Ethan? Luckily that time it was on the way back so it didn’t matter as much.”
“Shall we go up rooms?” Ethan interrupted, clapping his hands together and nodding at the hotel staff lingering nearby. “I think they’re waiting to take us up.”
“Good idea, babe,” Jade rubbed her hand over Ethan’s shoulder and then breezed past him toward the courtyard. “I can’t wait to jump in that pool. Let’s go.”
Ethan noticed that Micah was staring at his shoulder where Jade had touched him. He opened his mouth to ask if something was wrong, but before he could say a word Micah strode off behind her.
