But none of these mangroves appeared to be Will’s special spot, since he was steering around them.
That was the other thing: Will didn’t have a hired crew or anything. He was steering his own boat.
Was there something sexy about a guy behind the wheel of a large and powerful boat?
A guy who looked like Will? Yeah, okay, I’ll admit it: Yes. Yes, there was.
“So, aren’t you glad now that Kellyjean talked you into coming?” Bernadette set down her lunch plate and attempted to photograph a particularly lovely patch of shimmering blue water that stretched to meet the equally blue sky at the horizon—two blues so deep that you could hardly tell where one stopped and the other began.
“Oh, I’m glad, all right.” I took a sip from my own cup of rosé that I’d been handed upon boarding The Moment—yes, Will had named his boat after his latest book, which had apparently helped pay for it—and let my gaze roam away from the water, toward the boat’s bridge deck, where Will was steering. Shirtless, I might add.
And let me tell you, that view was every bit as enticing as the ocean.
Fortunately he couldn’t see me looking at him, because I had my sunglasses on. I’d invested in a good pair of polarized sunglasses with mirrored lenses when I’d first started shopping in Florida for places for my dad. At the time it had only been to help combat the glare of the sun when I was being driven around by Realtors, but now they were paying off in ways I’d never expected. For all Will knew, I could have been checking out some birds flying in the sky above him.
Instead I was checking out him. He was deep in conversation with Jerome, who was fascinated by the boat’s navigation system and wanted the console explained to him. Will appeared only too happy to oblige, which suited me fine, as well. Now he not only couldn’t tell I was observing him, he was too busy.
I was doing all of this observing for research purposes only, of course. It would help me turn Raul Wolf into a fully realized and complex character. I needed Raul to be someone that readers would come to love and fully support Kitty Katz dumping Rex Canine for.
No other reason. No other reason at all.
At least I’d have been able to do this if other people hadn’t kept interrupting me.
“Can you believe this boat?” Garrett appeared from belowdecks, holding a can of hard seltzer in one hand and, unfortunately, his ukulele in the other. Like Will, he was shirtless.
Unlike Will, however, Garrett had not had the sense either to wear a hat or stay beneath the shade of the bridge, so his pale skin was already burning under the sun’s intense rays, even though Kellyjean had offered him use of her SPF 100 wholly reef-safe and biodegradable sunscreen. The rest of us had let her spray us down, but Garrett had declined.
“I never burn,” he’d informed us. “I’m one-eighth Cherokee.”
He also, I noted, shaved his chest. Either that or waxed it. He was miraculously smooth everywhere except his legs, underarms, head, and face.
“This boat has got a bedroom bigger than the one I have back home!” Garrett had apparently been exploring The Moment, which Will had urged all of us to treat as our second home for the afternoon. Garrett, however, was the only one who’d taken that literally and not as mere politeness. “How much do you think this thing set him back? Just ballpark.”
“You already told us last night it was two million.” I took another sip of my wine.
“Yeah, but now that I’m seeing it, with all the bells and whistles, I’m guessing three million, easy. And then he goes and names it after his book about a murderer!”
“Excuse me.” I glared at him. “Some of us haven’t finished the book yet. I don’t know if Johnny did it or not.”
“Oh, please. Don’t you read the end of the book first?”
“No, I do not. What is wrong with you?”
“I’m all about craft, baby. I don’t care about the story.”
I pointed at him. “Don’t call me baby, you—”
“Shhh.” Bernadette pointed toward a number of lounge chairs a few yards away where Chloe, her friend Sharmaine, and Kellyjean were all draped in their swimsuits, eating their lunch, their backs toward us. “There are impressionable young people in the vicinity.”
“Fine.” I lowered my voice. “But don’t call me baby.”
“Jeez.” Garrett rolled his eyes. “So tense. But fine, I won’t. Still, you have to admit, that’s weird, too, right? What’s Will’s deal with teenaged girls?”
“Gee, I don’t know.” Bernadette sipped her wine. “He’s related to one?”
“But don’t you ladies think this thing with the cheerleaders is suspicious?” Garrett should maybe have laid off the hard seltzers, since his face was getting redder by the minute. “Because I do.”
“They’re not cheerleaders,” I heard myself saying. “They’re on the school dance team. And Will is donating money to them to help out during the festival. I don’t think that’s weird. I think it’s nice.”
Whoa. What was wrong with me? Why was I coming to Will’s defense?
Garrett was too wrapped up in his own concerns to notice.
“I imagine you two have heard the rumors,” he went on, as if I hadn’t spoken.
Bernadette’s eyebrows were raised almost to the sweat-band of her visor. “Rumors? What rumors?”
“About a certain author.” Garrett was smiling now. “A certain famous male author.”
Bernadette side-eyed me as she lifted her lunch plate. “I can’t imagine what you mean.”
“Price, of course. You know the real reason why he wants all these young girls around, don’t you?”
“Why, no, Garrett.” Bernadette took a bite of watermelon kebab. “But I’m sure you’re going to tell us.”
“Research! Will Price wants to make the move into writing children’s fiction!”
Bernadette and I exchanged glances. Garrett must have noticed that we were smirking, since he cried, “Oh, come on! How can you not see it? It couldn’t be more obvious. It’s why he’s paying you, Jo, such a huge stipend to be here. I’m surprised you two didn’t catch on this morning during our panels. He couldn’t have been more thrilled that Molly went into labor! It gave him the opportunity to sit there and grill us about what it’s like to write for kids.”
I choked a little on the sip of wine I’d taken. Apparently Garrett took this for disbelief, since he insisted, “You must have noticed how competitive Will is! He’s already conquered writing for adults, so why wouldn’t he try to take over the world of children’s lit, too? God.” Garrett shook his head at what he perceived as our extreme stupidity. “The truth has been staring you two in the face this whole time, and you refuse to see it.”
Bernadette blinked at Garrett one or two times, then burst out laughing. She tried flinging a hand over her mouth both to keep from being overheard by Kellyjean and the Snappettes and to keep Garrett from noticing how hilarious she found his statement, but it didn’t work.
“I don’t see what’s so funny.” Garrett looked wounded. “You know I’m right.”