“Is that something you girls would like to do?” Dad asked.
“Totally!” Cori exclaimed.
Too late.
“Well, if that’s the case, you two are going to like the surprise I have planned for tomorrow,” Dad said, his eyes gleaming. “I just booked a catamaran ride for Micci and me as a wedding present, and I was thinking I could get you guys day passes to the Eutopia Teen Club.”
“Teen Club?” I asked, looking up from a “Life’s a Beach” T-shirt. I was pretty sure that whatever “Teen Club” was, it was going to be lame.
“Oh, I saw that on their website!” Cori said.
I was about to say that actual teens wouldn’t be caught dead in a place called Teen Club, but Cori looked so darn happy, and I really wanted her to have a good time this trip no matter what was going on back home, so I decided to keep my trap shut.
“I’m told you can use all the facilities, including the waterslides, so you’re sure to get your fix,” Dad said.
“And we can pet the stingrays and swim with the dolphins, and oh! Maybe we can do that aquarium dive, Jade,” Cori said. Honestly, I wondered if I should keep reminding Cori I was an aqua-phobic mermaid because that fact didn’t seem to be on her radar at all this trip.
“Great, then,” Dad replied. “It’s settled.”
“Yeah, great.” I tried to agree with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Mom and Dad deserved a nice day together during their wedding slash honeymoon trip. If I had to suffer a day in something called “Teen Club,” I guess I could suck it up.
“Oh, and perfect—Oreos.” I snatched the pack of cookies before heading to the cash register.
Might as well carbo-load before our big day sliding through shark-infested waters.
Cori and I did end up chilling out by the pool that Tuesday afternoon, but the Oreos were stale and the frat boys were still up to their shenanigans. But something had been nagging at me about the cruise-ship business ever since Kiki told us about Dillon and her boyfriend earlier on the beach.
Was Dillon trying to sneak onto that cruise ship? Was he on some kind of vigilante mission because no one believed him? I really needed to check things out before we got stuck in Teen Club the next day because even though Dillon had been kind of a jerk, calling me a “rich princess,” if he did something stupid, I was afraid I’d feel guilty for not backing him up for the rest of our vacation.
The fact that Mom and Dad still needed to go into town for their marriage license was a convenient excuse for me to casually suggest we could drop in at the Straw Market too.
“And how are the plans going for the happy couple?” Faye asked as Cori, Dad, Mom, and I rode in her shuttle van on our way back to town. It was already Tuesday and the wedding was supposed to be in four days, but the only thing Mom and Dad had managed to rebook was the beachside gazebo at the Asylum.
“I called the town just before we left, and they said they couldn’t guarantee an officiate because of all the weddings happening this weekend.” Mom pulled off her sunglasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “If I can’t find someone to marry us before Saturday, I’m afraid we’re going to have to cancel the whole thing. In front of all our guests, urg…”
“Don’t worry, Micci,” Dad said. “I’m sure it will all work out.”
But it wasn’t fair that after all this time, their plans kept getting messed up just because our reservation at the Eutopia got bumped. I was beginning to feel the same growing rage Cori had for Taylor ’n Tyler for wrecking everything.
“I hope so,” Mom replied.
“Now, don’t worry. It ain’t over till it’s over,” Faye replied, grinning at us in her rearview mirror. “Tell you what. Town Hall isn’t very far from the Straw Market. Why don’t I drop you two off there to see if you can sort things out, and Rayelle can hang out with the girls at the market until you’re done?”
Mom didn’t seem convinced. “I don’t know. Are you sure you girls will be okay?”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Baxter,” Faye said. “My granddaughter Rayelle is very responsible—plus her mama is there if they need anything.”
“We won’t be able to get into too much trouble with Rayelle there. She is stricter than three moms and a grade-school principal,” Cori said.
“I can vouch for that,” Dad said.
“Well, okay, if you’re sure,” Mom said.
By then we were downtown. Faye slowed the van to let Mom and Dad out in front of Town Hall and texted Rayelle to tell her we were coming.
“Rayelle says she is on her way to meet them now,” Faye said, putting down her phone.
“Thank you, Faye.” Mom put her sunglasses back on before looking back to Cori and me in the backseat. “You two be good, and we’ll meet you at the market in about an hour.”
Faye continued onward to the Straw Market, and we said our good-byes when she let us out at the top of the lane where we met up with Rayelle.
For a late Tuesday afternoon, things were bustling in the Straw Market. I veered around the group with the shell necklaces, remembering what Rayelle had told us about them last time. The same girl who had tried to sell me a necklace bumped Rayelle in the shoulder as she brushed by.
“Hey!” Cori yelled. But I caught her arm before she went all postal on the girl.
“Forget about her,” Rayelle said. “Let’s just go.”
We walked a bit more, past Señor Frog’s and a few of the outside booths.
“What’s her problem, anyway?” I asked, looking back at the girl as she hid her mouth with her hand and said something to one of her friends and laughed.
“She’s just part of a group at school that likes to make my life hell,” Rayelle said. “They pick on me ’cause I’m tall, or they pick on me ’cause I get good grades. They really don’t need a reason—they’re just jerks.”
“Well, if that’s all they can find wrong with you, I guess they have more of a problem than you do,” Cori said.
“Yeah, I guess,” Rayelle said. “It just got really bad at the end of last year. That was when Dillon was still in school and he had my back.”
Aha. So that’s why Rayelle didn’t chime in when her mom was trash-talking Dillon. I wondered if Rayelle’s mom knew Dillon was actually looking out for her.
“So why isn’t Dillon in school now?” I asked.
“He’s sixteen and his mom wants him to work more. There’s a lot going on at home,” Rayelle said, walking ahead as if wanting to put an end to the conversation. “Let me just tell my mom I’m going to hang out with you guys, and I’ll come find you in a sec.”
Fair enough. Not like it was any of my business.
“Hey, isn’t that Officer Ensel?” I asked Cori when I spotted a man in a familiar dark blue uniform on the stairs of a nearby building. I really wanted to go ask him if there were any new leads on the Wonderment Cruiselines case, but he was busy texting someone on his phone, and by the serious look on his face, it looked important.
“Who? The police officer? Didn’t you say you were going to forget about all that stuff?” Cori whispered as we walked past him. “No drama, remember?”
Even if I couldn’t get to talk to him, I was glad Officer Ensel was investigating the situation. Maybe it would make Dillon feel better.
“Yeah, you’re right. We need to get ready for this wedding! Let’s go look at the conches first,” I suggested. That way, I could give Dillon the heads-up.
“Way to let it go.” Cori glanced at me with a knowing look and laughed.
We wove our way through the stalls until we got to the harbor side of the market, but there was no sign of Dillon or his colorful blanket full of shells. I walked up and down the pier, looking for his green beat-up speedboat, but the only boats there were a few water taxis.
“Wasn’t this where he was yesterday?” Cori asked.
“He was right by that entry we just came through.” I pointed back to the lane where we’d exited. “I don’t see his boat anywhere.”
“So that’s that, then?” Cori asked.
“I guess so,” I said softly as we turned back for the Straw Market stalls.
That was that—I’d done what I could. I tried to find Dillon to tell him not to worry, that Officer Ensel was on the case. I’d even intended to apologize for not backing him up but Dillon had obviously moved on.
With my conscience semi-clear, I guess it was time for me to move on too.
•••
After not finding Dillon anywhere, we explored the market until we connected with Mom and Dad. We continued shopping while Rayelle went back to her mother’s stall to give her a hand.
“How’d it go at Town Hall?” I asked.
Dad produced an official-looking document and beamed. “Marriage license!”
“So you’re all set, then?” I asked hopefully.
“They still don’t have anyone available to marry us on Saturday,” Mom said, looking as disappointed as ever.
“I’m sure everything is going to work out,” I said, trying to reassure her, but even I could tell that things were looking grim.
“Let’s just work under the assumption that we’re still having a wedding on Saturday,” Dad said, trying to be encouraging.
“Yeah, all the fun is in the planning anyway, right? And you can’t go wrong with the right accessories,” Cori added.
Mom smiled and gave us each a kiss. We made a plan to divide and conquer until we found all the things on our list.
Cori found the shell ring for Lainey like she was hoping she would, and we picked out necklaces for the wedding party in the process. I also found a wrap around floral skirt I could wear with a shirt I’d brought with me (thanks to Cori’s help). We reconnected with Mom at the end of the market an hour or so later, long enough for my stomach to start grumbling and signal that it was probably time to head back to the Asylum for dinner.
“Did you find a shirt for Dad?” I asked.
“Yup. What do you think?” Dad held a Hawaiian-type shirt up to his chest. He was also sporting a floppy straw hat.
“I think the shirt is perfect, but that hat is going to make you look like even more of a tourist than you already are,” I joked.
“Well, I need something to keep him from burning to a crisp,” Mom said, kissing Dad on the cheek. “Let’s see if we can get a cab back to the hotel, shall we?”
We made it back to Rayelle’s mother’s booth to see if she could call Faye to pick us up.
“I’m sorry but my grandma just called to say she had to run a really important errand and she won’t be able to pick you guys up after all,” Rayelle said.
“That’s okay,” Mom said. “Faye has been wonderful but we can always call another taxi.”
“Or I guess there’s always the water taxi,” I said, remembering the water-taxi driver ready to shuttle tourists anywhere their hearts desired.
“Oh, can we?” Cori asked. She had turned into a bit of a water nut.
Mom smiled and folded Dad’s shirt under her arm. “That sounds like a fantastic idea.”
We walked back to the edge of the pier. I figured it was only fair to pick the same water-taxi driver who had given me his sales pitch the day before. Turns out his name was Raymond.
We sailed along the island’s coast, back toward the channel that led between Nassau and Paradise Island, and passed half a dozen cruise ships docked at the shipyard. The Wonderment Cruiselines ship must have left port already because it was nowhere to be seen. A little farther down the pier, a much smaller boat bobbed in the water, looking like a thimble next to the massive ships.
“Hey, isn’t that Dillon’s speedboat?” I yelled over the noise of the water taxi’s outboard motor. Cori shot me a look, which I ignored.
“Who?” Dad asked.
“That guy who was selling conches yesterday. He’s the one I was telling you about.” I turned to Raymond. “You know him, right?”
“Yeah, I know Dillon,” Raymond said. “He helped me untangle a rope from my propeller once. Dove right in and cut it free. That boy swims like a fish. I’m not sure if that’s his boat, though.”
I remembered how Rayelle’s cousin said Dillon had tried to get her boyfriend to sneak onto the cruise ship the day before. Had Dillon come back to try to do it himself? Rayelle said he hadn’t been around the market. Had he been hanging around the shipyard since yesterday?
But the cruise ship was gone.
So, if that was Dillon’s boat, where was Dillon?
I could barely get to sleep Tuesday night, partly due to the hotel’s broken air conditioner, partly due to the balcony’s sliding glass door shuddering in its doorframe from the growing wind, and partly due to the college frat-boy party happening next door.
Plus, my mind kept whirling with everything that had happened since we touched down in the Bahamas not even two days before, especially where that guy Dillon was concerned. What if that really was his speedboat at the shipyard? But maybe there was a simple explanation for his boat being there. Maybe (and I’m sure Cori would agree) I should just leave well enough alone.
But when I finally fell asleep, I dreamed Cori and I were standing in a green speedboat bobbing in the middle of the ocean surrounded by dolphins. We both had Wonderment Cruiselines baseball caps on our heads with our beaded braids swinging in the breeze.
“Look! They’re all around us!” Cori kept squealing and jumping around in the boat, excited that the dolphins were close enough to touch, but I kept screaming for her to stop freaking out as the boat bobbed wildly in the water, threatening to tip over.
By the time I woke up the next morning to the sound of my cell phone’s Video Gab alert, I had a headache that felt like a harpoon had been embedded in my cranium. I pressed the Connect button so Video Gab could load (if the hotel paid its Internet bill, that is) but couldn’t muster the energy to peel my head off the pillow.
“Hallumph?’ I said through squinty eyes, trying to figure out who was calling me so early in the morning.
“Jade?” The image finally loaded and it was Luke, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. And alarmingly cute. There was a lot of background noise so his voice echoed when he spoke, and something that sounded like announcements blared around him, making it hard to hear.
“Luke?” I asked, wiping the drool from the side of my mouth. Charming. “Where are you?”
I looked over to the other bed, expecting to see Cori, but from the sound of the running water in the bathroom, I guessed she was already in the shower getting psyched for our day at Eutopia’s Teen Club. The brochure said we could swim with dolphins at Dolphin Lagoon in the afternoon so that’s all she’d talked about ever since.
Oh, right. Dolphins. My dream was starting to make a bit more sense.
Luke looked like he was adjusting a few settings on his phone to see and hear more clearly.
“My dad got back from his trip a day early and Mom got someone to cover for her at the flower shop so we got earlier flights,” Luke answered brightly. He looked really excited to be heading our way. It was almost as though we hadn’t had that weird conversation in the elevator where I pretty much told him his brother was a loser.
“What time is it?” I mumbled, but I could see it was almost 8 a.m. from the clock radio beside my bed. I vaguely remembered Mom popping her head into our room earlier to let me know they were leaving for their catamaran trip and to get up because Teen Club was expecting us by nine. “Are you at the airport or something?”
“Yeah,” he replied but I could already see he was sitting in the airport lounge, with other passengers milling around him. “Our flight is supposed to board in about an hour but we’re connecting through New York so we won’t get to the Bahamas until about three-
ish.”
It would be Luke’s first time flying too. I bet he wouldn’t need deep breathing techniques just to get through takeoff.
“Too bad you’re not here now. Cori and I are going to hang out at something called ‘Teen Club.’” I rubbed my eyes and yawned.
“You look so excited by the prospect,” Luke said with a laugh.
“Cori’s pumped, so I’m sure it’ll be fun,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster that early in the morning.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Trey photo-bombed into the video screen and flashed me a peace sign. All of a sudden I felt like a total jerk for saying those things about him to Luke. Trey really was a good guy. He’d helped us out so much that summer, often putting his life on the line to get us through all the mer drama. The guy might be a bit of a goofball, but at least his heart was in the right place.
Speaking of drama, the dream about Dillon’s speedboat was still fresh in my mind. Should I clue the guys in to everything that had been happening in the Bahamas since we arrived? No. What was there to tell, really?
“Hey there, Trey. You want to talk to Cori?” I looked over to the bathroom door and tried to listen to hear if the water was still running. “I can get her if you want.”
“No,” Trey said quickly. “That’s okay. Just tell her I said hi.” Then he disappeared out of the picture.
“Um, so I guess we’ll catch up when we get there?” Luke asked, looking off screen as though he was trying to catch something Trey was saying.
“Yeah. Cool,” I replied, getting up to step outside onto the balcony to get some fresh air. If I craned my neck, I could almost see the ocean, reminding me of our water-taxi ride from the night before. “Do you have the address for the new hotel?”
“Actually our reservation at the Eutopia is okay, so we’re still staying there,” Luke replied. “My mom and dad must have booked it separately from yours.”
Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells Page 6
