“I’m just looking.”

“I know you are.”

“You’re very pretty.” That stopped me in my tracks.

“Oh. Thank you.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

I went back to getting situated. I squeezed some sunscreen into my hands and slathered it on my neck, my shoulders, and my arms. I sat down and stretched out, covering my legs with the sarong, and then put my hat on.

“You’re also pretty funny.”

“Funny ha-hah or funny weird?”

“A little of both.”

“I like to be sun-smart. I’m Australian. It’s drummed into us at birth,” I said defensively.

“And you’re cute when you’re miffed.” He stood, then leant down and smacked a kiss onto my lips. I harrumphed in response; I do not like to be patronised. “Now, what would you like to drink?” I do, however, like cocktails. Good play, Joshua.

“Well, how about a Mai Tai? That’s Hawaiian, isn’t it?”

“Sure, I guess so. Two Mai Tais coming up.” I watched him walk over to the bar, and I wasn’t the only one. Two women, two young women, women in their mid-twenties—as in, much closer in age to Josh than I was—also watched him walk to the bar. As he passed them, they made “oh, my god” faces at each other, then giggled.

I frowned at them, but they didn’t seem to notice, so I turned on my Kindle, opening it to the home page. I’d downloaded a handful of beach reads, including the latest book from my favourite author about a love triangle. I tapped on the cover. Maybe it would give me some insight into how to choose between two very different men. I was only a few pages into chapter one when a drink appeared in front of me. It looked like a work of art.

“Wow,” I said, putting down my Kindle and taking the drink from Josh. “Fancy!” It had two distinct layers, yellow and orange, and it was topped off with a piece of pineapple, a sprig of mint, a slice of lime, and a cherry with a stem.

I took a sip just as Josh said, “Cheers.” Why couldn’t I ever wait for a toast before I started drinking? What was wrong with me?

“Uh, sorry. Cheers,” I said, clinking my glass against his. I took another sip. “Yum.”

Josh stretched out on his lounger and tasted his drink. “Yeah. Good choice.”

I picked up the cherry by the stem and held it out. “Have I ever shown you what I can do with one of these?” I asked, waggling my eyebrows.

“Let’s go with no.” I knew I had his complete attention, so I put the cherry in my mouth, pulled the stem off and ate the cherry. Then I put the stem in my mouth and used my tongue and my teeth to twist it into a knot. I pulled the knotted stem out of my mouth and held it up for Josh to see.

His expression was one of awe. “How did you …?” He didn’t finish the thought, just shook his head in disbelief, then added, “And, you’ve definitely never shown me that before.”