The credits rolled and Ryan rose to turn off the TV. He gently shook his mother to wake her.

It was almost one o’clock.

“Bedtime,” Ryan whispered, and he offered Rae what she interpreted to be an apologetic look as he ushered Poppy down the hall, then he disappeared into his own room.

Rae stayed in the main room and listened for the door to his bedroom to shut behind him. She listened for the flush of his toilet. Then she heard the faucet—brushing teeth. Well, she figured, that was it, he was calling it a night. This was disappointing, but they still had one more night on the island. And after all, he had just walked his own mother down the hall to her bedroom. It would be a little weird, Rae rationalized on Ryan’s behalf, for him to turn right around from his own mother, come back to the main room, and share an intimate moment with Rae. Even if he was developing feelings for her, Rae thought, he was probably still uncertain about making the first move. Well, she thought, that was OK. Her hormones were surging far too intensely for her to feel ready for sleep, but she would go to her room for now even if it meant lying awake or practicing her looks or reading her book for another two hours before she became tired. She could also scavenge the boozy remains of the various tiki cocktails now that she had the kitchen to herself.

She was annoyed that she had endured that entire mind-numbing documentary in the hopes that it would result in some alone time for her and Ryan, but all was not lost. They still had one more day and one more night, Rae consoled herself. She would make a plan. She already had some ideas. If Ryan couldn’t work up the courage to express his feelings to her, then she would be prepared to make the first move, because one thing was for certain: Rae was not going to go home the same unkissed, untouched girl she had been upon arrival.

17

KEATS AND ROXIE were woken by a phone call around midnight. Keats answered the call on the phone that lived on their bed stand, grunted a few questions, hung up, and sat upright in bed. He yawned mightily, arms stretched overhead, sleepy muscles shifting and warming.

Roxie had an elbow tented over her face to block the light of the moon, which felt severe at this hour. “What now?” she mumbled.

“Emergency call,” Keats said, rising from bed and making his way to their closet for clothing.

“At this time of night?” Roxie said.

“Couple guests out on the bay,” Keats said over his shoulder. “Taking a late-night bath, faucet on the Jacuzzi broke off and started spittin’ like a fireman’s hose. They called the homeowner in a panic, he called me. Scared it’s gonna flood so bad the floor caves in if it waits till the morning.”