Roni woke early as usual. The tiny lizard that had come in and out of her room for the last month was on the ceiling in the corner. Hey, little guy, you coming to send me off? The lizard did a couple of pushups almost as if he were answering her, making Roni smile. She had emailed Mack late last night, reminding him of her flight information. They had quit trying to Skype some time ago due to bad timing and not reaching one another. Email had become the communication of choice. She’d typed long ones about what was going on. His were mostly very short, typical Mack. She was looking forward to seeing him and nervous at the same time. The air conditioning unit kicked on as she threw the sheet back. Jenny was still asleep, her blonde hair spread across the pillow. Roni pulled the tie from her hair and fixed her ponytail before she walked out to the kitchen to make coffee. As she filled the pot from the kitchen faucet, she thought about the frogs. She realized their sound had become a part of her world. She hardly heard them anymore. Wondering how long it would take her to readjust to the sounds of a New York night as she scooped in the coffee.
She sat down on the couch to wait for it to brew and looked around at the things that had become so familiar to her. Roni replayed the last month in her mind. All the time she’d spent with Devin, getting to know the island and the people, and then her girlfriends coming. So many pieces had come to fit into the GTC puzzle in a short period. A month wasn’t that long, although a lot had happened. She thought about Devin last night: his tenderness, his touch, the thoughts she was sure he was having. Maybe thinking about what would have happened if they’d met at another time in their lives. She’d never been attracted to a black man before, but she hadn’t gotten to know any the way she knew Devin. Wall Street flashed into her head. Lehman seemed like a distant memory now. She reached deep within her soul and could tell she had cured that need to replace what was. The island and its ways had helped her to understand that there was so much more. That unassuming was good. Small…
“Where are you?” Tara whispered.
Roni snapped her head toward the sound. Tara was standing, pouring coffee in the kitchen.
“How didn’t I see you go by me?”
“Exactly, that’s why I asked ‘where are you?’”
“Reflecting,” Roni answered.
“About last night?”
“No, about the whole experience here.”
“Coffee?” Tara asked, holding up her cup.
“Please.”
Tara poured another cup and walked over to the couch. She handed Roni a cup and sat down. Tara took a sip and thought about how she should pose the question.
“Roni, has anything gone on with you and Devin, I mean in a physical romantic sort of way?”
Roni got a startled look on her face.
“You mean like an affair?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you think that?” Roni asked.
“Because of how you two are when you’re together. There is a deep connection between you. You are aware of that, right?”
Roni sipped her coffee, thinking.
“I’m aware of it, so is Devin. It’s unspoken between us. I never left the door open to act on anything, and honestly, neither has he. As well as you know me, I’m surprised that you would even have to ask.”
“I’m sorry, I guess I wanted to dispel any doubt,” Tara said.
“This time away has been interesting, not in just that Mack wanted me to figure out what I had a passion for, but really in digging deep into myself. There are a lot of layers to a person. I’ve had to look at some of those layers in myself pretty closely. Some I haven’t liked so well. Devin got to know the more raw side of me, the sort of child-side we all have deep down. The side that can still appreciate things in a very basic form and be amazed by them. It’s kind of funny how such a small place made such a big impact on me.”
“That’s good. I think it’s what you needed.”
The bedroom door opened, and Jenny came into the room, scratching her stomach sleepily.
“What are you two talking about?” Jenny asked.
“Roni’s affair with Devin,” Tara said.
Jenny stood up very straight and her eyes opened wide.
“What?” she asked, drawing out the word.
Roni laughed at Jenny’s reaction.
“I’m kidding,” Tara chuckled.
“Shit, Tara, give me a heart attack,” Jenny said, clutching her heart. “It’s too early for your bad sense of humor. If anyone should be having an affair, it should be you and that Paul guy.”
Roni laughed again.
“That was too funny, watching him chase you around,” Jenny chuckled as she went to the kitchen and poured herself coffee.
“Refills?” Jenny asked.
“Me,” Tara answered.
“No more for me. I’m working my way up to the Bloody Marys,” Roni said, pointing to the broken clock on the wall. “It’s always five o’clock in this house. Is Dr. Lacy still asleep?”
“She’s been packing, and cleaning the bathroom,” Tara chuckled.
“Really, even the day we’re leaving?” Jenny asked.
Jenny came around the counter and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs.
“I think we brought a lot of sand in this week,” she said absentmindedly as she slid her bare feet back and forth along the floor.
“Good morning,” Lacy said rolling her suitcase into the room.
“You’re all showered and ready to go?” Roni asked. “You in a hurry to get home, Lacy?”
“Yes and no. Figured I might as well get everything done and then relax.”
Lacy looked at the clock on the wall and then at her watch.
“You’d think after a week I would remember the clock’s broken,” Lacy sighed.
“Not broken, just giving the correct hour, all the time,” Tara laughed.
“What time is it, Lacy?” Jenny asked.
“It’s nine forty. We have a couple hours yet, but we have to run to the bakery and pick up the pies.”
“Okay, Tara, Bloody Mary time,” Roni said. “I’ll go shower after you make them, then Lacy and I can run get the pies while you girls get ready.”
Tara went to the kitchen—the girls liked her Bloody Marys the best. She pulled glasses from the cabinet, filled them with ice, and removed the last of the vodka from the freezer.
“That was so nice of Roe to give us the Bloody mix,” Tara said.
“I know, I will miss this place,” Roni said. “But, I’m also excited to get back and get to work.”
She stood up and stretched. The girls had booked the same flight home: Treasure Cay to Miami, Miami to New York. Roni was glad she would have company on the plane, it would keep her from thinking too much. She went to her laptop on the counter and checked her email, looking for Mack’s response: “I’ll be there” was all he said.
“A man of so many words.”
“Mack?” Tara asked, pushing a Bloody Mary across the counter.
“Of course Mack. I sent him an email reminding him of our flight info last night. ‘I’ll be there’ was his reply. Not have a great flight, can’t wait to see you, love you honey,” Roni said disappointedly.
“Mack is always like that. You know he loves you.”
“I know,” Roni answered wondering if it was enough “but it’s still nice to hear it sometimes,”
Roni took her drink and went into the bedroom. She pulled out a pair of capri jeans and a tank top from the dresser to wear home. The air conditioning on the plane usually made her cold, so she left out a light sweatshirt also. The closet stood open, and she pulled her clothes from the hangers, folded them, and stacked them on the bed. She opened the dresser drawers and removed her things. Lastly, she got her suitcase off the top shelf of the closet. Time to get back to real life. Roni opened out the suitcase on top of the bed. She could see the lump from the outer pocket on the inside, her linen jacket. The day she landed on Treasure Cay. The jacket was a wadded, wrinkled mess when she pulled it out. Roni shook it out and folded it up. Her mindset had been so different then, sort of like the jacket, wrinkled. Mack was right, she’d needed time to figure it out. What he’d really meant was for her to get her priorities straight, to stop obsessing about the past. She hoped when she got home and got busy again, she would remember the lessons Green Turtle had taught her. She made a mental note to post a message in her home office with the word SIMPLE on it, and, in small letters below, put GTC as a reminder. Lehman Brothers, her investment banker position, Wall Street, the corporate illusion, the money, all seemed silly to her now. Her first priority was to make sure she and Mack would be okay. After that, a new career would be a bonus.
––––––––––––
“You ready, Jenny?” Roni called from the porch.
Jenny was the last to finish packing. Luggage and carry-ons were lined up by the screen door as the girls waited for her on the porch.
“I’m just zipping my suitcase,” Jenny answered.
“Our fabulous trip is over,” Tara said. “I liked being fabulous. This was a really fun girls trip, can’t remember when I laughed so much.”
“I bet you liked fabulous,” Roni laughed.
“I meant all of us, our song, you were just so busy being fabulous,” Tara sang. “I know don’t give up my day job and become a singer. I wonder if any of the Eagles are as cute as they used to be?”
“They’re old,” Lacy said.
Tara laughed.
“Lacy, we’re old. Remember back to when you thought thirty was old? Well we’re way past that.”
“I know, but I don’t feel old,” Lacy said.
Jenny struggled with her suitcase through the curtain that was covering the slider from her room onto the porch. Lacy went and took the suitcase from her, remembering she only had one good hand to work with.
“Shit, I’m already sweating, and I just took a shower.”
“No worries, we will all be gross by the time we get to New York,” Roni said.
She looked down at her watch…she’d put the Movado back on. The mother-of-pearl face was stark against her tan skin, and the layers of diamonds that surrounded the face sparkled. It felt foreign and showy, so she took it off and put it in her purse. She figured New York would be soon enough to put it back on.
“Devin should be on his way to the dock. Let’s get our stuff down there, so I can return the cart.”
“Where do you have to do that?” Lacy asked.
“Gloria told me to leave it parked by the little store. Said she would take care of it from there.”
The girls got the giggles as they tried to load all their luggage and themselves on the cart.
“I forgot we didn’t have Tara last time,” Roni laughed. “Hold these, Tara.”
Roni handed Tara her Jimmy Choo shoes.
“What are you doing with these?”
“I’m going to have Devin take them to Lashanda. She likes dressing up, and I figure she can go dancing in them.”
“How do you know they’ll fit her?” Jenny asked.
“I asked her what size shoes she wore, and, you know Lashanda, she gave me that look like I’d gotten CRS.”
“Can’t remember shit,” Jenny chuckled.
The girls laughed. Roni drove cautiously down the dirt road while the girls juggled luggage on their laps.
“Good thing we don’t have far to go.”
Roni stopped the cart by Randal’s dock and they unloaded the luggage. Randal was standing outside his dive shop, talking with Paul.
“Lover boy is alive,” Lacy teased.
“Wonder if he even remembers. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a case of CRS,” Tara whispered. “He was really drunk. Asshole drunk.”
“Hey, gals,” Randal called before he started walking across the parking lot.
Paul caught Tara’s eye and looked away shyly.
“Come on, Paul, ya know dese gals,” Randal said, motioning with his arm for Paul to follow.
Tara smiled, knowing Paul felt trapped. Paul reluctantly followed Randal to the dock. Randal walked up and hugged Tara.
“It’s sad ya gals are goin’ home taday.”
As they stood talking, Roni drove the cart across the parking lot, leaving it in front of the store as Gloria had instructed with the key in the ignition. There was no theft on the island because there was nowhere to go. She looked out into the bay as she walked toward the dock and saw no sign of Devin. Forgetting, she looked at her empty wrist just as Randal grabbed her up in a hug.
“I gin miss ya gals,” Randal said as he lifted her off her feet.
“I know you will,” Roni teased. “No one around to whup your ass at dominoes.”
Randal let go of her and let out his loud, expressive laugh as he shook his head.
“Have ta go back ta beatin’ da local boys,” Randal said, smiling.
“Yeah, ‘cause we know the girls don’t play,” Roni teased.
“Ya bad.”
Randal gave Lacy a hug and then Jenny.
“Take care dat han’, gal.”
“I will,” Jenny said. “Part of the whole experience, I guess.”
Randal rolled his eyes. He’d been vocal about Ty taking them to Nippers on such a sketchy day. Roni picked up her suitcase and walked out onto the dock. Lacy gathered up her stuff, and Randal grabbed Jenny’s suitcase. Paul reached out for Tara’s bag, and she looked into his face.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said sheepishly.
Tara thought of a lot of things she could say, none of them very nice. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself. Men like Paul ultimately got what they deserved.
“I’m sure you got in a little trouble with Emily,” Tara said.
“More than a little.”
Paul carried her bag onto the dock. Tara was certain this was not the first time he had behaved badly in front of his girlfriend. The girls stood with their luggage on the weathered boards waiting for Devin. Roni had a worried expression on her face as she scanned the bay.
“He be here, gal, don’ worry,” Randal reassured her.
A small skiff with a lone driver came around the point into the bay just then. As the boat got closer, Devin waved. When he reached the dock, he threw a tie-up rope to Randal.
“Ya gals ready ta go home?” Devin asked.
“I don’t know, Devin, ‘ready’ just isn’t the word. But, we have to go home, vacation’s over,” Roni said.
Devin smiled up at her.
“Here,” Randal said as he handed down a suitcase.
Devin took the bags one by one and loaded them in the bow. The boat was small and, with the four large bags, it already looked pretty full.
“Are we going to fit?” Lacy asked, afraid as she thought about their last boat ride.
“Ve kin fit, don’ worry,” Devin said. “Come on, Dr. Lacy, ya firs’.”
Devin held his hand up and, as Randal helped from above, Lacy got into the boat and onto a bench seat. Jenny went next and then Tara. Roni hesitated, turning to Randal.
“I’ll miss you,” she said.
Randal pulled Roni to him and hugged her again.
“Ve’ll miss ya too. Ve got useta ya bein’ aroun’,” Randal said.
When he let her go, he helped her into the boat, and Roni took the space on the bench next to Devin. Randal untied the rope and handed it back down. Devin reversed the boat away from the dock and swung it around toward Treasure Cay. Roni wanted to keep the mood light, but she couldn’t think of anything to say that wasn’t going to sound forced. She glanced sideways at Devin, trying to keep her hair from whipping into her face. He searched her eyes and then smiled. She turned away and looked straight ahead, hoping the tears wouldn’t come. Look wes… The clear turquoise water still amazed her, and Roni pushed her thoughts forward to when she would see Mack at the airport: getting home, climbing back into their bed, hopefully into his open arms. Her heart felt heavy. There was nothing to say to Devin, nothing to sum up, just goodbye. It felt shallow to her, like it should be more. Haley had sent her an email saying she and Brandon would be home for the weekend, that they had missed her, and she couldn’t wait to see them. Devin, sensing her melancholy mood, patted her leg, and left his hand on her thigh. She pictured him that first day trying to help her with Joe. What a long way they had come. As they got closer to the dock Roni rummaged in her bag.
“Will you give these to Lashanda for me,” she asked as she pulling the shoes from her carry-on.
Devin looked at the shoes and then at Roni.
“Wha’ dat fo’?”
“Tell her they are Jimmy Choo, very expensive high heels, I wanted her to have them.”
Devin laughed shaking his head.
“Ya crazy gal.”
“She likes to get fancy and she’s my same size. Just give them to her okay?”
Roni felt no sense of loss or regret…her life was going to get simpler.