Charley
My mom and I drove to the other side of the island, away from the hustle and bustle of Georgetown, the main city on Grand Cayman. Most of the hotels, restaurants, and even supermarkets were on the Georgetown side of the island; it was pretty quiet where my Mom had her timeshare.
She and my dad had been coming here for years. After he’d died, she’d skipped a couple of seasons. But last summer she’d made the trip and claimed to enjoy it. She’d said it so wistfully, though, that I knew she’d be glad of my company this summer. It wasn’t much fun to go on vacation alone.
I’d be staying in the same building as hers, but not sharing her unit. I think she’d set it up that way so I would have some privacy. Or maybe because she thought she might need some.
It was possible to meet guys on the island. Singles did occasionally vacation there. Singles like Harry, I thought longingly.
But now that he knew who I was, I didn’t expect to hear from Harry again.
My happy mood and excitement about being on a gorgeous island had popped like a balloon. I tried not to let it show. That wouldn’t be fair to Mom.
She had apparently forgotten all about the strange way my seatmate had behaved at the airport, because she didn’t mention it. I guess she didn’t remember him. I knew her job as administrator had been difficult and stressful. She’d probably had to fire several teachers over the years. Not to mention all the students she’d had to discipline and fret about. There had been a school shooting a few years ago a couple of towns away from ours, and I knew that had kept her up nights, wondering if it would ever be possible to make the schools safe from random events like that.
I couldn’t blame her for firing Harry. He’d been the one at fault. He and Ms. Jenkins. Should Mom have given them a second chance? Probably not.
If the same thing happened in the school where I was about to be a teacher, I’d expect the same outcome. Whatever mischief you got up to in your private life was your own business, but having sex on school property during classroom hours showed really poor judgment.
But I was the woman who had just had an orgasm on a plane.
I was in no position to condemn other people’s poor judgment.
Grand Cayman was a beautiful island. Our resort was right on the beach, so we could step out of our units onto a private patio with a table, chairs and a chaise lounge. Beyond that was the white sand leading down to the water. The sea was turquoise, warm, and crystal clear.
There was a pier where tour boats could dock to pick up guests who wanted to go for snorkeling or dive trips. Cayman was a diver’s paradise. Mom and I had signed up for several dives during the week. Neither of us was an expert diver. We were going to do some easy dives, not too deep.
On that first day, I spent hours in the water snorkeling. There was a reef a few yards off our beach, so we could see hundreds of varieties of fish. There was even a school of tarpon—large gamefish, who lived under our dock—dozens of them. Some would come right up to us as we swam among them. Every time I tried to reach out and touch one, he would arc away, leaving my fingers empty. It was amazing how close all the fishes would come and yet remain just out of reach.
After we’d spent our first evening hanging out around the bar, Mom said, “Why don’t you take the rental car and head over to the livelier side of the island? Go to a club or something? You don’t have to spend your entire vacation babysitting me.”
“Maybe I will, later in the week. You could come with me, Mom. You might even meet a hot guy.”
“Don’t be silly. No hot guys for me, thank you very much. I enjoy my independent life.”
I wondered if that was true. Of course, I knew she missed my Dad. But he’d been gone for four years now, and Mom was still good-looking. Maybe she should put herself out there?
But when I suggested it, she smiled and patted my hand. “I doubt there’s going to be anything of that kind in store for me, at my age. And that’s fine. I had a wonderful life with your father.”
I thought it was sweet that she still felt that way. But wasn’t it all kinda random, who you ended up with? Almost as random as meeting my old teacher on an airplane.
After a day in what almost had to be termed paradise, so lovely was the beach, so refreshing the sea, and so fantastic the swimming in front of our resort, I was feeling pretty chill. My mom and I had always gotten along well, despite the usual stress and strain of my teenage years. Ever since Dad had died, we’d been even closer. I missed him terribly, but I was glad she was still around for me and that we were there for each other.
But I still wished she hadn’t come to pick me up at the airport.