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“Ahh, flip flops and t-shirts. This is my kind of breakfast buffet,” Scott said happily the next morning. His plate was loaded high with scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and half a dozen tiny breakfast sausages. He squirted ketchup over the entire thing and then liberally sprinkled black pepper on top.
“But you have to admit, the formal dining night was kind of nice. Well, aside from the disruption,” Claudia said as she selected a cup of plain Greek yogurt, blueberries and crunchy granola. She filled a paper cup with orange juice. Then, on a whim, she grabbed a gigantic chocolate chip muffin. Why not? She was on vacation.
“Excuse me?” a young brunette woman approached her. “You haven’t seen a bright pink leather wallet anywhere, have you? It’s about the size of my fist and has silver studs along the sides?”
“No, I haven’t seen anything like that.”
“Darn. Thanks anyway.”
“Man, it would suck to lose your wallet on vacation,” Scott remarked once she was out of earshot. “But I mean, people are pretty careless sometimes. They get a few drinks in them and leave their phones, purses or wallets unattended...what do they expect will happen?”
“Mmhmm.” As they stepped onto the deck to grab seats in the outdoor dining area, Claudia noticed Scott was squinting. “Did you forget your sunglasses in our room?” she asked as she put hers on.
“I didn’t forget them. I couldn’t find them this morning. I must have set them down somewhere yesterday and forgotten to pick them back up,” he admitted sheepishly.
She chuckled. “You scatterbrain. Good thing they weren’t expensive. We can stop by the gift shop and get you a new pair after breakfast. You do have your wallet with you, right?” she asked, only half-teasing.
“Yup,” Scott replied, patting his pocket. “It’s right here.”
“There’s Lucy,” Claudia noted, gesturing in the woman’s direction.
Lucy was wearing a barely there black bikini under a see-through black lace beach coverup. Her shapely legs, cleavage and pretty much everything else were basically on full display. Needless to say, she was causing quite the stir as she loaded up her tray with breakfast foods.
“I hadn’t noticed,” Scott said through a mouthful of bacon.
“You don’t have to pretend you didn’t notice,” Claudia chuckled. “She’s hard to miss.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, wiping ketchup from his mouth. “She likes attention, huh?”
“Do you think it’s strange, the way she’s acting? I mean, Chad hasn’t even been dead a week and she’s living it up like she doesn’t have a care in the world. Maybe she’s just flirtatious by nature or something, I don’t know...but I find her behavior a little inappropriate.”
“You mean because her clothes barely cover her privates?”
“Well, that too, I suppose. But I mean...you’ve seen the way she flirts, right?”
“No.”
Claudia looked at Scott incredulously. “Seriously?”
He stared at her blankly. “Give me an example.”
“See what she’s doing right now? Smiling at that guy in line ahead of her in the buffet line?”
“Since when is smiling flirting? Maybe she’s being friendly?”
“Fair enough, but look at what she’s doing now. Tossing her head back and laughing at whatever he just said to her.”
“Maybe he’s super funny.”
Claudia rolled her eyes. “No one is that funny first thing in the morning.” She snuck another glance at Lucy. “Aha! Now she’s flipping her hair. See? See?!”
“So what?” Scott asked, confused. “Maybe her hair was in her eyes?”
Claudia laughed and smacked her forehead. “You’re really clueless, aren’t you?”
“I guess so.”
“It’s a wonder you ever managed to get a date,” she teased.
“And yet here I am with you,” he retorted with a lopsided grin. “Guess I can’t be that bad.”
She laughed and leaned across the table to kiss him. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
