Debbi Rawlins - Anything Goes...

“Wow! Imagine running into him here.”

“He’s the one who told me about this place, or at least these islands.” Carly smiled remembering his enthusiasm. “He showed me stacks of snapshots he and his parents had taken. I knew then I’d come here someday.” She lost the smile. “I just didn’t expect to run into him.”

Ginger muttered a mild curse. “This doesn’t blow things for you, does it? I mean, are you gonna be worried that he’s watching you or something?”

She looked at Ginger and laughed, hysteria bubbling up inside her. Worried? She was terrified.

“THIS ISN’T GOING to work, girlfriend,” Ginger said around a yawn as she crawled into bed.

Carly had already snuggled into her own queen-size bed. She’d brushed her teeth but hadn’t washed her face. She’d regret it in the morning, but right now she didn’t have the energy. It had been one heck of a long night.

“I give up,” she said, her eyes closed and the covers up to her chin. she felt too tired to guess what her friend was talking about. “What isn’t going to work?”

“This vacation. The whole idea of doing whatever you damn well please. You were so nervous tonight I thought I’d have to pour a couple of dozen mai tais down your throat.”

“Maybe you should have,” Carly murmured. It was true. After seeing Rick, she had spent a good deal of time looking over her shoulder. Jumping at the sound of every male voice that got too close.

“What are you going to do about it?” Ginger turned off the lamp at her bedside.

Welcome darkness washed over Carly. “I don’t know.”

“Maybe you should talk to him. You know, level with him about what you’re doing here.”

Carly started to laugh and then rolled over onto her side before she choked. “Yeah, right.”

“I didn’t mean you should tell him everything. Just that your being here isn’t something you’d like broadcast.”

“I don’t have to worry about that. He has no reason to go to Oroville or to talk with anyone there. It’s just hard knowing he could be watching me move in on some guy.”

Ginger laughed. “I’d like to see that myself.”

“Go ahead and joke. Your vacation hasn’t been ruined.”

“Oh, God, Carly, I’m sorry. I know how long you’ve waited for this week. There’s got to be something we can do.”

It wasn’t as if Carly hadn’t been thinking about a solution nonstop. Inevitably she’d feel self-conscious just knowing he was at the resort. Always wondering if he was watching her. Wondering if he was disappointed in her. Sure, he’d stayed in Oroville for two summers but he didn’t understand the mentality of the residents. Or how it felt to be under a microscope as the town pastor’s daughter.

“Carly, you still awake?”

“Yep.”

“Did you and Rick ever sleep together?”

“Good grief, no. I was only thirteen the last time I saw him. I think I still believed the stork delivered me.”

“Bet you had a crush on him.”

“Well, yeah. He was the mysterious older man.”

They both laughed, and then Ginger asked, “So what are you going to do?”

“Excellent question.” Sighing, she took her frustration out by punching her pillow into shape, and then went back to staring at the ceiling. “Maybe I ought to seduce him.”

“There you go.”

“I was kidding.”

“Why? He’s hot.”

Carly groaned. “He knows my parents.”

“So? You just said he has no reason to go to Oroville or talk with anyone there.”

“But he could.”

“That’s lame.”

Carly rolled back over and glared into the darkness toward Ginger. “Would you? If a guy popped up who knew you and your parents and where you went to church and shopped for groceries, would you go for it?”

After a lengthy silence, she said, “Well, I might skip the anything goes approach…”

“Then your answer is basically no.”

“I see your point.”

“Thank you,” Carly said tightly, so wide-awake it was pathetic.

“Carly?”

“Yeah?”

“Since you’re not interested, do you mind if I have a go at him?”

Carly’s eyes widened. Why should she care? Yet she had a sudden urge to pull every one of Ginger’s red hairs out one by one.

WET SAND squished between Carly’s toes and the sun beat down on her shoulders. She’d applied a copious amount of sun block all over her body but it wasn’t really the sun’s harmful rays she was worried about. Parts of her that would be exposed once she removed the sarong should never see the light of day.

“I can’t do it,” she said, and came to a dead stop.

Ginger took a couple of extra steps and then turned to glare at her. “Do what?”

“You know what.”

“Are you still fretting over that swimsuit?”

“It’s not a swimsuit. It’s dental floss and two cotton balls.”

Ginger groaned. “For God’s sake, it’s not like everyone on the island isn’t wearing them.”

Carly slid a sideways glance at two young women, both blondes, out of the bottle was Carly’s guess, sprawled on hot-pink beach blankets only a couple of yards from the water. One lay on her stomach, and the other on her side. They both had perfect butts. Round and firm-looking, as if they worked out daily. On them the dental floss looked good.

Too good.

“I’m going back to the room and changing.” She got as far as turning around before Ginger snatched hold of her arm.

“No way. That suit you brought is hideous. I’d be embarrassed if you wore it.”

Carly gazed up at the clear blue sky and shook her head. “I can’t believe I just paid eighty bucks for this darn thing to ride up my crack.”

Ginger laughed and pulled Carly along. “You’ll get used to it. I promise.”

“Look, if I decide not to take off the sarong, just shut up. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Everyone else is in bikinis and you’re going to sit there all covered up?”

Carly glanced down at the brief strip of material tied around her breasts and ending at the top of her thighs. “All covered up? I wear more clothes than this to bed.”

“Yeah, but you usually aren’t looking to get laid.”

Carly’s gaze darted left, then right.

“Nobody heard me. Come on. If the guys left without us, I’ll be pissed.”

“What do you mean left?” Carly dug in her heels. Ginger had talked her into meeting up with the guy she’d been dancing with last night. He apparently had come with two friends, both of whom, according to Ginger, were gorgeous. “I thought we were just meeting them on the beach for a drink.”

“We were thinking we might go water skiing.”

“You know how to water ski?”

“No, that’s why I need you with me. So I won’t look so bad.”

“Thanks,” Carly muttered. She would have been better off hanging around the lobby hoping to catch Rick. She wanted to talk to him one more time before making any rash decisions. Maybe they could work something out…have a little fun.

She was still wildly attracted to him and there was the advantage that she knew he was safe, as far as not being weird or perverted. After a week, he’d probably be just as ready to move on as she would. Him back to his job and fast city life, and her back to Oroville.

As many downsides as there were to small-town life, she truly loved the pace, the familiarity, the safety. So she had to trade off some excitement. Heck, life was a tradeoff, wasn’t it?

“Come on.” Walking backwards as she tried to motion Carly to hurry, Ginger nearly ran into a guy with shoulder-length dark hair and orange swim trunks.

“Hold on there, sweetheart.” The guy grasped Ginger’s shoulders, preventing the collision.