Page 75 of Johnny

go back to the real world and do real shit on that next island.

It could turn bad. It could turn very bad. So I’m gonna enjoy this one night.

And if Megan’s gonna be with me, she needs to look the part.

So I grab her a selection of shorts, a combination of tops and t-shirts, and two bathing suits. A one-

piece and a two-piece, just to be considerate. I get her a dress too. Something light and strappy. Something she could go to dinner in.

Because I want to go to dinner. She might not be my date, per se, but she’s a good enough stand-in.

And besides, I’m an excellent pretender. I can pretend we’re a couple. A normal couple. Maybe

we’re here celebrating our anniversary? Maybe we have a four-bedroom house with three kids and a

dog. Maybe I wear a suit to work every day? Maybe she stays home with the baby? Or maybe she has

a job too? Hell, maybe she’s some top-notch scientist who works for Bright Berry Beach Cosmetics?

I laugh out loud because I suddenly get an image of Megan and Hannah conjuring up new shades of

eyeshadow in an upper-floor lab. Trading nerdy chemistry jokes with Hannah’s boyfriend, what’s-his-

name.

Good God. I shake my head to make that image fade.

The last place on Earth I want to be is inside the inner circle of the woman behind Bright Berry

Beach.

I take it all up to the counter and plop it down while the cashier scans all the tags to charge it to our

room.

But then I look down into the glass case I’m standing at and look at all the nice, pretty things inside.

Some jewelry. A lady’s three-piece silver brush set inside a pretty box. A small silver handbag with a

long chain coiled around it. Perfume.

“I’ll take this too,” I say, pointing down at the case.

“Yes, sir,” the kid says. “Which one would you like?”

“All of it.” When I look up at him he’s got his eyebrows raised. But I just nod. “All of it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And wrap it up for me, will you? We’re celebrating our tenth anniversary.”

The kid grins as he leans over and starts removing everything from inside the case. “Sure thing, sir.

But it will take me a while. Would you like to wait? Or have it delivered to the room?”

“Delivery,” I say. “That sounds about right. But I’ll take the clothes with me now.”

When I get back to the cabaña Megan is asleep on the couch. I’m not quiet and I’m not careful as I