Page 37 of The Awful Truth

CHARLOTTE

Charlotte lay on top of the covers waiting for Ted to come knocking. It would be at least two more hours. The men weren’t back yet, and when they did return, they’d need to eat and shower. And he’d have to wait for Antonia’s sleeping pill to kick in.

She scrolled Pinterest for wedding dresses, pinning her favorites into a secret board called Bridal. She knew it was probably a stupid thing to do—getting her hopes up like this, when it would be years before she and Ted could tie the knot. If ever. But it couldn’t hurt to dream, right?

Or maybe that’s all it could do.

10:36 P.M.

MIGUEL

“Thank God you didn’t sign with that psycho,” Winslow said as soon as the door to their suite closed behind him.

Miguel felt his skin heat up. “What?! No, he’s…driven maybe, but⁠—”

“Driven?! The man is a menace.” Winslow hurried to the bathroom and turned on the shower to heat up the water (a habit from living in a massive old home). “Eight hours. Eight bloody hours on that rickety boat⁠—”

“It was a very nice speed boat. If you want to see a rickety boat, you should’ve seen what my parents crossed the ocean in when they left Cuba.” He dialed up his accent to remind Winslow of the story.

Winslow stuck his head out of the en suite and gave him a dirty look. “Could we possibly set aside the oppression of your people for a minute? I’ve had a dreadful day.”

“Of course. I’m sorry. Go ahead. Tell me every terrible detail.”

Winslow glanced at the wet bar. “I could use a shower scotch.”

“Coming right up.” He poured two thick fingers of scotch, downed them, then poured it again. By the time he got to the bathroom, Winslow was already in the shower. “Here you go.”

His slender hand shot up above the frosted glass door and Miguel relinquished the drink, even though he wanted one last sip.

“Ahh, that’s better. I didn’t want to have anything for fear of having to go down to the bowels of that awful vessel to use the facilities, but by God, I have never needed alcohol so badly in my life. It was worse than a murder mystery night with your friends.”

“That bad?” Miguel asked, wandering over to the mirror to check out his own reflection. He had definitely gotten some sun.

“Worse. So much worse,” Winslow answered. “Ted made the catastrophic mistake of catching a sixty-eight-pound amberjack.”

“What’s that?”

“A big, ugly fish,” he answered.

Miguel heard the squeeze of Winslow’s shampoo bottle and watched through the slightly opaque glass as he held both arms up to wash his hair. “Hmm, sounds crazy,” he said, even though he had no idea why it was such a big deal.

“I could tell. The moment that thing slapped onto the deck, I knew it was going to be a problem,” Winslow said. “It was written all over Oliver’s gorgeous face.”

“What was?”

“We’re fucked. That’s what. We’re well and truly fucked. He knew Travis was never going to let us leave until he caught a bigger one. And you know how rare they are at that size?”

“Extremely rare?” Miguel asked.

“Apparently, yes. Oliver said they come in thirty to ninety pounds, but catching one over sixty is insane. In fact, he’s never seen it before, and he lives on this damn yacht.”

“Oh dear.”

Winslow turned off the water, then reached his hand up for a towel, which Miguel quickly provided. “He just kept drinking and fishing and getting more vulgar by the minute.”

Tsking, Miguel said, “You poor thing.”

Opening the shower door, Winslow emerged with the towel wrapped around his waist. “Poor thing is right. What I wouldn’t do for you.” He walked out of the en suite and over to the wardrobe to get dressed. “And he knew we all wanted to leave. He just didn’t care. Not one bit. The captain called to check on us and remind us dinner would be ready soon, and we just kept going. Farther and farther, out into the open ocean, following a school of fish that had no intention of being eaten. Oliver kept updating him. ‘We’re an hour from the yacht now.’ ‘Two hours.’ ‘I’m concerned we’re going to run out of fuel if we keep going.’ ‘The sun is setting, sir. Soon we won’t be able to see enough to bring anything in.’”