Carolina Isle (Edenton 2)

“I have a watch,” Sara said as she unfastened the little gold band and placed it on top of the piling. She looked at R.J. “It was a gift so I don’t know how much it’s worth.”

“Ten grand,” he said, taking off his own watch and putting it beside hers. “My watch is worth about thirty-nine dollars. Or was worth that when I bought it five years ago.”

Sara was glaring at him. “You gave me a ten-thousand-dollar watch as a Christmas gift?” she said to R.J. “That’s not what you’re supposed to give to your employees.”

“It’s my money so I’ll do what I want with it. You,” he said, nodding to David, “what do you have?”

David reached inside his shirt and pulled out a gold chain. “This is worth a few hundred,” he said as he added it to the pile.

“I didn’t know you wore a necklace,” Ariel said, looking at David.

“Believe it or not, there are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”

“I doubt that,” Ariel said as she removed her earrings. “Diamonds. Worth about five thousand. The necklace is valued at twelve thousand,” she said as she started to unfasten the clasp. When David reached out to help her, Ariel turned to R.J. “Would you, Mr. Brompton?”

“Sure, honey,” he said, undoing the clasp to her necklace.

“Don’t let him touch you,” Sara said, still glaring at R.J. “I want to know why you gave me a ten-thousand-dollar watch for Christmas. That is not an appropriate gift.”

“You like it, don’t you?” R.J. said. “It keeps good time, doesn’t it? And you’ve worn it every day since you got it, so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I work for you and you shouldn’t give such an expensive gift to an employee. You give a watch like this to your girlfriend.”

“Good heavens, Ariel!” David said as she put her fourth piece of jewelry on top of the piling. “How much jewelry are you wearing?”

“Counting the ring in my navel?”

All three of them looked at her in astonishment.

Ariel smiled sweetly. “What I have or do not have in my navel is no one’s business.”

“Good for you,” Sara said. “Don’t let them boss you around.”

“You know,” R.J. said slowly, looking at Ariel, “you looked just like Sara when you said that. It’s that haughty, I’m-better-than-you look that she gives me when she doesn’t want to be bothered.”

“Which is pretty much all the time,” David said.

“Exactly.” R.J. tipped his chin back and lowered his lashes. “‘Leave me alone. I’m divine and you’re not.”’

David laughed. “Perfect. Even if they didn’t look alike, I’d know they were related. Tell me, does Sara let you know that only she can do it correctly, whatever ‘it’ is?”

“All the time. My only defense is to pile work on her. ‘Here, if you’re so good at managing the world, I’ll let you do it.’ If only she could type …”

“Yeah, Ariel too.”

Both men were laughing. They were sitting on opposite sides of the weathered piling, their legs crossed, the women sitting on either side of them.

Ariel grabbed the pile of jewelry, leaving behind the two pieces the men had contributed and giving Sara back her watch. Without a word between them, the two women stood, locked arms, and

started down the road into town.

“I hate both of them,” Sara said.

“Me too,” Ariel said, then sighed. “Sara, as much as I love this female bonding, what are we going to do? We need to make arrangements about eating and sleeping, that sort of thing.”

“I don’t know what to do, but let’s not tell the men that.” She glanced over her shoulder, disappointed that the men hadn’t come after them.

Ariel slowed her pace, still holding onto her cousin’s arm. “I don’t think that what they did to R.J. today was unusual. I’ve heard that these islanders accuse people of a crime they didn’t commit in order to get money from them.”