“Somethin’ wrong?”
“I just ... It wasn’t here, Enzo. I know that. Someone came in and placed it on my bed. We’ve asked everyone and nobody has done it, so who did?”
“Did you ask the other moms?”
“No, but ...”
“Could be one of them, try not to worry yourself until you can eliminate them. It could be simple.”
“I guess. It’s just ... there was a gum wrapper in the bag, and I don’t chew gum, not to mention, it wasn’t there before, so someone had it.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it in the morning, yeah? I promise.”
“Okay,” I exhale. “Thanks.”
“Hey?”
“Yeah?”
“I got you.”
Something about that statement warms my heart.
“Thanks.”
We end the call and I have my shower and climb into bed. My mind spins and it takes quite some time to get to sleep. Eventually, I find solace in the comfort of the bed and the sounds of nature outside.
By the time morning rolls around, I’m not as well rested as I’d like, but I’m so eager to go and ask the others if they were the ones to put the bag on my bed, that I’m focusing on little else. I have a coffee with Faye and then I do the door knocks on all the other moms' rooms, one by one, hearing them all tell me that they haven’t seen the bag and none of them put it back in the cabin.
I head back to our cabin defeated and flustered.
“No luck?” Faye asks.
“No,” I say, sitting down beside her with a sigh.
“There has to be a logical explanation, maybe we’re missing something.”
“Someone is messing with me,” I tell her. “That’s the only explanation that makes sense. Why else would nobody have any idea what’s going on?”
“You could be right, but what I don’t understand is why? All the moms seem really nice and everyone here likes you, why would someone get satisfaction out of doing something like this?”
She’s asking a question I’ve asked myself a thousand times.
“I’m not sure I have an answer to that, all I know is it’s weird,” I mumble.
“Was there anything when the bag was returned that was strange?”
“There was a gum wrapper in there, and I never ever chew gum.”
“You know, that could be a good thing. We could do our own little investigation and see if someone here chews that gum and, if they do, it might lead us right to the person who is obviously messing around.”
I smile at her. “I always knew you were a genius.”
She grins. “It’ll be fun, kind of like a little game. We can be detectives.”
I roll my eyes but keep my smile. “What’s on the agenda today?”
“Raft building.”
I blink. “You’re joking, right?”
She laughs at my expression. “I think it’ll be fun.”
“Fun? Building a raft? I can’t even style my hair nicely let alone build something that’ll float.”
“It’s followed by a massage, if that helps.”
I grunt.
She stands and reaches out her hand. “Come on, we’re here to expand and grow.”
“I was hoping that meant my size because of all the beer and food I’m consuming, but okay,” I mutter, taking her hand.
This should be fun.
Not.
“THE ART, LADIES, IS in the twine,” Rhett calls, walking past us as we all stare at the planks of wood, twine, ropes, and other such items they’ve placed around for us to build a damned raft. “If you tie it together properly, then you’ll have success.”
“Are you going to tell us how to do that?” Chev calls.
Rhett grins. “Nope, my boys here are going to supervise and help when possible, but otherwise it’s all on you. Enjoy.”
He and Lei disappear, and we’re left with Madden, Elias, Dante, Lake, and Enzo. Each one of them goes to a different group as we’ve been divided into five groups. In mine I have Alice and Faye, and while they’re super keen to learn how to make a god damned raft, I am not. I pick up a plank of wood and stare at it, like it just killed my grandma. “What the hell are we supposed to do with this? It doesn’t even have holes in it.”
“If you were stuck in the wild, there would be no holes drilled in a piece of wood,” Lake grins, and it’s clear he is stuck with us for the day.
Not that I’m complaining, he’s fucking gorgeous, and he always has this dazzling smile on his face.
“So what then? We just tie them together and pray a big wave doesn’t take us out?”
He chuckles. “It’s all in how you tie them together. I’ll give you a hint. Use the smaller pieces of wood as a support and use them to cast the rope from.”
“That made literally no sense,” I grumble, picking up a small piece of wood and glaring at it with equal force.
Lake chuckles. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”