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  “No, but...”

  “Phew. Okay. There’s still time, then.”

  I wrinkle my brow, annoyed. “I thought we’d gone over this. Lani is a great girl. I don’t understand why you don’t like her. Has something happened since our last conversation?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes,” Dinah says. “I saw her in town the other day, and she completely snubbed me.”

  “Are you sure she saw you?”

  “I had just come out of the pharmacy, and she was leaving the supermarket across the street. I waved to her, but she pretended not to see me.”

  “I don’t know. That doesn’t seem like definitive proof.”

  “But that’s how she operates. Everything she does is just short of being able to accuse her outright of being a bitch.”

  “Dinah, please refrain from calling my girlfriend a bitch.”

  “I’m sorry, but she is. I don’t know why you can’t see that.”

  I love my mother and aunt, but sometimes they get these messed-up ideas in their heads, and it’s almost impossible to change their minds. But I’m determined to try in this case.

  “How about you both come across to the island next weekend and you can have dinner with the two of us? I feel like you need to give her another chance to prove herself.”

  The women look at each other and have an entire conversation with their eyes.

  Finally, Dinah nods. “Okay. One more chance. But after that, no more. When you get to my age, you know what you know. I’m never wrong about this stuff.”

  “I can think of at least half a dozen times you’ve been wrong about someone.”

  “Like when?” she demands.

  “Oh, I don’t know. What about Duke? You didn’t like him until he pulled over that time to help you change your flat tyre. Or Hattie? You thought the sun shone out of her butt until she started that secret book club you weren’t invited to be a part of. Or Bob. He…”

  “Okay, okay. I get it. So sue me for being human. But I still don’t have a good feeling about Lani. You could do a lot better. And I know your mother agrees with me.”

  I glance at Mum, but she looks away guiltily. It appears Dinah is right.

  I press my lips together. “I’m going to heat up that stew.”

  I head inside, trying to downplay the sense of discomfort I’m experiencing. I love Lani, and it pains me to hear that the other two women I care most about in the world don’t understand why. Admittedly, she’s an acquired taste, but she’s not a bad person. She went through a lot as a kid, so now she hides behind a slightly defensive exterior. That’s completely normal. She’s also smart and funny and beautiful, and I count myself lucky to be her partner.

  I know I can change Mum and Dinah’s mind about her. Once they’re over on the island and see us in our natural environment, they’ll get it.

  I’m going to propose to Lani on our anniversary in a month’s time, and I need my family’s blessing before I do it.

  Why can’t everyone just get along?

  ***

  I manage to avoid any further confrontation with Mum and Dinah for the rest of the evening. I don’t want to ruin the few hours I have with them before returning to work, so I stick to safe topics, like food, television, and the status of various grievances the women have with people around town. There’s so much to do on the island at the moment that I can’t visit family as much as I’d like.

  We eat together and watch an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race with all three of us crammed onto my mother’s tiny sofa.

  We grew up not having much, thanks to my dad dying when I was four. Mum had to juggle work and parenting on her own until Dinah eventually moved in after returning from interstate, where she’d given up a career as a high-flying corporate lawyer. I always feel bad that I was the reason she was never fully able to achieve her dreams. She often tells me she’s perfectly content here in Mackay with Mum, but sometimes I wonder. I hope one day I can make it up to her.

  When they’ve both excused themselves to go to bed, I fold out the sofa bed and cover it in fresh sheets and pillows.

  I lie down and open the browser on my phone. I have a Pinterest board bookmarked (Lani introduced me to the wonders of Pinterest a few years ago), featuring a bunch of resort images from around the world. There’s one of a luxury hotel in the Maldives, whose rooms have glass floors that look through to the water. There’s one of a place in Thailand that has an infinity pool on the edge of the Andaman Sea and a restaurant with floors of sand. And then there’s my favourite: a photo of the original Coco Bay Island Resort, soon after it opened, bustling with tourists. My goal is to make sure it one day looks like that again.

  I’m an optimist and I work hard, so I feel like I will eventually achieve everything I set my mind to.

  I send a quick message to Lani.

  Hey baby, I hope you’re having a great night. I just wanted to let you know I’m thinking of you.

  I sign off with a couple of heart emojis.

  She doesn’t reply immediately, which isn’t unusual. Lani doesn’t carry her phone around with her on the island, mostly leaving it in her room and checking messages a couple of times a day.

  I switch my handset to silent and put it on the coffee table beside me.

  I mentally run through what I have to do before heading back on the boat tomorrow. My manager, Cal, wants me to pick up some fancy coffee from the local roastery. I also need to get breakfast supplies since it’s my turn to organise meals in the staff quarters again, and we’re low on things like granola and yoghurt.

  And then I have to pick up the new night manager and take her back to the island.

  Emily McIntosh.

  I hope she works out better than the last person employed in that position. It will be interesting to see how she gets along with Cal. He’s not the easiest of people to relate to.

  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

  THREE

  Emily

  I had the choice of renting a car or flying to Mackay, but I decided flying would be the easiest. Driving would take eleven hours, and I didn’t want to waste my last couple of days of unemployment on a road trip. It would just remind me of the one I missed out on in the US. And sure, a lot of Australian scenery is beautiful, but as someone who grew up here, travelling on a Queensland country road doesn’t quite have the same allure as cruising along the California coast.

  I arrive at Mackay Airport on Sunday afternoon, exactly on schedule, and catch a cab over to the marina. I’m not one hundred percent convinced the job even exists, but Birdie did send through some official-looking paperwork after the interview, so I’ll know either way in a few minutes.

  My driver helps unload my bags onto the pavement, and I pay my fare by swiping my credit card on his little machine.

  I stand at the edge of the water next to a jetty and look at the faded sign on its rickety archway advertising Coco Bay Island Resort. I’m hoping this isn’t indicative of what’s to come. Birdie did say the resort was five-star accommodation. Perhaps their mainland jetty is due for an upgrade and they just haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet.

  “Emily?”

  A guy is walking towards me. A tall, lean guy with dark hair and warm brown eyes. I think he might have some sort of indigenous heritage. He smiles widely, forcing me to smile in return.

  “Hi.” He holds out his hand for me to shake. “I’m Noah, and I’ll be taking you over to the island today.”

  I accept the handshake and feel a small current of electricity flow between our fingers. But that could just be me imagining things. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Let me get your bags.” He leans down to collect one in each hand.

  “Oh, no. Please. Let me take them.”

  “It’s okay. This is my job.”

  He carries them down along the jetty, allowing me to admire him from the back. His arms are nicely muscled, probably from carrying everyone’s luggage, and he’s wearing a white T-shirt and long kha
ki shorts.

  He nods in the direction of a small, rundown speedboat. “Here we are.”

  I furrow my brow but don’t say anything. I suppose it would be silly to bring a full-size catamaran just to pick up one person. I saw photos of the vessel used to transport tourists to and from the mainland, and this is definitely not it. I guess I should feel special I’m not being treated like a tourist.

  I climb into the boat, taking my suitcases from Noah and watching as he unties the ropes mooring it to the jetty.

  He glances over at me and catches me staring. Oops. I guiltily smile and pretend to be busy with my handbag.

  The boat putters to life, and we reverse into the bay before gliding out of the harbour. Once we reach the open water, Noah kicks the boat into a higher gear, and we cruise across the sea. The sky is clear, and the sun is low in the sky. The water is a deep blue.

  “The conditions are ideal right now,” he says. “We’ll make good time, reaching the island around 5:10pm. Do you want a drink?” He points to a small chest beside us.

  “Oh, thanks.” I open it up and pull out two beers. I try to hand one to Noah, but he shakes his head. “I’ll wait until I’m off-duty.”

  I put one of the cans back and open the other one. “How long have you worked at Coco Bay?”

  “Since I was a teenager. I started out as a bellboy on the weekends and during school holidays.”

  “And now you’re in charge of water transport?”

  “That’s right. Along with all the activities like snorkelling and kayaking.”

  “So, you’re happy there?”

  “I love it. We have a great team on the island.”

  “How often do you go back to the mainland?”

  “A few times a week, although usually just to pick up people and supplies. I don’t stay overnight very often at the moment. Anyway, enough about me. What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “What’s your story?”

  “Uh, I just got back from Canada. I worked in Vancouver for five years as a tourism director for Aurora Marketing.”

  “Oh, nice. And you finally decided it was time to come home?”

  “Something like that.”

  He seems to sense that I’m not yet ready to go into detail and nods thoughtfully.

  I take a sip of my beer and enjoy the feeling of the wind rushing by. The mainland starts to fade into the distance, and I wonder what would happen if we ran out of fuel in the middle of the ocean.

  I originally went to Canada to escape a crappy situation, but I somehow stumbled into another one over there.

  I take a deep breath. Maybe this time will be better.

  ***

  Well.

  This does not look promising.

  Even though the sun is about to set, it’s still light enough for me to notice that the resort’s jetty is on the verge of collapse.

  Noah slows the boat as we approach, standing up and getting ready to toss a rope onto one of the rusty bollards.

  I squint at the buildings in front of us. Something isn’t quite right.

  “Noah? What happened to the resort?”

  He follows my gaze. “Oh, yeah. There’s still a bit of work to do, but we’re making progress. Didn’t the employment agency fill you in?”

  I frown. “No. What should they have filled me in on?”

  “We’re still in the rebuilding phase. The place was almost completely wiped out by a cyclone two years ago, and it’s been a bit slow to recover.”

  I climb out of the boat and look down at the timber planks below my feet. “Is it…safe for guests?” I feel like the whole thing is about to drop out from underneath me.

  “Yeah, we’ve had a structural engineer go over everything. He just gave us the go-ahead last week to reopen.”

  I blink. “Wait. The place isn’t even open at the moment?”

  He looks at me in surprise. “No. You didn’t know?”

  “Clearly not.”

  “We’re having the grand reopening in four weeks’ time.” He looks confused by my reaction.

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  I’m starting to think Birdie was even more incompetent than she initially seemed—and that’s saying something. “So, what am I supposed to do until then?”

  “I guess work with the day manager to get everything ready?”

  That kind of makes sense. “Oh, okay. Sorry, I just assumed I was coming to work in an already-fully-functioning resort.”

  “Don’t worry. It will be soon enough. You should have seen it in the old days. We’ll get there again.”

  He finishes tying up the boat and collects my bags. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be living.”

  I reluctantly follow him, studying the buildings we pass. It definitely doesn’t look as though they’ll be ready to take paying guests in just four weeks’ time.

  “Have you got many advance bookings?” I ask.

  “A few. Admittedly, the numbers aren’t ideal, but we’ll just have to make do.”

  “Was the place covered by insurance after the cyclone?”

  “Yes, but it turns out it wasn’t enough to pay for all the repairs. Just between you and me, the owner made a few bad choices with the people he hired to fix the place up. They overcharged and under-delivered.”

  “But if you open when it’s still like this, you’ll damage your brand,” I point out.

  “We don’t really have a choice. If we don’t open in a month, we won’t reopen at all. The owner has made it very clear our funding is limited.”

  A ton of thoughts are swirling through my head. Knowing what I do about the tourism industry, it’s important to get things right from the start. With reviews staying online forever, you can’t afford any missteps. I know my job now is just to manage the place at night, but if reopening doesn’t go smoothly, that job might not last for long.

  We enter a clearing away from the main resort that contains a ramshackle three-story house. It reminds me of the staff accommodation on the animated TV show, Stoked, complete with fairy lights strung from the ceiling over the veranda.

  A handful of people are milling around. A few of them smile politely or wave when they see us.

  “Let me show you to your room, and then I’ll introduce you to the gang,” Noah says.

  I nod bravely.

  I have no idea what I’ve let myself in for.

  I just hope the third time at getting my life right doesn’t fail.

  FOUR

  Noah

  “The guys have the second floor, and the girls have the third,” I explain as we go up two flights of stairs. I pause briefly at the top landing. “The bathroom is here to your left. Your room is down the end.”

  I watch as Emily peers into the old-fashioned bathroom and wrinkles her nose. I guess depending on what she’s used to, this place might come as a bit of a shock.

  I look in at the cracked black-and-white tiles on the floor and the faded green sink and bath and agree that it’s not exactly the Ritz.

  We continue down the hall, passing five other rooms. All the doors are closed except Sasha’s, which looks like a bomb has gone off in there. That’s so like her. She’s a great girl, but not the most organised.

  I put Emily’s suitcases down inside the doorway of her new room and usher her in. She tentatively looks around.

  “Does the day manager live in this building too?” she asks.

  I snort. “No, and you should be glad of that. Calvin is…interesting. You’re lucky your job is the opposite hours to his, so you’ll be the only employee who has a legitimate excuse never to see him.”

  “But that won’t be the case for the next four weeks,” she points out.

  “Yeah, I’m afraid you’ll just have to suck it up until then.”

  She perches on the edge of her bed, a single mattress on a basic metal frame, and gives it a test bounce. It screeches in protest.

&
nbsp; I grimace. “Sorry about that. We’re running low on employee furniture, but you’re on the list to get new stuff after we open.”

  She nods, clearly trying to hide her disappointment.

  “At least you don’t have to share. Downstairs, the guys all bunk together. My roommate is Dash. He’s cool, though. You’ll meet him soon enough.”

  “I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.”

  “We’re having a little barbecue tonight, just in the yard downstairs. You should join us.”

  “Thanks. I will.”

  “The laundry is on the ground floor behind the kitchen, and we have a roster system for cooking and cleaning. You can check the noticeboard near the front door to see when it’s your turn.”

  “Great.”

  “I’ll let you get settled in. Come down when you’re ready.”

  “Thank you.”

  I leave her to it, hoping we haven’t already scared her off. So far, she seems nice. A little quiet, but I get the impression she’s intelligent and notices everything. I can tell she and Cal will clash immediately.

  I head downstairs and find Lani in the kitchen, making a mojito. I go over and wrap my arms around her, kissing her on the neck.

  “Hey, that tickles. You’re going to make me spill the white rum.” She puts the bottle down and turns to face me, kissing me on the mouth.

  “How was your day?” I ask.

  “Very average. I spent two hours fighting with a supplier who was trying to convince me that her crappy product was worth more than the one I actually asked for.”

  “Sounds annoying.”

  “It was! And it’s taking forever to get the day spa refurbishment done to a five-star standard. I swear, this construction team…”

  “Hey, the guys are working hard. And they’re doing a good job. They’re having to undo a lot of the stuff the previous crew did.”

  I personally hired the current construction team after the last one made a complete mess of things.

  Lani senses I won’t side with her against the guys and pouts. “It’s just hard having to share them with everyone. Everything takes so long…”

  “I know, I know,” I say, brushing her hair behind her ear. “We’re all in the same boat, but we have to work with the labour and funding we have.”