Page 94 of Off Plan

I raised an eyebrow. “Youshippedthem?”

“As inrelationship?”

“Okay?”

“I mean, like, I think they could have beentogether. In love.”

“Oh. That’s…”Bizarre.Fantastical. Disturbing.“Interesting.”

She grinned. “It’s a thing. And yeah, probably not very likely given how society was back then, but wouldn’t it be cool if it was true? Two guys stranded on an island. They fall in love and decide to stay. They’re best friends for the whole rest of their lives—”

“With their wives and kids.”

She shrugged, not remotely troubled by this. “Neither of them has the courage to really say how he feels, but—”

“Alrighty!” Jessica’s mom shook her shoulders slightly. “We need to go, sweets. Your dad’s looking impatient.”

Jessica sighed and gave me a lopsided grin. “Anyway. Nice meeting you.”

Jessica’s mom smiled apologetically as Jessica departed. “She has a wild imagination. She reads a lot of romance novels.”

“Oh, I’m hard to shock,” I lied. “I’ve heard some pretty crazy theories over the years. You guys have a great day.”

I chuckled to myself as I grabbed the broom from the little supply closet next to the cockpit and started sweeping. I wished everyone on my tours was as genuinely excited as Jessica. She reminded me a little of Mason that way.But she probably had better taste in television shows.

I snorted. There was no way I was gonna share hershippingideas with Mason, or the man’s Captain-and-the-Naughty-Quartermaster shtick was gonna get worse than ever.

I paused in my sweeping, feeling my blood thrum in anticipation.

On second thought, considering the text he sent me earlier… that might be a good thing.

“Would you look at that?” Big Rafe walked out of the cockpit, sporting a neon blue MAYOR tee.

“Look at what? I can’t see anything but your shirt.” I squinted and held up a hand to protect myself from the glare.

“Pretty eye-catching, isn’t it?” Rafe smoothed the cotton down his barrel chest fondly. “I think Gloria got a deal on them. She did the lettering herself.”

Huh. Maybe Mason was right about Rafe and Gloria after all.

Poor Gloria.

I collected the ropes from around the cleats attached to the pilings and prepared to cast off and head back to the key. “Ready to go?” I had shit to do, and some seriously exciting plans to get home for.

“In a minute.” Rafe stood by the cockpit door, hands on his hips, rocking on the balls of his feet, watching me.

“Problem?” I demanded.

“You enjoyed talking to those folks,” he accused.

I peered at him. “Uh, yeah. So?”

“So, you don’t hate working with people.”

“Hardly a secret. Who said I did?”

“What is it that you dislike so much about this job, then?”

I blinked. “Does it matter?”