“When was the last time you bought casual clothes?”
“I order stuff online.”
Shannon shook her head. “You need his help. Don’t worry, I know it’s a stereotype, but most gay men know how to dress. I’m sure he won’t lead you wrong.”
“Everything I’ve seen since I’ve been here has a hippie, bohemian theme.”
“I can think of worse looks.”
Victor shrugged. “I guess.”
“Isn’t today the day of your important meeting?” It was Tuesday.
“I rescheduled.”
She smiled, waited a beat. “Any word from Corrie?”
“No.”
Because she needed to know. “How are you doing with all that?”
“I didn’t get wasted last night . . . so better, I guess.”
“Progress.”
“What about you guys . . . what are your plans today?”
“Beach, swimming, dinner plans tonight. Tomorrow we’re doing the tourist thing.” And searching for a baby daddy away from the hotel.
“What are the tourist things to do here?”
“You can visit the ruins, the cenotes, do some snorkeling. Do you dive?”
“Scuba?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“No. If I were meant to breathe underwater, I’d have gills.”
“There’s kayaking, windsurfing. You can rent ATVs, ride through the jungle, find the monkeys, maybe a jaguar or two. I’m sure you can find plenty to do.” Shannon had a strong suspicion that Victor didn’t plan on doing any of it.
“I’ll figure it out.”
They both noticed Dylan approaching at the same time. He greeted Shannon with a kiss to the cheek. “Good morning, lovely.”
“Good morning.”
He turned to look at Victor, frowned at the shirt. “You’re a fashion emergency if I ever saw one.”
“We’re going to fix that, right?”
Dylan stood back when Victor got up from his chair.
“Good luck,” Shannon said.
“I’m going to need it,” Dylan said.
“I know when I’m being insulted,” Victor added. “Let’s get this over with. I’m not a shopper. The sooner we start, the sooner I can walk around without looking like I just got off the plane.”
Shannon waved as they walked away. “Have fun.” She couldn’t wait to see what Dylan would dress Victor in. Anything would be better than dress slacks on a beach.
What had he been thinking?
Curiosity, she told herself. To see him in something casual. Maybe a change in clothes would help him loosen up. He’d seemed a little more relaxed than the day before. When she’d asked about Corrie, he didn’t show much in the way of emotions.
She remembered when she and Paul had split. The day their agreement was up, he handed her divorce papers. She was devastated, made worse by the fact she couldn’t show him how much. They were adults. They agreed to get married platonically, and somewhere into the first year of their agreement, they fell into bed.
They both agreed it was just physical. Two adults having an affair within their temporary marriage.
For Paul, that was exactly what it was.
For Shannon . . . not so much. For months she couldn’t talk about her divorce without a world of pain. The fact that Victor didn’t even flinch with Corrie’s name just days after she’d jilted him told Shannon everything she needed to know about where his heart was.
His heart wasn’t in the game.
Maybe he was coming to that conclusion on his own. Or maybe he’d always known it wasn’t.
Shannon stared toward the door the two men had left through and asked herself why she was concerned in the first place.
Curiosity?
She shook her head, lifted her e-reader, and continued where she’d left off.
The chapter was titled “Consciously Conceiving a Child without a Partner.” She sat back to read, and pushed Victor from her mind.
Hours later, Shannon and Avery walked up the beach along the water’s edge to scope out prospective hotel bars.
They walked past several spaces of land that were boarded up and others that looked closed to the public. “I’m guessing private residences,” Avery suggested.
When they came across an active beach scene, they’d meander toward the bar. Several employed female bartenders, and the men didn’t fit the daddy checklist. But staff circulated, and there was always a chance the right guy would be there the next day. Or so Shannon told herself as they walked away.
They were a good mile from their hotel when Avery suggested they turn around.
Shannon heard a party up a little farther on the beach. “Let’s find out where the music is coming from.”
They walked around a grouping of palm trees and hesitated.
Avery leaned in. “Well, at least you know what you’re going to get if you find the guy here.”
Shannon scanned the crowd but didn’t see one face.
Everyone was buck naked.
Unlike a few topless sunbathers they’d seen on the beach, this was full-on, nothing-covered-up adulting like Shannon had never witnessed before.
“We’re overdressed.” Shannon found herself staring at a woman putting oil on a man lying next to her. It would be one thing if she was covering his back, or even his legs . . . but Shannon couldn’t imagine the man wasn’t able to reach his own penis.
Shannon turned away, grabbing Avery’s arm when she realized there was more than one couple doing more than nude sunbathing. “Let’s go.”
“But this is—”
“Not where I want to find a father for my child.”
Avery twisted around and looked over her shoulder. “She’s full-on stroking him right there.”
“Yeah, I saw. And I don’t want to see him finish. C’mon.”
Thirty feet back in the direction of their hotel, Avery started laughing. “I can’t believe that.”
Shannon squeezed her eyes closed, still saw the oiled couple. “That falls into the category of things I can’t unsee.”
“I say we go back,” Avery said.
“I say you’re crazy.”
“I bet no one asks your name there. People will be too busy staring at your body to see your face. Could be perfect.”
Shannon walked faster. “I like to think I’m progressive, but that is way outside my comfort zone.”
“Fine, fine.” Only Avery kept looking behind her as if she were missing out.
Back at their hotel, Shannon ditched her cover-up and walked into the water. It was bathtub warm without the crashing surf that spotted the shores of Southern California. In one word, it was relaxing.
They ate lunch on the beach, decided to skip the alcohol and stick to bottled water until dinner, and gave up on the hot sand altogether after a few hours.
Shannon found herself scanning the beachfront for Victor. Curious as to what he’d be wearing when she saw him again. Only he never manifested. Neither did Dylan or Erasmo. Maybe they were still shopping. Though she doubted a man who normally shopped online would make a full day of picking out resort wear.
When Avery suggested they go up to their room and spend time in their private plunge pool, Shannon agreed.
The second they were on their balcony, Avery removed her swimsuit and jumped in. The guests from the beach couldn’t see them unless they stood on the edge of the balcony, and the only other room that had a view was the second penthouse on the other end of the beach. From what Shannon could tell, no one was in the room. Not surprising, considering the price.
“This is perfect.” Avery leaned her head back and floated toward the surface of the water.
“I’ve never skinny-dipped.”
Avery peeked at her with one eye open. “Doesn’t really count if there isn’t a guy around. This is more like girl time at the spa.”
Shannon shrugged and slipped out of her bikini. Like Avery, she let gravity float her body toward the sun once she was in the water.
The water soothed her warm skin and calmed her nerves. Strange how being naked in a public place had that effect.
“I think I need to swim naked more often.”
“We need to go back to the nude beach.”
“That place looked more like an orgy than a hippie colony.” Then again, those things sounded like the same thing.
“Those are the stories you tell your children about when they’re teenagers so they know you were cool once.”
“I don’t know if I wanna be that cool,” she said, laughing.
“I do. I’ll probably go without you.”
“You can’t do that.”
Avery looked at her. “I can’t?”
“No. I mean . . . of course you can, but what if someone comes on to you? What would Liam say?”
“My husband trusts me, and if anyone can fend for themselves, it’s me.”
Avery had been studying krav maga for over a year, and while Shannon hadn’t seen her in action, Liam had told her that Avery could put a man twice her size on the mat and make him cry.
“Of course it would be better if you came with me. Just in case I need someone to call my lesbian lover.”
“Parading around as a lesbian might not be the best way for me to find someone to father my baby.”