Chapter 5: Pirate

Lucy was now officially ‘Seeley’ because that's what she said her name was when the most intriguing man she’d met since Colton asked for it.

The buzzing, sparking energy that raced up her fingers when he firmly, but not tightly, shook her hand still tingled within her. His hands were calloused, but not too rough, and why, oh why, didn’t she invite him back up to her hotel room?

He was…well, everything that Colton was not.

The only thing they had in common was that they were both male and both on Tucunia. But her blond a*shole ex-boyfriend was here to stay on Tucunia, this guy just looked like he came here on vacation to surf.

Just before she slipped into the Pink Dolphin Inn, no doubt named after the endangered Tucunia Pink Dolphins that were sometimes spotted here, Seeley went to a store and bought a six-pack of beer, a turkey wrap, and a box of hair dye that was a near match to her natural copper hair color.

She rarely drank on her own, but…after the day she had, she wanted something to just numb her out. And she couldn’t remember the last time she drank the cheap beer that gave her nostalgia for her college days with Brittany.

Oh, she needed to text her.

When she got back up to her room, she flopped on the bed, cracked open a beer, and shot Brittany a long text explaining what happened with Colton, ignoring her sister’s texts and demands for photos.

Immediately after she tapped send, she got an incoming call.

“Seels, what the f*ck?” Brittany’s voice came through clear as a bell, despite her baby, Ryan, crying somewhere in the background.

“I don’t…I don’t even know, Brit. Am I the stupidest person to ever exist or something? Am I going to become an internet meme or an example that teachers warn their students about?” Seeley fought off tears and took a swig of her beer and rummaged through her carry-on for an old T-shirt.

It was time to get her natural hair color back.

“No, no, and NO. Look, you’re a victim, plain and simple—Tom, can you get Ryan? I need to take this.” Brittany paused and a pang of guilt lanced into the toffee-eyed woman’s gut. Brittany had her hands full.

“Is this a bad time?”

“NO. Look, this guy, Colton, obviously used you, for what? Who the hell knows but he’s a raging narcissist and forget about him and let karma do its thing. Trust me. He’s a total lunatic and you are strong, tough, smart, hot, and amazing.” The raven-haired doctor on the other side of the phone could be a professional cheerleader if she already wasn’t an award-winning surgeon.

“What should I say to my parents or Kristi? You know how they are. Kristi is badgering me for photos and even booked a flight here for her birthday in a few weeks. Brit…I can’t just say that it was fake, they’ll never let me live it down.” Seeley’s stomach turned inside out as she put on the gloves and started applying the dye to her hair.

“Your family is trash. Well, okay, like not the worst trash, but they treat you like trash. You could become an astronaut and discover life on Mars, and they’d ask why you didn’t find it sooner or why you hadn’t taught it English yet. Who cares what they think about what happened to you?!” Brittany rattled off.

Her best friend since high school had a point.

“I guess…ahh!” Seeley interjected, nearly dropping the dye bottle in the small sink, her quick reflexes catching it. “Sorry, dying my hair back copper-red.”

“Nice choice. You make a good blonde, but I’ve always been jealous of your natural color.” Brittany paused. “I’m sorry this has been such a disaster. I wanted this to be it for you.”

Seeley could’ve said a few different things, but she thought of green eyes and dark hair. “It hasn’t been a total disaster.”

“Oh?”

“After everything went down with Colton,” Seeley took a sip of beer in between putting that last bit of dye into her hair, “I met a guy at this open-air beach bar on Little Tucunia Island.”

“Tea. Spill it.”

“He’s a surfer, dark brown hair, forest green eyes, and he was…funny but not like overly funny where he cracks too many jokes. He’s got that bad-boy vibe that is so not my type. He smelled good, was fit…even had stubble…which was…hot.” Seeley realized she was rambling as she put on the dye cap.

“Okay…keep going.”

“Well, the coolest thing about him, is that I played him in pool, and I was on fire like I haven’t played that well in ages, but he didn’t want me to go easy on him. He was totally fine being smoked. The only ball he sunk was a scratch, and I let him have it. He even wanted to play me again.”

“Wow, he’s a hot mysterious surfer who is secure in his masculinity, which I remember is the opposite of Colton because you told me he pitched a fit when he lost to you. I like him, and he’s clearly into you…so where is he? He’s not like…there right now and waiting for you to stop talking to me, is he?” the surgeon asked, Ryan screaming in the background.

“No, I told him that…I was tired, and I needed to get back to my hotel—”

“SEELEY!” Brittany scolded.

“WHICH I AM!” Seeley fired back. “Imagine if we were to hook up and he did something that reminded me of Colton, and I started to break down or something!”

“True…It’s still really fresh.” Her best friend’s voice lowered.

“Yeah, but…if the universe likes me, maybe he isn’t just here for the weekend, and I’ll bump into him again.” A small, warm smile bloomed on Seeley’s face as she downed her first beer, her skin flushing from the alcohol and the memory of his laugh and his eyes tunneling into hers.

“Of all people who need a hot surfer rebound, it's you,” Brittany said.

“Look, I’m gonna go crash and just…chill. I’ll talk to you again soon, okay?” The soon-to-be redhead sighed.

“Sure, call me anytime. I’m up every two hours with my new best friend the breast pump.”

“I can’t believe you replaced me already!” Seeley gasped in fake offense.

“Life comes at us fast. Bye, girlie,” Brittany said and the freckled woman echoed ‘bye’ and ended the call.

It was then she realized she had a missed text.

From Colton.

He was asking her where she was, and she weighed her options and decided to block him. He wasn’t the president of Tucunia, he didn’t have to know where she was.

She stayed up long enough to drink another beer, wash the dye out of her hair, and blow it dry to see how well it turned out, and she was pleased to see that it was almost her exact natural color, give or take a couple of streaks in the back.

Good enough.

She put her phone on the charger, flopped on her bed, and passed out.

Everything around her was dark, and she knew she was in the ocean. Something was chasing her, so she swam, but she couldn’t kick her legs.

Her arms wouldn’t work either!

“COLTON!” she screamed, but he didn’t see her. He was on the beach with a pool cue in his hand talking to a faceless blonde woman.

She tried to swim again, but she was getting nowhere. In the distance, she heard a cat meowing. Suddenly, a strong arm looped around her waist, and she looked up to a pair of green eyes and a surfboard.

“Asher?” she asked, and before he could answer, the cat yowled.

Seeley bolted upright in bed, chest heaving, pulse racing, skin sticky with sweat.

“Colton?” She looked around for Colton, but he wasn’t there.

Oh yeah. Of course, he wasn’t. The b*stard cheated on her with some girl who wore an anklet straight out of the 90s and used her to help some geek.

She shook herself awake and heard the cat’s meow again. It sounded close like it could be right outside her window. She got up and looked out her window. She noticed the outside of her building had a ledge running along it, and right next to her window was perched a little black kitten.

For such a tiny kitten, it certainly had a set of lungs on him!

The kitten had one eye stuck closed, and one green eye fully open. Its dirty fur clung to it, making it look so small.

“C’mon, lil guy.” Seeley leaned down and reached out, just barely managing to grab the kitten without going tumbling out the third-story window.

Wouldn’t that have been a good ending to her story?

The kitten scratched a little but curiously didn’t bite.

“You must be exhausted and dehydrated. I’ll try to wash you, and I think you’re big enough to have some of my turkey wrap and some water.” Seeley, admittedly, didn’t know much about cats.

She checked her phone. 5:42 a.m. The sun would rise soon and then she could find someone who could help the kitten better than she could.

The sleepy caramel-eyed woman wiped down the kitten with a warm washcloth and her gentle face cleanser, which revealed he actually had one white paw. She then fed him some of her turkey, which he really liked, and lapped up some water.

“Good boy.” By the time he had finished, the sun had begun to rise, and the little lost kitten had turned into a little black ball in her bed and went to sleep.

The copper-haired diver had thought she was wide awake, but exhaustion took over again and she too sprawled out to get in another few hours of sleep before a vet would open.

She awoke to paws padding over her back.

Seeley blinked her caramel eyes open, and the kitten had nestled onto the top of her head, purring. Sitting up, she saw that his eye was still stuck closed. Maybe an infection. He needed a vet or medicine at least.

Seeley checked the time. 10:34 a.m.

“Oh wow, I must’ve really been tired. Time to get you some help, Pirate.” Seeley yawned, wondering if it was mean-spirited to name a kitten pirate because one of his eyes was temporarily stuck closed.

She rushed to get ready and brush her teeth, happy to see her red hair in the mirror, and found a box to put Pirate in. Dressed in one of her favorite sundresses and a big floppy hat, Seeley off.

Pirate peeked out his box as the hotel front desk attendant told her that pets were expressly forbidden from the hotel and that she would incur a fee. Seeley had to explain what had happened to the hotel employee who finally relented and said that she could take it to the pharmacist down the street and could take care of the stray.

Sounded good to Seeley.

Seeley felt much better today, especially having a purpose, to help little Pirate get better. The sun had already begun to bake the pavement as mopeds and motor trikes dodged her and tourists on the way to the pharmacy.

She found it easy enough, wedged between a swimwear shop and a travel agency, and stepped inside.

“Hello, be right with you,” a young woman’s voice called out, packaging some syringes, and giving them to a tall, built, dark-skinned man in front of her. Seeley looked around the pharmacy, showing Pirate all the little odds and ends until the man thanked the pharmacist and left.

“What can I help you with, miss?” She turned and saw a beautiful young woman around her age, with medium-dark skin and expertly done dreadlocks with gold jewelry hanging off them. She looked so cool!

“Um, this stray kitten was stuck outside my hotel window. I think Pirate has an eye infection. I gave him some turkey, but honestly, I don’t know if he was supposed to eat turkey.” Seeley walked up to the counter and showed the pharmacist the box with Pirate peeking his little black head out.

“He’s cute, and you’re right he does have an infection, but it isn’t bad.” The pharmacist paused. “And he’s old enough to handle some turkey, don’t worry about that. You named the stray Pirate?”

“Yes, it was sort of an impulse. My hotel won’t allow me to keep him, and I don’t know if I’m going to stay here, probably not.” Seeley didn’t want to get into how big of a mess her life was with another medical professional.

“My family and I live on the island. My mom may be able to take him in. She’s always taking in strays….” The pharmacist paused, inspecting the purring ball of soft, fluffy black fur. “Other than the eye goop, he’s in good health, just underweight, and needs to be neutered soon. My mom will fatten him up and I’ll take him to Grand Tucunia to get neutered in a few weeks.”

There was something about the pharmacist that gave Seeley the impression she could trust her. Maybe it was her kind dark eyes or the careful way she treated Pirate.

“I’m Seeley, and if it’s okay, I’d love to check in on Pirate.”

“Oh, where are my manners? I’m Yasmine Kennedy, and sure, my mom, Loretta, runs ‘Seacret Divers’, a dive shop just a few hundred meters down the road there.”

A dive shop? Seeley brightened. Maybe the universe did work in mysterious ways.