48 Chapter 48

Rosalind

"Ladies, nice to see you. Have a nice day," Orlando tells them and excuses himself. He returns his cup and plate to the kitchen and leaves the mess hall.

Everyone's eyes turn toward me.

"What happened on that island?" Lillian asks me and plops down on the chair across from me.

"Nothing," I say.

Beatrice wags her finger at me. "Oh, no, no, no, no," she says. "We're not falling for that."

"Who's Wilson?" Bessie asks and sits next to me.

"Wilson's a volleyball," I say and take a sip of my coffee so I don't have to make eye contact.

"Like the Tom Hanks movie?" Olivia asks. She gathers a plate full of doughnuts and sits at my table.

"Like the Tom Hanks movie," I say.

"That's so romantic," Beatrice says and sits down, too.

"Naming me for a volleyball isn't romantic," I argue. "It's dehumanizing. It's condescending. It's obnoxious."