AllFreeNovel
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“You guys will have to share. Brett shouldn’t be surfing, anyway. There are sharks out there. That’s how people get hurt.”
“Surfing is fun.”
“Surfing is dangerous.”
“Fun things are usually dangerous.”
“You know, it’s a wonder I even let you around your nieces, Jack. Keep that kind of wisdom to yourself, please, will you? Ophelia’s already reckless as it is.”
“She reminds me of what I was like as a kid. Always running around and jumping off stuff.”
“That’s exactly what worries me.” Corinne rolls her eyes, then looks back at her phone. “Okay, just listen to the rest of this—it’s seriously so weird, what people come up with.”
She changes her voice to the mock-cheerful one again. “I’m here on vacation and have a request to make. I need a guy to pretend to be my boyfriend for a few minutes a day so I can snap a few selfies daily to send to my mother. You know, like happy-couple photos. So, she thinks I’m part of, you know, a happy couple.”
My lip hitches up. “Man. This is on Craigslist?”
Corinne keeps reading in the same voice. “If you think you could meet me at the Hanu Bay Resort for five minutes daily to take said photos, please message me. NO CREEPS!” She looks up. “She put that in all caps, by the way, so she means business.”
“You can’t just write ‘no creeps’ and expect people to obey.”
“Well, this chick is optimistic. Honestly, I like her style. She needs help, and she’s just putting it all out there. Okay, here’s where she gets down to the serious stuff.”
Corinne shakes her finger and uses a stern tone as she reads off the rest. “This is above-board work, and I want to be clear about that. It’s like a modeling gig, only you don’t have to look like a model. This isn’t about looks, but I’m hoping for twenty-five to forty as far as age goes, just so my mother doesn’t freak. Mid-thirties would be ideal. You must be nice and respectful. I’ll pay fifty bucks per day, so that’s 350 for the week. Thanks for your time.”
I sip more of my beer. “Hm. Okay, 350. Not bad. Someone around here could make some quick cash.”
“How about you?”
“Me? Nah.”
“Why not? She sounds sweet. She needs a hand. If you don’t do it, she will get creepers responding, guaranteed. Help the lady out. Pose for a few pics. What’s the harm?”
“The harm is, I’m here to enjoy a vacation, not deal with weird modeling gigs.”
“Well, I think you should do it. And so does Brett.”
Her last words land with the weight of a heavy bag. I can’t brush off advice from my brother. For all my thirty-two years on this planet, he’s been my best source of advice, bar none.
If my older brother thinks I should do something, I take notice.
“He said that?”
“He did.”
“When?”
“When he forwarded the ad. He said meeting her would be a good distraction for you.”
“He said that?”
She reaches out and swats at the air between us. “I already told you! Yes, he did. Come on, just message her already, or I’ll do it for you.”
With a sigh, I haul myself up to sitting. I slip my Oakleys down over my nose and yank my phone out of my pocket. “If I do this, you’ll let me and Brett both take that board out into shark-infested waters without nagging us.”
“Fine.”
“A shark might circle the board, and you’ll just have to chill out and stay cool.”
