Page 12 of Luck Be a Genie

Lucky

The next morning, after showering and getting into my swimsuit and coverup, I put on my sandals, grabbed my poolside bag and my key, and met Nick to get breakfast.

My sandals flapped as I made my way through the quiet halls of the resort. They’d put me in a quiet section with really nice rooms. I had a patio door that opened directly into the multi-pool oasis area of the resort.

Nick grinned at me when he saw me, his smile too bright for seven in the morning. I would have said something sassy, but, despite being all-powerful, Nick had the sweetest heart and was like a kicked puppy if you snarked at him too much, so I refrained from grumbling at his obscene morning brightness.

“Hey, Nick. You look... bright. Are you aware you’re glowing?”

He laughed, looking down at himself reflexively. “I can’t help it. I’m so excited to spend our first full day together. Besides, only paranormals can see it, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Noted,” I said dryly, buttering my toast.

There was a lot about other paranormals that wasn’t common knowledge for me. An unfortunate side effect from people trying to avoid me. But in my job as Finn’s secretary, I’d picked up a lot, so at least I wasn’t the complete newb I’d been when I’d first started my job.

After we’d been able to finish our breakfast without any mishaps, I was feeling pretty pumped and excited for the day, so my smile was nearly as bright as Nick’s by the time we made it out to the pools.

“First, let’s get a lounge chair.” First rule of public pools and resorts—set up a home base.

Nick nodded and we walked around, trying to find a spot. Even though it was barely coming up on eight, there were already a ton of people out in the oasis area. There were several little tiki bars that served beverages and poolside food like nachos and pretzels, as well as a few lighter items like chicken kabobs and salads. There was a kids’ area with their own slides and splash pads as well, but the resort had separated that from the main section to dampen the decibel levels of their delighted shrieks and laughter. Passing that, there were several adults-only pools, as well as at least half a dozen hot tubs.

The cool, breezy walking paths had all kinds of tropical plants, palm trees, and flowers blooming beside them, making the whole oasis smell amazing. There were several fountains; one of them even had koi fish. When I saw them, I stopped Nick with a hand on his arm, and observed them for a minute or two before we continued on.

I was afraid if I got too close, an anvil would fall from the sky or something and kill them, Looney Tunes style.

You never knew with my curse.

The sound of running water was everywhere here, soothing my stress. My shoulders relaxed, and I felt like I could actually breathe for the first time in what felt like a really long time.

I grinned up at Nick, who was gazing down at me fondly. “I’d like to just put my bed out here and live here for a while.”

His eyebrow went up. “I could make that happen if you wanted. I could also make it so no one else even noticed the bed.”

I gave him a puzzled look. “I thought you were all about not flaunting your magic? That you liked to do things by hand and work hard for your successes? Isn’t that what you told me one time.”

He nodded. “That’s true, but I have no such standards about spoiling you.”

I laughed, shaking my head as I passed another adults-only section. “Where do you want our home base to be?”

He looked amused by my choice of words for grabbing a few lounge chairs, but thought about it for a minute. “I think we’ll probably spend the most time around the lazy river, right? You mentioned you wanted to ride the river most of today, and then spend some time in the hot tub. Let’s find the entrance.”

After another half mile of gorgeous walkways and more pools than someone could shake a stick at, we finally found the grotto that marked the entrance to the lazy river area. Many of the lounge chairs were already taken, but we found two on the end of a long line of loungers that we dumped our stuff on to claim.

We’d already gotten our wristbands for the day, so after applying more sunblock, we were good to go. Thankfully, I was already pretty tan from hanging out with Dice at her pool at her house, so I wasn’t as pasty white as I normally would be.

“Do you want to do a double tube, or a single?”

I scrunched up my nose in thought as I weighed my options. Die of embarrassment, or be extra cozy with Nick all day. Tough choices.

“A double. But I have to warn you—“ I started, but Nick interrupted me gently.

“I know, Lucky. I know. It’ll be okay.”

I sighed. I certainly hoped so.

There were more singles than doubles, but we managed to snag one after searching for a few minutes. Nick held the tube for me in the shallow end of the entrance to the lazy river, and I waded into the lukewarm water and plopped my butt into the doughnut hole. I was wearing a white one piece swimsuit with thick straps, so this baby wasn’t going anywhere, which gave me the confidence to move naturally.

Some bathing suits I’d tried in the past had made me feel like if I even breathed too heavily, I’d either pop right out in inconvenient places, or the straps would break. But for this trip, I only brought bathing suits I felt completely secure in, and I hadn’t been at all worried about their condition or if they were potentially embarrassing because I just didn’t care. I hadn’t planned on trying to impress anyone.