The adults were all sitting on the beach, each enjoying a beer, work on the boat completed.
"Well, you look like you're up to no good," Gloria commented.
Emerging from the interior, Adrienne, Eric, and Don stopped short at the remark.
"What the hell does
that
mean?" Gayle asked as she, Cindy and Mike also appeared from down the beach.
"Nothing," Gloria said, forcing a smile. "You all just look worn out."
"We've been doing a lot of walking," Gayle explained. "Exploring the island."
"We actually have been up to
some
good," Mike spoke up. "We had the first meeting of the future board of Robinson Constructors."
"What does
that
mean?" George sat up and asked.
"Well," Mike explained, "Eric is going into architecture. He'll be our lead designer. Adrienne will be our interior designer, and that'll be a new service we will be offering, and she will work closely with Eric on that." Mike noticed Adrienne, Eric, and Don exchange questioning glances. He looked at them with raised eyebrows, and they each nodded their agreement. "Cindy will be our chief financial officer as she is majoring in accounting and finance. As for Gayle and me, well, either of us is fine with the other being on top."
The cousins all giggled at Mike's double-entendre, much to the parents' curiosity.
"Is this for real, Mike?" a hopeful George asked.
"Yes," Gayle said for him. "As real as this shipwreck. We really all discussed it while, you know, sitting around the lake."
More smirks at that.
"This is wonderful news!" George exclaimed, rising to his feet.
Henry was right behind him, smiling broadly.
The rest of the parents all rose.
Sara came to Mike and hugged him. "You're doing the right thing."
He smiled. "Thanks, mom."
There were similar exchanges between the other parents and kids.
"So, how did work on the boat go?" Mike thought to ask.
"Oh, yeah," George said. "With your news, we forgot."
"The boat is back in full working order," Keith reported. "Electrical issues were relatively minor. We can set sail whenever we want."
The cousins exchanged sour glances.
"Do the navigation charts show our location?" Gayle asked.
"According to GPS," Henry said, "there is no Island where we are, which is about a thousand miles southwest of San Diego."
"A
thousand
miles! How is that possible?" Cindy asked.
"We don't know," Henry answered with a shrug. "It's inexplicable."
"It doesn't seem possible that there could be an uncharted island where we are," Keith added.
"This island is very small," Eric noted. "Is it too small to have been noticed?"
"Seems unlikely."
"Did the storm drive us this far?" Mike asked.
"That's the only—I was going to say logical," George said. "But it's not a logical explanation. It's the only explanation that fits."
"Regardless how we got here, do we have to leave?" Don asked.
"You kids
want
to stay?" Gloria suspiciously asked.
"It's
fun
here," Don said. "We have an entire island to ourselves."
"And there's more exploring to do," Mike said.
"More exploring, huh?" Gloria asked. "Well, one good thing about it. All this togetherness has shown that you kids can get along and work together. You've made your fathers very happy. I'm okay with staying longer."
"I don't mind staying another day or two," George agreed. "It would be nice to relax versus the chore of sailing. But the purpose of this trip
was
to go
sailing,
and that was interrupted by the storm. Anyone have other thoughts?"
"I agree," Keith said.
"Let's take it a day at a time," Henry suggested.
* * *
A while later, the parents returned to the boat to prepare dinner and have sundowners, leaving the kids on the beach.
"That was odd your mom agreeing to staying here longer," Cindy noted.
"I get the sense she's up to something," Mike explained. "I mean, remember what she said when we all returned?"
"What do you think she's up to?"
"Trying to catch
me,
if not
all
of us."
"There's something I don't think all of you know," Gayle said. "Which might explain that. The morning after our first night, my mother questioned me wanting to know if Mike had touched me during the night."
"Seriously?" Eric asked.
"Yes."
"My
mother questioned me also," Mike revealed, "but I think only because Aunt Gloria might have said something to her."
"And my mom continued to ask after every night Mike and I slept together," Gayle added.
"I told you about her late-night walk through the boat and down into the port hull. I've just been getting this strange feeling about her," Mike said. "We just need to, you know, keep our wits about us. Hopefully, you've all had enough fun today to, you know, stay out of trouble tonight."
* * *
Mike intentionally wanted he and Adrienne to sleep in the salon again to see if Gloria did another midnight walk-through. It wasn't his sister's first choice, but she agreed.
Once in bed, with her lips against his ears, she whispered, "So, we're really not going to do anything?"
"How many times did you, you know, get—"
"Fucked?
Twice."
"And you want
more?"
"Neither time was with you," Adrienne pointed out. "Don was pretty good, Eric almost came inside me."
"You're on the pill, aren't you?"