Cantrell: The Early Years, Part Five

Whirlwind In Sulani, a Cantrell: The Early Years, Part Five Update

“You broke the contract,” Erik said angrily into his phone. “No, you assured me total privacy. In fact. you charged me an extra fee for it.  And I’m telling you there is a line of Paparazzi on the front deck of the rental unit. Right now, even as we speak, one is on the phone reporting to someone. No, I insist on a full refund. We will be departing come daylight. If you don’t honor the refund, which is on page 2, Section A 3-5 of the rental contract, you will be hearing from my lawyer. Yes, okay. Okay, we’ll give it another day, but that’s it.”

With that Erik double-checked the lock on the doors. The front door and the slider that led out to the back deck.  The place was idyllic, which was the real shame. After all the stress of planning their wedding, the couple just needed some time to unwind. They arrived in the dead of night. The only thing that comforted Erik is the honeymoon that would take place right after the reception.

“What if he doesn’t go away?” Kayleigh said, once Erik managed to entice her into the bedroom. He knew what she meant, though. Audiences were great when he was singing . . . but not now.
“Kay-Kay, I really, really need our wedding night. We’ll just have to block him out of our thoughts. Please, for me?”
"Oh, well, I'll try. I love you so much."
Erik smiled grandly at this. “That’s what I needed to hear. I love you, too, so very much.”

Several minutes later, their marriage had been duly consummated.

 Come that first morning, things looked better to them. They headed to the only restaurant on the island, the Reef and Wharf, with the notion of earnestly trying to give this place a fair shake. The atmosphere was nice, they were shown right away to a table for two on the far side. Almost secluded. Almost. They were at least comfortable enough to flirt with each other.

Quickly, the playfulness vanished.  Erik was recognized right off.  Again, other patrons went ga-ga over him.  The host wasn’t immune, either, which was more the pity.  

Glancing at the menu, there were no breakfasts listed.  “Honey, it’s a restaurant and bar,” Kayleigh said. “Normally that suggests dinner.”
“Sometimes lunch,” Erik said. “I’d settle for a hamburger, at least. You know, overseas they at least offer a Continental Breakfast, which consists of leftover stale dinner rolls and coffee. I'd even take that at this point.” He fought his sense of ire. “Well, lookie here they have apple pie. If we close our eyes, we can pretend it’s an apple fritter . . . it’ll have to do — Suddenly, I wish we had smuggled in one of our hens, then we could have eggs for breakfast back at the hut.”

They put in their order for food, which was on the slow side reaching them. When their order finally arrived, to their joint chagrin, the server managed to drop the tray.  Both looked mournfully at the pile of goo mixed with coffee and broken shards of the ceramic mugs. Erik almost lost it at that point. “Oh, sir, I’m so sorry, I don’t know how that happened. It’ just sort of jumped out of my hands. Like it was possessed or something.”
“It’s okay,” Erik soothed. “But I do hope those weren’t the last two pieces of pie . . .”

Solemnly the couple ate their pastry, drank their coffee and after Erik reluctantly paid the tab, the two relinquished their table.  Taking Kayleigh’s hands, Erik said, “I’m so very sorry for all of this. I plan on posting something on my Simstagram. Please forgive me. You deserve the very best and everything I’ve touched lately seems to go disturbingly wrong.”

The two left the restaurant and decided to play in the sand just outside.  “I thought we were going to go for a swim,” Kayleigh said.
“Well, we will, but first we have to get all sandy first so we can wash it off in the water.
“Oh, I see.”
“Join me?”

“Wait, did our server just follow us out here?” Kayleigh said, as she got to her knees. The warm white sand squished under her legs. 

“Oh, look, she’s leaving. Thank you,” she sighed.
The two got down to business, sculpting the sand into something . . . “What, is it?”

“Our firstborn, male child?" to the look on her face he quickly said, "No. It's the mythical cow-plant, of course.” Moving a few meters to the side, they began another sculpture.
“Oh, the man and his little notebook. Are you keeping track of how many times we woohooed last night, too?”
“Don’t be silly, why would I do that?”
“I don’t know, why are you constantly ticking things off of a list?”

“Do you mind if we go back to our rental? I’m feeling overwhelmingly sleepy all of a sudden.”
“No, sure, let’s go. We can always take a night swim. Maybe even skinny dip, eh?”

Kayleigh slept the rest of the day away. Nightfall hit before she stirred. Erik was concerned she had taken ill. Confirmed when she ran into the bathroom and threw up. “Honey, are you okay?”
“Sure, let’s go for that night swim,” she said.

“But you’re wearing a swimsuit,” he said.
“You don’t expect me to walk in the altogether to the shore, do you? My, but your inhibitions have flown the coop.” The water was frigid, so they didn’t swim for long. Instead, they made their way over to the Reef and Wharf, to the bar, this time to have a drink.

“So, what do you want to do? Shall we stay the rest of the week, as planned, or not?”  Erik said.
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t even really want this drink, it tastes off to me, and I’m suddenly not feeling very well. I think I’m going to be sick, in fact.”
“That’s it, we’re going home. I’ll book us a flight for tonight.”

Back at home, once again, Erik kept an eye on Kayleigh. Noting her unusual need for sleep, lots of it, and the fact she was running to the bathroom a lot. Sometimes, she even got sick.

All for now, thanks for reading!