Amanda M Lee [Lee - Freaky Deaky Tiki

1

One

Y oure doing it wrong.

Excuse me? Im not doing it wrong. Youre doing it wrong.

I most certainly am not doing it wrong. You only think that because youre a man.

Yes, my gender has taken over the world and the end is truly near. You get the ark, Ill get the animals.

Outside of the lighthouse I live in, I managed to stifle my laughter ... just barely. The day was hot, the sun beating down on my bare shoulders thanks to the fashionable tube top I picked up at a Moonstone Bay shop the previous day, and the noise coming from the building I, Hadley Hunter, now called home was deafening.

Do you think theyll ever stop?

Galen Blackwood, my boyfriend (wed never technically defined our relationship, so that term might be something of a stretch), merely smirked as he glanced up from the spark plug he was cleaning and tilted his head while listening to the argument inside. You were the one who couldnt understand why May and Wesley divorced, he said finally, referring to the grandparents Id never known until a few weeks ago. This is exactly why they got divorced and cut their visits down to once a week ... twice if it was hot and they were cranky.

I rolled my eyes. I never knew two people could scream and yell this much, I admitted. I didnt know it was possible. Shouldnt their vocal cords be swollen by now? Shouldnt they need to take a break?

Galen merely shrugged as he lifted the spark plug so he could study it under better light. What do you want me to say? May is a ghost. I dont think she technically has vocal cords any longer. As for Wesley ... hes just now getting his full wind. He could carry on for hours if history is any indication.

That wasnt what I wanted to hear. Well, awesome.

I grew up an only child. My mother died in childbirth and my father raised me to be a normal girl. That probably wasnt the word he wouldve used, but it was the most apt. My father was determined to make sure I had all the right clothes, went to the best schools, joined the cheerleading squad, had a serviceable car to get me to and from school, and never once did anything that was considered odd or out of the ordinary.

By the way, if you believe I dislike him for that, think again. I dont dislike him or blame him for how things turned out. He thought he was doing right by me, protecting me from the stories my mother told him before her death. There was no way he could understand what her hometown of Moonstone Bay really was, so he made things worse in his mind. That was probably only one of the reasons he fought so hard when I said I was moving to the island my mother called home for most of her life. The other reason was that he was a control freak, but that was hardly important now.

Theyll calm down. Galen gave me a sympathetic shoulder squeeze as he reached for another spark plug. Theyve been separated for months. The animosity they usually blow off after a weeks time has built up. They need to get it out of their system.

I didnt like the sound of that. Im afraid theyre going to blow the top off the house in the process.

Galen pursed his lips and shrugged, his blue eyes traveling to the top of the lighthouse. I dont think their anger can reach that high. At best, theyll blow the top off the mudroom.

Ha, ha. The look I shot him was withering. Do you think thats funny?

He grinned, clearly enjoying himself. Maybe a little.

Well, I dont! I leaned closer so only he could hear me, even though there was no one outside close enough to overhear us. In my short time since moving to Moonstone Bay, Id learned that not all people were visible all the time. No, really. Ill explain later.

I think its going to make our lives extremely difficult if we dont nip this in the bud, I told him, deathly serious. Wesley has been here five of the last seven days. Now, I like him a great deal and want to get to know my grandfather, but thats five of seven days. I repeated the number in case he hadnt heard me the first time. At five hours a day and thats a bare minimum hes taken up twenty-five hours of my life. Do you think hes spent any of that time with me? No. He spends all of it screaming at May.

I dont know what you want me to tell you. He adopted a pragmatic tone. Youre the one who suggested Wesley stop by whenever he missed May because she seems to be anchored to the lighthouse.

Thats because I thought he missed her.

He did miss her.

All theyve done is scream at each other since being reunited, I shot back. That doesnt seem like deep emotional stuff. In fact, its the stuff of nightmares.

I lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. My father had this girlfriend when I was about fourteen or so. They used to argue all the time. I had no idea what to make of it because the other women he dated were quiet and demure. This woman, she used to push every single one of his buttons, and she made it so steam would practically blow out of his ears. No, seriously, he looked like a cartoon character. This reminds me of that.

Galen chuckled, amusement rolling off him in waves. Thats kind of funny.

Yes, it was hilarious, I drawled. She once threw a frying pan at his head because he said her eggs yolks were too hard.

You never have to worry about me complaining about hard egg yolks. I like all types of egg yolks. You know what I dont like? When theres all that runny white stuff on undercooked over-easy eggs. Now that Ill complain about.

He was handsome, ridiculously so. He had dark hair that fell over his forehead in silky waves, cheekbones cut from granite and a square jawbone that made him look like a recently sculpted statue of a Greek god. That didnt mean I was above fighting with him.

Are you even listening to me? My temper threatened to come out to play. We have a real problem here.

And what is that? Galen was blas as he returned the spark plug to the engine of my golf cart. Oh, yeah, I have a golf cart. Wesley bought it for me two weeks ago. Cars arent allowed on the island except under special circumstances, so the only way to get around is a golf cart. Wesley lives miles from town, so he thought the golf cart would be a nice gift.

As someone who was getting tired of walking in the stifling heat and humidity, I couldnt help but agree. I was in love with the thing, which is why Galen agreed to look it over and give it a tune-up.

Well, Im sure you havent noticed because you havent been around evenings the past week, but Wesley tends to stay late, and then May is worked up after he leaves, I replied, choosing my words carefully. When shes worked up, she wants to have a conversation. Shes a ghost, so she can talk and talk and talk without ever getting tired.

So ... basically youre saying you want her to get tired.

Im saying that ... at night ... if shes around ... it makes certain things difficult. I struggled to find the right words to convey what I felt.