Rum Punch Regrets Read Free Page B

was not in Kansas anymore. And she was beginning to understand why Leigh needed her to be here.
    “Okay, Ziggy. Tell you what. I will be here tomorrow and I plan on seeing you when you get here. I need to sleep and get settled in, so maybe you should go outside . . . ” She waved at him and his joint to go outside like she was trying to shoo a small child to the swing set for playtime. Maybe she could find some Febreze in the kitchen when he left.
    He laughed again. “Okay, Abby, Leigh’s sister. I go. You rest. Tomorrow we go to store or someting. Maybe go limin’.”
    Interesting, Abby thought. He wants to pick limes. “Okay, Ziggy. Sounds good to me.” She reached for the door and held it open. “G’night.”
    “Yes. Oh, Abby, sister of Leigh . . . ” He smiled and stood in the doorway, blocking it from being closed and blowing a steady stream of reefer into her nose. “Maybe tonight you watch for centipedes. Dey are not your friend.” He turned to leave.
    What the . . . ? “Wait, Ziggy! Centipedes? What are you talking about?”
    Ziggy leaned back and drew another long pull off the joint. “Centipedes, mon. Little, lots o’ legs, dey bite. Dey bite hard, and it fucking hurt. Make sure you pull back da sheets, look all around. Tuck covers all around you after you look and try not to move. Dey like warm spots if it is cold, so be careful of de air conditioning.” He smiled and blew out the smoke, all over her face.
    Great, Abby thought. If a centipede attacked her now, she would have a contact buzz and be too high to do anything about it, except maybe dip it in chocolate.
    “So, I just have to look for them in the sheets? What do I do if I do get bitten? Will I? Get bitten? Are there some here?” Great, she was freaking out now. She wanted to rip the joint from his hands and throw it into the bushes, or give him the kick in the ass she had so desperately wanted to give herself for so long.
    “Yeah, mon. Just look. If you get bit, you cry. It’s okay. And dey are everywhere. It’s de island.” He laughed and pulled the joint up to his lips for another long pull. As he blew it out he looked at Abby. “I get a soda, okay?”
    He wants a soda, Abby thought, torn between being annoyed and amused. He’s never leaving. Christ! He is either going to be a giant pain in my ass or the best friend I never wanted. Doesn’t he have a place right here on the property he can go hang out in?
    “Fine, umm, kitchen?” She looked at Ziggy, shrugged, and then gestured with her right arm as if to say, “Lead the way.” She didn’t have to worry; he was already padding in his bare feet to the kitchen. Wait, she thought. Oh good lord! He has no shoes on?
    Abby shook her head as she followed this funny little island man to the kitchen. As she walked in behind him, watching him root around in the fridge for a drink, she thought how funny would it be if this guy suddenly started talking to her like he was from the States, if he was not really an island native at all and Leigh had set this all up to mess with her after the long flight. She was smirking thinking about it, but as Ziggy began speaking, he snapped her back into the reality of the situation at hand and she realized that no, this was no joke. This was her new world.
    “So, Abby . . . How is Leigh? She coming to see us soon, too?”
    “Well, I don’t think she planned on it. She sent me here to help get this place ready to be sold. You do know that she is selling it, right?”
    Ziggy nodded his head emphatically up and down. “Oh yeah, mon, we got to start wit’ da roof. She sent me a letter ’bout it.” His whole face lit up as he looked at Abby seriously. “Email.”
    This man has a computer? Abby was blown away.
    “Oh good! So you know what I’m here to do?”
    “Yeah, mon! We like it here, Maria and me.” Ziggy bobbed his head up and down to no one in particular. Abby knew that the Maria he mentioned was his wife; Leigh had said she was the other