Chapter Four
Four
While Aunt Laverne and Zoe got a head start toward the dinner buffet, Lulu luxuriated in the strong, steamy shower for an uninterrupted eleven minutes.
To Lulu, that three feet of space felt like a destination vacation; she might as well do a little sightseeing.
Rainwater showerhead, peppermint-scented shampoo, a shower cap that she had thought was a plastic bag until she’d opened it all the way, and soap with little bumps on it.
Lulu did not know why the soap was bumpy, but she felt certain that it was fancier than smooth soap.
Yes, Lulu vowed, she would remember this shower forever.
After, while studying herself in the mirror, she dotted on lip stain in a racier red than she dared to wear in Seattle and pinned her coffee-colored curls with a beaded sunflower clip, a hairstyle that complimented Lulu’s wide eyes, long lashes, and straight nose.
The outfit, white culottes and an off-the-shoulder yellow top, highlighted her sandalwood skin.
Confident, Lulu gave her reflection a small, approving smile.
In the living space, Rooster waited in his trademark Hawaiian shirt buttoned only once below a blinding display of gold chains. Rooster patted her back. “Pickleball, sunshine, and then buffet dinner. It’s all you can eat, every day!” Her uncle beamed. “I consider that a challenge.”
At the mention of food, Lulu nodded her agreement.
After all the exercise and sunshine, she could down the whole buffet table.
On a day like today, she could see the advantage of being a cow.
Four stomach compartments! Salad, appetizer, main dish, and dessert.
Lucky cows! Except for the ones that became steaks.
They left the room and headed to the buffet, Lulu walking quickly at the thought of all the food she was about to eat.
Rooster hurried to keep up. They turned when they heard the click-clacking of heels pursuing them down the path.
“Don Rooster?” Carmen Echandi addressed him respectfully and caught up to them.
“Sorry to bother you. If you have a minute, we wanted to clear up some confusion on your reservation.”
Lulu shot a curious glance at her uncle. She and Zoe had been added last minute. It was bound to be about that. Lulu’s pulse amped up as she and her uncle followed Carmen to her office.
Inside Ms. Echandi’s office, Lulu was surprised to see Laverne and Zoe already seated on the rustic, hand-hewn furniture. The program director took her place behind a colorfully painted oxcart wheel table.
“Looks like we’ve had a little mix-up,” Carmen said and gestured for Lulu and Rooster to make themselves comfortable.
“You are in a suite right now, but our reception team accidentally placed you in the wrong room. That room is booked for another guest. If you recall, last month your reservation was changed to a standard double room.”
Rooster’s eyebrows came together like two skeptical caterpillars. “Now wait just a second. We booked our room ages ago. The master suite with a pullout couch—”
“You did. And then Mrs. Gardner-De Grasio,” she said, indicating Laverne, “took us up on the offer of taking a smaller room at a great discount.”
Laverne’s mouth opened a little, and she sighed. “That was before we knew Lulu was coming—”
“That’s okay.” Lulu lifted a hand apologetically.
“No worries. Zoe and I can…take a different room.” Lulu gulped as she considered the financial ramifications of getting an extra room at an all-inclusive resort that she had never intended to visit in the first place.
“Maybe an economy room?” she asked with rhetorical hopelessness.
Heck, she’d sleep on a lounge chair on the beach.
Or surrounded by mops and cleaning supplies in the storage closet.
All tucked in among the lemon-scented products.
Which sounded kind of pleasant, actually.
“Unfortunately, there really is nothing else available. We are completely booked.”
Shifting in the chair, Lulu clenched her everything, slowly releasing all of it except her lower intestines. Those, she would unclench in private. Now that she was here, she was fully invested in this new and surprising appeal of having some fun.
“I am so very sorry. We simply don’t have another room.” Ms. Echandi pressed her mouth into a sympathetic smile. What happened to all that pura vida bullshit? Lulu wondered.
The program director continued. “We can bring bedding for you for the floor, tonight, but I’m afraid it may not be very comfortable. We can certainly fit in a toddler bed for the little one, if that works.”
Rooster asked, “But what about Lulu? She can’t sleep on the floor for a week!”
Carmen folded her hands on the table and leaned in. She gave Lulu a long look, laced with temptation. “Well, I did notice that you enjoy pickleball, yes?”
Lulu leaned forward in her seat, eager for any sort of solution.
Carmen said, “We have a new tour we’re trying out; I mentioned it this morning.
A one-week trip, leaving tomorrow. A pickleball adventure tour!
Now, it’s not the luxury experience you get here at the resort, but you’ll travel the country and play pickleball with the locals.
Plus, you’ll get to see the wild side of Costa Rica—the pristine beaches, the sloths and the monkeys, the volcanos—and stay in rustic cabins right in the heart of the jungle. Should be a lot of fun.”
At the word rustic, Lulu blanched. A shift in perspective was exactly what she had been craving when she decided to come along to an all-inclusive.
But joining an adventure tour to the rustic wilds of Central America was lying on a bed of hot coals while swinging from a bungee cord over a vat of crocodiles.
True adventure terrified her. And anyhow, there was no way she could afford it.
Carmen must have read her expression, because she added, “We’re running the trip as a trial, so there would be no extra costs. All we ask is that you provide feedback. Give us some suggestions on what we did well and where we can improve. And leave us an honest review.”
Well, that she could do. Reviewing and assessing were among her superpowers.
She could assess her ass off, all day long.
But her gaze fled to Zoe, who was watching the back and forth of the adults’ conversation like a pickleball match.
She snuck a glance at Aunt Laverne to gauge her reaction; her aunt, who had put her acting career on pause to support Lulu after her parents’ accident.
Who had been a babysitter on the rare occasions Lulu tried to date and on the many long nights she was stuck grading or at parent conferences at school.
And who, along with Rooster, had already tossed out the chance for romance on their anniversary vacation and included her and Zoe at great expense.
The springy ends of Lulu’s curls skimmed her bare shoulders as she shook her head. “I can’t ask you to take care of Zoe.”
“Nonsense!” Laverne protested. “It would be our pleasure. You know I don’t play pickleball! What am I supposed to do all day while he’s on the courts? Take my adorable granddaughter to the pools and play all day, that’s what!
“We got you covered. Right, Zo-Zo?” Rooster wiggled his bushy brows at his granddaughter. “How does waffles with syrup sound?”
“For breakfast?” Zoe asked, her shiny eyes aglow.
“For any meal you want!”
Oh, this was not good. If Zoe stayed with her grandparents while Lulu went on some adventure tour, what would happen to her daughter’s painstakingly crafted schedule?
Naps would be late. Sunscreen would be applied less liberally.
And pints of jelly would certainly be consumed.
Relinquishing control of Zoe’s schedule was like leaving the door ajar to the chimpanzee enclosure.
Everybody would have a great time until there was a banana shortage, and then the monkey poo would fly.
Then again. Wasn’t a reset the whole point of this Costa Rican trip?
Get away from that Lulu who lost her cool over seeing an ex-boyfriend act like an idiot in some stupid video.
Allow herself a week of distraction from her worries about losing her job.
Stretch herself by risking a tour where somebody else does all the organizing.
Relinquishing her control of, well, everything, could be just the ticket to make her feel empowered.
And here it was—handed to her on a platter with extra guacamole on the side—the perfect chance for an adventure to kick-start her trajectory toward recapturing herself.
To ice the cake, Aunt Laverne had just dealt her a perfect childcare appetizer and Carmen Echandi had offered a gourmet meal. All Lulu needed to do was gobble it up.
Wow, she was really hungry.
“Actually,” she agreed, realizing that the stars had unexpectedly aligned with her New Lulu master plan. “That’s a really kind offer. That would be great.”
“I think this is a wonderful solution,” Carmen said gently. “But,” she said, looking at her watch, “the dinner seating ends soon, so how about we all get something to eat, and if you change your mind this evening, we can see what our other options are.”
True, Lulu was running on empty. Between her life-changing shower and this unexpected meeting, their dinner hour had practically come and gone. She knew that once she got some food into her belly, she would rally behind this opportunity. After all, this was exactly the me-time she hungered for.
Boy. She wished she had a granola bar in her pocket right about now.
“Why don’t you three head into the buffet,” Carmen offered Zoe and her grandparents, “and Lulu, if you can wait just a moment out in the lobby, I’ll be right back to bring you the paperwork and the media waivers to fill out for the tour.”