She explained as much to the pretty woman.

“That would be perfect for us!” the woman exclaimed.

Rian tried to look around the woman, expecting more people would be following behind.

The woman noted Rian’s perplexed look. “Oh, my friends are still getting ready. I couldn’t wait for them, and I was hungry, so I left ahead of them.”

She giggled when a tell-tale rumble growled from her stomach area.

“Well, don’t let me keep you!” Rian said with a smile, as she urged the woman to head to the buffet. “And you can leave your stuff here if you want.”

As the woman walked off after leaving various things in some of the chairs at the other end of the table, Rian glanced around her again. Most of the people were in their swimsuits. There were a few families with toddlers and babies, but the crowd was made up of couples otherwise. There was one other table that was occupied by a large group – mostly guys, only two girls. Feels like a predominantly straight crowd in this resort.   Hmmmm….

The woman returned to their table. “I am Carla, by the way,” she said cheerfully as she extended a hand.

Rian shook it. “I’m Rian. Pleased to meet you.”

Carla swallowed some OJ. “Thanks, again, for letting us join your table.”

Rian was trying to place her accent, knitting her eyebrows a little as she thought about it. “You’re … Italian?”

“Correct! Many people guess Spanish. So that was good!” Carla exclaimed, clapping her hands a little. She seemed the exuberant sort, indeed.

She picked up her fork, about to dig into her food. “My friends and I are vacationing here in Floreeda. First time here for all of us.”

Her accent was pretty faint, just a trace, really. “It’s impolite to say this,” Rian paused as she licked the foam from the lip of her cappuccino mug. “So I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. Your English is very good. And you barely have an accent, actually.”

Carla beamed at her. “Well, you are very polite when you say it like that, so, no I don’t take it the wrong way at all. And thank you … my English has improved a lot over the past two years. It was pretty bad when I started working in New York.”