But as soon as she stood up, the color started draining from her face again.
“Sorry, I still feel dizzy.”
“That’s okay.” I put an arm round her and led her to the bed. “I’ve got you. You’re going to be fine.” I was trying to reassure her as much as I was trying to reassure myself. In fact, every time I said it to her, I needed to hear it just as much as she did. I put her on the bed and gently dried her ankle. I dabbed the cream onto two distinct puncture wounds in her skin. I quickly covered it with a plaster before she could see it. When I was finished, I looked up to find her watching me.
“Thanks,” she said, perking up a little now after the Coke. “If it’s not thorns, it’s hordes of mosquitoes and storms and snake bites. Seriously, can anything else go wrong?”
“It has been a rather eventful trip. You forgot getting stuck in the mud and getting sick in a plane.”
“How could I forget that?” She gave me the smallest smile. “It would be great to get through the rest of the trip without feeling like I’m dying all the time, or without something catastrophic happening.” She tried to make light of it, but I knew this was not light to her at all.
“You okay now?” I asked, and wanted to take her hands in mine, or pull her into another hug.
“Much better, thanks. Are you okay?” she asked.
“Also much better. I got a fright there too.”
“Do you need some Coke and a plaster?” she asked.
“Probably.”
She patted the bed next to her. “Come here, then.”
She sat up as I lowered myself onto the bed. She unwrapped a plaster and looked at me. “Where does it hurt?”
My eyes locked on to hers and I felt myself melting again. “Here.” I touched my hand to my chest and then laid my palm over my heart. She looked down at my shirt questioningly and I pulled it over my head and dropped it to the ground.
“There,” I said.
Her eyes drifted over my chest and I could see a distinct flush of pink working its way up from her neck into her face.
“Here we go.” She stuck the plaster onto my skin and flattered it with her hands, fingers grazing my skin and making me feel quite euphoric. “How does that feel?”
“Better.” I put my hand over hers, holding it to my chest. We stayed like that for a while, her hand on my heart, my hand over hers, looking at each other. But before I got totally lost in this moment, I cleared my throat and stood up. Nothing was going to happen with us tonight. She was in shock. She was rattled. She was not thinking straight, and if something happened, would it be something she really wanted, or would it be a reaction to the moment and needing some kind of comfort? Despite the endless sexual build-up of the night, it had ended the second she’d been bitten by the snake.
“So, what were you doing outside anyway?” I asked, and she looked panicked again.
“Reception! For my phone. I got it on the path earlier and I thought I could get it again.”
“You needed reception at three in the morning? I hope you weren’t working that late.”
“What can I say? Bit of a workaholic.”
I looked around the room. “Where is your phone? I didn’t see one.”
“Oh, shit. I must have dropped it. I’ll go look for it tomorrow.” Her mouth was moving, words were coming out, but I did not believe a single one of them.What had she really been doing outside at three in the morning?
She started climbing off the bed. “I guess I better go back to my room now that I’m—”
“You can’t. Bongani gave us strict instructions not to walk around at night. So you’re kind of stuck here, with me.”
“In your room.”
“In my room,” I repeated. “But don’t worry. I’ll sleep on the chair.”
“It’s fine. You can sleep here.” She looked up at me and I was surprised to see her pull the covers back.
“You sure?”
