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Until now.
“Sorry, that was a bit dramatic.” He chuckles. “It’s just when I came here, my pack had zero food. I had camping gear and a gun, a few knives. Which have helped, but you’ve come with the right kind of goods.”
“Not sure snacks are more helpful than weapons.” I slide my pack back on and we begin stepping over rocks and pushing long green vines aside. Birds chirp and monkeys howl and everything feels exotic, otherworldly and new. My senses are on overdrive.
A moment later, Flint opens his hands grandly. “Ta-da!” Then he shrugs. “It’s not much, but you can’t beat the view.” He runs a hand over the back of his tanned neck. “What do you think?”
I take in his camp. A fire pit, a large lean-to facing the water with palm fronds for the roof, and a small path into the jungle. “Where does that lead?” I ask him.
“My cave,” he says. “It feels safer at night to be in there.”
“Smart,” I say, then twist my lips. “So… look, I’m not trying to intrude on your life here. Should I make a camp down the beach?”
Flint’s eyes widen. “Uh, no offense but you’ll be eaten alive.”
I scoff. “You don’t think as a woman I can take care of myself out here?”
“I didn’t say that. Woman or not, do you know how to hunt, to make fire, to build a camp without a knife? Can you fish in the ocean or climb a tree to gather coconuts?”
I exhale. “Fair points. Still, I don’t need a man. I’ve taken care of myself all my life.”
“I am not letting you walk down this beach alone. You seem overly enthusiastic for having just lost most of your life, but I’m not watching you hand over what’s left of it to some wild cat in the jungle.”
I press my lips together, the weight of what happened finally hitting me. Yes, it’s an paleontologist’s dream come true to be able to observe the animals I’ve spent my life studying, but I learned about them from the safety of a book. I don’t know the first thing about actually surviving in the wild.
“So you’re saying I have to rely on you to get by?”
“Is that such a bad thing?” he asks, cocking a brow at me, crossing his arms. “I’d welcome the intrusion. Because having another person around is a gift, not a hardship.”
“It’s just… we’re strangers. And now I have to trust you for everything.”
“We don’t have to be strangers,” he says, giving me a cocky grin. “Because I’d sure as hell love to get to know all about you.”
My body responds to his smile. He is big and strong and maybe it’s the endorphins running through my body at everything that has transpired today, but his strength doesn’t intimidate me. It makes me hot in a way I’ve never been before.
If life as I knew it is over, maybe it’s time to start a new chapter. Isn’t that what Summer was just saying on the phone? Pack a bikini and make sure I don’t let life pass me by?
Summer.
Oh no.
The reality of losing her has me dropping my pack and walking away from camp, toward the shoreline, tears filling my eyes fast.
“What’s up?” he calls after me. “What’s wrong?”
I let the tears fall freely. Being here means I’m not there. With her.
“What’s wrong?” Flint asks, catching up with me.
“It’s Summer,” I say.
“Well, it always feels like summer here.”
“No, Summer, my best friend… she’s my foster sister, the only family I have. And I’m the only family she has. Now… she’s going to be so worried. So upset.”
Flint wraps me up in his arms. “Hey, I get it. It’s not easy. It doesn’t ever get easy.”
My shoulders shake. “That’s not exactly comforting.”
“You want me to bullshit you?” he asks, lifting my chin. His eyes melt into mine. When he looks at me, I swear I see his soul.
“I don’t want bullshit,” I tell him. “But I need something. Something to hold on to. Because losing her… she got me through the toughest times.”
“Damn, I’m sorry. I didn’t have family to lose. The guys I was in Special Ops with were the closest thing I had to brothers.”
“How did you get over that loss?”
Flint looks out to the ocean. “Grief doesn’t just go away, it changes you. But I’d already lost a lot before coming here. Sadly, losing people isn’t something new.”
“What happened to your family?”
Flint shakes his head. “Damn, you want to get to the heavy shit right away, huh?”
I shrug. “Sorry. I’ve always been awkward with people. Maybe that’s why.”
“Want to take a swim, eat dinner, and then get all touchy-feely?”
“Touchy?” My eyebrows raise.
He chuckles. “I mean, you know, telling one another our life stories.”
I lick my lips. My bikini is in my backpack. Or maybe I take a risk and just dive in.
