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Something hit me when I saw that waterfall. Something powerful and overwhelming. It didn’t matter why I was here, or how I got to this spot. What mattered was that I took every single damn step on my own. If it hadn’t been for Jeremy, I would have missed this. I didn’t know I needed it. He pushed me to get here, but I had a goal now. I was going to make it to that pool.
I held branches and grabbed leaves as I lowered myself along the steep path. I wiped the water from my eyes. They burned, but I never lost sight of where I was going.
“You could slow down,” Jeremy called from behind.
“You’re the one who said I was slow.” I kept moving. It was a lot easier going in this direction than trying to hike up the volcano.
“That was motivation. I guess it worked.”
I huffed. I had this.
The trail was so over-grown, the vines were in our hair and hitting our legs. I prayed I wasn’t allergic to anything in the jungle. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my honeymoon treating a weird tropical rash.
The brush let up, and I stepped onto a sandy spot. I grinned. This was it. The last of the pools. The one I wanted.
“Ok, now we can take a picture together,” I announced. “For the honeymoon album.”
“There’s a honeymoon album?” His eyebrows raised over the aviators.
“Documentation,” I explained.
“Right.” He stood next to me, smiling as I snapped the picture.
I checked the shot, realizing it was the first picture we had taken together. I looked at Jeremy. Everything about us was so muddled. So messy. We were close. We were distant. We had chemistry and banter. But there were secrets and agendas. We were friends and we weren’t.
He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Are you glad we did this?”
I tucked the phone into my pack. “Yes,” I admitted. “I am.”
We took the flat trail back to the main road. Our rental car was parked in a nearby lot. Jeremy opened the door for me and tossed our packs in the backseat.
He started the ignition and glanced at me. “I had no idea how fucking hard that was going to be.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “What?”
He pulled onto the highway and steered us toward the resort. “We seriously could have broken our legs, Evie.”
“What!” I hit him on the arm. “That entire time I thought you were judging me for wimping out.”
“Yeah, I kind of had to make you think that, so we didn’t die.”
“You were scared that entire time? No way.” I shook my head. He had been calm. He had been certain and steady. He had nagged and teased me.
“Not the entire time, but about an hour in I realized we were fucked.” He laughed. “I can’t believe we did the whole thing. Up and back. You’re fucking amazing.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you say something when we had a chance to turn around?”
“What? Admit to the tour guide at the vacation center we couldn’t do it? No way in hell was I going to do that.”
I rolled my eyes. “We could have died on that trail for your pride. Good to know where your priorities lie.”
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “We didn’t die. And it was fucking incredible. Watching you push yourself like that. We pushed each other. That’s not everyday shit.”
He kissed the inside of my palm and I felt my stomach flip with involuntary butterflies. I was supposed to be angry, not feeling flirty. I should smack him, not want to lean over and kiss his mouth. I wanted to climb in his lap and celebrate our survival. I wanted to strip out of these dirty, wet clothes and spend the rest of the night using our bodies to feel good again.
“Tomorrow, we’re doing something I want to do. No matter what it is,” I dared him to protest.
“Deal.” He turned onto one of the side roads. “Tomorrow is your day. I’m in.”
