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Claire was going to be a problem. She had to have misinterpreted what she saw. I wanted to go to the dining tent and tell her what happened, but I didn’t want to make a scene.
While I waited for her to return to the tent, I decided to take a quick shower, hoping to wash away my tension from the encounter with Sefton that almost went bad.
Then, I lay on my bed again, the mosquito tent around me, reading on my Kindle. I looked at my hand. It was still shaking.
Finally, well after midnight, Claire returned to the tent.
"Are you alone?" she said, searching around the tent as if expecting to find Sefton there.
I turned the light on beside the bed. "Of course, I'm alone. What you saw was Sefton being entirely inappropriate."
"What do you mean?" she said and half-stumbled over to her bed. She was drunk. "I know what I saw."
"No, you don't. You saw Sefton getting the wrong idea about his chances with me. I set him straight and he left."
"You both left the dining tent at the same time. Then, I saw you alone with him in your tent, and in his arms," she said, her face red. "That's what I saw. It speaks for itself. How could you do that to Drake? Why come all the way here only to take up with another man?"
"I didn't, I haven't! You don’t understand…"
"I understand well enough. What will Drake think about you being alone with Sefton in your tent late at night?"
" You've misunderstood—"
"If you won't tell Drake the truth, I will," she said and gathered up her things. "I'm going to see if there's another tent I can sleep in tonight."
"Claire!" I said, but she grabbed her bag and left, the tent flap closing noisily behind her.
I went to the flap and opened it, watching as she walked down the pathway to the main tent, where people still were partying.
Now what the hell was I to do?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I sent Drake a text.
Drake, something happened with Sefton and Claire completely misunderstood. Please, if you hear from her, don't believe what she says to you. Sefton came to my tent when I was here alone and grabbed me. He's under some delusion that I'm meant for him, but I sent him away. Unfortunately, Claire came in when he was holding my arms, and she misinterpreted everything. Now, she's sleeping somewhere else, angry at me because she thinks I've cheated on you. I haven't. You know I can barely tolerate Sefton.
Please answer me as soon as you get this. Please call me…
I didn't receive a text, and figured he must be asleep so I lay down on my bed and fretted until nearly three in the morning.
When I woke, there was barely any time to get ready before our last trip to sketch wildlife. The small group of artists took a trip to sketch lions. I spent my time alone again and had no idea where Claire was. Sefton kept his distance, barely even glancing my way.
I was miserable because of what happened and the fact that Drake hadn’t texted me back or called. I was honestly too nervous to do much drawing despite the guard's assurances that we were safe as long as we stayed on top of the vehicles.
Despite everything, I tried to get something out of the ruined day. I spent my time drawing the male lion with scars on h
is face. The guide told us that meant he was an old male, and the scars on his face meant he was probably on his way out of the pride with only a few years left as its leader. I drew the scars, focusing in on his face, with the scar running down from his eye to his jaw. I tried to capture the look of fatigue on his face, as if he was tired of having to defend his position as top male. Sefton ignored me, as he had on previous excursions, so I was left with my own thoughts.
We returned to base camp at noon, had a nice meal in the dining tent, where I sat by myself, Sefton not even looking at me, while Claire glared at me from across the tent, and the rest of the time glared at Sefton. Finally, we packed up our things. I went to Claire before the bus left, deciding to confront her and try to set things straight.
She didn’t want to talk to me.
"Claire," I said. "Sefton had too much to drink and made an unwanted advance at me. I was ready to scream when you came in the tent so thank you. Nothing happened. I have no interest in him, but Sefton has an inappropriate interest in me."
"That's your story," she said, and shook her head. "Not Sefton's. All I know is what I saw with my own eyes. I knew you were wrong for Drake the moment Michael told me about you. You’re far too young and you have no idea what it’s like to be married to a surgeon. I don't know why Drake's with you other than you indulge his," she said and looked away, as if she couldn’t stand to look at me. "His peculiarities. They're dangerous and could get him into so much trouble. Ruin him." She glanced back at me, her expression accusing. "I'm glad at least we found out about you before you married him."
I threw my hands up in the air. It was no use trying to argue with her. I could tell she wasn't going to listen, no matter what I said. She'd made up her mind about me before she even met me. It was then I wondered if she hadn't been trying to undermine my relationship with Drake from the start, encouraging me to get my own life, keep busy, practically pushing me together with Sefton.
