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Amelie knew exactly how she wanted to respond, but she wasn’t sure whether to say it or not. “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s a fair question, really.”
“Why not?” he asked.
She turned over and pressed her cheek to his chest. “Because your wedding is next month, Jack. Because you are marrying her.”
“And if I didn’t?”
“Don’t,” she said, pushing herself up abruptly. She grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it. Jack stood and followed.
“Don’t what?” he demanded. “So… we just aren’t going to talk about it? How very typical of you, Amelie. Let’s just pretend there isn’t a hundred pound gorilla in the room,” Jack spat.
Amelie sat on the edge of the bed and put her face in her hands. “Don’t do this, Jack. Do not put this on me. It’s bullshit, and you know it. Why did you come to New Orleans? Honestly, why? I mean… to me, a man who is about to happily walk down the aisle doesn’t just look up an old girlfriend and fly out to surprise her…”
Jack paced the length of the hotel room. “I told you the reason why, already. I wanted to see you.”
“Then why not do it sooner? Why now?”
“You’re the one who left in the middle of the night! I tried, Amelie. I begged you not to go. And you left anyway.”
“I wrote you! You’re the one who disappeared for two fucking years, Jack, That’s on you.”
“Yeah, well, we’ve already discussed that…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t get your letters.”
“You didn’t think… not even once that maybe I needed you? Look at the condition I was in when you left… and then nothing…”
“You told me you didn’t love me that night, Amelie. What was I supposed to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know… how about be a fucking friend and find out where I was… how I was doing. How about not disappearing for two years! That would’ve been a good place to start!” she hissed.
Jack walked to her and kneeled on the floor below her. He rested his chin on her lap. “Amelie, I spent the whole night when I left the hospital going through every book I could find on mental illness. And the next morning, I took everything I’d found back to the hospital to prove those assholes wrong, that you weren’t mentally ill. I tried. I did. But you left. You were gone. I called your mom. I called several inpatient hospitals… but no one would tell me anything, no one would give me any information. At the time, I thought I’d tried everything.” He picked up his head and shrugged. “Looking back now, maybe I didn’t. But what was I supposed to do?”
She ran her fingertips along the bottom of her eyelids wiping the tears that had spilled over. “I don’t know. I just don’t understand why you’re doing this now. I was happy. I was fine. I’d gotten my life together… and then all of a sudden you show up and suddenly everything seems to be unraveling again.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. But I needed to be sure. I couldn’t walk down that isle and not be sure.”
She deadpanned. “You should have been sure the moment you asked the question, Jack.”
He nodded a sign of assent. “I thought I was.”
“Then what’s changed?” she asked half-heartedly.
“Everything.”
The next morning, Amelie and Jack met their guide, a middle-aged man in the lobby. He glanced back and forth between them as though he couldn’t believe the two half-asleep, apathetic creatures that stood before him could possibly be his charges. He checked his watch, ushered them toward the hotel entrance, speaking over his shoulder as he walked. “Better get to it, we’ve got a pretty full day.”
First, the guide drove them to a small fishing boat, which they boarded for Videy Island where Amelie was to capture Videyjarstofa, which was known to be the oldest stone building in Iceland. Upon arrival, she took several shots, which she seemed pretty satisfied with. She said she was ready to leave, but their guide insisted on taking a smoke break, so she and Jack agreed to explore a little and hiked the surrounding paths around the island. “I’m going to do it,” he uttered with confidence. “I’ve made up my mind, and I’m going through with it,” Jack remarked, and then studied her face.
Amelie jabbed him hard in the stomach. “That’s wonderful. Really, great news,” she said, brushing past him.
“Hey. That hurt, damn it,” he yelled after her.
She stopped and turned, her hands on her hips. “Yeah? Well, it was meant to.”
They stopped briefly for lunch before traveling on to Strokkur where Amelie was to shoot several time-lapse shots of the Strokkur Geysir erupting. They drove on in silence, sitting at opposite ends of the backseat, putting as much space between one another as was physically possible. For the remainder of their time, Jack watched Amelie work but did his best to keep his distance. He watched the crystal clear water pool at the surface, bubble, and then erupt. He marveled as it shot upward toward the murky blue sky and decided it was one of the most fascinating things he’d ever seen.
After an hour or so, Amelie appeared pleased with herself and motioned that it was time to go. He opened the car door for her and slid in beside her. He tread carefully as he spoke. “Get what you needed?”
She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. “Always.”
