AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Whenwearrivedatthe tiny jetty, Alex spoke with the captain before joining me on the shore.
“He says there might be bad weather coming in later, so he’s going to dock here from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.”
I looked at my watch. That gave us a couple of hours to explore the island. I was excited, and I felt grateful to Alex. But at the same time, I was wary of spending too much time in his company. Of getting too close to him, when soon I’d be moving on.
I wasn’t under any illusions. My time in Alex’s life was coming to a close. Not only was I leaving the hotel tomorrow, but I would hopefully receive a couple of job offers when I did. I already had at least five or six voicemails from modeling agencies who wanted to discuss signing me. My career was back—and it would be for a while, I hoped.
As I stood there on the jetty with Alex, looking at the cliffs rising to the north of the island, and the hill, mountainous depths of its center, I realized that I didn’t want to be anywhere else at that moment. Exploring this place with him was as close to a perfect day as it could be.
We began our walk around the island by following a coastal path, up over a hill. From there, we looked down on the beautiful jungle surrounding us. I listened and heard all the different bird calls.
“This is so beautiful,” I said.
“It looks great,” he agreed. “It’s not too far for you?”
“Are you kidding?” I said. “After that lunch, I feel like I could use the exercise?”
So, we carried on, into the center of the island. As the jungle grew denser along the path, and the air became a little more humid as we progressed inland from the sea, I couldn’t help feeling tense. Here I was, miles away from anyone else, with only Alex to guide me.
When we came to a fork in the path, I looked at the map we’d brought with us.
“Do you want to go this way and cut around the hills?” I said. “Or this way, back to the shore?”
Alex took the map from me and frowned.
“You’re reading it wrong,” he said. “It’s the other way around. This path goes to the hills, and that one goes back to the shore.”
“I’m not reading it wrong! Look, Kauai’s on this side. That means …”
“But it’s not about which side Kauai’s on. You can’t tell from here.”
“Yes, you can. Look, you can see it through the trees.”
“Lena, the map’s on a scale of 1:100,000. You can’t tell which way the path points from the map like that.”
“Well, who madeyouso smart?”
“I’ve never claimed I was smart. But Iwastrained to read maps while being a Navy SEAL.”
“Clearly, they didn’t train you to open your eyes. That one clearly goes back to the shore. Look! You can see the ocean in that direction.”
“You don’t know that. It could cut around behind a hill.”
“Well, I’m going this way.”
“Fine,” said Alex, weary of arguing. “Here. Take the map. You’re gonna need it when you get lost and miss the boat home.”
I stomped off in the other direction.
“Okay,”Isaidtomyself. “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”
Just like Alex said, the path may cut around behind a hill. Eventually, I was too far away from the ocean to orient myself at all. I looked up at the sun. It rose in the East and set in the West. After an hour or so of walking, I was getting nowhere.
I looked up, shielding my eyes from the glare.
But of course, I had no idea which way it was to set.
I couldn’t believe I’d gotten into another petty argument with Alex and got myself lost. I was an idiot. Worse than an idiot, I was ungrateful. He’d been trying to take me out here to do a nice thing, and I had to ruin it.
