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“You never really told me what brought you to Australia,” I say, skirting some bushes near the trail. They look harmless, but I’m terrified of Australian snakes. “Why are you here?”
Maddox walks ahead of me. “Every relationship in the world, except for those I have with my family, all exploded at the same time.” He says it nonchalantly, like it doesn’t matter, but he doesn’t turn around to look at me or flash his normal smile.
He probably had a girlfriend he just broke up with. It’s fine, I’m sure. He probably has four more somewhere. Either way, the idea of me being a vacation fling rebound girl is crap. If I’m going to kiss this guy soon, I don’t want it to be because he wants to get another woman out of his system.
“Girlfriend? Wife?”
Maddox stops suddenly so that I almost bump into him. He turns around, takes the hat off his head, and wipes his wet hair. “I broke up with a girlfriend a year ago.”
I blow out a sigh and pass it off as adjusting my breath to get used to the elevation change. A year is long enough to not be considered a rebound.
“I lost some, uh, business associates and friends that gave me some issues over the years. It just seemed like a good time to go on a vacation.”
“What kind of business associates do you have in fishing?”
“Other fisherman,” he mumbles.
“You fought with your friends?”
“Friends can take advantage of us just as much as romantic partners. It didn’t help that one of my best friends married the girl I broke up with last year. I tried to be the grownup and go to the engagement party since he’s been my friend since high school. Too bad one of the speeches mentioned they’d been dating for two years,” he says, and there’s a sad lilt to his voice. “Anyway, we can turn right up here and see the station from a distance. At least according to the map.”
He may try to change the subject, but I want to know about this girlfriend. “Were you with your girlfriend long?”
He shakes his head, but his shoulders slouch a little. This is a sore subject. He quickens his pace, and I stretch my legs to keep up. “A couple years, and that was the record. Sadly, I don’t have girlfriends that last longer than a few months.”
“Why not? You seem like a catch.”
He shrugs and grunts a non-committal sound. “They expect things from me I can’t deliver.”
“Relationships are weird to me,” I say, and Maddox stops again, turning to fully face me this time.
“Why do you say that?” he asks, wiping sweat off his forehead. He cocks his head to the side and puts his hands on his hips. A huge sweat circle stains his chest and under his arms, but it’s a sexy sweat. He wouldn’t even need to shower. I’d totally lick him clean if he wanted. “What’s weird about being in a relationship with someone you love?”
“Chill relationships are cool. But marriage? I guess I’ve just never met someone and liked them enough to say, ‘I like you. Out of every human on the planet, I pick this one.’” I jab my finger in the air like I’m pointing to an imaginary suitor. “It seems outlandish to just find one person, go on a few dates, and then pick them for the rest of your life.”
He turns back to the trail. “I think it’s nice.”
“You realize we have stereotypically opposite ideas about relationships. Isn’t it supposed to be the man that doesn’t want a relationship?”
He laughs, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get over the sound. It sounds so boyish and kind, the kind of laughter you could listen to for hours as it chips away at your heart and turns you into a love-sick mess. “I’m a romantic. I’ve always wanted someone special in my life. It just hasn’t worked out that way.”
My stomach drops like I just fell off one of the bigger boulders. Am I the stereotypical woman that pretends she doesn’t want something serious because she’s worried about scaring a man away? Does it change the game if the man isn’t scared? Suddenly, I hate my own voice and especially despise my views on relationships.
But are they really my views? Have I been conditioned to play the game and act aloof at the expense of something real?
Maddox takes off again, and I hurry behind him. This time, I keep my mouth shut. I probably shouldn’t remind him of broken relationships or his work. He should focus on keeping us on the trail, and I should focus on the fact that he’s just someone fun to hang out with on vacation.
We walk for an hour, crossing over a few plank bridges over low brush spots but otherwise walking over rocky pathways. There are a few steep areas and a couple of paths where we have to turn sideways against the rock to cross. Thankfully, they aren’t too high, or I’d puke. I’m not the best with heights. Mostly, we walk between beautiful boulders the size of skyscrapers, admiring their vastness and how small we are in the grand scheme of things.
Eventually, we walk around one of the larger boulders, and I catch my breath. We’re on a cliff, and the sun is high in the desert as the red dust seems to shimmer below us. I swear we can see all the way back to Sydney. Turning in a circle, there’s nothing but vast land as far as the eye can see. Birds circle over something in the distance, and a light wind rustles my hair.
“This is beautiful, Maddox.”
“It sure is,” he says beside me, slipping his hand into mine. The movement startles me so much that I flinch, pulling my hand away. “Sorry,” he says. His face falls, and he looks away. “Should have asked.”
I put my hand back in his. “It just startled me. I didn’t know you wanted to hold my hand.”
“I’ve been wanting to hold your hand since you burned your tongue in Sydney. You know, to make sure you were OK.”
