Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
“Eight. And it wasn’t much of a talk. You dumped me and that was the end of it.”
I may not have remembered exactly when that conversation took place, but I remembered everything else about it. The hurt in her eyes. Her tears. The doubt I felt over leaving the woman who had become my best friend.
“It wasn’t that simple and you know it, Lo.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said stiffly. “Just get us to camp.”
We walked the rest of the way in silence, and by the time we got to our campsite, I was drenched with sweat and covered in mosquito bites.
“Home sweet home,” I said, approaching a wood post with a small white flag flying from it.
There were two canteens leaning up against the post on the ground. Lauren immediately picked one up.
“Should we go find our well?” she asked.
“It’s not far,” I said, looking at the map. “I want to get started on our shelter while we still have light.”
Our campsite included a long, pristine white beach that backed up to a dense forest. I walked around, checking out the location of the sun and the sturdiness of the trees.
“Right here,” I said. “This is the best place for a shelter. It’s in the shade, we have the forest right behind us as a wind break, and I can use these two trees to make it solid.”
Lauren didn’t even look at me as she said, “I’ll just sleep in the sand. I’m going to check out the water.”
“You can’t sleep in the sand. You’ll get eaten alive by bugs.”
She looked unconcerned as she said, “You can’t tell me what to do. That’s not part of the deal.”
I didn’t remember her being this headstrong. Stubborn at times, yes, but we were only a couple of hours into this thing, and she was already driving me nuts.
“We’re partners,” I reminded her. “And we have a competition soon. You have to get some sleep tonight.”
She ignored me and walked out to the shoreline, looking out at the horizon. Shoes in hand, she walked into the water, getting about knee-deep. I shook my head and forced myself to stay quiet. I would have preferred walking on the beach, too, but shelter was an urgent need.
Nutter followed me as I went into the woods to chop bamboo and trees, dragging them back to camp. On my fifth trip back, Lauren was standing by the pile of materials I’d accumulated, smiling.
“I found an X in the sand,” she said, grinning. “I’m going to dig up the chest.”
I grabbed my T-shirt hanging from the back pocket of my shorts and used it to mop the sweat from my face.
“Good job,” I said, following her. “I’ll help you.”
She led the way to a spot about a hundred feet down the beach, where she dropped down to her knees next to a black X painted on the sand.
It probably wasn’t a good time for a joke about her being on her knees. But when she looked up at me, a slight smile playing on her lips as her eyes danced with happiness, it brought back memories.
Lauren was my first everything. We’d fumbled our way through every sexual position until we perfected them. No matter how much time passed, I’d never forget the way she’d moaned when I did something right for the first time. Or the way she looked as we lay side by side in bed, both of us naked and sated. With pink cheeks and tousled hair, her body a smooth canvas more breathtaking than anything any artist had ever created, she’d been everything I ever wanted and more. Life had been absolutely perfect in those moments.
She started digging with her hands, and I shook my daydream away, dropping to the sand to help. Sand flew behind both of us, and soon we hit something hard.
It was big. Without a shovel, it was hard work unearthing the wood chest with only our hands. Sweat dripped from the tip of my nose and my chin as I kept digging.
“Here’s hoping it’s a freezer,” Lauren cracked.
“Yeah, a cold beer would go down nice right now.”
I was breathing hard by the time I grabbed the handles on each side of the large chest and pulled, trying to free it from the sand. It was stuck. I took a deep breath and went at it again.
Finally, it loosened and I heaved it out of the sand, quickly setting it down again before sitting back, completely winded.
“There’s no lock,” she said. “Just a latch.”
She opened it and looked inside.
“Is it an air conditioner?” I asked, grinning.
“Looks like we got a cast-iron skillet, some dishes, some T-shirts and socks…” She reached in and sorted through the items. “Oh, nice, we got a huge bag of rice. A few spices. And…” She pulled out a bottle of whiskey.