Austin had moved closer to her while Court took the opportunity to set down his bags and circle the small clearing. “How can you be sure, Joely? Those feelings again?”
“I think it’s an extension of that. All I know is that the island lets me see what’s really there. It always has. I lived with lies for most of my life. Some I told—innocent little white ones to get work when I was a young and inexperienced pilot and needed to eat. Or I withheld truths about things I knew so people on the mainland wouldn’t have me locked up in a loony bin.” She chuckled. “I still pretend I can’t see the naked people cavorting on the island. I’m not perfect. But believe me, mine were nothing compared to the lies everyone around me told every day. To each other. To themselves. I think Eden knew I was sick of that most of all.” She smiled at him. “Or maybe not. Maybe I just lack the imagination required to be an official guest.”
He pulled her into his arms, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. He looked frustrated. Worried. “We all know that’s not true, Joely.”
“Hey Professor? Mary Ann? I think this island has officially broken my brain. Unless…wait. Stranded on an island, downed plane, and now this—maybe I’m having fantasy flashbacks about the show Lost. Evangeline Lily was a babe, though nothing compared to our tour guide.”
“Lost?” Austin looked down at her in confusion and she laughed.
“I used to make the same face when guests mentioned that show to me. It happened so many times I had to look it up on Wikipedia.” She shrugged. “I don’t watch a lot of television.”
“It’s like I don’t even know you anymore,” Court complained. “Now do either of you want to come over here and tell me if you see this?”
He was standing on the far edge of the clearing, stroking his beard slowly and looking into the tree line. Austin joined him and followed his gaze. “Huh. That is
not
a lean-to.”
“No,” Court agreed. “But on closer inspection it might be made of candy and belong to a cannibalistic witch. There’s also the possibility three bears dwell there who partake of the porridge.”
Joely smiled and rolled her eyes, moving in front of them and standing on the tips of her boots in order to see what they were seeing over the rise of the ground. “I don’t think—”
Court slid his hands under her armpits and lifted her until she was at their level. “Oh.”
Really?
“Yeah, okay that’s there. I don’t know why it’s there, but it is.”
A cabin. A small, but structurally sound cabin. It didn’t look as old as the plane and she had a feeling whoever made the cave art wasn’t responsible for it either. What were they going to find next? Condos? “Weird.”
Court went back and picked up both their bags, apparently reenergized. “Good weird. An Eden miracle. Your girl is scoring a lot of points with me right now, Joely. If there’s well water, or something I could pretend was a shower? I’ll plant a tree and give back to the community in the island’s name. Hell, I’ll
make
a community and we’ll all plant trees together.”
“Don’t try to bargain with Eden,” she teased, relieved to feel the tension that had been surrounding them dissipate. “That never works out.”
He moved towards her, bags over his shoulder and hands free, reaching for her. “A roof, Mary Ann. Maybe a bed. Let’s not dawdle, I have promises to keep.”
He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder with the luggage. She squealed, laughing breathlessly as he managed to maneuver through the trees with surprising speed and agility.
Austin was behind them, watching them pensively. Watching her.
“What is it, Austin?” She knew there was something. “You’re ruining Court’s good mood.”
“Nothing can,” Court sang out in response.
“Hush, Ginger.”
Austin shook his head. “Let’s get to the cabin.”
It only took a few minutes before the trees disappeared and then she started to wriggle in Court’s arms until he set her down. She shook her head, still having a hard time believing it was real as they moved closer to the cabin. “I wonder if Mr. V knows about this place. He’ll definitely want to, since it’s not that far from the resort. A guest could stumble over it and be living here for years and we would never know.”
“It’s far enough. They would have had to walk a hell of a long way to stumble onto this place.” Austin readjusted his bag and shortened his stride to keep pace with her. “After we look around, I’ll see if I can’t get lucky again and find something for us to eat. We had the last energy bar a few hours ago, right?”
She nodded. “And after we find food you’re going to tell me whatever it is you haven’t told me yet.”
It wasn’t a question. She knew now. Sensed it. She wished she knew his answer as well. Did he have a wife? A fiancée? Six weeks to live? Whatever it was, he was definitely worried about telling her. Very worried.
Austin sighed. “Yes, Joely. Yes I am.”
Court whooped, and they both flinched. “I will bet you what’s left of my sex candle that the little shed by the cabin is hiding a generator.”
“I’d rather have the mini whiskey bottle you pocketed when you thought no one was looking,” she called, forcing a joviality she didn’t feel.
Court frowned at her. “It’s for emergencies. Cuts and scrapes.”
“I might be having an emergency later. Save me a sip.”
His smile was knowing, and then he set down the bags and started looking for something to knock the lock off the small wooden shed. “You two go in and I’ll be right behind you.”
Austin stopped her from opening the door first. “Just in case,” he offered, turning the knob.
They shared a look. “It’s locked. I might have to kick it down.”
Was he kidding? “The last time you came to the island you were walking with a cane, Mr. Wright. You’ve been carrying heavy bags for days and walking for miles. You aren’t kicking anything down.”
Austin glared. “I’m not an invalid,
Ms. Jones
. Didn’t I prove that to you last night?”
“You don’t have to be so touchy.” She looked around the cabin’s narrow patio and smiled. “Anyway I think we’re good.”
She walked around him and squatted by the door, picking up the small wooden box that had been carved in the shape of an apple. “Our mutual friend is going to have a Greek-tragedy-sized pout when he realizes that everyone and their second cousin called the island Eden.”
Austin sent her a quizzical expression and she waved the box at him. “The apple? Garden? Anything?”
She opened the lid and found what she’d known she would find. A spare key.
The island knows what you need.
And so, apparently, did the previous tenant of the cabin. She handed the key to Austin and stood up, wiping her hands on her shorts. She hoped Court was right about that generator. She could use a hot shower.
Austin unlocked the door and stepped inside, brushing away a cobweb that was hanging across the doorway. “It’s no cave,” he said when she followed him in and clapped her hands together in relief. “But I think it will do.”
Furniture. A leather couch and coffee table littered with old magazines and books. This was so strange. She picked up the magazines, one after the other, looking at the publishing dates to see if they matched up. “Nineteen-eighty-eight,” she told him. “They’re all the same.”
There were pictures on the fireplace mantel. She wiped off a layer of dust and studied the faces. A happy couple, she could tell, from the wedding photograph and the snapshot of them having a picnic on the beach. “They look so normal.”
What were they doing here? Where did they go? Why did they leave everything behind? It didn’t look temporary at all. It looked like a home.
Austin moved to the kitchen. “This fridge has been empty for a while.”
She joined him and went directly for the pantry, crossing her mental fingers. “I don’t care if Mr. and Mrs. Cabin come back, I’m never leaving,” she moaned, her growling stomach rejoicing at the sight of the canned goods and liquor. “Raviolis for everyone!”
Austin quirked his lips, watching her cuddle a can against her chest. “When was the last time you ate a can of raviolis?”
“Preteens. But I remember it tasted like food.” Now she needed to find a can opener. Or a rock.
A loud buzzing sound startled them, and then the lights flickered on. Austin’s smiled was wide and genuine. “Good job, Ginger.”
“Too bad.” She opened one drawer after the other, too focused on her hunt for food to celebrate power. “I really wanted that sex candle.”
She found the can opener and waved it at him, then pulled out three forks and went back to the pantry for more cans. She was hungry, but she wasn’t rude. As she opened them, Court found them in the kitchen, a look of pure bliss on his face.
“There’s a shower.”
Joely handed him a fork and an open can. “There is also a feast.”
“Wait, damn it.” Austin pulled the cans out of both their hands. “These are thirty years old. There is no way that’s safe to eat.”
Joely yanked back her can and sniffed. “Smells fine to me. Think about this cabin. The map. Your miraculous ability to catch fowl with your bare hands. Not to mention that after two days in the jungle my feet are still blister free. I choose to believe this is meant for us to eat. Eden has ways we can never understand.” She took the fork back and shoved a cold ravioli in her mouth, praying she was right and daring him to take her food away. When she swallowed, she smiled. “It’s good.”
Court grabbed his can gratefully, winking at her before digging in. Austin grumbled, but it didn’t take him long to give in to temptation. If they died, they’d all go together.
They wandered around as they ate their cold dinner in silence. There was a bedroom, a bathroom, a laundry room and a storage room that made her choke on her perfectly preserved dinner. “Guys?”
Austin was there first, and he laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed before letting it drop away. “Maybe Court is right. This is something out of fiction. Were they preparing for the apocalypse?”
Rows of toothpaste, canned goods, shampoo and soap. Bag after bag of beans and pasta and cleaning supplies. Court laughed out loud when he saw it. “This is my idea of a vacation. If only they had satellite.”
Joely was still staring at the shelves. “It makes sense. If they were living here they would need to stock up whenever they could. It’s not like there’s a grocery store around the corner.”
“Why didn’t they take it with them?”
Because they didn’t need it, and someday someone might come to the island who did
.
Joely knew that was the reason without needing any proof. This was Eden’s influence. She saw it all the time. The people the island gave to had an instinctive, no doubt subconscious, desire to pay it forward. To give back. To help Eden make another dream come true. Mr. V had done that in spades and, though he thought his reasons selfish, the ripples he’d made would affect the island long after he was gone and the resort was in ruins.
Thank you for this. It is exactly what we needed.
Now, if she could only find out what Austin was keeping from her, she’d be happy. She chewed the last ravioli and shook her head.
Happy
was probably the wrong word.
She walked back to the living room and stared blankly at the photographs, lost in thought. She had one more night with them. The resort was half a day’s walk from here according to the map. If they started early, they would make it back in time for dinner.
One more night. Court had promised her a ménage and Austin had… He’d been trying to tell her something since yesterday, she realized. She’d stopped him then, unwilling to have reality intrude on their time together. She wanted to stop him again. Wanted to enjoy every second of the time they had left together.
She didn’t want the man of her dreams to have a wife and three children back at home. That would break her heart.
Court appeared in front of her, taking the empty can from her and setting it on the coffee table. He slid his fingers through hers and she frowned. “I thought you’d be in the shower by now.”
“The water hasn’t had time to heat yet.” He pulled her behind him and walked to the back door of the cabin. “Besides, the shower can wait—this can’t.”
He opened the door, then called to Austin over his shoulder. “Man, you are really going to want to see this.”
She glared at his back as he dragged her outside. “What is it? What could possibly be more important than…” Her eyes went wide, and her mouth opened and closed in shock. “That can’t be real. Who
were
these people?”
They had hot springs. In their backyard. The size of a small pool, with steam rising from it.
Court let go of her hand and tore off his shirt. “Smart people. Angels. People who knew the only thing better than having a pool in your backyard was having a natural hot spring in your backyard. Don’t question the island, Mary Ann. Just get naked.”
Her aching muscles demanded she strip, but she was grumbling the entire time. “I’m not questioning the island, I’m judging it harshly for showing off. I’m also wondering why the cabin that has everything we need doesn’t also have a four-wheeler or something that we could get home on.”
Court watched her undress like she was unwrapping a gift meant for him, then he picked her up and walked her to the edge of the water. “Because we don’t need to go back right now, Joely. We need to stay right where we are.”
She sank into the water with a shuddering moan. “Oh God, you’re right. This is where we need to be.”
He pulled her against him and she gasped, her hard nipples scraping against the hair on his chest. “
This
is where we need to be,” he corrected roughly. “And you and Austin need to get in a better damn mood in a hurry so I can spend the rest of the night making you come.”
She leaned against him, sighing when his hands came up to massage her shoulders. “Blame him. He’s the one brooding and hiding things. Where is he anyway?”
“Probably brooding. He’ll be along. No one’s perfect, Joely, though Austin does his best. Mr. Do The Wright Thing, they used to call him in college. That’s our man, the man that saved my life and never let me thank him. The one who didn’t toss me out of the plane when I showed up to throw a monkey wrench into his carefully laid plans.
I
would have.”