by Eva Pohler
Chapter Two: A New Friend
As the jeep topped the ridge, the resort came into view at the bottom of the canyon. It consisted of a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a large central building surrounded by fifty or so smaller, single cabanas, which reminded Daphne of Tiki huts.
The jeep pulled up to the cabana marked with the number one on a bamboo post. Hortense Gray climbed out and crossed onto the patio in front of the unit, where there were two rockers and a table. So far so good. The bright red door where the doctor stooped with a key was flanked by two windows. The wind was milder down here in the canyon. Roger carried in Daphne’s bags behind Dr. Gray and then returned to the jeep. Daphne and Cam followed the doctor inside.
The unit was small but nicely decorated, cool, and comfortable. To the left was a queen bed with a rich red duvet that seemed to invite Daphne to crawl beneath it and rest. To the right were two upholstered chairs in stripes of red and gold with a coffee table in front of them. Perfect reading chairs, she thought. (She had brought along two books that had always been on her bucket list: Gone with the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird.) Straight ahead, was a wooden armoire, and above it was a painting of Hercules slaying the Hydra.
A bit intense, but whatever.
“Do you have any questions before we leave you to settle in?” Dr. Gray asked.
“Do we get Wifi out here?”
“No, not yet,” the doctor replied.
“Cell reception?”
“Sorry.”
“Television?”
Dr. Gray smiled. “Yes. That we do have. I believe there are forty-one channels.”
At least there was some connection to civilization, Daphne thought.
“Oh, one more thing,” Daphne said, and Hortense Gray turned from the door to look at her again. “When do those therapeutic games you mentioned begin?”
“Soon, dear.”
Before Daphne could ask more about them, the doctor added, “Now make yourself at home. I’ll see you at dinner.” With that, the doctor left the room.
Daphne looked at Cam with narrowed eyes, but he kissed her cheek and said, “I’ll be right back. Just going to unpack.”
As upset as Daphne felt over Cam springing this surprise therapy on her, she hoped to carry out her plan within the next couple of days. She went to the kitchenette to open the drawers. Yes, there were knives. She hadn’t seen kitchen knives in months. She took one from the drawer and brought it closer to her eyes, running a finger along the blade. When the time was right, this would do.
When she returned the blade to its drawer, the hair on the back of her neck prickled as she heard someone whisper her name. “Daphne.”
She looked around the kitchen and the other rooms and saw no one. What the heck? She knew she was tired from the plane and boat rides and still freaked out about what had happened in the valley, and the wind was blowing a palm against her room. Maybe it was only the wind she had heard.
After she found her bikini and purple bathing suit cover and dug out her small case so she could brush her teeth and comb her hair, the doorbell rang.
“That was fast,” she said, opening the door, but the guy standing on the other side was not Cam.
“Oh,” she said, stuffing her hands into her bathing suit cover pockets. “Sorry, I was expecting someone else.” She felt the blood rush to her cheeks.
The man grinned. He was taller than Cam and handsome, tan and nicely built, maybe mid-twenties, with golden brown eyes and dark curly hair on his head and bare chest. He had a cleft in his chin and dimples when he smiled. He wore swim trunks and sandals and a towel across one shoulder.
“Can I help you?” Daphne asked.
“I’m behind you in Unit Two and wanted to introduce myself. I’m Stan.”
Daphne fished her hand out of her pocket and awkwardly took his. “Nice to meet you. I’m Daphne.”
“Hey, Stan, how’s it going?” Cam walked up to the door. “Looks like you’ve met Daph. I was just going to show her the beach.”
“I was heading over myself. I’ll catch you there.”
“See you in a bit, then.”
“See you,” Daphne said.
Cam came in and Daphne closed the door. She looked him over. She hadn’t seen him in a bathing suit in years, and he’d filled out nicely.
“Wow,” he said, giving her a once over. “You look hotter than the twin suns of Tatooine.”
A sharp laugh rose from her throat. “Oh, God. I’d thought I’d heard the last of your Star Wars jokes.”
“Glad to see I haven’t lost my touch,” he said. “It still makes you laugh like a little girl.”
“You must have missed my eye rolling. Let me do it for you once more.” She rolled her eyes with exaggeration.
“So what do you think of the place so far?” he asked.
“You mean except for the girl who might be dead in the valley?”
His face sobered. “The naval guards are looking into it. We did what we could.”
“You don’t seem too upset about it. You do believe me, don’t you? Or do you think I imagined it?”
“I believe you.” He squeezed her shoulders, making her heart hammer against her ribs. “But we did what we could.”
She slipped on a pair of flip-flops and followed him from the room.
“Do you think Dr. Gray and Roger were messing with us?” she asked.
Cam kicked a stone from the sidewalk. “What do you mean?”
“What happened in the valley was just so odd, you know? Like a set-up.”
“But why would they do that?”
“You tell me.”
They walked down the sidewalk, past the pool, where a few sun-bathers lounged on the deck, and past the main building, where others were going in and out, and continued toward a steep cliff edge of the canyon. Built along the cliff edge were several flights of wooden steps, like the ones they climbed from the pier at Prisoners Harbor.
“More steps,” she said.
“I promise it’s worth it.”
As they reached the summit, the wind blew Daphne’s hair every which way, so she pulled it back into a ponytail, using the band she wore on her wrist.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, looking out over the sea.
The beach below was indeed pristine, with soft white sand along the shoreline, foamy waves gently lapping up and back, gulls flying overhead, and as they made their way down a few more steps to a boardwalk, she couldn’t stop saying, “It’s so beautiful.”
There were no boats in the U-shaped cove. To their left was an endless hill of yellow poppies rising up toward the horizon, and to their right, chalky bluffs spotted with sparse mounds of grass. Below were the white sandy beach and the bluest water Daphne had ever seen. The waves were gentle, inviting. Sitting on the sand with his feet in the water, sandals and towel beside him, was Stan, throwing a stone into the sea. There were no other people around.
When they reached him, Stan said, “There you are. I was about to go in without you.”
Daphne took off her flip-flops and stood where the water reached her feet. “It’s so cold! Oh my crap, that’s cold!” She stepped away.
“It’s refreshing,” Stan said.
“Exhilarating,” Cam added. “I’m going in.”
Cam ran into the sea. Soon, he was far out and in deep to his chest, jumping up and down like a big ape, beckoning her in.
“He’s crazy,” Daphne said. “I think I’ll just bathe in the sun awhile.” She pulled off her cover and sat in her bikini in the sand beside Stan.
He climbed to his feet and said, “Oh, no. You’re not getting away with that.” He picked her up in his arms, despite her screams of protest, and carried her into the water.
“Stop! This is freezing!” She found herself hoping he wouldn’t put her down. His arms, his chest, his chin and mouth so near hers, were intoxicating. “Eeeh!” she squealed.
Cam swam over to them, glistening in the sun with the water dripping down his hair, fa
ce, and shoulders. He looked like a golden god. “Hey! Give her back!”
Cam reached out for her, and every part of her skin touched by the two guys broke out in goose bumps. She was sandwiched between them and hyper-aware of their skin on hers when Cam ripped her from Stan’s arms, lifted her, and tossed her into the icy water.
She was laughing hysterically when she popped back up. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d laughed. Really laughed. Interacting with people wasn’t something she did much anymore, but this was okay, wasn’t it? Kara wouldn’t begrudge her one last hurrah before Daphne joined her in the afterlife.
Before thoughts of Kara sobered her, she pushed them down and returned her focus to the boys. Stan splashed her, laughing, and then swam away. Cam picked her up and heaved her in the water, and when she resurfaced, his legs were pointing to the sky, making her laugh again. They used to do handstands in her backyard pool with Joey and Kara, and they’d make her mother judge. Her mother would sit on the white wrought iron chair in the shade with a book in her hand and her frosted hair pulled back in the headband she still wore every day of her life. Now, Daphne went down and pressed her hands against the cold sand, wobbling a bit as she worked to keep her legs together and point her toes. Before she’d mastered her form, she could feel Cam tickling the bottoms of her feet, and she was awash with childhood memories. Happy ones. She came up laughing.
Then she climbed onto Cam’s shoulders like she used to for chicken fights, back when it was always Joey and Kara against her and Cam. Then Cam fell back and pulled her under with him. The joy surged through her. She was elated that her final days would be happy ones. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing at all. There was just this moment, right now, and nothing else. No horrible past, no dreadful future. She felt free.
They played for a while longer before Cam challenged her to a race back to shore, which he won.
“If we were swimming, I’d ‘ve won hands down!” she said.
“That’s why it was a foot race,” he said. He took her hand. “Come on.”
They walked along the beach to the bluffs and back and then stretched out on the warm sand beneath the sun to dry. Daphne lay on her stomach on top of her swim cover. Stan later came and joined them, lying on his back beside Daphne, breathing heavily from his swim. She watched the rise and fall of his chest until it slowed down to normal. Then she closed her eyes.
As nice as it felt lying between these two gorgeous guys, Daphne missed Brock. He was as tall as Stan but thicker, with hair as dark as his, but not as curly, and he had the bluest eyes. His lips were soft, pouty, and thick. They were luscious when they swept across hers and really sweet when he smiled.
She turned over to watch the gulls and the waves, trying to forget.
On their way back, the three of them went to the main building and played a game of pool. Daphne played on both teams, since she wasn’t that good, until she and Stan won and gloated over Cam with their high fives. Then Stan left to rest before dinner, and she and Cam played ping pong until two guys and a girl about their age came in to play billiards. Cam briefly introduced them, and then she and Cam decided to check out the pool.
It was an Olympic-size pool. At one end, it formed an “L” where it bent to a deeper end with a diving board and water slide. A hundred or so white loungers and chairs with tables were lined up along the deck, straight and orderly. Only two were occupied by sun-bathers. The water in the pool was clean and, presently, empty.
Cam took Daphne’s hand and led her to the edge of the pool, gently at first, and then with force.
“What are you up to?” she asked.
“Trust me.” He pulled her into his arms and tumbled the both of them over the edge.
When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she saw below her: a glass bottom revealing a sea cave with dozens of colorful fish and coral. Daphne swam up for a breath and then dove back down, overwhelmed by the beauty and the novelty of this aquarium-like pool. Cam took her hand and pointed at a moray eel wedged in the wall of the cave. Sea urchins waved their colorful tendrils as they fed from a bed of kelp. Daphne felt incredibly happy and in awe of this amazing place as she and Cam each took another breath and submerged, hand in hand and gazing at the sea-life beneath them. They resurfaced and returned to the pool edge, holding on to the stone deck while their bodies dangled in the water.
“It’s incredible.” She gulped air and dove down for one more look. Then she joined Cam on the deck loungers to dry in the sun.
She turned to study him while his eyes were closed. Although he had filled out, she could still see the little boy that had been her friend for so long. She missed those days when her brother and sister and Cam and she shared carefree days together. Tears threatened to run down her cheeks, and before she could bat them away, Cam opened his eyes and saw her looking at him.
“You okay?”
She giggled and sniffed. “Just overwhelmed.” She couldn’t tell him the whole truth—about the immense relief she felt over the fact that she would never have to face her parents’ disappointed faces again. No more past. No more future. It was liberating. “This whole place is amazing. Thank you for telling me about it. I can’t believe my parents let me come.”
“You’re welcome.” He gave her a sweet smile. “I’m glad you’re here.”
She felt mixed emotions threatening to wash over her, and she didn’t want to cry, so she asked, “So what’s the scoop on Stan?”
“He’s been here a few weeks now, I think. Came from Arizona. He goes to a university there. Studies history and anthropology, I think. Why, do you like him?”
She stood up and punched his arm. “Oh, shut up! Come on.” She pulled him from the lounger. “Take me back to my room so I can get ready for dinner.” As they walked along the sidewalk, hand in hand, she asked, “So when do the therapeutic games begin?”
“How do you know they haven’t already?”
She squinted. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Was the incident in the valley a game?
“Nothing.” He looked down at his feet.
As they continued on to her unit, he said, “Just remember, no matter what happens here, no matter what you may think later, this is a good place.”
“Cam, you’re scaring me.”
He sighed. “I’m trying to do the exact opposite. I’m asking you to trust me.”
