by Kristy Tate
“Do they even have a ranger’s station here?” Adrienne hoped her voice didn’t sound as testy as she felt, but she didn’t like the way the woman was leaning against Nick.
“I’m sure they have a first-aid kit where we bought the tram tickets,” Nick said in a soothing voice.
Adrienne trailed after them, fighting her irritation. So what if that beautiful woman in ridiculous shoes was making goo-goo eyes at Nick? Someday he would marry a lovely woman—because he was so wonderful, he deserved nothing less—and he and his wife would make gorgeous babies. And he, because he was so good, would adore his wife and his children. He would never be tempted by a Therese. He wouldn’t flirt with the girls in the office or the interns.
Adrienne’s pace slowed. Even though Nick and the stiletto-she-wolf weren’t galloping up the hill by any means, Adrienne lagged behind as fatigue caught up with her. What am I doing here? she wondered. What am I doing with my life?
She reminded herself that she was supposed to be helping Nick shoot YouTube videos. Looking around, she spotted a trail that led into the jungle. “Huh, Nick? I’m going to see if this is a good place for your video.”
He shot her a glance. “Okay, but don’t wander too far off the trail. I’ll pick up my guitar at the station and be right back.”
She nodded, wondering why it hurt so much to have Nick leave her behind, especially since it had been her idea. On a small knoll, she spotted a boulder protruding from the ground. She sat. Her clothes and hair, still damp, clung to her. The rock was hard. She wondered how she had come to this place in her life. What had made Seb look outside their marriage? Had she spent too much time at the office? Would it have been different if they’d had children?
Thank goodness they’d never been blessed…but why hadn’t they even tried? Would a child have melded them together? Or would she now be a single mother? Or would she have been a single mother from the very beginning, with or without a divorce? She suspected the latter. And if her suspicions were true—as Seb had proved them to be with a hundred percent accuracy so far—why was she even trying to hold onto something that he had let go of a long time ago?
I made a vow before God.
God will understand, Aubrey and both of her parents had argued. But none of them believed in God. Not really. Not like she did. Not like Seb. A small sob broke from her lips and she brushed away a tear. Giving up Seb was like giving up her faith, because he was the one who had introduced her to religion.
“Adrienne?” Nick called out.
She stood and dried her eyes. “Over here.”
Nick pushed through the ferns and jungle leaves. “This is a perfect spot!”
“Really?” She glanced around. The tree’s canopy was so thick only snatches of sunlight filtered through. “It’s a smidge gloomy.” Or were those just her thoughts? “Do you think it would be better if we could get the roar of the falls in the background?”
“We could try it here, then find another place if you want.” He studied her and she flinched away from his gaze. “You okay?” he asked. He swore softly. “I’m being selfish, aren’t I? Dragging you around, making you shoot videos of me.”
“No, not at all!” She put her hand on his arm. “It’s not that. I love that we’re doing this.”
He stepped closer. “Are you sure? Because we don’t have to do this.” He waved his arm. “We can go home, or at least you can. I need to stay in Uruguay. I promised Tio Jose I would help him train Ximena.”
“How long will that take?” Why had she assumed Nick would go home when she did?
He shrugged. “I’m not in any hurry to get back. The Bar is doing fine without me.”
But would she? To hide her confusion, she fumbled in her bag for her phone. “So…are you ready to sing?”
Nick glanced over his shoulder toward the trail. “Just a sec. Let me check.” He brushed through the foliage and returned a few minutes later. “There’s people out there. Let’s give them a few minutes to disperse. Hey, you never finished your story.”
“My story?” she echoed blankly.
“Yeah, the girl who went over the falls. I assume there was a happy ending.”
Adrienne sucked in a deep breath and shrugged. “Sort of. The girl was able to warn her village, but the snake was enraged to find the people had fled to higher country. It searched for them, but the god of thunder rose from the crashing water and struck the beast dead with a single lightning bolt. The snake’s body blocked the river’s flow, and water began rushing directly into the god of thunder’s home behind the falls. The god evacuated his family, including the girl, and they created a home in the sky. Now the girl can watch her people every day, but she can never again visit.”
“Bittersweet,” Nick said.
“Yeah,” Adrienne agreed, thinking of parallels to her own marriage. She could love again, create a new home, but she could never go back to the person she’d been before she had loved—and lost—Seb.
“Are you ready?”
The question startled her, then she realized he was talking about his video. “Sure,” she said, matching his grin. “Let’s do it.”
#
Patagonia has a windswept beauty. Even in the height of summer, the clear air held the promise of frosty nights and crisp days. Nick chose the Seno Otway colony because it didn’t require a boat ride but it was a nearly fifty-kilometer drive from the Punta Arenas airport. He didn’t mind, though. Not as long as he had Adrienne beside him.
They passed a few cars, herds of alpacas, and flocks of flamingos. The birds’ startling pink was almost as surprising as the crystal blue sky.
“I can’t get over the flamingos,” Nick said.
“I know. Me neither,” Adrienne said. “I always think of them being tropical creatures.” She glanced at the tour book they’d picked up at the airport. “It would be amazing if we could see their mating ritual, but according to this, it’s really unlikely. Seems they like their privacy.”
“I get that,” Nick said, his gaze leaving the narrow track of road and sweeping over the undulating, barren terrain.
“What are you going to sing at the preserve?” Adrienne asked.
“‘Birdland’?”
“Like from Manhattan Transfer? That’s a change for you, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “Sing it with me?”
“I don’t know the words!”
“Just repeat after me.” Nick loved listening to Adrienne sing. She didn’t have a strong voice, but it was clear, sweet, and naturally high—all adjectives that could be used to describe her as well as her voice.
Anger and frustration rushed through him. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, wondering how long he could perpetuate this charade. He poured his heart into the song, singing one line at a time, listening to her echo before providing the next line. Slowly, they pieced the song together, an awkward duet in the beginning, but by the end, they were belting out the words and even occasionally harmonizing.
If only life could be as easy as a song.
Nick pulled the car into the nearly deserted gravel parking lot. A wooden fence surrounded the heath. They hadn’t walked very far along the trail before Adrienne clutched his arm. “Oh look! There’s one!”
A black and white penguin stood on a small bluff staring at them.
Adrienne dug her camera out of her bag to take his picture. “This might be the only one we see,” she told Nick.
He waited while she snapped about ten photos of the patient bird. The creature stood so regally, it was almost as if he were posing.
They followed the path to the top of the hill where they both hesitated, overcome by the sight of hundreds of penguins. The birds paid the human visitors little attention, but waddled around, doing their thing.
“Amazing,” Adrienne breathed.
“Yes,” Nick agreed. He loved the expression on her face much more than he appreciated the birds.
They stayed on the path, wandering through the bluffs and tufts
of tall grass. After a short distance, they found a bench overlooking the beach and sat to watch. Nick drew his guitar case onto his lap, unlatched it, and pulled out the instrument. He tuned the strings and plucked out a tune.
One penguin let out a squawk.
Nick twisted around to look at the bird as it stood on a small rise, barking.
Adrienne laughed. “That sound is why they’re nicknamed jackass penguins.”
Nick’s hand hovered over the guitar. “He doesn’t like my music.”
“Don’t take it personally.”
“Everyone’s a critic,” Nick grumbled as the bird continued to complain.
Suddenly, hundreds of birds began to bark.
“Oh look.” Adrienne pointed at the water. “I think they’re calling their mates. See, the other penguins are returning.”
Nick laughed. “I think it’s the changing of the babysitters.”
“It’s so cool that they just know what to do,” Adrienne said. The tone in her voice made Nick wonder if she was like him, wishing someone would hand out a guidebook on where to go next.
“I can’t sing with all this noise,” he said.
“But it would be really cool if you could find some way to use it.”
“They’ll probably stop in a few minutes,” Nick predicted. He picked out a song on his guitar, waiting for the cacophony to die down. And eventually it did. He sang a couple of songs, including “Birdland.”
#
The next day they drove out to the Torres del Paine National Park. It was even more isolated and desolate than the penguin preserve. The Towers of Paine loomed in the distance.
“The Towers of Paine,” Nick murmured. “Who thought of that name?”
“Mr. Paine, probably,” Adrienne said, checking her guidebook. “We’ll stay tonight in the hostel?”
Nick nodded but cast a worried glance at the clouds gathering over the mountain peaks as they drove deeper into the park and further from civilization.
After they parked near the trailhead, Adrienne didn’t have any hesitation but tucked the guidebook into her bag and strode down the path. With every step he took, the temptation to kiss her grew. The need to share his feelings swelled inside him.
Thunder boomed in the sunny sky.
“What was that?” Adrienne asked over her shoulder. “It can’t be rain.”
The guidebook had warned that the weather in Patagonia could change in an instant. Even during the summer when the days were warm and endless, the winds could reach up to a hundred and twenty-five miles an hour.
Thunder crashed again.
“I think it must be the sound of the glaciers cracking,” Nick said.
Adrienne’s eyes lit up and she increased her pace. Nick followed. The path meandered through forests of trees he didn’t recognize. As the way grew rockier, he felt less sure about nearly everything. His pretense of being a brotherly friend became increasingly hard to shoulder.
Ahead of him, Adrienne sang a love song. She was waiting for him to join her, but he couldn’t make himself do it. His boots grew heavier until he felt like he had bricks strapped onto his feet. His guitar, which normally felt like an extension of his arm, seemed to weigh a hundred pounds.
The hike went on forever, but eventually they reached the crest that overlooked a surreal blue lake.
“I’ve never seen anything that color before,” Adrienne said, her eyes almost as bright as the glaciers. “This has to be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
He wanted to tell her that she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, but he bit back the words, knowing that if he ever dared to cross that line, their camaraderie would tumble into awkwardness.
But just then a giant condor sailed above them with a loud cry.
Startled, Adrienne jumped and landed against Nick’s chest. His arms instinctively went around her and they each bobbled for balance. He found his feet first and steadied her.
She twisted so that she faced him and grabbed his arms. For a moment, they stood inches apart, her eyes laughing and looking up at him. He took a mental picture, knowing that her proximity was fleeting and rare.
“I love you.” The words seemed to burst out of him, unbidden and unplanned. But once they were said, he didn’t regret them. He knew that he should, but he couldn’t.
Confusion flickered across her face.
“It’s wrong, I know, but I can’t help it,” he said.
“No.” She pulled away. “You can’t mean that.”
“It’s true,” he said, letting her go.
“Traveling like we have, maybe you’ve developed—”
“It’s not new,” he interrupted her. “And yes, these last few days have been amazing, but I loved you long before all of this.” He waved his arms at the glacial lake. “I think I fell in love with you the first day I met you. When Seb brought you home.”
He hated himself for mentioning Seb, but he had to.
“Nick—”
He interrupted her again. “I get that you don’t feel the same. It’s okay.”
“Is it really?” The crease between her eyebrows that he loved so much returned. “Because I don’t think so. You’ve spoiled everything. This isn’t fair to either of us.”
“I know this is where I should say I’m sorry, but I’m not.” She moved to walk away from him, but he took her arm. “I’m tired of lying and trying to hide my feelings.”
She whirled back to face him, her eyes sparking with anger and unshed tears. “We were having such a good time!”
He cupped her face. “Don’t you see? We could have a lifetime—”
She wrenched away from him, stumbling down the hillside.
He went after her.
CHAPTER 5
Adrienne hadn’t noticed the gathering clouds. She mistakenly thought the first raindrop was her own tear. Anger rushed through her as she stormed down the hill. She knew Nick with his long legs could overtake her in minutes, but the fact that he kept his distance reminded her that he was a good person. But she was still angry that he’d ruined their easy camaraderie.
She reached the trailhead but halted when she spotted the car’s flickering dome light. “Oh no,” she breathed. The passenger-side door hung slightly ajar because the seatbelt had gotten caught in it. And she couldn’t blame this on Nick, because she had been the one on that side of the car. “Oh dear,” she murmured.
Nick caught up to her and quickly assessed the situation. He pressed the fob, but the doors remained locked. “Bad sign,” he muttered.
Adrienne climbed in through the passenger side and unlocked the driver’s side door for Nick. He settled behind the steering wheel and inserted the key in the ignition. The dome light went out.
Nick turned the key and the engine made a weak growling noise.
“Can we call anyone?” Adrienne asked.
Nick took out his phone. “I don’t get reception. Do you?”
Adrienne checked hers. “No. Maybe someone will come by.”
“It’s hard to tell because of the midnight sun,” Nick said, “but it’s actually close to ten o’clock. Besides, we’re like a hundred miles from anything.”
Adrienne shivered. “Maybe not. I thought we passed a cabin.”
Just then, lightning flashed. Fat raindrops fell. Thunder crashed and the wind whipped the trees’ branches.
“Which way?” Nick asked.
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to find it,” Adrienne said. “And, for all I know, it was a porta potty.”
“Which would be disgusting, but not as bad as spending the night in a storm.”
“We could sleep in the car,” Adrienne suggested, but she knew she would be much more comfortable than poor Nick, who was at least eight inches taller than her.
“I’ll go and see if I can find it,” Nick said.
She grabbed his arm. “I don’t want to be separated.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“They have pumas here!” Panic caug
ht in her voice.
“Then come with me. We’ll look for fifteen minutes. If we haven’t found it by then, we’ll come back to the car.”
She silently agreed and stepped out of the car to face the elements. How many miles to the next town? Twenty? Alone, dark, cold, a storm—this was the stuff of nightmares. She tromped up the trail and was relieved to spot the roofline of a small building poking up out of the trees’ canopy.
Nick spotted it, too, and jogged toward the porch. He rattled the door. “Locked.” He threw the word over his shoulder before trying the window. It slid open.
Adrienne let out a sigh of relief and hurried to take shelter on the cabin’s small porch while Nick climbed in through the window and came to the door to let her in.
“We’re trespassing.” She stood in the doorway, surveying the small cabin. A large bed dominated the single room. She took one of the two chairs at the lone table. Someone had stacked firewood and newspapers near the hearth, and a jar of matches sat on the mantel. The kitchen consisted of some wooden shelves stocked with canned foods and a few utensils. Glancing at the bed, she saw that it was as clean as the rest of the room. A large quilt, fat pillows… She looked away quickly and met Nick’s eyes.
Nick plucked the jar off the mantel and muttered “Thank you” to whoever had come before them as he shook a couple of matches into his hand.
“I wonder who owns this place,” Adrienne said.
“Maybe the park department,” Nick suggested without turning around. He wadded up some newspaper and shoved it between the logs in the grate before striking a match. Minutes later, a flame glowed.
Nick peeled off his wet shirt, but not his drenched, mud-splattered jeans. She’d seen him in a bathing suit countless times, but somehow, this time was very different. His hair was longer and curled along his neck. Watching his back muscles work as he poked at the flame, she wondered if he’d been working out.
“I’d rather be trespassing than wet.” He gazed into the fire. “My feelings aside, you really should hang up your clothes to dry. You must be cold.”
She ignored his suggestion and shifted her gaze to the fireplace while he coaxed the tiny flame into a roaring fire. A pot hung from a hook.
