“Lacey, what’s going on?”
She wriggles her lips, deliberating. Finally she says, “It’s not my place to tell you this so please just forget I told you. But, Tai had a sister.”
I blink. Had a sister?
“He doesn’t talk about her. No one in the family does. Her room in their house is still preserved, hasn’t been touched since the day she died.”
“Oh my god,” I say softly, my heart aching for him. “I had no idea.”
“I know you didn’t. Like I said, he doesn’t talk about her. Ever.” Quietly she adds, “I wish he would.”
“What happened?”
Lacey exhales sadly, her eyes going to Tai as he swims further and further away. “She was sixteen. They were at Piha beach, it’s near Auckland. Beautiful place, but dangerous swimming conditions. His sister was a surfer, almost pro. Really, really good. She was out there for a competition and a wave completely knocked her out. Tai was there watching, he was a part-time lifeguard so he had the skills. He ran out into the water to save her, as did a few other people when it became apparent that she was drowning, but…”
Fuck.
I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. “My god. That’s horrible.”
She nods. “You’d think it would have scared Tai from the ocean, but he still went back to being a lifeguard, still got into sailing. Sometimes I feel like he thinks he’s made some kind of bargain with the ocean, at least there have been one or two occasions where he’s gotten drunk and said something like that.”
I stare numbly at Tai as he almost reaches the boat, looking so small in the water compared to it. “He shouldn’t be doing that. It feels dangerous.”
“He’ll do it anyway. He won’t give up on that ship. Atarangi. That was his sister’s name.”
I glance at her, my eyes wide. “No… He named the boat after her?”
Lacey nods. “That’s why I said to let him be. He’s obviously going through something right now. We all are but, I think he might be taking it worse than any of us.”
“So why should I let him be? Right now he needs us.”
She gives me a wry look. “I know you don’t know him like I do, but you at least get that he’s the strong silent type who wants to be left alone. You know what happens when you get in his way. And,” she pauses, “I think you’re the last person he wants to talk to right now.”
Because this is all my fault.
I close my eyes and let the guilt wash over me. I’ve been trying to ignore it but that’s probably the worst thing you can do.
Lacey puts her hand on my shoulder. “I don’t blame you for this. Neither does Richard. Everything was a mess and accidents happen.” She nods in the direction of Tai. “But he’s going to need some time. He’s reactive even on a good day, and right now we all need to keep a clear head. So just stay clear of him, okay? Don’t meddle, don’t get in his way.”
“Just let him stay mad at me and blame me for wrecking his boat named after his dead sister? For almost getting us all killed?” I spit out indignantly.
“Yes,” she says. “Live with it and let him live with it. You’ll know when the time is right.” She starts walking off in the direction of the cliffs.
“Where are you going?” I call out after her.
“Want to see the cliffs up close,” she says. “I’m curious about the fauna growing on it.”
Ugh. I really don’t want to be alone right now, especially after what I just learned about his sister, but it seems that’s what everyone wants. Tai, Lacey, Richard, they’re all off on their own and figuring things out, and here I am not wanting to be alone with my thoughts.
At least you’re off the ship, the voice in my head speaks up, the one that so desperately wants to focus on the positive, even though there is no positive other than the fact that we’re not dead.
And yeah, at least we’re off the ship, but now we’re stuck together on what looks to be a deserted island.
Or is it?
I open up my bag, which is completely ruined and saggy, and vigorously dump the contents out onto the sand. Naturally, everything is soaked. I’ve got a pair of jean shorts, a gauzy knee-length skirt, a bikini, several pairs of clean underwear, a bra (why did I pack a bra?), a sports bra (did I think I was going to the gym?), leggings, a flannel shirt, a peasant top, a tank top, two t-shirts, flip flops, a pair of socks, a small makeup bag, a candle (what?), a paperback, nail polish, tweezers, sunscreen, a baseball cap, sunglasses, my vibrator (don’t even ask), and finally, my phone and charger in a Ziploc pouch.
The phone and charger seem to be okay. Granted, there’s no way to charge the charger but at least the phone can get one jump out of it.
Excitedly I take the phone out and turn it on.
It works!
“Yassss,” I cry out at the sight of my now familiar wallpaper, a sunset shot I took during the wedding.
But there’s no signal at all. I expected that, but I’m still disappointed.
Still, I open up the maps and try to find our location.
The GPS is slow and there’s a lot of grey grid as it tries to load. I can see the blinking blue dot, I just can’t see where it’s located.
I wait for the map to load, occasionally stealing a glance at Tai. He’s reached the boat, standing on the reef to try and get aboard. Normally I would tell someone off that’s standing on a reef because they’re damaging rare coral that may never grow back again, but he’s too far to hear me and I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate it. I’m also sure he knows that himself.
I glance back at the phone, but the grid is still loading. I carefully place it on top of my bag and then set about laying everything out in the sun so it can dry. I make sure to hide the vibrator inside one of my reef shoes. I’m honestly not sure why I packed that, guess I’m not really using my head during a crisis.
Once I’m done, I check my phone again. It’s loaded, showing our location.
Which shows a long blob of an island with no name. No roads or any other markings either.
It’s rather phallic looking. Rounded at one end, like two humps melded together, skinnier at the other, widening just a little at the tip.
Dong Island.
Doesn’t really matter what its real name is now—it’s Dong Island.
“What are you doing?” Lacey asks me, trudging through the sand toward me. “You have a phone?”
“Yeah, I have a phone. It’s my most prized possession.”
“You’re supposed to only pack essentials,” she says and then eyes my massive spread of clothing, looking aghast. “Daisy, did you pack your entire wardrobe?”
“No,” I reply testily. I had to leave a lot of clothes behind. “I’m sorry I didn’t want to spend days at sea in a raft wearing the same clothes and stinking up the place. And why wouldn’t I take my phone? How is that not an essential?”
“Is there a signal?”
“Does it matter?”
“What use is it then?”
I gasp. “Are you kidding? Please don’t tell me you used your phone only for phone calls.”
She narrows her eyes. “I also write emails. Which is worthless if you don’t have a connection.”
“Well for your information, the GPS on my maps works and I found the island, so there.”
I thrust my phone out and she takes it from me, peering at it.
“You’re burning, by the way,” I say, grabbing the sunscreen beside me and offering it to her.
She sighs dramatically and we swap, phone for the sunscreen.
“Why did our mother have to have such fair skin?” she whines as she slops some on.
“You saw the island, right?”
Dong Island.
“I did.” She hands me back the sunscreen and I quickly slap some on myself. “There’s no name. Nothing useful.”
“Did you zoom out though? It shows that we’re right at the bottom of the Lau Islands.”
“Tai already mentioned that.”
She gives me a dry look. “Want to get rid of us that bad?”
“Worth a shot,” I say, even though I know those other islands are probably hundreds of miles away.
“We need to explore this island,” she says.
Dong Island.
“I agree,” I tell her, getting to my feet. “But we should probably wait for Tai to return.”
Lacey makes an impatient huff. I have a feeling she’s trying to avoid Richard.
“Why don’t you help me make an SOS sign out of shells and stuff,” I tell her.
“You go right ahead. I’m going for a walk.”
“More fauna catch your eye?”
You can’t ignore your husband forever.
So, while she goes for another walk, I go about trying to build an SOS sign big enough to see from an airplane. Unfortunately math isn’t my strong suit.
With Lacey heading down the beach, and Tai standing on the wreck, I head back into the jungle toward “camp.”
Richard is riffling through Lacey’s bag and hanging stuff on branches.
“Hey Richard,” I say.
He jumps, lets out a high yelp.
“Sorry,” I apologize. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Oh, it’s not your fault,” he says, hand to his chest. “With my vision limited, my senses are on overdrive attempting to compensate.”
Uh huh. “How are you feeling?”
“Still a bit of a headache but I had some water, feeling a trifle better now.” He pauses. “Where’s Lacey?” he asks lightly, trying to sound blasé.
“She’s looking at plants. Tai swam back to the boat.”
“He did!”
“It’s still there, stuck on the reef.” I peer at him. He looks a little pale. “Maybe you should get out of the bush and go get some sun or something. Nothing will dry in here.”
He gives a quick shake of his head. Probably still mad at his wife for her lying about needing glasses thing.
“You think you know someone,” he starts.
“Listen,” I say, quickly talking over him, not wanting to be dragged into their first marital quarrel. “How big do I need to make an SOS sign? Or is HELP a better option? More letters though…”
“I doubt you need to make one of those,” he says.
“They do it on all the survivor shows. Except Survivor.”
“The raft had a beacon, Tai gave the distress call, and we have a satellite phone…I just can’t seem to find the latter.”
Great.
“Look, I want to do something. How big do I make the letters?”
He sighs. “As big as you can. And SOS is a better choice, if you ask me. Though of course, if you wish to keep with the original maritime notation, you need a line placed over the SOS and—”
“Okay thank you,” I tell him, turning around before he can give me the history behind it. “Oh, and if you hear anything in the jungle, it’s probably a goat.”
“What?” he asks, but I’m already running to the beach.
I spend the next hour trying to use my clothes and items, plus various sticks and branches and coconut shells trying to spell out SOS. Because of the size, I have no idea what it looks like or if it’s even legible, but it’s probably good enough.
By the time I’m done I’m exhausted and starving, and both Lacey and Tai have returned from their expeditions.
“What on earth are you doing?” Tai asks me, hauling a duffel bag over his shoulder, soaking sleeping bags hastily tied to it.
My heart skips a bit, that he’s actually talking to me. It’s good to see him.
And I mean, like, really good.
He’s shirtless, wearing just his boxer briefs, zero hint of modesty whatsoever. Instead his golden brown, built as fuck, taut and muscled body is on full display. I hadn’t even noticed that he has a Polynesian-looking tattoo across his chest. I want to ask him about it, I want to take my time admiring him. I especially want to let my eyes drift down to his junk.
But this isn’t the time or place.
“I’m building an SOS signal,” I tell him.
“No need.” He waves the satellite phone at me. “I talked to rescue.”
“You did!” I exclaim.
“Oh thank god,” Lacey says, wiping her brow.
He nods. “Yes, well there’s good news and bad news.”
“Bad news first,” I tell him.
He sighs. “We have to call back in a few days.”
“What?” Lacey exclaims. “Who did you call?”
“It’s complicated,” Tai says. “I had to not only swim back to the boat so I could actually pick up a signal, but there really isn’t any protocol for figuring out who to call. You can’t just call 911 here.”
“So who did you call?”
“I eventually got through to a search and rescue out of Suva. They were able to see where we were because of the phone’s GPS, but because we’re all alive and we don’t have any life-threatening injuries, they said we’re low on their priority list. Apparently that storm was a wild one. Lots of people worse off than we are on other islands, not just other ships.”
“Maybe call back again, try someone else? Maybe a private company?” Lacey asks.
“I don’t think it would be any different,” he says, “and it’s important we don’t waste the battery. Took me ten minutes to finally get through.”
“So, what’s the good news?” I ask.
“I managed to salvage some stuff from the boat.” He pats the duffel bag “And at least they know we’re here. If we’re placed low on priority, well that makes me think the situation isn’t half-bad for us.”
“Isn’t half-bad?” Lacey exclaims. “We’re shipwrecked!”
“We’re going to have to rough it for a few days,” he says, walking past us. “Could be worse.”
I have to say, with everything Lacey told me, I expected Tai to be taking this a lot worse. Now that I know he’s not that worried, it makes me feel less scared.
“Hey,” I call after him. “My phone works. I was able to pull up the island on the map.”
He reluctantly stops and turns slightly toward me. “And?”
“It looks like a dong.”
He flinches and I swear I see a hint of a smile on his lips.
Worth it.
Then he shakes his head and keeps walking to the camp.
“Grow up, Daisy,” Lacey hisses at me, following him.
I shrug.
Thirteen
Daisy
Our first day on the island passes by somewhat comfortably, given the circumstances of us being shipwrecked.
Other than the fact that Richard is still giving Lacey the cold shoulder, and that makes her mad at him, for some backwards reason.
And Tai, of course, is still mad at me. He’s not ignoring me completely, but I can tell he tries not to address me, and he definitely doesn’t want to look at me. There have been numerous times that I’ve wanted to pull him aside and apologize profusely for what happened, as well as talk about his sister, but I know when to keep my distance.
Besides, he can’t ignore me forever. Where is he going to go?
Actually that’s a stupid question. I can’t really tell how large the island is, but I know that it’s big enough (and phallic enough) to show up on my phone. I suppose if he wanted to, he could head down to one end and create a separate “No Redheads Allowed” camp. That is what happened on Lost, isn’t it? Half the people stayed on the beach, the other half went into the jungle. Live together, die alone?
At any rate, we’re stuck together for now, having just finished eating heated up cans of beans. We weren’t spared Richard doing an overly dramatic “I have made fire” Tom Hanks impression after he created the fire, but it’s easy when you have a lighter.
“How long was Tom Hanks on that isl
and in Castaway?” I ask.
We’re all on the beach, sitting around the small, crackling fire. The sun set just a few minutes ago, a beautiful golden show, and it’s still light enough to see, with the first stars starting to appear above.
“He was stuck there four years,” Lacey says. “God, I hope that’s not our fate.”
“It’s not,” Tai tells her sternly. “Tomorrow I’ll set out to explore. For all we know, there’s a resort on the other side of the island.”
“Can you imagine?” I sigh happily, hugging my knees to my chest. “Like, a Four Seasons or something? They’d have Egyptian cotton sheets, and turn-down service, and those little bungalows over the water.”
“That’s not too different from this,” Richard says.
“Uh huh,” I tell him. “We just ate beans out of a can, like a bunch of hobos. The only reason we have something even remotely nice to sleep on is because Tai went back to the boat and managed to get two sleeping bags. For the four of us. We don’t even have pillows.”
“Or toilet paper,” Richard says.
“Just use leaves,” Tai mutters. Then he adjusts himself and winces.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He clamps his mouth shut and nods. “I’m…fine.”
I frown and then exchange a look with the other two. They shrug.
“You know the first thing I would do if there turned out to be a resort?” Lacey asks.
“Complain to the manager?” I quip.
She rolls her eyes. “No.” Then she smiles. “I would order the biggest, juiciest cheeseburger they had with loads of fries. McDonald’s fries. And then I’d wash it down with an ice-cold glass of white wine. Oh, maybe a pina colada.”
She’s practically drooling.
“You’d think you were stranded here for weeks, not twelve hours,” Tai says, wincing again.
“Uh, we’ve been at sea for ten days,” I point out. “That’s a long time to be away from civilization. Though I wouldn’t go for a cheeseburger. I would get a big greasy bucket of fried chicken and a beer.”
Lovewrecked Page 14
