She startles, and reaches up to swipe at her damp cheeks. “Yeah, sorry. Just … guess I got kind of overwhelmed, you know? That we’re finally here, but also it’s the beginning of the end.”
I definitely get feeling that way at the end of a vacation—wanting to soak in what you can even as you’re already anticipating the impending return to reality. But it seems a little weird to cry when a trip like this is just beginning.
But Amma is a little weird. Brittany is easier to be around, not nearly as prickly. Once again, I wonder how they became friends, what keeps them together when they actually seem pretty different.
Instead, I smile at Amma and nod toward the island. “Think of it as the beginning of the beginning,” I say. “The beginning of two weeks in this amazing place with no one around.”
“No one except those two,” Amma whispers quickly, as Jake approaches us.
“So, Nico here says your group might be amenable to a beach party tonight?”
Amma stiffens, and I worry she’s going to say no. But then a switch seems to flip, and she gives Jake a million-watt smile, so convincing that for a moment, I wonder if I imagined her earlier discomfort. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
NINE
It takes us a little bit to get things situated. Nico wants to find the perfect spot to anchor, somewhere close enough to shore that we can easily swim to the beach, but not so shallow that we’re scraping the hull. We eventually anchor just a few yards from the Azure Sky, the water around us so clear that I can see all the way to the sandy bottom.
By the time we’re done, Jake and Eliza have already taken their dinghy—if the spiffy Zodiac can be called that—over to the beach.
Our own dinghy is still affixed to the starboard side of the boat, but we’re anchored close enough to shore that I just strip off the T-shirt and shorts I’m wearing over my bathing suit and jump over the side, opting to swim to the island instead.
Warm water closes over my head, and my sunburned skin stings from the salt, but when I break the surface, I’m grinning so hard my face hurts. Even though my eyes smart, the island in front of me is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, prettier than a dream, better than any of the fantasies I spun up in Mom’s hospital room when all I wanted was to run to the ends of the earth.
I hear a splash to my right, and then Brittany’s head bobs up next to me, followed by Amma’s, then Nico’s, all of us beaming. I feel a pleasant ache in my muscles as I start to swim. For a few days, we’ve been cooped up, and getting to stretch out like this feels even better than I expected.
I remember Nico warning us about sharks around the island, but not even that can kill my buzz as I pump my arms and legs, making my way toward the shimmering beach. It only takes a few minutes, then my toes touch the sandy bottom, and I’m there.
Meroe Island.
It’s a pretty name, melodic when you say it out loud, making it easy to forget that it’s named after a shipwreck.
After all the wrong turns, I finally took one that brought me to a real, live, deserted island, some honest-to-god Blue Lagoon– type shit.
It’s already late afternoon, the light turning golden and soft. The shore curves away into the distance, and beyond it is what looks like a nearly impenetrable jungle of palms and other greenery.
Slicking my wet hair back from my face, I gesture at the jungle. “I think the airstrip Nico talked about is somewhere through there. If we ever want to check it out.”
“Oh yeah, very high on my list of priorities,” Amma replies, and the bite in her words irks me. She’s clearly still pissed about Jake and Eliza.
But I’m used to handling negativity. I shrug and say, “You never know. After a week, you might get bored of watching perfect sunsets and swimming in turquoise seas. It happens.”
Nico gives a mock growl as he charges me, his arms going around my waist, lifting me off my feet as I shriek. “Or we could play pirates,” he teases, swinging me around. “Capturing that booty.”
Rolling my eyes, I pull myself out of his arms, still smiling. “I actually can’t believe it’s taken you this long in our relationship to make that joke.”
Up ahead on the beach, Jake has set up a ring of stones, filling it with branches and dried palm leaves, and as I approach, he pushes his sunglasses up his nose and grins at me.
“Is a bonfire on the beach too cliché for the first night?”
I smile back, shaking my head. “Just the right amount of cliché.”