“I don’t know; I hear these guests really like to party, Sassy. You think a case will be enough?”
“You’re right. I’ll make it two.” She puts her hand to her face like a cellphone. “Oh no, they’re not picking up.”
“Guess we’ll have to punt. You’re good at your job—you’ll figure something out. So yeah, the theme. What ya got, Sassy?”
“Island Festival Day. Part Thanksgiving, part thanking the island for what it gives us. What if we set up garlands around camp and then after dinner we go down to the waterfall?—”
“Now you’re talking, Sassy.” I grin because I know she’s not talking about sex. Although why not, I’m not sure. We should always talk about sex. I push a tendril of her hair away from her cheek.
“Dante! And launch a small float into the water.”
I cock my head to the side. “A small float? Like a Viking burial? I think Calvin might object to being set on fire. But I’m not going to yuck his yum. We can ask him.”
She playfully slaps my arm. “No, something small.” She grabs a coconut. “Like this, we can put a candle in it. Or better, lard—we don’t have many candles—and set it on fire. After we all say something we respect or like about the island or each other.”
“I like it. I’ll use only things from the island for the food.” That’s not going to be hard. Sure, there are still some cans left from the Rock Candy, and spices, but I’ve been using them sparingly. And making sure they are the star of the meal.
Honestly, we’re damn lucky with the amount of food that’s around. And knowing about the pomelo farm and the extent of the food on the other side? It’s a blessing. Even if we can’t keep taking the tender over, we can hike over.
I’ve been distracting Haley for the last three hours. We’ve made a crateload of decorations for tomorrow. Garlands of elephant leaves. I have no idea what they’re called. They look like an elephant’s ear. I wish we had some flowers. I know there are some orchids growing down by the waterfall, but I don’t want to pick them.
“Oh, Sassy.” I take her hand in mine and interlace our fingers. Fuck, I love holding her hand. It fits mine so perfectly. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?” She turns back to the pile of leaves we’ve gathered. I should have thought of this before.
“You’ll see.”
“Don’t look,” Zane shouts from behind the tree.
“Just passing through. We’re not looking,” I holler back. I hold my hand loosely over Sassy’s eyes, but a few steps later, my hand slips down over her mouth and she licks the inside of my palm.
“Sassy. Are you being a naughty girl?” My cock thickens as her blue eyes flick to mine.
“Where are we going?”
“I want to show you what I found the other day. But now I’m going to show you even more.” My heart thumps against my chest. She’s going to love this. Have I been keeping it a secret? Yes, sure. A little bit. But it’s not a magical waterfall or a farm of fruit. Still, I know that she’s going to love it. And when I found it, things weren’t blooming fully, but that was a few days ago, so they should be now. I step off the path through the thick ferns.
“Where are we going?” Sassy repeats.
“Calvin’s not the only one who does a little exploring. This way. It’s not far up ahead.” I’ve got her hand locked into mine. The ferns are thick, but there’s no thorny underbrush, so that’s a plus.
It’s farther than I remember. But then it opens up to a large clump of Birds of Paradise. The broad-leafed plants surprise even me. They’ve grown taller since I was here. A good portion of them reach my shoulders. Vivid flowers perch atop the stalk-like stems, tall and thin like banana leaves.
“Oh, Dante! There’s so many. It’s breathtaking.” She shimmies around the clump. “They’ve been growing here for a long time for there to be so many.” Her mouth hangs open.
“Come here. There’s a little rise and a group of rocks we can stand up on and see all of them.”
“You’ve been holding out on us.”
“Not really. They weren’t blooming until recently. I wanted you to get the full effect.” I lift her up onto a three-foot rock.
“It’s stunning.”
“Yes, it is.”
“You’re not looking at the flowers.”
“I’m looking at the loveliest of flowers.”
