“It’s too big to move like this, for sure. But if I find another rock to use as an awl, we can split it.”
We’re back in camp in no time. It’s weird how far away I used to think the waterfall was.
Easton leans over me and whispers, “You distract Zane, and I’ll grab the hammer.”
Zane and Dante are sitting close together when we come back into camp. Dante throws a lid over the top of his pot with an extra dramatic flair.
I sit down in Zane’s lap, and he rotates, turning me away from Dante. “How are you doing, Little Bird? What’s Easton up to?”
I fling my arms around his neck and kiss him on his collarbone. I have lava spots on my body, but so does my Birmingham Boy.
He tilts his head, giving me better access. “I no longer care what he’s bloody doing. Fuck, Haley.”
“Hmm.” I go higher and nibble his ear.
“Where are you going with that?” Zane’s head cocks to the side.
“With what?” I slide off Zane’s lap and wiggle my eyebrows at him, then take off down the path to the waterfall with Easton.
“How about this one?” I hold up another solid rock. I took geology in college, but I don’t remember much.
“I’ll give it a go.” Easton takes the triangular-shaped rock and holds it against the edge of the one we want to use. He smacks it, and the wedge shatters into pieces. We try three more wedges before the rock cracks. I can see the split happening.
“You did it!”
“We did it.” Easton looks up from the split rock.
“We did,” I say, staring at him.
“We’re a good team.”
I sit down on the edge of a nearby boulder, and Easton places the newly manageable-sized rock next to me. I brush my hand over it, taking a corner of a rag and wiping it down.
“This is really going to work. He’ll be able to decipher the rest of the notebook and have room to write his answers in the rest of the agenda,” I add, glancing at Easton.
Easton smiles, his eyes glistening as he nods. “Yeah, he’s really gonna love it. You did good.”
“Come on, you did all the work,” I reply.
“Sure, I’m just the muscle, but you had the idea. That’s the most important part.” He flexes his biceps at me and laughs. Then he glances away, over the top of the waterfall, and back to me. “I just want you to know I really still believe that we’re going to get off this island, and when that happens... Haley Brewster, I need you in my life. I don’t want you to vanish. Please tell me you won’t vanish.”
I grab his hands and laugh. “I have the same fear about you. I don’t want you to vanish out of my life either.”
“Good, good,” he says thoughtfully, nodding with his lips closed. “Then it’s settled—no vanishing.”
“No vanishing,” I agree.
I don’t know which of us moves first, but our lips entwine, and he pulls me over the new slate to sit in his lap. We kiss until I’m dizzy.
“Do you want to take a dip?” I ask.
Easton squeezes his eyes shut tight. “Oh, I wish I hadn’t promised Sam?—”
“You promised Sam what? What’s going on?”
“I also promised not to tell, so... I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Easton says, trying to sound casual.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mimic back at him, my jaw locking tightly, arms crossing over my chest. “Okay, I suppose this is the season of surprises.”
