“All good?” Luca asks. Nathan isn’t with him.
I nod. “Yup.” I give him a brief work update detailing my progress for the day.
Luca smiles and hands me his phone. “Anderson forwarded this.”
I squint at an email as we take the elevator down, and then realization hits me. “Oh, my god. Sunrise wants to feature Gather?”
“Yeah. They want to do a full write up.”
“They called us a trio.” I beam proudly.
“Well, in a way, we are.” Luca puts an arm around my shoulders.
“I still feel like a fraud,” I answer, and then the doors open, and I see Nathan waiting for us.
“You’re not a fraud. You’re a welcome part of this company. You did this. The contact at Sunrise mentioned you by name.”
I smile as we take a car to the Hana Lava Tubes—Maui’s Great Natural Wonder.Following Luca and Nathan to the ticket counter, we head into the caves. The smell and temperature are the first things I notice. It’s earthy and cold, a steady dripping coming from somewhere deep in the cave. We follow the narrow trail along the walls stained with green algae, holding on to the roped railing. There aren’t a lot of people around for being one of Maui’s hottest tourist spots, and I suppose it’s because it’s after nine-thirty in the morning.
“Isn’t this cool?” Luca whispers.
I’m about to agree when my phone buzzes.
Harrison: You never sent me your contact info. Please send when you can, thank you.
I audibly groan.
“What’s wrong?” Nathan asks, sidling up next to me while Luca oohs and ahhs ahead of us, snapping pictures.
“Other than freezing my ass off?”
He laughs. “Yeah… it’s pretty cold down here.” He shrugs. “I have a confession.”
“Ooh, do tell.”
“I loathe touristy stuff. Don’t tell Luca, though.”
I let out a relieved sigh. “Me too. I’d rather be laying on a beach somewhere.”
He laughs and looks over at Luca. “But look how cute he is!”
I chuckle. “He’s such a dork sometimes.”
“But really, everything okay?”
I look up at Nathan—all six-foot-four of him, with the chiseled jaw, large biceps, and strong face.
“Yes. I mean no. I had a horrible date last week. It’s a long story.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” he answers, his voice cheery.
“It was fine until I ran over his cat, who eventually died, by the way, and I now owe him thousands of dollars.”
He whistles as we round a corner and pass by a group of tourists. “That is rough.”
“I guess I’m glad I have a job now, thanks to you.”
Nathan nods. “It worked out well, I think. You seem to be settling in nicely.”
