100% positive. There is no way she would disappear like this on purpose. She also has no reason to hide from me. Something is very wrong. I’m afraid she got caught up in that big storm that blew through the area right around the time I heard from her.
Daniela
We didn’t get a storm here, but we could see clouds in the distance when we were doing photos. You don’t think she could’ve been in a crash, do you?
Vivian
I honestly don’t know, but the fact that no one has heard from her in three days is making me believe something happened to her.
Daniela
Oh my God, now I’m panicking. Phillip and I will meet you there tomorrow. Send me what time you’ll be there.
Text from Vivian to Paige
Vivian
Just landed in San Felipe. I figured I can do more from here. I’m getting hundreds of DMs, but so far, no one has provided me with a match of the plane/pilot. Heading straight to the police station to file missing persons report. Your parents are meeting me there. Between the three of us, we’ll find you!
And Back to Our Heroine…
By the time Mac is back, I’ve got six different outfits laid out on the love seat, including my bridesmaid dress and a scuba suit I found in the closet. I’ve also taken my brightest red lipstick and drawn on some of the clothes to make it look like blood.
Mac walks in, his arms loaded up and a smile so wide it’s making his dimples pop. “We’re in luck. There was one can of paint—I’m pretty sure it’s the blue they used for the table.”
He sets the things he brought on the floor. When I hop over to take a look, Mac grabs a chair from the kitchen and sets it down in front of the pile. “Here, have a seat while I show you what I found.”
I do as he suggests, that warm feeling coming over me again.
He glances at the love seat, looking excited. “Wow! You’ve got some great outfits here. And … is that supposed to be blood?”
“Yes, it’s lipstick. I thought we’d go full-on spooky Hallowe’en. I didn’t do my bridesmaid dress because it’ll attract enough attention on its own,” I tell him, even though the truth is that I just couldn’t bring myself to draw on the dress. “And the scuba suit is too dark so it won’t show up,” I tell him. “I thought we’d find some coconuts for heads and I can draw faces on them. We’ll need some big sticks to hang the clothes on, and some fishing line to tie them up into trees. What did you find?”
“I found a tarp,” he says, pointing to the light grey canvas fabric. “I thought we could paint a message on it and I could run it up to the top of the mountain and hang it like a flag,” he says, as if zipping up the mountain is the easiest thing in the world to do.
“Oh, we could also use the extra sheets for that as well.”
“Good idea. In this case, more is more,” he says. “What if I find some big rocks and driftwood logs to spell out S.O.S. in a few locations? We can paint them blue so they’ll be more noticeable. At first, I was thinking about using palm fronds, but if a big wind kicks up, we might lose them.”
“Sounds perfect.”
He points to the door and says, “There’s an old oil drum out in the shed that we could use to start a fire. We can get it all set up with some wood and green leaves, and if we spot a plane or a boat, we can start it up. It’ll make a thick black smoke, which should attract attention.”
I grin at him, optimism coming over me in another delightful wave, then I snap my fingers. “I nearly forgot. We should flash any boats or planes we see with the mirrors from my makeup kit.”
He gets a goofy look on his face, and I know where his mind is going. “That’s a very smart plan. Especially if you’re the one flashing them.”
I give him an annoyed expression, trying not to laugh. “Yes, I’ll work the mirrors,” I say, then mutter, “Even though I’d say you’d attract more attention in a flashing contest.”
He gives me a hard look, then says, “You could not be more wrong about that.”
My heart patters a little, then I clear my throat. “I suppose it would be audience-dependent,” I tell him. “Anyway, I’d say we’ve got an excellent marketing strategy. Shall we get to work?”
“Yup.”
We start by preparing for the fire in the oil drum, which Mac set up far away from the cottage to keep thesmell away. The rest of the morning is spent painting, making ‘attract-crows’ and flags. I make pancakes for lunch while Mac finishes creating the first S.O.S. sign just down the beach from the cottage. We eat in the lounge chairs, watching the waves roll in and talking about the next steps of our plan. We’ll wait for tomorrow for Mac to take the big flags to the top of the mountain, but after we eat, he’s going to take two of the attract-crows and walk down the beach to set them on different sides of the island.
As I take the last bite of my pancakes, I realize I feel … happy. Not just ‘make the most of it’ happy. But actually happy. We’ve not only managed to work together to come up with an industrious plan, but we’re also having fun. It’s flirty and silly and we can’t seem to stop looking at each other. If this were a real relationship, I’d call it the perfect one because we’re a team. But it’s not, and it’s crazy important for me to remember that.
