“What do you mean?”
“Go somewhere else. Venture out. You’re in Belize! With a woman you actually want to spend time with. Find adventure. Do something fun. Don’t rot away on the same island. You have to be bored by now.”
He’s right. I am bored. There is only so much to do here. I could probably convince Ivory. I just need a plan. Or better yet, for her to contribute to the plan. Give her the power she never has and show her that she is capable and can survive on her own.
“You might not be such a bad friend after all.”
“Pshhh I’m the best friend. You can’t fool me.”
I laugh because Miller is a great friend. “Heard anything about practice or a new schedule?”
“Nothing yet. I’ll let you know when I do. Stay fit. We need you in form when you get back. Two months off isn’t good for you.”
He’s not wrong. My workouts haven’t been as effective as what I get at home but it’s something at least.
Before we hang up, I catch Miller up on my ideas with the charities I have been working on. He’s all in on helping like I thought he would be. Hanging up, my thoughts go back to Ivory. Time to go find an adventure. And hopefully make her fall for me like I’m falling for her.
“Morning, sleepyhead.” Ivory is sitting on the patio couch with a cup of coffee cradled in her palms, looking out over the ocean view.
“Hi,” she responds meekly. Immediately, my brain says I don’t like this side of her. She shouldn’t feel like she needs to hide. Not from me.
“Have you talked to Taylor?”
Ivory nods, but remains silent. The worry is etched on her face. Giving her another minute, I make my way into the kitchen and fix myself a cup of coffee. I didn’t want to wake her so I didn’t make a cup before going down to the dock. Now, I need a boost of caffeine.
“What are we going to do, Preston?” she asks when I sit down beside her on the outdoor couch. Reaching out, I unfurl her legs and pull them into my lap, gently massaging her calf. It grounds me. She relaxes a bit at the touch so I keep going. Gently massaging and stroking up her legs while letting the silence stretch between us. I sip my coffee and relax into her presence as I debate how to bring up the adventure plan Miller and I talked about. I don’t want to push her but I also think it would be good for her. Good for us. We need off this island. We need some semblance of normalcy even if a real normal is impossible. There is no point wasting away in this house when there is a world we’ve never seen waiting to be explored back on the mainland.
I know there are precautions and a global pandemic spreading rapidly in more populated areas, but we are so far removed that it hasn’t touched us yet. We can’t stop living because of it. Controversial opinion, I’m sure, but we have to live. Otherwise, we are as good as dead. I sense Ivory needs this too. She needs the distraction. She needs the time to discover who she is outside of Hollywood and what she wants when she gets back. I selfishly want to help her with that breakthrough.
“How would you feel about an adventure?” I ask, breaking the silence.
Ivory turns to look at me with guarded eyes. “What kind of adventure?”
“Well, we’re stuck here for a bit longer.” I don’t promise her an end date because the truth is, there isn’t one. The longer the pandemic ravages, the less the airline is rescheduling flights. The U.S. embassy is helping get AmericanCitizens trapped in foreign countries on repatriation flights, but there is a wait. Maybe we will get lucky and a flight will open up soon, or we could be stuck here for another month, possibly longer.
“We should explore. See more than just this tiny island.”
“Leave the island?”
“Aren’t you feeling a little tired of being stranded in this place? We’ve done just about everything we can do here. I’m going a little stir crazy.”
“It does feel a bit restrictive.”
“So let’s loosen the restrictions. To a reasonable extent at least.”
“How would we do that? There is a global pandemic enforcing these restrictions.”
“True, but there are plenty of things we can do outdoors. We limit our interaction with people when in town. We follow all the guidelines and safety precautions but we get off this island. We see some of the beauty that surrounds us.”
“Even if we could do that, how would we know where to go?
“Let’s look at the map. See what is on the mainland that sounds interesting and go from there.”
“Look at the map? And what, just pick a place and go there? That seems a little nuts.”
“It’s not nuts. It’s spontaneous. It’s adventure.” I pause, bugging my eyes out at her. “It’s fun.”
“Fun.”
