If William needed some time, I would give it to him, but now he knew I was worried about him, he should open up soon. Wouldn’t he? He told me about Rai’s decision to move to California without him the same week it happened. I was at a winery in Oregon on a work trip, but I cut it short and flew home to be with William. I was his rock just as much as he was mine. Was William keeping his feelings to himself because my life was a dumpster fire and he didn’t want to bother me with his troubles? Or was our relationship changing and he no longer wanted to confide in me? I swallowed the hurt and anxiety that had become a hard lump in my throat. I couldn’t bear the thought of not being Williams’s best friend. If I lost him, I lost everything.
* * *
Andrew was in the lobby when we arrived, his tall figure leaning against the supporting beam near the restaurant entrance, holding two coffee mugs. He looked way too good for six in the morning, with only a few hours of sleep. He gave me a warm smile and my heart flipped. Was it going to do it each time I saw him?
“Hey, for the first time, you aren’t late.” Andrew handed us the paper cups. “How are you feeling, William?”
“Hungry,” William said, accepting the cup.
I sipped the warm coffee, noticing it was made as I liked it, with one spoon of sugar and a splash of cream. Andrew had remembered.
“We’ll eat in the car.” Andrew pushed off. “I already got us a to-go breakfast.”
* * *
The sunrise over the Colombian coastal route had the intensity of flawless beauty. I unsuccessfully tried to capture it on my iPhone as we drove up the highway. The early morning air was cool and whipped around my face and bare shoulders, raising goosebumps on my skin.
“How many days are we staying there?” William called from the backseat. He was browsing the Erizo at Las Loma resort website.
“When I called this morning, I secured three rooms only for one night,” Andrew said.
“Bummer,” William said. “It sounds amazing. It has sunriseandsunset horse rides,anda huge pool.”
“And what exactly are we going to do there?” I asked, my finger playing with the bracelet stones.
“Explore,” Andrew said.
“No shit?” I said with mockery. “Could you please elaborate?”
Andrew chuckled. “I don’t know how much has changed since the renovations, but I hope to find out what Augustine meant by visiting the love birds. It could be anything. Maria adored birds. She painted them and made sculptures. Augustine brought her many birds from around the world and built her a large bird sanctuary.”
* * *
As we drove south, the scenery of the land changed with each passing hour, from the rugged mountains with their peaks disappearing in a veil of mist, to sloping hills with adobe houses scattered on the ground, their tin roofs reflecting the sun. With only one hour left, we found ourselves stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in a village, breathing car exhaust, and baking under the hot sun, sticky sweat and black ooze coating my skin.
“If only we were driving a car with air-conditioning.” William pressed a handkerchief to his mouth and nose and threw his head backward.
Without a breeze and with so many running cars, the air quality had dropped from bad to terrible. I peeled my thighs off the seat and rose, trying to check what the hold-up was, but the truck a few cars ahead of us blocked my view. With a groan, I plopped back down.
The car line before us moved several yards. Once we turned the corner, the explanation of what had caused the traffic presented itself. A skinny dog with enlarged nipples was making circles around the gutter on the road, jumping in front of cars, then bolting back, barely avoiding being hit. Cars moved slowly around her, going onto the opposite side, creating a logjam for incoming traffic.
Andrew wheeled the car to the side and went over a curb.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my hands grabbing the dashboard.
“The dog has lost its pup.” He parked the car and unbuckled his seatbelt.
Andrew got out of the Jeep, signaled for the oncoming car to slow down, and carefully approached the dog. Cars behind us honked, and drivers yelled—my guess—profanities in our direction. One blessing of not knowing the language. To help Andrew, I jumped out of the car and hurried to him. He neared the dog and it growled, then fled to nearby bushes. I wasn’t sure I could help but I could shoo the dog if it made to attack him. Andrew lowered flat on his stomach on the ground and pressed his face into the opening.
“I can hear it.” He stuck his hand inside the hole.
“Aren’t you worried there are snakes?” I asked, my gaze frantically jumping from the moving cars to the dog to Andrew.
At last, Andrew pulled out a small puppy. He stood up, cradling the pup to his chest. He whispered something to it as he approached the distressed mom and gently lowered her baby. The mother wagged its tail, visibly shaking from fear or excitement, grabbed her pup by its neck and disappeared into the bushes. My heart melted into a hot puddle and trickled down somewhere between my thighs. My attraction for Andrew was undeniable and overwhelming. I ached to kiss him. It took a lot of effort not to do that.
“You’re the sweetest man I know,” I said as we climbed into our car.
“Any decent person would have done the same.” He started the car and waved his hand out to let the car behind us know he was getting back on the road.
