“I’m not scared of lizards, but in the woods, one of your chickens scared the bejesus out of me.”
“Yes, they are terrifying creatures.” Hunter widened his eyes in mocking shock. He seemed to be in a top-notch mood for someone stuck on the island for the unforeseeable future with a complete stranger in need of medical attention.
I lowered my eyebrows in alarm. “Do you have enough supplies for us not to go hungry?”
“We won’t starve,” he said with calm confidence, his gaze flickering at the cabinet on the other side of the room. “There is plenty of food in the ocean. If we stay healthy, we should be all right.”
Gratitude swelled inside my chest as I watched him appraise the shelf of dry and canned food, then his kind eyes cut to me and he smiled.
“Thank you for saving my life,” I said, my throat thick with emotions.
“I didn’t save your life. You were on the shore when I found you. Alive.”
“You took care of my injury, and now this.” I motioned to the food.
“Any decent human would have done the same.” His gaze cast down to his hands, linked together on his lap.And here I was, hoping you were indecent, I wanted to joke. My ears burned with embarrassment. I glanced at Hunter to make sure I didn’t say it out loud. He was looking down.
Before I could say something unwise, I took my first bite of the fish. A wave of unfamiliar spices mixed with a sweet, flaky fish flavor exploded in my mouth, sending my taste buds into ecstasy. A moan escaped my lips. “This is good.” I stuffed in another bite—a bigger one this time.
“Was your father a sailor?”
“No,” I said, between chews. “I discovered his journals from his college years, with mapped-out routes he wanted to sail after graduation. There were article cutouts from National Geographic and other magazines about a teenager, Robin Lee Graham, who set sail around the world at the age of sixteen. I guess my father wanted to do something similar.”
“I have heard about that guy.”
I speared a piece of potato with the fork. “His journey was terrifying. He starved, battled storms, and even encountered pirates.” Selfishly, I was glad that my father had met my mom, fallen in love, and given up on his dream because there might not have been me if he had copied Robin. He could have died. My eyes welled up at the thought that hewasdead and never got to explore the world the way he wanted. I had to focus more on Hunter and not let another wave of sadness take me under. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly do you do here?”
The smile on Hunter’s face wavered, and something in his expression changed, but he recovered quickly. Stretching hislong legs and leisurely linking them at his ankles, he crossed his arms and studied me. “I run a deep-sea fishing rental that used to belong to my uncle.”
“And what did you do before you came here?”
I sounded like a police interrogator. It was a good thing we weren’t on a date, but as long as Hunter gave me answers, I would continue asking questions. In my defense, the need topiece together as much information as I could about him to understand if I was in peril outweighed politeness and etiquette.
“I was a driver for a drug lord,” he said, looking me straight in the eye.
My hand with the fork paused midair, and I stared back at him. He couldn’t be serious. Or perhaps he’d told the exact truth, but it was so far-fetched that he was sure I wouldn’t believe it. I blinked, not sure what to think now, and then I snorted. “Yeah, right. Nobody openly admits to a stranger that they are a criminal.”
A smile seemed to teeter on the edge of his lip. “What about you? What did you do before you went sailing?”
“I’m a software engineer. For the last two years, I was a freelance developer for several companies based out of Europe.”
He cocked his eyebrow. “That’s interesting. Why did you stop working for them?”
I stuffed the last piece of mango in my mouth and placed the fork on the empty plate.
“Short story: AI.” In truth, I was too tired and didn’t feel like sharing the saddest moments of my life.
A black cat sashayed into the room through the open door. It looked like it was on a mission, its tail up and its yellow eyes fixed on us. The cat disappeared before the bed and then jumped up on my feet. Nonchalantly, it sauntered over to me, paying no attention to my empty plate, rubbing its head against my resting arm.
“Hi there.” I ran my hand over its short fur. “What’s your name?”
“This is Tuesday. I have two cats.”
A snort escaped me. “I’m not sure if the name is creative or ridiculous.”
Hunter’s full lips curved into a smile, deepening the wrinkles around his eyes. I’d always been a sucker for big, blue eyes. And right now, Hunter’s ocean eyes—with long, dark eyelashes—regarded me with a steady, assessing gaze.
I forced my attention on the cat. My fingers kept scratching Tuesday’s neck, behind its ears, sending the cat close to the gate of nirvana. It dropped on its side, purring. “Where did you get him?”
