He made a few shapes with his hands to indicate the triangles and then let them fall to his side, seeming to see the darkened expression on my face.
“He isn’t the same, either,” he said. “He hasn’t been. He’s been showing up late. He’s left early a few times. Gotten memos wrong. Not doing half of what he used to. I’m actually thinking about firing him.”
“You aren’t thinking about firing him.”
“No, but it sounded good.”
I sighed. Thinking about Hunter still made my heart ache in a deep, reverberating way that I couldn’t even put words to.
“I need you to help me with something,” I said.
Noah nodded, crossing the room to perch on the arm again.
“Anything,” he said.
****
Hunter
Six months later…
“Did you get the invitation?”
I winced at the strange sound of Edwin’s voice coming through the phone. Behind him I could hear Sophie’s rhythmic breathing and wondered which of their devices she was powering up on her bicycle. I had only gotten to have a quick visit to their island the week after leaving with Noah and Snow to return to the mainland, but the elderly couple had left quite an impression on me.
“I did,” I said, reaching across my desk to pick up the thick cream-colored invitation that I had received in the mail a few days before.
“So….” he asked, the word drawn out so it filled the space of three or four.
“I don’t know, Edwin. It’s far away and I don’t really have any vacation time.”
“That’s a big old untruth you’re trying to tell me right there. I talked to Noah. I know what’s what. Now I was calling to be formal and extend my gracious invitation to my party, but if you’re going to be like that then I’m changing it over to a demand. I’m going to pull the ‘I saved your hiney on the beach’ card if you don’t cooperate. Don’t make me do it.”
“You didn’t really save my hiney,” I said.
“Who laid on top of that crazy Lucille woman to make sure that she didn’t get up and take everybody out?”
“Robin and Snow.”
“And?”
“And you.”
“Damn right. Those other two were little lightweight nothings. They were just laying the foundation. I was the real bulk of that operation.”
I didn’t want to point out to him that Snow probably outweighed him herself, so I just made an affirmative sound.
“So, it’s settled then. Snow and Noah are coming, too, so I’m sure that you can just hitch a ride with them.”
The fact that the elderly man thought of the journey that we would need to take to get to the island, which would probably include both a helicopter and a boat in addition to a car, was the equivalent of a spontaneous road trip just made him more endearing. I laughed, promised him that I would do just that, sent my best to Sophie, and hung up.
As soon as I did, the quiet of the office closed in around me. I ran my fingers across the engraved words of the invitation. It wasn’t exceptionally clear about what event was being held, and it did mean having to return to the island and contend with the emotions that even the thought of that place still caused me. But it also promised a chance to visit with Edwin and Sophie, and some time away from the exceptionally busy time Noah, Snow, and I had been having at work. For some reason, every company in the area was clamoring to have their advertising campaigns designed by the people who survived being shipwrecked and stranded, or rescued said shipwrecked and stranded, and who had been instrumental in bringing down two criminals. There were some prospective clients who I was fairly certain had just made up their companies so that they could come to the office and talk to us.
I tossed the invitation back across the desk and went back to the projects in front of me. If I was going to go back to the island in two weeks, I was going to need to actually make sure that things were getting done at the office so it didn’t fall apart when all three of us were gone.
And pack a backpack of supplies. You never know.
The journey back to the island wasn’t nearly as long as I thought it was going to be. It’s amazing how being on the brink of death in a storm or worrying that the woman you love is going to die from a gunshot wound can stretch out a trip. The thought made me feel suddenly solemn.
Love.
It wasn’t something that I wanted to admit to myself or to anyone else. I had meant everything that I had said to Eleanor the last time I saw her. Though I regretted the fact that I had chosen that particular moment, while she was still sitting in the hospital recovering, to tell her what I thought of her dishonesty and how much she had hurt me, in that moment I couldn’t hold back. Seeing her in the starkness of reality outside of the fantasy world that we had created on the island had been too much for me. All of the adrenaline and denial that had fueled me during the long weeks of waiting draining out of me, leaving the hurt and disappointment raw within me. Part of me wished that I had handled it differently, but I didn’t know what I could have done differently.
Soon I realized that we were approaching the island and I noticed bright lights glowing from the beach. I leaned closer to the window and pushed my glasses up higher, helping me to focus better on the lights. They were in the same place where we had built the help sign, only now more had been added.
“Don’t help,” I read. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I noticed Noah and Snow exchange glances, but neither of them answered. We lowered down toward a floating helicopter pad and settled into place. When we stepped out of the helicopter, I noticed a small boat fashioned out of what looked like wooden crates. A man stood in the boat holding a large stick. He helped Snow into the boat, and Noah and I followed.
“This is interesting,” Snow said, looking down at the sides of the boat.
It’s like the raft that Eleanor used to get from the boat to the beach.
When we reached the sand, I noticed a trail outlined with lights weaving into the trees. We walked toward it and followed it into the jungle. Memories fell over me like rain as I walked through the trees, remembering each sight, sound, smell, and taste from each step when I had taken them before. We were approaching the hill that led to the waterfall and cavern when I noticed the path beneath my feet become smoother and more defined.
“Snow! Noah! Hunter!” I heard Edwin’s voice coming over the hill and soon the old man appeared in front of us. “It’s so good to see you.”
He was wearing what looked like a tux that he brought with him 40 years before when he moved onto the other island and his scattered white hairs were artfully positioned across his head. He walked toward us with his arms open and gave a round of enthusiastic hugs.
“It’s good to see you, too, Edwin,” I told him. “Where’s Sophie gotten herself to?”
“Oh, she’s at the party trying to rustle up a conga line. When I left it was just her, but I have faith in that woman.”
He turned and started back up the path.
“So, you still didn’t tell me what you’re celebrating tonight,” I said.
“I’m not celebrating anything,” Edwin said. “It’s not my party.”
“Not your party?” I asked. “Then who…”
We got to the hill and I stopped still. Ahead of me was the section of the jungle that had been destroyed by Lucille’s helicopter. Instead of tattered, broken trees and torn ground, however, a building stretched in front of me. It looked like it was built from the remnants of the trees and other materials designed to look like them, and was built into the natural shape of the land so that it seemed to be growing out of the island itself. The only exception was the large dome in the center of the roof.
“What is this?” I asked.
“Come find out,” Edwin said.
I followed him along the continuation of the path and toward the building. A curved wooden door took up the majority of the front of the building and as I approached I noticed that there were words carved into it.
“Hunter’s Retreat,” I whispered.
Music surged up from inside the building and Noah stepped up beside me.