Page 34 of That Island Feeling

‘Yup, I love it. Now it’s only fair that you share the thing that lights you up.’

I flush, my reply on the tip of my tongue, but then . . . what should I say now?

‘Why, cleaning rooms at Clam Cove of course,’ I joke instead, the truth painfully sticking in my throat. I’m desperate to change the subject. ‘How about you give that ‘no’ one more try?’ I say. ‘Louder this time – for all of the lions and tigers and bats out there. I’ll join you, Dorothy.’

She stops walking and turns to look at me, wrinkling her nose, but a smile spreading across her face.

Got her.

‘Just one more time, okay?’ she says.

‘Sure.’

For now.

‘NOOOOOOOOO!’ we yell together into the ether. We’re answered by the startled cry of a distant bird.

Andie turns to me. ‘Happy now?’

‘Very.’

‘The dark is so weird,’ Andie says as we turn into the generator-lit driveway of Clam Cove Resort.

At some point during our journey, she reached for my arm during an uneven section of the path, and we’ve stayed linked.

‘It is.’ I’m intrigued to hear where she’s going with this.

‘When you can’t see, you really realise how much we rely on our vision to etch images – memories, really – into our minds, hey? And our mind is like a tapestry woven with all the pictures we’ve gathered over a lifetime, stored in the belief that it’s a reflection of reality. Even if that’s not how things happened in the first place.’

My hand tightens around her arm. ‘So, you’re wondering how your mind will store this particular memory?’ I ask.

The driveway is bathed in a yellow-gold glow, casting the same hue on her beautiful face. I’m glad we’re back in the light, and I get a full view of her expressions.

Her forehead creases. ‘Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it will file it under smells and sounds?’

‘Hmm, so salty brine and loud, nocturnal birds?’

‘I was going to say citrus, sweat and heavy panting. For someone who looks like you –’ she stops. ‘Well, anyway, you were panting a lot,’ she finishes hurriedly, dropping my hand.

‘Hey! The panting is because I’m nervous. The dark is very scary.’ So is being alone with the girl you’re liking more with each passing second, I think.

‘Evil stalks us at night,’ Andie says. ‘It’s why the most frightening scenes in sci-fi and action movies are always filmed in the dark and why I hate watching them.’

‘So do you have a favourite movie?’ I need to skill up in Andinese.

‘That’s like asking me to pick a favourite student. Well, I could probably do that, but I’d also never!’

I laugh at her outrage.

‘But if I had to choose . . .’ She pauses. ‘You’re like, “gun to my head” forcing me to, right?’

‘My pistol is right here, sweetheart.’ I gesture to the pocket of my board shorts.

‘Well, When Harry Met Sally then,’ she breathes. ‘My mum’s favourite.’

I’m so caught up in her luminous face that I’ve failed to notice we’ve reached the resort kitchen.

‘I’ll add that to my Netflix schedule immediately,’ I say. ‘Okay, do you want to wait here, under this light?’

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