Page 61 of Chasing Paradise

Wick winced at that, giving me all the answer I needed.

“The only other option was to get closer to the guys. I think if, once we’re done eating, we keep a jogging pace for an hour or so this way,” he said, waving ahead of us, “we should be far enough ahead of them to cut back and head toward the road again.”

Jogging.

Oh, joy.

But I couldn’t exactly complain if it was literally to save our lives. After this was over, I earned the right to skip out on cardio days for a month. At least.

“You set the pace,” Wick said when we’d both finished chewing and gave our bodies a couple of minutes to digest.

So I did, knowing full well that I was barely taxing Wick, but not wanting to push myself too hard and wind up needing a break sooner than either of us wanted.

“God, it’s been like two hours, right?” I asked, stopping and bending forward, arms on thighs, trying to catch my breath. My legs and face and lungs all felt like they were on fire.

“More like forty-five minutes,” Wick said, a little breathless himself. Which was more comforting than it should have been. “But we kept a good pace.”

Something caught his eye beyond me, and I watched as he walked over toward a small tree, reached up, and pulled down something green and oblong.

“What is it?”

“Guava.”

“I’ve never had it. What does it taste like?”

“Um, I guess like a blend of strawberry and pear. It’s mostly sweet with just a hint of tartness. You might not have had the fruit, but you’ve probably had it in a smoothie or health drink… no?”

“People don’t generally mention me and ‘health drinks’ in the same sentence. I’m more of a ‘this probably has a lot of toxic chemicals in it, but that’s also what makes it taste good’ kind of person.”

Wick pulled a knife out of his bag, then sliced the fruit in half. “Try it. I think you’ll like it.”

I was thirsty enough that I didn’t care what it tasted like if it contained some fluid content.

I wasn’t prepared to decide right on the spot that it was my new favorite fruit of all time.

“Good?” Wick asked, making me realize I’d moaned out loud.

“Oh, my God. These are better than the oranges on your island. And I didn’t think that was possible. How many are on that tree? Can I pack my bag with them?”

“There’s plenty. Eat a few. We’ll take a few with us. But we don’t want to get weighed down if we need to run again.”

“Fiiiiine,” I grumbled.

“There should be plenty more as we keep going. Plus some more bananas. We definitely won’t starve.”

“But we’re getting out of here today, right? Right?” I pressed when he didn’t meet my gaze.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s really hard to stay the course in here.”

“You have your compass, though.”

“I do. But I have no idea if this particular area of the rainforest is deeper than where we came in. It’s not like the whole thing has a straight line border.”

Right.

That made sense.

“But not more than another day, right?” At his pause, a whimper escaped me. “You’re not serious.”

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