Page 17 of Falling for the Enemy

Norman groaned and mumbled something about being eaten alive by insects and crocodiles as he shuffled over to stand next to the other men. I looked at Robyn and Pam. “Should we pull straws to see who showers first?”

Pam pushed ahead. “I say it’s the first one to the door.” She spotted the sign for the room numbers and off she went.

Robyn caught up to me. “This should be a delight.”

I laughed. “Not sure why she’s racing. I’ve got the key.”

By the time I got into the shower, there was only cold water. I didn’t mind too much, considering the stifling humidity in the air. It had been a while since I’d been to a tropical climate, and I’d forgotten how relentless the humidity could be. I combed out my wet hair and pulled on a T-shirt and shorts. Robyn was writing feverishly in her journal. She told me that since this was her first expedition, she planned to keep extensive notes about the journey. Pam had her earbuds in, and she was swaying to music as she sat on the bed looking at something on her computer. I walked out to the tiny patio just outside the room. There was a parking lot and a convenience store next to the hotel, but behind the convenience store was a lush stretch of plants. Even in its towns, Costa Rica was dotted with green spaces that could rival the world’s most dense rainforests. There was also no shortage of colorful birds in the country. This afternoon, in the waning sunlight, a pair of bright orangetanagers twittered around in a puddle left by a recent cloud break.

I sat in the wicker chair and glanced at my phone. It was two hours earlier at home. My best bet for catching someone not terribly busy was Ella. Not that she wasn’t busy with her job writing for an online publication, but she made her own hours, unlike the rest of the gang.

I dialed her number, and she picked up right away. “Ava? Everything all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. We’re staying in a hotel by the airport tonight, then after that it’ll be harder to get in contact. Thought I’d let you know that we’ve arrived.”

“Good to know. And how was it with—you know who—the grumpy professor?”

“The grumpy professor? Well, I ended up as his seatmate on the plane. He wasn’t too terrible, but we’ll see how the rest of the trip goes.”

“Well, I plan to go back and forth”—I spun around so quickly the chair tipped to the side. I righted it before falling over—“between the grumpy professor and the suave, devil-may-care, useless assistant. A sort of Jekyll and Hyde transformation, if you will.” Feeling the heat in my cheeks, I stared over at Jack on the next patio. Ella had no idea what was happening, so she took off on a long story that had something to do with Rhett finding an old bone in the cellar of the house that may or may not have been a human femur. It would have been an intriguing topic if not for the embarrassing situation I’d found myself in right then. “You can decide which is worse,” he continued. “Jekyll or Hyde.”

I turned back around. Ella had finished her story.

“I’ll have to hear more about it when I get home, El. Tell everyone hello, and tell them not to worry. This trip is a cakewalk compared to most that I’ve been on.” Although I had my druthers about the team I’d been saddled with. “I’ll call youwhen I can.” I hung up and turned around. Jack had sat down in the chair on his patio. He was wearing shorts, a rarity for him. He stretched his long legs out. They were muscular, as if he rode bikes or ran. I realized I knew very little about his personal life because we almost never spoke unless it was to gripe at each other. “What’s your favorite hobby?” never came up. The chat about my lucky necklace was possibly the only slightly lengthy and civil conversation we’d ever had.

For a few seconds the two of us sat silently on our parallel patios, watching as the tanagers plucked around in a patch of lantana. The bright orange of the flowering bush provided a nice camouflage for the equally bright birds. Seconds later, three scarlet macaws flew overhead, dropping their shadows over the ground as they passed.

“I’d forgotten the amazing diversity in this place,” Jack said.

“It really is incredible.” It always felt weird to have a normal, nice weather-like, kind of exchange.

“Who were you talking to about the grumpy professor? I guess my reputation is far and wide.”

“Not that far and wide. It was my sister, Ella.”

“Is she the baker?”

“Nope, that’s Isla. Ella is the writer. Aria owns Whisper Cove Café, and Layla is the baby of the family. She works in Isla’s bakery.”

“Five Lovely sisters. Your mom must have had her hands full when you were teens.”

The tanagers took off in a fiery orange fluff of feathers. “My mom died before any of us reached our teens.”

Jack fell quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“How would you?” I looked over at him. “We’ve worked together for six months, and I didn’t even know you had a family, that you were a dad. No wonder Brimley worries that we can’t work together well. We can’t work together at all … apparently.”

“I doubt throwing us together in a stress-filled situation like this is going to do the trick.”

I laughed. “Stress-filled? We haven’t even left the hotel yet.”

Jack turned my direction, and I could read it on his face.

“No way. Did you get stuck with Norman?”

“The four of us had a rock, paper, scissors tournament. I still think Milo cheated.”

“How do you cheat at rock, paper, scissors?”

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