‘Mr Nathan, he liked to fish,’ Tawanda remarked.
‘I am well aware of that.’ Autumn leaped up from her sunbed and searched for her purse.
‘Come on, a holiday isn’t a holiday unless you live a little,’ Tyler suggested.
‘I’m living just fine thank you, here by the bar, on the sunbed, doing crossword puzzles with my friend. Besides,’ Autumn spat, ‘it isn’t like you and I would have a real conversation on the boat, is it? You don’t do conversation.’
‘I could take the photographs,’ Tyler suggested. ‘A few snaps of you with a swordfish for your website?’
Autumn slipped her purse over her shoulder. ‘No,’ she said.
‘Tyler, united, next to—eight letters, ending in E-R,’ Tawanda questioned.
‘Oh, for God’s sake, Tawanda,’ Autumn yelled, ‘It’s “together”. United, next to, “together”!’ She threw her hands up and stalked away from them both.
*
Tears pricked her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She smiled at the bellboy, raised a hand at the barman, but when she closed the door to her luxury suite, she gave in.
She let out an anguished sob and threw herself onto the four-poster bed, burying her head in the sumptuous pillows. It wasn’t just losing Nathan that was hitting her hard. It was her father, too. She had no idea where he was, would probably never know. It was almost better believing he was dead, because thinking he was gone had given her a definite end. Even though she knew the likelihood of seeing him again was slim, there would always be that speck of hope, no matter what the realistic side of her told herself.
So, here she was, alone in a luxury suite in a five-star hotel in the Seychelles, not knowing what she was going to do from here. She knew she should confide in Tawanda, but she just didn’t know how.
There was a knock at the door. She sat up and drew a pillow to her stomach. It had been doing constant revolutions since breakfast, and it wasn’t time for lunch yet.
She cleared her throat. ‘Who is it?’ she called.
‘It’s Tyler.’
She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. She was convinced Tawanda was trying to set them up. Her friend’s earlier comments about his physique hadn’t fallen on deaf ears, but she wasn’t interested. He may look good, but looks weren’t everything. In fact, they were of precious little importance.
‘Come in,’ she called.
No doubt he was going to give her a dressing down about storming off the beach without telling him where she was going.
He opened the door and entered the suite. He still wore the shorts and shades, but now with a pair of Havaianas on his feet.
Autumn pulled the pillow closer and met his gaze.
‘You should come fishing,’ Tyler stated, his hands on his hips.
‘I don’t want to come fishing. I have no interest in fishing. What is the necessity for me to come fishing?’ Autumn wanted to know.
‘I don’t know. I thought maybe, as Nathan always wanted to fish here, you’d like to do it for him,’ Tyler said.
She knew he was watching for her reaction, and she gave it to him. Her lips tightened, her eyes began to weep, and she hugged the pillow with everything she had.
‘How do you know that?’ she hissed.
‘We were friends, Miss Raine, from a few years back. The fishing here is world famous. We talked about doing it one day. Obviously, we never did.’
‘You’re so young, how can you…’
‘Nathan trained me… he was the best.’
Autumn nodded and blinked back her tears.
‘I don’t have conversation, because in my line of work, you get used to only speaking when it’s really necessary. I apologize for that. I can try harder, if that’s what you’d like.’
‘What I’d like is for this to feel like a normal holiday, not some sort of vacation from death and grief,’ she said, spluttering out the words.
‘Then we should fish. Plus, if we don’t, I’m going to lose a bet,’ he stated.
‘What?’
‘I kind of bet Leo that you and I would bring home the heaviest catch.’
‘Are you crazy? You bet a fishing tour guide that you and a singer would bring home the heaviest catch?’ Autumn put her hand over her mouth.
‘I’d had two piña coladas, and you know I rarely drink. It went straight to my head,’ Tyler admitted.
‘Don’t make me laugh,’ Autumn said, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. ‘I don’t want to laugh.’
‘Come on, come and fish with me. Besides, if you leave me with Tawanda and that crossword puzzle, I’m going to resign,’ Tyler told her, smiling in return.
*
Fishing was exhausting. For what seemed like hours, she had to sit on the boat in the blazing sun, waiting for an elusive bite. When she did get a tug on the line, she leaped up, expecting to have caught Jaws, but usually the fish outwitted her and got away. Minutes of exertion, trying to reel it in, left her in need of a lie down and a cold drink. Three hours, they’d been out on the boat, and she’d caught nothing. She would have felt worse, but Tyler had also drawn a blank.
‘I don’t know what Nathan saw in this. It’s the most boring thing I’ve ever done. Well, apart from that whimsical crochet item I had to take part in on the TV show,’ Autumn remarked.
‘The fish can feel you’re not into it, you know. You’re not trying hard enough,’ Tyler stated, adjusting his rod and moving his chair closer to hers.
‘The fish can feel I’m not into it? Don’t be ridiculous! Fish don’t have feelings!’
‘Whoa! Don’t be saying that too loud. Greenpeace is everywhere.’
‘I’m afraid you’re going to lose your bet,’ Autumn stated. She let out a sigh and looked down at the photo of Nathan wedged in her lap.
‘We’ve only been here three hours,’ Tyler reminded her.
‘Only! You make it sound like five minutes.’
‘Well, it is, relatively speaking. Whoa! Hold up,
