Tyler’s rod bent with the exertion of holding onto what appeared to be a large catch.
Tyler struggled to maintain his grip. ‘Autumn, come on, you’re going to have to help me here.’
She got up and watched Tyler’s straining forearms. ‘Well, what do I do?’ she asked.
‘Help me hold the rod. I don’t want to lose this one. This could be the biggest one I’ve ever caught.’
Autumn put her hands over his and stood behind him, trying with all her strength to keep him from losing the rod over the side of the boat.
‘It isn’t a shark, is it? Because if you’ve caught a shark and haul it onto the deck, I’m not going to be impressed.’
‘It could be a shark, couldn’t it? It’s a delicacy apparently. We could probably sell it.’
‘You’d better convince me it isn’t a shark, or I’m letting go of this rod,’ Autumn replied.
‘Leo!’ Tyler called to the guide. ‘Give us a hand here. We’ve got a big one!’
*
Twenty minutes later, the huge milkfish was hauled on board, and, in true showbiz fashion, as soon as it had made its entrance, the cameras were out to capture the moment. The milkfish was held above heads, vertically in arms, horizontally by its tail, close-up for ugly face comparisons, and all the images were uploaded onto the hotel website and Facebook page before they had reached the shore.
‘A fisherwoman now,’ Tyler remarked, indicating the catch being taken off in a cool container as they arrived back on the island.
Autumn stepped down from the jetty onto the sand. ‘It was your catch.’
‘Joint effort,’ Tyler told her with a smile. ‘I think you actually talked it in, and it knew you wouldn’t shut up until it surrendered.’
‘Right, for that comment you’re on crossword duty with Tawanda all of tomorrow while I go kayaking.’
‘Kayaking?’
‘They do kayaking here. I thought I might give it a try. I can’t spend the whole holiday on a sunbed, and, as exciting as fishing was, it didn’t really float my kayak,’ she said, smiling back at him.
‘Very good. Listen, they’re going to cook the fish for us. I’ve booked a table for eight o’clock.’
‘I hate fish,’ Autumn replied.
‘I know, but you can have something else and watch me eat her,’ Tyler suggested.
‘I don’t think so.’
Her palms were sweating, and her head was starting to spin. Had he just asked her on a date? What was she? Some kind of fair game for bodyguards?
‘Come on, you know Tawanda’s got a new puzzle book today. She’s bound to bring it to dinner,’ Tyler continued.
‘I don’t want to have dinner with you.’
‘Why not?’
‘Why not? Because it’s sounding like you’re asking me to dinner, like on a date,’ Autumn blurted out, trying to look at him but not blind herself with the sun.
‘And that would be wrong because…’
‘I don’t want to go on a date with you. I don’t want to go on a date period. I’ve just lost someone who was so special to me. I can’t even contemplate anything with anyone else. Not now, possibly not ever. I can’t believe you’d even ask,’ Autumn blasted.
‘I apologize,’ Tyler began. ‘I just thought—’
‘Well, don’t. Don’t think about it ever again. I know no one understands how I felt about Nathan, but I’m telling you nice, and loud and clear, so that you know. I’m still in love with him, and I don’t see that changing!’
As the words flew from her mouth, so did the torrent of emotion, and before she burst into another avalanche of tears, she hurried up the sand toward the hotel.
She reached into her purse for Nathan’s photo. She felt her iPhone, felt her wallet and sunscreen, but where was the photo? She’d had it on the boat. The boat. She’d leaped up to help Tyler with the fish. Where was it? Was it still on the boat or had it… had it fallen overboard?
She ran back toward Tyler, tears streaming down her face. She bypassed him, leaped up onto the jetty, and sprinted toward the boat moored at the edge.
‘Hey, Autumn! Wait! What are you doing?’ Tyler called to her.
She heaved herself up onto the deck and went to the area she’d been standing. She scoured the floor with her eyes, moved buckets and sheets out of the way, upturning anything she came in contact with. She couldn’t lose the photo. It was all she had.
‘What’s going on? What are you doing? Are you okay?’ Tyler asked, making it up onto the deck with her.
‘My photo… my photo of Nathan, it’s gone. I had it here and it’s gone,’ she raved through a mist of tears.
‘Oh.’
‘Oh? Is that all you can say? It’s the most precious thing I own. It’s the only thing I have. I can’t have lost it! How stupid! How careless! How did I do that? It’s your fault! You and that fish! It’s all your fault!’ Autumn screamed, hitting Tyler in the chest with an angry fist.
Tyler took hold of her hands. ‘Hey! Hey, come on, it’s okay. I’ll get you another photo. I’ll find you another, I promise.’
‘I shouldn’t be here with you. I should be here with him. We talked about coming here,’ Autumn stated as her body started to shake.
‘I know,’ Tyler said, pulling her into his embrace.
‘I just want him back, Tyler. I just want him back.’
‘I know that, too.’
‘I feel sick.’ Autumn pulled herself away from him and leaned over the edge of the boat.
Forty-Six
It took two glasses of lemonade and some painkillers to quell the headache and the nausea. She hadn’t worn a hat on the boat, and now she was paying for it. Today had been a particularly bad day. The boat trip, meant to evoke memories of Nathan and his desire to go fishing in the Seychelles, had done nothing but lose her the only tangible connection she had with him, and make Tyler think
