“I don’t care. I’ve had this argument with my folks a million times already. I don’t need it from someone I barely even know.”
“Fine. I’ll drop it.” He didn’t want to drop it, but he wasn’t much one for confrontation.
“So, how long are you here for?” she asked, regaining composure at the flick of a switch.
“A couple of weeks.” A screech made him look up at the trees, and he wondered if it was a bird or a howler monkey.
“So what are you doing here, alone?”
“I don’t know. Drowning my sorrows. So what was she like?” He regretted the words as he said them, wishing he could just leave it alone.
“She was a free spirit for sure. Never home. Adventurous. Spontaneous. Reckless. Always seemed to be in some kind of trouble. I’d barely see her, I don’t know if that made her disappearance harder or easier, although I couldn’t imagine it being harder.”
“Listen. I don’t mean to intrude, or to be weird or anything, but if you get into any trouble out there, or need anything, let me know. I could always pay you a visit, check in?”
“Why don’t you come? Actually. Sorry I asked. I’m sure you don’t want to spend your vacation—”
“I’d like to. I would, but I spent most of my money on the hotel.” It was true, but not the whole truth. He was here for a reason, a reason he couldn’t be distracted from.
They stayed quiet until they reached the main pyramid. He wasn’t expecting it to be so big, and it was only when he overheard other people, that he discovered this was the second largest Mayan pyramid in Mexico. Josie’s eyes lit up when she saw it and she went straight to the base of the pyramid, gazing up to the peak. There was a long white rope secured all the way up the steps for people to hold on to. It looked even steeper when he reached the first step, and vertigo already set in. He just concentrated on what was in front of him. Just one wrong step on the uneven, rugged stone and he could see himself tumbling back, cracking his head on the rock as he fell. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing—just some tragic accident. He counted one hundred steps and took a deep breath before traversing the next few. The view at the top was worth it. The jungle spread as far as the eye could see, and he turned to see a look of appreciation on Josie’s face.
“They say it’s much worse on the way down.” A sweet older lady told him in between taking photos. Maybe she had noticed how unfit he was from spending so much time planted to his couch watching television. The sounds of the forest reminded him of the nature tracks he used to listen to when he went to sleep and wanted to block out his thoughts, and a light breeze brushed past him as he tried to capture the moment in his mind like a photograph. He wanted this to be one of the last things he remembered. This random moment he was sharing with Josie, high above the trees, looking down at the world below.
By the time they had explored the other fork in the road, they still had just under an hour left. “See, this is what happens when you rush,” Michael said with a hint of faux smugness.
“What are you complaining about? Now we get to relax and just take it all in.” She found a shady spot for them to sit on a large tree root overlooking the smaller ruins.
“Don’t judge me,” he said, pulling a small bottle of rum out of his daypack.
“You’ve been holding out on me.” She waited for him to take a swig before taking the bottle from him.
Chapter Eight
Josie wobbled as she scaled the steps to the hotel, holding her arms out as if she was walking a tightrope.
“The tables have turned,” Michael said, glad not to be the one to have overindulged for a change. He felt vaguely guilty for reveling in her loss of control, but not for long.
She yanked him by the arm so hard it almost hurt, not realizing her own strength. “We should go to the bar.”
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” He wasn’t usually one to stop a party before it had begun, but he knew she had a lot on her plate, and didn’t think it would be wise for her to have a monstrous hangover the next day.
“I’m just getting started baby. You don’t tell me when I’ve had enough. I tell you when I’ve had enough… when you’ve had enough.” She grabbed his hands and clumsily moved her feet back and forth, trying to make him salsa with her at the top of the steps. Her hips swayed in such an exaggerated way, it was more comical than sexy. Michael humored her and twirled her under his arm.
“We should go dancing.” Her voice echoed off the granite surfaces.
“Maybe you should eat something? Don’t you have an early morning tomorrow?” Michael wanted nothing more than to dance with her until the early hours, to make the most of the time they had together, but if he knew anything, he knew that glazed look of someone that didn’t know when enough was enough, as he had seen it in the mirror more times than he could remember.
“Alright mom. You know what? You’re so bossy.”
“People gotta look out for each other, a wise person once told me.”
“Hey, you can’t use my words against me. Not cool man.”
“What about room service?”
“Yes, yes!” She was almost shouting. “Room service. You know what, you have the best ideas.”
He decided them finishing the entire bottle of rum on the journey back had probably not been the best idea as he watched her run up to a random group of strangers by the elevator and start hugging them.
***
When the doors opened on
