Lovewrecked - Karina Halle Page 0,84

opportunities presented to her, just as you took yours? Yes, I’ll be the first one to say that yours have been more challenging, but you fought for the life you chose. You fought for me. Daisy is only now admitting that she wants more for herself. Put yourself in her shoes for a moment, and just imagine working a job for ten years that you didn’t even like all that much.” He pauses. “And she failed at it. Isn’t it better to fail at something you love than something you hate?”

“And you shouldn’t be rooting for her to fail, at any rate,” I tell Lacey. “Which tells me that whatever issues you have with your sister, it’s all to do with you, and nothing to do with her.”

I glance over at the west where Fred is standing on the beach and staring off into the distance.

Dark, angry-looking clouds are building on the horizon.

Storm’s coming.

And moving fast.

“Now you can think about the fact that I’m right, or you can continue harboring resentment, but I’m going to get Daisy,” I tell her.

I turn and run off into the forest, the deep musty smell of earth and foliage filling my lungs.

“Daisy!” I yell, leaping over fallen logs, dodging tangled roots. The canopy above makes the world dimmer, harder to see.

I pause and listen. I hear the stream burbling nearby, the constant birdsong, but beyond that, nothing.

I head toward the flowing water and then follow it, knowing this is probably what Daisy did.

I’m worried about her. I wasn’t expecting for her to melt down like that, even though it was obviously a long time coming. I knew from the moment I first met her that she was wearing a mask, that beneath the makeup and the trendy clothes and that bright smile, was a little lost girl who was trying to be what the world wanted her to be. It definitely didn’t help that she had someone like Lacey drilling those things in her head. If you hear something enough, you believe it.

You become it.

And now Daisy wants to become something else.

I want to help her become that person.

“Daisy!” I yell again, as the elevation gets slightly higher, the stream bringing me closer to the pool.

When I finally get there, I see a couple of crested iguanas on the rocks. They look at me with idle surprise, but don’t dart off. Daisy is nowhere to be found.

I could have sworn she would have come here.

Maybe she went to the old camp?

To the boat?

The image of Atarangi sitting on the reef hits deep.

I’m about to run in that direction when I swear I hear her voice.

I stop and listen.

There’s just the running water, the birds.

My heart pounding in my throat.

I will find Daisy.

And once I find her, I’m not going to let her go.

I mean that.

Not on this island, not when we get back to Fiji. Whether I have to go to the States, whether she’ll come to New Zealand, I don’t know, but I know that she’s worth fighting for and that we can make it work, whatever it is.

If she wants to, I remind myself.

Other than the sex, she’s given no real indications that she sees something long-term with us. Or perhaps I’ve been too afraid to look closely, to read into the wrong thing. We’re both people who had our hearts broken and our trust shattered by the last person we were with. Just because I’m feeling one way doesn’t mean she feels the same.

But it’s worth the shot, anyway.

I cup my hands around my mouth and try again. “Daisy!”

Silence, except for the waterfall. Even the birds have stopped.

Then I hear it again, coming from the east, the direction behind the waterfall.

A very faint, “Tai!”

I take off, running alongside the pool, the iguanas scattering, then I’m scampering up a slope to where the stream runs and plunges over the edge.

I haven’t explored this area yet, but I don’t let that slow me down.

I keep running, battling through overgrown vines, wishing I had a machete.

“Daisy!” I yell again, catching my breath.

“Tai!”

I pick up her direction, head away from the stream, running deeper and deeper into the jungle.

“Tai!”

I see her. Standing in a thicket of ferns.

Her red head stands out like a flame amongst all the green.

“Daisy!”

I run right over to her and bring her into my arms, squeezing her tight.

“I’m so sorry.” She’s babbling into my chest. “I got lost, I didn’t know where I was.”

“It’s okay,” I tell her, running my hand