Excerpt:

As they emerged from the forest path, she felt the intense wall of heat again. Jack had just finished his Flow Plan Fallback explanation, and he moved to the roadside, looking both ways up and down the long road for Joe and the truck.

He stopped, closed his eyes for a moment, and slowed down his breathing.

Anabel watched him and waited. She could smell the wild tropical flowers nearby, and hearing the bees, she turned to see them exchange their pollen for nectar with an excited buzzing.

It was so hot! Distracted by her body’s discomfort, she didn’t even want to get out her camera to capture the exchange, as her temperature continued to rise.

Sweat prickled at her neck as she watched Jack just standing in the sun with his eyes closed. Was he concerned that Joe was delayed with this Island Time he talked about? She looked back down the road in the direction they’d come and couldn’t see any cars. The only movement was in the other direction, where a vehicle in the distance headed toward them.

Jack opened his eyes and smiled. He pointed at the approaching vehicle and said, “She’s coming.”

“Who’s coming? Salla? I thought Joe was getting us?”

“Anabel, I didn’t want to pre-empt it, so I didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Shifting in the heat, she watched him and waited. He looked toward the approaching car. It was far enough away that she couldn’t tell the make or model. 

“My mentor. You get to meet her. She’s in the car with Joe right now, and they’re headed our way. I asked Joe to drive to a meeting place up into the mountains. I can feel her coming.”

Jack wasn’t making much sense. She hadn’t seen him call anyone, and she didn’t think he even had his mobile with him.

Jack had an expression on his face that she hadn’t seen before. Was it delight? Anticipation? It wasn’t just in his eyes or smile; his whole face lit up. Anabel saw pure love in his face. She, he had said. Was he in a relationship with this mentor? Anabel felt left behind.

Embarrassed to admit it, she wanted him to look at her that way. This was an unfamiliar emotion: jealousy. Something had happened with Jack today – a subtle intimacy. She knew that. And her feelings roared up within her to tell her that she didn’t want to share him. She looked away toward the forest to hide her face — the disappointment, the unrealized feelings, the sense of losing a future not consciously considered. Had she misread his signals at the waterfall? She hadn’t even been thinking of pursuing a relationship with him. But her reactions were telling her something different.

Park it Anabel, she thought, as she carefully composed her face and turned back toward the approaching vehicle. It was the same make and model of their truck. Dirt-covered and dusty brown, it no longer appeared white.

She could see two people in the front seat. As it slowed and pulled off to the side of the road, she recognized Joe’s smiling face. Looking over at the passenger, she couldn’t make out her features. Was the light playing tricks on her? Jack had also said he could “feel” her coming. What did he mean?

Anabel stood watching Jack approach the passenger side and open the door for his ‘mentor.’ Out of the truck stepped a tall, beautiful woman with thick dark brown hair. Even pulled back, it fell to her waist, and she looked more like an Amazon Goddess than a business mentor. Jack grasped her elbow and steered her toward Anabel. As she drew closer, Anabel saw she was much older than Jack. Still an exotic beauty, but at least twenty years older than him, she guessed.

Jack looked at this mentor and, without saying a word, gestured toward Anabel as if to say, ‘here she is.’ It was like a pantomime between them, and she wondered if this was the normal way that Australians introduced people — or maybe his mentor was hearing-impaired? In her growing confusion, she was having a lot of trouble managing her emotions. Feelings were overflowing, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to hold it together for much longer.

Then, Anabel could swear that she heard the woman scold him, saying ‘Jack, you didn’t tell her about me.’

But her mouth never moved.

Feeling like an animal in a zoo, she looked helplessly from the woman to Jack.

The woman turned toward her and for the first time she spoke to Anabel.

“My bell,” she said, “forgive our lack of manners. Jack has waited over a decade to meet you. And I have waited a lifetime.”

Anabel was at the end of her emotional discipline. She came here for a holiday. She thought she was going to get some pointers on having a bigger and better lifestyle for herself, and for the independence she craved to live life on her own terms. Now, confused about her feelings for Jack, this woman shows up, uses her nickname, and tells her she’s been waiting for her for a lifetime.

“Catch her, Jack!” was the last thing she heard before she passed out.