Page 13 of Love in Bloom

“Shall we see the waterfall first and picnic after?”

“Wonderful.”

With Camille on one arm and the picnic basket secured on the other, he led them through the park to the waterfall.

“It’s magnificent,” she said.

“Man-made too,” Tristan added.

“When you said waterfall, I thought it would be a tiny trickle, but this is huge, and look at the double pools below. Can you bathe in them? I guess not or everyone would be in them on a day like this. I always find waterfalls magical and expect them to be portals to other places.”

“What kind of places?”

She laughed. “I have no idea. Somewhere else. A far away country or—”

“Another planet made to look like paradise?”

She laughed again, and Tristan thought he’d never get tired of the sound.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could travel the globe simply by stepping through a waterfall and arriving at another, hundreds or thousands of miles away?”

“You do like adventure,” he said.

“Yes, doesn’t everyone?”

“What level of adventure?” He steered her down the walkway to find a spot to picnic. “Skydiving? Being a citizen astronaut?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about doing either of those. My sense of adventure would be more like hiking through unexplored tropical country to find a new species of flower or sailing the seas looking for unusual water plants. Not very high on the adventure scale, but that’s my idea of fun. New places, new plants. What about you? Ever done any of the things you asked me about?”

“No. Though I did go out with friends to the Indian jungle last year. We rode elephants for the first part but then trekked around on foot. We met a tiger.”

“No!” She clapped her hands to her cheeks. “What did you do?”

“What any sensible Welsh man would do. Ran for it! Here I’ll show you a picture.” He found a grassy spot to settle them under the trees and put the basket down before getting out his phone. He scrolled through his photos, selected an album, and turned it to face her.

“Oh my! He looks like he’s right on your heels. Why were you taking a picture of this while running? I think I’d be screaming my head off and blazing a trail through the jungle. Only then the beast would know exactly where I was. Best to run silent and save my breath. Except tigers can run faster than humans. How could you possibly escape? You could climb a tree, but can’t tigers do that too? Whatever did you do?” She scrolled through the images. “Oh no. Oh please say no.” Her face crumpled as she turned the phone to him. “You shot it? Killed it? How could you?” Her whisper was accusatory, and her blue eyes flashed. “He was probably napping when you surprised him. He didn’t deserve to die for idiot sport.”

Tristan put his hand on her shoulder. “Camille, I would never kill an animal. They are precious creatures and add beauty to our world. Our guides used tranquilizer guns.”

“Tranquilizers?”

“Yes. I’d never agree to go on a jungle quest to kill an animal. Why is my life worth more than his?” He picked the phone up and showed her the next image, where he knelt down with one hand on the tiger’s back. “See, he’s sleeping peacefully.”

“Aren’t the tranquilizers harmful?”

“No, the reason I picked this guide company was because of their scrupulous care in not damaging the animals. They use a natural substance in the formula to knock out the tiger if it gets too close, which I assure you it did. Not all companies share the same moral code.”

She turned fully to face him. “I’m sorry I thought poorly of you.”

“An easy mistake to make given the British history of going on safari to exotic locations to bring home a beast and put it on display.”

“My father was never a hunter. He cried every time he killed one of our chickens. Mum eventually took over that responsibility.”

“You had chickens?” With the tense moment past, Tristan unloaded the picnic basket.

“About a dozen or so at any given time. Clara and I were only allowed to name one each. Mum said if we claimed them all as pets, we’d never be able to put one on the table. We’d starve.”

“Were you that poor?” He set a croissant sandwich on a plate and passed it to her.

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