Page 55 of Escape to the Sun

But after puttering around grande casa for another twenty minutes, there was no more avoiding it. She had new guests arriving in a few days.

“I should probably check to make sure they weren’t delayed by the storm.” Heather spoke to the dog, in the habit she’d gotten into over the last few weeks whenever she found herself alone. Thor always seemed to be at her feet, and she didn’t mind. She’d never had a dog of her own before and she found his constant companionship comforting.

Thor whined in agreement or defeat—she couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t matter. There was no putting it off any longer. Ash could be back any minute and she’d certainly rather spend her time with him, especially when they were alone, in a million different ways.

As it always did, the computer took a few minutes to fire up, but as soon as it did, the email program lit up with unread messages. She filed those away and focused on the notes from guests, and potential new guests. Finally, when she was finished organizing a few more reservations, she went to open the emails from her mother, only there weren’t any.

“That can’t be right.”

Heather scrolled through the inbox again and clicked on her web-based email program and checked it as well. Still nothing. “Maybe she finally gave up on me,” she said to Thor, who lifted his head from his paws and yawned before laying it back down. “That’s kind of how I feel about it right now.”

There were probably a million explanations for why there were no messages, half of them might even be reasonable reasons, but there was no point in worrying about it.

Not when there were more fun things to do.

Heather closed the computer and walked out to the dock, Thor at her heels. The water was calm and just as gorgeous as it usually was. It was hard to believe that not even twenty-four hours ago, there’d been a tropical storm whipping up those very same waters. She gazed out across to the mangroves on the opposite shore from Casa del Sol.

“What do you think, buddy?” She squatted next to the dog and scratched his head. “Do you think I can get those sea grapes over there that Sherri was talking about?” Thor whined and licked her face, making her laugh. “It shouldn’t be too hard, right? I can take the canoe.”

The canoe.

She’d forgotten all about the boat she’d inadvertently sunk the day before. Looking toward the swim platform, where she’d last seen it, turned up nothing but the frayed rope hanging from the cleat where Ash had cut it in an effort to save it. “But if he’d cut it…” She scanned the shoreline. “Where would it have gone?” Her question was answered when she finally spotted what looked like could be the canoe, or at least the tip of it, sticking out in the water by the mangroves at the far end of the property.

At least it wasn’t totally lost. Maybe with Ash’s help, they could dig it out enough to bail and save it? Hopefully. In the meantime, she definitely wouldn’t be taking the canoe to find the sea grapes, but now that the idea was in her head, she really wanted to get some. Besides, if she could make a delicious salad with some of the herbs and lettuces from the garden, the sea grapes would be a crunchy addition. And then maybe she could redeem herself from the burnt breakfast fiasco.

Once the idea was in her head, Heather couldn’t shake it. She glanced up toward the treehouse, but there was still no sign of Ash. She’d have time.

Besides, she’d just successfully completed instruction in the panga, so there was no reason not to take the boat out on her own. “You wait here, Thor.”

She ran over to the boat and started up the engine on the first try, just like Ash showed her, before untying the bow line. Thor ran along the dock, barking as she backed the boat away from the dock and the bungalow. As soon as she was a safe distance away, she pressed down on the throttle and urged the boat to go faster. The trip across the channel to the grove of mangroves wasn’t far, but since she was out there, there was no harm in going for a little spin to enjoy herself.

The wind whipped through her hair, tangling it around her face, but Heather loved it. She always enjoyed a boat ride, especially in the little wooden panga, but as she was discovering, she absolutely loved it when she was alone and in total control of the boat. It was empowering knowing that she was in total control of the boat.

And her life.

She pushed the boat to go even faster out through the channel and around the corner of the mangroves into another bay. She tipped her head back and let out a shriek of joy. And another. And another until she was laughing with the thrill of it all.

It felt strange and wonderful. Inappropriate and entirely perfect all at the same time. In the middle of the ocean, surrounded by mangroves. The sun high in the sky, butterflies dancing over the bow. Heather let herself laugh. Tears of mirth streamed down her face and when finally the last chuckle faded away, she wiped at her face, looked around to get her bearings and put her hand back on the throttle.

She gave the boat a little gas. It leapt forward and then….

Nothing.

Heather flicked her wrist, trying to rev the boat, but nothing. She tried again. And a third time, but the boat wasn’t going anywhere.

“Dammit.”

The fact that the boat had stopped wasn’t terribly concerning. Or at least it wouldn’t have been, if Heather had any idea of where she was. She looked around again. All the mangroves looked the same, and she couldn’t find a landmark that gave her any indication of where Casa del Sol might be. Not that it would help much considering she’d barely gone out in the boat since she’d arrived at the B&B.

Worse—Ash had no idea where she was. And there was no way to tell him.

* * *

He spentthe next few hours moving around the house, cleaning the floors, gathering the debris, and opening the shutters to let some light shine in.

As Ash worked, Sherri stayed in her little nest of pillows and blankets in the corner of the room. From time to time, he glanced over to see how she was. Most of the time, she was sleeping, but a few times he caught her watching him.

When he was finally finished with the major clean-up, he moved to the kitchen area and examined the bottles of pills that were scattered about. Some of them were prescription, not that they were specific to her, but that wasn’t unusual for Panama where medicine was readily available, but most of them looked to be vitamins or some types of supplements. And of course, there was a healthy amount of weed in a baggie.

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