Page 68 of Escape to the Sun

She turned blindly to Ash. When his face came into focus, she nodded.

“Can you do that for me? Go see Sherri?”

She nodded again.

“Go,” he whispered. “I’ve got this.”

She looked at her mom one more time. Regret filled her but she still couldn’t find the words. So she turned and walked away.

* * *

Ash certainly didn’t haveany idea what he was going to do with Val or what exactly he was going to show her, but he needed to do something because watching a mother and daughter relationship self-destruct in front of his eyes was not an option.

It already may have been too late, but he needed to do something. He cared too much about Heather to sit back and let her ruin something that could still possibly be fixed. If there was even the slightest hint that it could be saved, he was going to try.

Even if it meant sending Heather up the hill before he’d had a chance to tell her the truth about Sherri. It wasn’t an ideal situation, and Heather was going to be mad.

Oh yeah, she was going to be mad all right. But she’d forgive him. She’d understand.

She had to.

“Val?” He crossed the distance between them and reached out to touch her. She jumped back as if he’d startled her. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer right away, but after a moment, she nodded.

“Why don’t we spend a little time together today? I thought it might be nice to show you the island a bit, and then maybe you can see the beautiful side of Bocas, because it is so beautiful.”

She nodded again. “I’d like that.”

He gave her his most charming smile and led her back into grande casa. Before they went anywhere, they were going to have some of Camila’s delicious frittata. Because Ash was pretty sure that what he was about to undertake was going to require stamina.

Camila fed them a delicious breakfast, and even packed a small basket of snacks when Ash explained what was going on. She may have moved on with Luis—a fact that Ash was glad for—but she still clearly had a soft spot for him. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, grabbed a cooler of water and led Val back down the dock to the boat.

“I don’t much care for these little boats, Ash.” Val stopped short at the end of the dock, clearly not very excited to get in.

He hopped down, tucked the basket and cooler away and held his hand out for Val. “I know you didn’t look all that comfortable when you came over yesterday, but my boat is much better and we’ll take it slow. If you hate it, we can come back. I promise.”

She nodded and took his hand. “You do have a smooth way about you, young man. I can see why my daughter likes you.”

He grinned. “You can, can you? And what makes you think she likes me at all?”

Beyond the fact that it got Val talking about her daughter in a positive way, it was a totally self-serving question. When it came to Heather—especially when it came to Heather liking him—he was all ears.

“When it comes to men, she really doesn’t have much experience at all.” Val sat on the cushion Ash had provided for her. She was facing him at the back of the boat. It was okay for the moment, but as soon as they started moving, he wanted her to turn around so she could see everything. “Her husband took advantage of that, you know?”

“Did he?”

“He did.” Val pursed her lips together. “She was young and naive. So innocent.” She shook her head, clearly remembering a younger, more innocent Heather. “He just wanted a young, pretty girl to be his companion when he moved to a destitute third world country. He got that with her.”

“I’m sure that’s not all there was to it.”

“Oh yes. That was it. He used her.”

Ash wasn’t going to pretend to know all the details about Heather’s marriage, but he was pretty certain there was more to it than that. She must have loved the man at some point if she was willing to move to Panama with him.

“But she was a grown woman who made a choice.” Ash turned and started up the engine while they were chatting. “I mean, it’s not like she was kidnapped.”

“She might as well have been. Ash, she was just a baby when she left. She didn’t know the first thing about the world. And he was her first boyfriend. I mean, I knew it would turn out the way it did. I should have tried harder to keep her safe. To keep her at home.”

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