Page 19 of Duty and Desire

“Couple of thousand feet.”

The trail led to what resembled a jungle tunnel, rising all the time and muddy in places. I pointed to long tracks etched into the rough surface. “What are those?”

“Slide marks from previous hikers. Be careful where you put your feet, and use your hands if you need to.”

He hadn’t been kidding when he said the trail was slippery, and my heart pounded as we climbed. Here and there I spotted slithery iridescent lizards darting around. Moss covered the tree trunks, and everything was so lush and green.

And peaceful. So goddamn peaceful.

San Francisco was a vibrant, bustling place, full of tourists, noise, traffic… And sure, sometimes all that noise was annoying, but I hadn’t once considered moving. I could see how the tranquility of this island might get under my skin, maybe even seep into my bones.

The writer part of me had gone to sleep for a while, but Bora-Bora had awakened it.

We reached the first rope, and that didn’t prove difficult to use. At the end, there was a slight opening in the trees, and I could see cruise ships on the other side of the lagoon.

Then we came to the tree ferns, and my jaw dropped.

They were huge, towering over our heads. The brown curledstalks that would soon unfurl were thicker than my forearm, the seed pods larger than my hand. The fully grown ferns had stalks resembling the trunks of young trees.

I laughed. “God, I feel so small.”

Nick curled his hand around one of the ferns. “There are times when I’m hiking that I get this overwhelming feeling of being so insignificant. If mankind was swept away tomorrow, this glorious world would remain, would keep on blooming, without us.”

I stared at him. “You have a way with words, you know. Maybe you should be a writer.”

Everything he said carved a deeper impression of him, and I liked the thing of beauty that was emerging.

And still we climbed, up, up, up, until at last we had our first full view.

“There’s the dock at Vaitape.” Nick pointed to the pastel blue-green water. “And those are cargo ships.”

I stood and stared, grateful for the warm sunlight on my face and the wind carrying a scent of flowers and grass, a lush, green smell that stirred something in me.

“You could forget the real world existed up here,” I murmured. I reached into my backpack and grabbed the bag of nuts I’d brought with me. I handed Nick a handful, then popped a few into my mouth.

He stood beside me. “I know. It’s so beautiful.”

“Have you ever brought your friend up here?”

Nick smiled. “Claudia and I first did this hike when we were students. We were nineteen, and we’d just finished our first year at university. I can’t remember which one of us had come up with the idea of visiting Bora-Bora, but we were hooked from the moment we stepped off the ferry.” He chuckled. “Mind you, she hasn’t done the hike since. She says she doesn’t need to. That box is well and truly checked.”

“And then you came to live here.” I looked out at the amazing view. “I can understand why.”

Nick gazed at the island below us. “What you said about forgetting the real world exists? You’re right. This is where I feel free. To breathe, to live… to be myself.”

Was I imagining the hint of wistfulness in his voice? Was it the writer in me, attributing emotions to him that didn’t exist?

Then he smiled. “Come on. Let’s make a move.”

“Can we finish the nuts first?”

Nick grinned. “Are you getting low on energy? Do you think you can make it to the top?”

I loved that he felt relaxed enough to tease me.

“I’m thirty-seven, not seventy-seven,” I fired back at him.

His eyes gleamed. “You don’t look your age. I would have said thirty.” He gestured to the summit. “You’re going to need a snack. We’ve still got the hardest part of the trail ahead of us.”

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