Page 57 of What Happens in Paradise

‘Mi waan tuh tek anedda road, buh di rain washed eh weh laas week!’

‘I’m sorry…’ Jasmine paused. ‘Did you just say you wanted to take another road, but that the rain washed it away last week?’

‘Ya mon. Dat a wah mi seh!’Bob confirmed.

I looked at Jasmine and saw the panic all over her face.

‘So when there’s a lot of rain, for example, like how heavy it’s raining now, roads just…wash away?’

‘Ya mon,’Bob said casually.

‘Oh my God!’ Jasmine gripped the edge of the seat.

Her eyes bulged and her body tensed. I thought that she was scared when we were climbing Dunn’s River Falls, but now she looked terrified.

My first instinct was to reach out and hold her hand, like I did before, but then I remembered:boundaries.

I could not touch her any more. It was agreed. I had made a promise to myself. And I had told her I was only here as a colleague. I could not go back on my word.

‘We will be fine,’ I said softly, hoping that would reassure her.

There may have been a chance that could have helped. But when we spotted a minibus coming towards us, trying to squeeze down the same narrow stretch of road and I saw Jasmine throw her hands over her eyes, I knew it would take more than a few words to calm her.

‘There’s no way we canbothstay on this road. It’s too tight! We’re going to go off the edge!’ Her voice was full of panic. ‘Look at the drop! Oh my God! We’re going to die!’

When I leant over to look out of her side of the window, I instantly understood her concerns. She was right. Bob’s car was already dangerously close to the edge. There were no barriers. And even with the rain lashing against the window, I could see that the drop was steep. If we went over the edge, there was no way we would survive.

Mierda.

The road was muddy and slippery. I could not see how either Bob or the minibus would be able to reverse safely.

‘Rhaatid!’Bob shouted as the minibus got closer. His tone of voice was unusually downbeat and shocked, so I knew he was saying something likedamn. This was not a good sign.

But it was when Jasmine jumped over to my side of the car and gripped my arm that I was certain we were in big trouble…

20

JASMINE

Of all the ways I thought I would die, I never imagined it would be from falling off the edge of a Jamaican mountain.

But yet, here we were: inches away from plummeting what had to be at least a hundred feet. It was hard to tell exactly because the rain was coming down so fast.

When I’d first raised my concerns to Bob, he was his usualno problem, everything is irieself.

Then when he saw how close the minibus was and started swearing, I knew he was worried too.

Watching as the car got closer and closer to the edge was torture. That was why I’d leapt over to Alejandro’s side of the car, grabbed his arm and buried my head in his chest.

If I only had minutes left on this earth, at least I didn’t want to be alone.

As I gripped onto his muscular arm and breathed in his delicious scent, I instantly felt better. Still terrified, but better. This was a more pleasant way to meet my end.

Bob beeped his horn furiously and cursed the man in the minibus who was still moving forward, determined to squeeze past, even if it meant we’d go tumbling off the cliff’s edge.

‘I should call my parents!’ I bolted up. ‘To say goodbye!’ I pulled out my phone. There was zero reception. ‘No!’ I screamed in frustration. I didn’t want to go like this. It was too soon. There was still so much I wanted to do with my life.

There were dozens of countries I wanted to explore. Hundreds more experiences I wanted to have.

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