Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
My face fills with heat as I avert my gaze to the rearview mirror, wondering if the driver is paying attention to our conversation. “No,” I say in a soft voice. “Nice try.”
“Is Zach sexy?”
This makes the driver shoot me a quick glance in his mirror.
I immediately slide my gaze back to Leah. “He’s … fine. I guess. He was my friend’s husband. I don’t look at him like that.”
“Liar.” She grins.
I know … deep down I know I’ll end up telling her about the marriage, but not now. Not on our first day of a long adventure.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Hawaii.
Fiji.
New Zealand.
Tasmania.
Australia.
Five islands in twelve weeks. Twelve weeks of missing Zach and Harry Pawter … but mostly Zach.
He’s my number one fan on Instagram, always liking my posts and commenting with something like “nice tan” or a restaurant recommendation because he’s traveled to so many of the same places.
We talk on the phone on those rare occasions that our schedules allow, like tonight. While it’s night for me here in Australia, it’s early morning for Zach. I bite my tongue every time we talk because the first words that want to sprint from my mouth are always “I miss you so much!”
“You’re stamping your passport with a few places I haven’t been. Not gonna lie … I’m getting a little envious of you,” he says the second I answer his call.
“You haven’t been to Australia? I find that hard to believe,” I say instead of my desperate “I miss you so much!”
“I’ve been to Australia. But I haven’t traveled to Fiji or Tasmania.”
It thrills me to know that I’ve experienced places Zach has never visited. In a weird way, it makes me feel older than I am—experienced and mature. “It’s a dream. I keep waiting for someone to wake me up and tell me I can’t sleep in this parking lot.”
Zach doesn’t say anything. Is it too early for the homeless jokes? I have to laugh at my life to really appreciate where I am at the moment.
“You photographed a wedding last weekend,” he says.
“Yes! Oh my god … it was unplanned, like this whole trip seems to be. But the circumstances around the wedding gig are almost too crazy to be true… but it is true. Total luck on their part. We were minding our own business, sipping drinks on the beach while watching a wedding, maybe fifty yards down the way from us, and no joke … the photographer just collapsed as the bride was making her way to her groom. Apparently, he was diabetic, and we were told he’d be fine, but it left the couple with no one to take photos.
“So leave it to Leah to traipse up to the couple, in her bikini, holding her drink in one hand and her camera slung across her body, and say, ‘My friend and I can snap a few photos if you’d like.’ So we did—in our bikinis! The couple insisted they pay us something, but Leah said they didn’t have to pay us anything if they would sign a photo release and let us post the photos on her website and social media.”
“Good timing,” Zach says. His voice makes me miss him even more. “How have you been feeling? Are you taking your medication? Getting plenty of sleep? Staying hydrated?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, Dad.”
“Who are you talking to?” Leah asks as she opens the door to our tiny room after using the shared bathroom at the hostel here in Sydney.
I give her a duh look because she knows I only have one person to call, unlike her. Leah has a huge family spread all around the US, plus her unofficial extended family, aka friends, she’s made around the world while traveling. I think she has lovers in at least a dozen countries as well. I didn’t see her much in Fiji because of a sexy man named Nete that she calls Ned.
When my eye roll confirms who I’m talking to, Leah makes a few exaggerated hip thrusts, being her usual obnoxious self.
I love her.
“Leah just walked into the room,” I tell Zach.
“But I can leave if you two want to have phone sex,” she yells.
Dead. Right here. I’m in my grave. She had way too much wine with dinner.
“Oh my god …” I shoot her an evil glare while flying off the single bed and straight out of the room. “She’s drunk,” I spew out in desperation while finding a private alcove in the garden area on the back side of the hostel.
Zach chuckles, but it sounds forced. Awkward.
“So how’s your family? Have you been taking flowers to Suzie?” I rarely mention Suzie’s name, but after the phone sex comment from Leah, I search for literally any change in subject.
“They’re good. Aaron just got engaged.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“Yup. I guess when you know, you know.”