CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
KATY
December 20
Two a.m. came fast and furious.
Katy lay in bed, limp and lifeless, and opened her eyes to the darkness. She forced herself to roll out of bed and sank to her knees to pray, but no words came.
For once, she couldn’t pray, and she trembled with fear. After several minutes, she just said, “Amen,” and got up. It was time to get ready.
She showered and dressed in layers. In the bathroom mirror, her face looked puffy. Unattractive.
It didn’t matter anyway.
Her fingers shook as she finished buttoning her shirt, and she had to lean against the bathroom sink to collect herself.
Heavenly Father, please, help me have the strength to face Marcus.
They came out of their rooms at the same time. There was no time to prepare herself to see Marcus. She had the faintest impression of him wearing a black windbreaker before she turned away.
Through a mist of tears, she stumbled to the right toward the exit with him following behind. Why did she tell him they could be friends? She couldn’t even muster that much goodwill.
A van waited for them at the curb. After confirming they were indeed their clients, the driver opened the side door. Katy slid in beside a black man and Marcus after her. The van door shut and returned them to darkness.
Marcus offered the buckle of her seatbelt, and she accepted it, careful not to touch him. She clipped it in place and watched the road through the windshield.
She thought about sleeping, but she didn’t want to fall asleep against anyone’s shoulder. She sat small and quiet, blinking at the night. On her lap, she kept her fists clenched.
“Where are you from?” the man to her left asked.
“Manhattan,” Katy said, turning toward him in the darkness.
“I’m from Detroit,” he said. “My name is Drew. And you?”
“Katy. And this is Marcus.”
The men shook hands, reaching across from her. As Marcus pulled back, his hand brushed against her lap.
She stiffened until he leaned back in his space.
Introductions were made all around. There were six people in the group, including Katy and Marcus, a couple and their teen daughter, and Drew. Their tour guide driver was Erdo.
It seemed they drove for the longest time until Erdo slowed outside a sign welcoming them to Tikal. Something wild and ferocious roared. Even with the windows all rolled up, the eerie sound entered the van.
“What was that?” the mom said as she peered in the darkness and pulled her teen daughter closer.
“It’s a howler monkey,” Erdo said.
“So, you’ve been here before?” Drew asked Katy.
“Yes, several times.”
She turned her head and caught Marcus staring. Quickly, her glance slid away.
Erdo got out, handed them flashlights, and motioned for them all to come. There were plenty of other tourists. Katy counted six van-loads. Everyone was quiet and respectful. Marcus made no attempt to hang out with her, and she was perfectly fine with that.
***
MARCUS
Was it a good idea for them to be super-quiet in a jungle full of wild animals? There went the howler monkey again. Along with dogs barking, birds cawing, and animals rattling.
It was, apparently, cold by Guatemalan standards. Their guide wore a thick sweater, but he thought the weather pleasant. Marcus stripped his plaid polo shirt down to a white shirt and tied it around his waist.
Katy, who was walking a little ahead, glanced back at him and then looked away.
He didn’t know how to break the ice with her. Didn’t she agree to be his friend? She hadn’t exchanged more than a word or two with him that morning, if that.
Marcus shook his head.
There you go again, Marcus. Just thinking of yourself. Of course she’d still feel horrible after that selfish kiss.
Since Katy was studiously not looking at him, Marcus allowed himself to observe her. Her hair was piled up on her head in a messy bun, and she was wearing a long-sleeved polo shirt over a shirt and pants. Sporty and athletic.
He thought back to Amanda. She had been a southern belle, having grown up in Southern Virginia. She might have gone with him to Guatemala just to be with him, but she wouldn’t have initiated it. She was more of a Europe sort of gal. In fact, they’d talked about going to Italy, of riding a gondola, for their third anniversary. They would have left Caleb with her parents.
Would Katy be interested in Italy? Or did she just go to third-world countries?
Marcus stubbed his toe on a tree root and issued a quiet groan.
Katy glanced back at him, looking concerned.
Marcus smiled tentatively, but she didn’t reciprocate.
He continued to feel like a dog.
Drew monopolized her again.
Marcus stuffed his hands in his pockets, peering into the jungle, imagining jaguars jumping out and boa constrictors hanging from trees and bears lunging at them. Until he realized he was thinking of India in The Jungle Book.
He wasn’t the only one freaked out by all this. When a man emerged from a trail intersecting theirs, the mom screamed.
“We climb up, then watch sunrise,” Erdo explained. “Okay?”
With “yups” all around, they climbed as he promised, up railed stairs to Tikal IV temple. All of what seemed like a million steps in high altitude.
Up ahead, Katy kept going while Marcus panted. It had been eight days since he’d worked out at the gym. No need to go all pansy-like now.
“What was the deal with all these Mayan kings wanting their pyramids to be so high up?” Marcus wondered out loud.
“They wanted to be as close as possible to God,” Erdo explained. “And they used the platforms for astronomy work.”
Marcus lost count of the steps, but that was okay. As the sky lightened, so did his steps.
When they reached the temple, everyone took to their own little nook and watched the sunrise. Marcus didn’t want to antagonize Katy, so he sat a few yards away. Even though every fiber of his being wanted to be close to her. To hold her as they watched the sunrise.
Except there were clouds in the way.
A mist rolled, bringing with it more clouds.
“Are you disappointed?” Marcus heard Katy ask Drew in a hushed voice.
“A little. Is that it?”
“’Fraid so.”
“Great. I want my money back.”
Several minutes later, Marcus got restless watching a non-sunrise. He stood and started climbing the steps of the temple, which formed a striking pyramid over the jungle.
He turned at the top and looked down, feeling woozy. The steps had been carved close to the façade, which had the effect of narrow ledges possibly leading to one’s death.
As though by order of the Mayan ghost king, the clouds parted, and the sun peeped through. It wasn’t a lot of sun. The clouds gobbled it up straight away, but it was sun nonetheless.
The blue dullness of the landscape turned emerald in the sun’s masterful hand.
Marcus’s eyes sought out Katy below and found that she was looking up at him.
Despite every inane thing he’d done to botch their friendship, she flashed him a beautiful smile.