CHAPTER 4
Three days later, Nick arrived at Aubrey’s before dawn and guided Adrienne to a waiting taxi.
“Is all this cloak and dagger stuff really necessary?” Adrienne pulled her jacket around her shoulders. Without the sun to warm it, the moist air felt brittle and cold. She glanced up at the cloud-shrouded moon before stepping into the taxi. “It’s still nighttime.”
Nick settled in beside her, pulled the door closed, and gave the driver instructions.
“Five a.m., technically morning,” he corrected her. “A.m. stands for ante meridiem, which is Latin for before midday.” In his wool pea coat and dark jeans, he blended into the monochromatic cityscape. “P.m. stands for post meridiem, which is Latin for after midday. But in Uruguay, madrugada is the early morning before sunrise.”
“Well, right now it is definitely B.A.W.,” Adrienne argued.
“What’s that?”
“Before Adrienne Wakes.”
“But you are awake,” Nick argued.
“Only because you asked me to be here.” Adrienne slid her hand around his arm, more for warmth than for companionship. “I don’t know why we have to record you singing in the dark. You were great at Uncle Jose’s.”
“This was your idea,” he reminded her. Nick had sung only one song in the back room, and five on the stage. Adrienne had worried Nick would be angry when Jose pulled down the partition between the two rooms, leaving Nick and his guitar exposed to the bursting-at-the-seams mob gathered in and around the small café, but Nick had smiled and taken it all in stride. He had moved from one song to another with grace and had even taken requests from the crowd.
“There’s a difference between singing in the café and in a cemetery. Besides, I think the Recoleta will be amazing at this hour.”
They traveled the quiet city streets in silence until the taxi driver pulled up beside an enormous pair of wrought-iron gates.
Once they paid the fare, climbed from the taxi, and peeked through the cemetery’s giant white marble pillars, Adrienne decided the Recoleta would be amazing at any hour of the day.
Nick steered her past the entrance.
“Where are we going?” Adrienne asked.
“This way,” he whispered.
She followed him wordlessly, their footfalls loud in the early morning stillness. A few cars rushed up and down the nearly deserted street. Dogs without leashes or owners prowled while cats watched from their perches on windowsills. A sleeping man lay curled on the sidewalk beneath a collection of broken-down cardboard boxes.
“Here.” Nick led her through an open wooden door in the stone wall. They tiptoed past a gardening shed and a wagon plied with shovels, a weed-whacker, a leaf blower, and other yard tools.
“Any idea where we’re going?” Adrienne whispered. On the boat ride home from Uruguay, Nick had been quiet and then she hadn’t heard from him again until last night when he’d told her to be ready at 5:00 a.m. Now, she wondered if he’d spent yesterday scoping out the cemetery, looking for the perfect stage. The tombs came in all shapes and sizes, from grandiose mausoleums to Gothic chapels, Greek temples, fairytale grottoes, and elegant mini-mansions.
“We’re traveling the labyrinthine city of the dead,” Nick whispered. “Be quiet though. We don’t want to get arrested for trespassing.”
Adrienne’s steps faltered as she thought about spending time in an Argentine jail. She paused for a moment, watching Nick move away from her, then hurried after him, because she was quite sure she’d be lost without him and he seemed to know where he was headed. She argued with herself that soon the cemetery would be open to the public and no one would realize that they had entered earlier. After promising herself that she would make a large donation, she felt better about their breaking and entering.
The farther they wandered into the cemetery, the more muffled the city noises became. The faint moonlight glinted off the marble. Adrienne paused in front of a tomb that looked like a doll’s house bedroom.
Nick read from the plaque. “Liliana Crociati died on her honeymoon in Austria in the 1970s. Her parents reconstructed her bedroom within her tomb, and at the entrance placed a bronze statue of Liliana in her wedding dress, with her beloved pet dog at her side.”
A chill that had nothing to do with the cold passed through Adrienne as she thought about her own wedding dress.
“I thought I’d sing over there,” Nick said, pointing at a portico resembling a Greek temple. He sat on the steps, set his guitar case at his feet, and unlatched the case. “You might want to check the lighting.”
Adrienne pulled out her phone and pressed the camera app. The gray morning light and accompanying mist made an eerie backdrop. It really did look amazing, as did Nick.
She froze when she heard it. Jingling.
The expression on Nick’s face told her that he heard it, too.
The story of the suicidal gravedigger floated back to her. You can hear his keys jangling as his ghost walks the cemetery’s narrow pathways at dawn.
“Do you hear that?” Nick whispered.
She nodded.
“You don’t think…” she murmured. “Do you believe in ghosts?”
“What do you think? I’m Catholic.”
She thought about pointing out to him that she was too, but this miffed her. She’d always felt that Seb and the rest of his family considered her faith not as solid as their own because she’d converted. She hadn’t been born into it, baptized as an infant, and schooled in the catechism. Part of her wanted to shake her finger and scold Nick. As the jingling drew closer, another part of her wanted to run and hide behind his strong back.
A fuzzy gray dog emerged from the shadows. He poked his head around a monolith and studied them with dark eyes. With his matted fur and apologetic expression, he reminded Adrienne of a dust bunny that skitters to hide beneath furniture with every breath of wind.
“Aww.” Adrienne dropped to her knees to bring herself to the dog’s level. “Come here, boy.”
The dog bolted and the jingling, once loud, faded.
Adrienne slowly stood. “I always wanted a pet.”
“Yeah? Why don’t you get one?”
“Seb’s allergic.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Nick said.
“Besides, I work, Seb works. Neither of us is home very much. It wouldn’t be kind.”
“Maybe I’ll get a pet and he can live with me at the Bar. You can visit.” Nick balanced his guitar on his knee and plucked a few strings, tuning it.
“I wonder what the health department would say about that.” Adrienne didn’t take Nick seriously. He was always making over-the-top generous gestures that no one in the family ever took him up on. Adrienne sank back to the ground and sat cross-legged on the frigid concrete. She pointed her phone at Nick. “Ready?”
Nick strummed his guitar and the tune floated through the air. Gently, he began to sing.
“But the summer faded, and a chilly blast,
O'er that happy cottage swept at last:
When the autumn songbirds woke the dewy morn,
Little 'Prairie Flow'r' was gone.”
The dog crept out from behind a monolith and inched toward Nick as if afraid of being run off. Adrienne widened the scope so she could include the creature in the video. The sun too edged out of hiding and tinged the morning air with pink.
“For the angels whisper'd softly in her ear,
'Child, thy Father calls thee, stay not here.'
And they gently bore her, rob'd in spotless white,
To their blissful home of light.”
Beside Nick, the dog rested his head on his outstretched paws, and closed his eyes as if in prayer while the sun cut through the shadows.
“Though we shall never look on her more,
Gone with the love and joy she bore,
Far away she's blooming in a fadeless bow'r,
Sweet Rosalie, 'The Prairie Flow'r'.”*
The sad music swam around Adrienne. She was so caught up, she didn’t notice the tears washing her cheeks until Nick stopped playing. She sniffed and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “That was beautiful. I’m not the only one who thinks so,” she said, nodding at the dog.
Nick smiled. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”
Someone behind her applauded.
Adrienne twisted around so she could see the groundskeeper. He had his wide straw hat pushed back off his forehead and a grin on his face. “Encantadora!”
Nick stood and gave a little bow.
Adrienne wagged her finger between the two men. “You had this set up, didn’t you? All that ‘they may send us to jail for trespassing’ business wasn’t true, was it?”
“Would you like me to hold you captive in my gardening shed?” the man asked.
Adrienne held up her hand. “No, of course not.” She balled her fists and planted them on her hips. “But you lied to me,” she said to Nick.
“I was teasing,” Nick said.
But this still bothered her and she tried to understand it.
“Do you know who owns this dog?” Nick asked the gardener.
“The Lord, for God made all creatures, no?” The gardener frowned at the dog. “This dog is one of the many who live on the streets and fend for themselves.”
How sad not to have a home and someone to care for you, Adrienne thought. She froze when she realized the same could be said of her. She had a home, but no one was there, and Seb, who should have been there, had proved himself incapable of caring for her the way she had cared for him. Was this Seb’s fault, or her own for expecting too much from him? Not that loving just one person was too much to ask of most people, but maybe it was too much to ask of Seb. Maybe she’d been wrong to assume that he could keep his vows. Maybe he was incapable of devotion.
“I know someone who will love him,” Nick said. “He just needs to be cleaned up.”
“Tio Jose?” Adrienne dropped to her knees beside the creature. “She’s a girl. Aren’t you beautiful.” She stroked the fur between the dog’s ears. “You should name her Ximena.”
“Why’s that?” Nick asked.
“It’s the Spanish female equivalent of Simon, which means ‘listener’ and she was listening to you.” She addressed the dog. “That’s what everyone loves to do, huh, sweetie? It’s not just you. By the time we’re through, everyone is going to be listening to Nick.”
“Let’s go. I want to clean Ximena up and maybe take her to a vet before giving her to Tio Jose.”
“I want to come,” Adrienne said.
“Of course,” Nick said as he scooped the dog into his arms. Ximena snuggled against him.
“Well, no one asked me, but I would love to come, too,” the groundskeeper announced. “But, sadly, I must stay here and protect the Recoleta from trespassing musicians and stray dogs.”
#
“You’re doing what?” Aubrey’s trowel froze midair and she stared at Adrienne.
“It’s going to be like a musical tour of Latin America,” Adrienne explained as she went for her suitcase in the bedroom she shared with the plants.
“And Nick agreed to this?” Aubrey trailed after Adrienne and sat on the bed to watch Adrienne fill her bag.
“Amazing, right?” Adrienne frowned at all her warm-weather clothes. It would technically be summer in Patagonia, but it would still be chilly. She hugged herself briefly, thinking of the penguin preserve and the midnight sun. She would need to buy some rugged shoes for hiking, a jacket, and a couple of sweaters.
“Something’s not right,” Aubrey murmured.
“Why do you say that?”
A scowl settled over Aubrey’s brow. “Why would Nick do this? It’s so out of his character.”
“But it’s good for business.” Adrienne finished her packing and studied her sister. Aubrey wore the same expression she always wore while playing chess and considering her next move.
“Nick isn’t that interested in business. He needs it to support his music, but it’s a means to an end—not an end to a means.”
“I’m not even sure I know what that means.” Adrienne didn’t like to admit that her sister’s reasoning often left her confused.
Aubrey blinked at her. “How can you not see this? You know him better than I do. He’s not like Seb.”
“I know he’s not like Seb.”
“You should have married Nick,” Aubrey said.
“He was just a kid when I met him.”
Aubrey arched her eyebrows. “He’s not a kid anymore.”
“I know that.”
“So don’t toy with him.”
“Toy with him?”
“Don’t break his heart.”
Adrienne clicked her suitcase closed. “This trip isn’t a romantic getaway. It’s business.”
Aubrey stood, gave her sister a parting glance, and stomped back into the living room. “You’re not even listening,” she grumbled.
Adrienne gathered up her bag, double-checked her purse for her passport, phone, and credit cards, and deposited everything by the front door. She glanced at her watch. Nick would be arriving in just a few minutes. “Nick knows I’m married.”
“He also knows you’re unhappy.”
“I’m still married.”
Aubrey wrinkled her nose as she pinched spent blooms off an African violet. “Are you still married if your spouse has broken his vows?”
“Yes. That’s his choice, not mine. His behavior shouldn’t dictate or excuse my own.”
Aubrey nodded as if she understood this logic. “You wouldn’t have an affair with his cousin for revenge.”
Aubrey’s words stung. “Of course not. You know me better than that.”
Aubrey didn’t look up from the violets, but she bit her lip as she always did when concerned. “I really like Nick. He’s a sweet kid.”
“As you said, he’s no longer a kid.”
The doorbell rang.
“He’s here,” Adrienne whispered before opening the door to let Nick in. She studied the planes of his face, the set of his broad shoulders, the strength in his hands. She could still see traces of the boy she’d first met all those years ago, but Aubrey was right. He was a man. A good one.
“Ready to go?” Nick asked.
She nodded.
He glanced across the room. “How are you, Aubrey? It’s good to see you.”
Aubrey put down her trowel and swept a glance over Nick. She was almost fifteen years Nick’s senior, but her frank assessment sent a warning shiver down Adrienne’s spine. With a start, she realized that she’d never known Nick to have a girlfriend. Why was that?
“It’s good to see you, too,” Aubrey said with sly smile.
Adrienne flashed her gaze from Nick to Aubrey. It was as if they were communicating a secret that only they shared. Adrienne mentally shook herself. “I have something for you,” she told Nick.
He quirked an eyebrow at her and she answered by pulling a red and white striped shirt out of her bag. Her heart lifted when he laughed and she waved it at him like a flag.
“Now you’ll look like Where’s Waldo. I thought about getting you the hat, but that seemed like a bit much. Do you want to try it on?”
“Later,” he said, checking his watch. “Right now, there isn’t time.”
“You two be good,” Aubrey said with a smirk.
Adrienne crossed the room in a few strides and hugged Aubrey goodbye. “You are totally misreading the situation,” Adrienne whispered in her sister’s ear.
“Am I? Or are you?” her sister quipped back.
#
Once settled on the plane, Aubrey’s insinuations settled like an itch between Adrienne’s shoulders and refused to be ignored. Nick couldn’t be interested in her like that. He was more Catholic than she was. She’d converted shortly before her marriage. Her parents, both scientists, had little use for religion and joked about their heathen status. But despite her agnostic upbringing, Adrienne had immediately fallen in love with the Catholic services. She enjoyed attending mass and loved the heavy choral music and liturgy. When she’d married Seb, she had thought she had made a commitment before God that bound them beyond the grave.
She had thought he had shared her commitment.
Now, she stared out the window at the clouds and endless blue sky and wondered why Seb hadn’t honored his promises and why God hadn’t heard her prayers.
Nick sat beside her with earbuds tucked in his ears. She could tell he was listening to music because his fingers tapped to an inaudible rhythm. He caught her glance. “Excited?” he asked with a smile.
She nodded. “I’ve been thinking about seeing a priest.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“About a divorce.”
Nick’s expression sobered. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Still, I’m sorry you’re going through this.”
“I know we said we weren’t going to talk about Seb,” Adrienne said.
“Mr. Bean,” Nick corrected. “And we’re not, or at least we weren’t. We’re talking about you consulting a priest.”
“I know divorce is still really frowned upon.”
“The church has a more lenient view of divorce than it does of adultery.”
“That’s good to know.” Adrienne fingered her wedding ring, wondering if she should remove it. “You don’t think God would judge me for leaving Seb?”
Nick thought for a moment. “God loves you,” he said. “He wants you to be happy. If you can be happy with…Mr. Bean, I know He would want you to stay and honor your vows.”
“I can’t be happy with the way things are,” Adrienne said.
“Of course not.”
“You wouldn’t think less of me if I divorced…Mr. Bean?”
“I wouldn’t want to, but the truth is, I would think less of you if you stayed. I’d try to understand and support your decision, but…” Nick shook his head. “If you stayed in a marriage that allowed Mr. Bean to continue his affair, that wouldn’t be good for you or Mr. Bean and the bimbo.”
“Therese isn’t a bimbo,” Adrienne said. She wrinkled her nose. “I sort of wish she were.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I really wish I could hate her.”
“I’ll hate her for you,” Nick said.
“That’s not fair. Do you even know her?”
“I know she’s hurt you. I know she’s going to hurt Mr. Bean.”
“How do you know that?”
“Someday, Mr. Bean is going to wake up and realize his mistake. Losing you will be the biggest regret of his life, and he will die a broken man.”
Adrienne blew out a small laugh. “Maybe he’ll be happier with Therese, happier than he could have ever been with me. Maybe we were just poorly matched and we’re better apart than we could have ever been together.”
Nick gazed at her. “Do you really believe that?”
She wilted beneath his scrutiny. “I don’t know what I believe anymore.”
A stewardess appeared beside Nick. “Anything to drink?” she asked.
Nick ordered a Pepsi and Adrienne a water. They both waited for the stewardess to hand them their drinks before resuming their conversation.
“Is that why you want to meet with a priest?” Nick asked.
“I want someone to tell me what God wants me to do,” Adrienne said.
“You don’t need a priest to tell you that. And you don’t need to make any decisions right now.”
“No?”
He grinned at her. “Right now, we have an amazing trip planned through South America. We don’t need to think about anything other than chasing monkeys in the jungle, running with llamas in the Andes, and counting penguins in Patagonia.”
#
The air cloaked Adrienne like a warm, wet, heavy blanket and smelled of rain and jungle. Strange animals that looked like a mix between a cat, a raccoon, and a monkey swung in the trees.
“Coatis,” Nick said, answering her unasked question.
“They look like cartoon animals,” Adrienne said, glancing around at the long lines forming around the park’s entrance. “And there are so many people here. How will we ever find a private place for you to sing?”
Nick consulted the map on his phone. “The park is supposedly huge with several trails cutting through the jungle to the water’s edge. We’ll be fine.”
“Everything’s so green,” Adrienne said. “Like Seattle, but different.”
“Do you miss it?” The tone of his voice made her wonder if he was asking about Seattle or Seb.
She squeezed his arm. “I’m glad I’m here. There’s really no other place I’d rather be.”
Her answer softened the concerned wrinkle between his eyebrows and he briefly put his hand over hers.
She waited while Nick bought the tickets to the park, her worry mounting. After he returned, she said, “The price tag of this trip is climbing.”
He gave her a smile that seemed full of secrets. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure?”
He raised his eyebrows. “What are you saying? We came all this way! You want to back out?”
“Of course, we have to see the falls now that we’re already here, but…” She paused before adding, “There are a lot of cool places where we can take videos in Buenos Aires. We don’t have to—”
“Stop.” He placed his finger on her lips. “I know what I’m doing, okay? Don’t worry about the money.”
She stared at him. He looked so much like Seb, but despite the fact that they’d been raised as brothers, they were so very different. Seb never said don’t worry about the money, even though he had plenty of it.
“Where’s your guitar?” she asked, noticing for once that he was empty-handed.
“I checked it.”
“But the whole point of our being here—”
“Stop! Please.” He sighed. “We’ll see the falls, explore the park, and after we’ve found a private place, I’ll retrieve the guitar.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m surprised we can’t hear the falls from here,” Nick said, clearly in an effort to change the subject. “We have to take a tram to the trailhead.”
They shuffled through the line with all the other passengers waiting to board the tram. Sweat beaded on the back of Adrienne’s neck and rolled between her shoulder blades. Nick’s damp shirt clung to his chest. She had to look away as memories of them playing at the beach, and guilt, swamped her. She chided herself for being attracted to her husband’s cousin. What would Seb—or any other members of his family—say if they could read her thoughts?
“What are you thinking about?” Nick asked.
Adrienne started. “You don’t want to know.”
He touched a spot between her eyebrows. “You get a wrinkle right here when you’re concentrating on something.”
Had Seb ever looked at her the way Nick was looking at her right now? For the last few years, he’d hardly noticed her at all. It was as if she were invisible.
“It’s back,” Nick said. “It disappeared for a second, but—oh, it’s gone again.”
Adrienne laughed. “You’re making me self-conscious.” She wanted to ask him to stop looking at her, but she didn’t know how. Instead, she tucked her hand around his arm and whispered, “So, which of our fellow passengers will be the first to try and feed the coati-creatures?”
Nick scanned the people in the crowd as they filed onto the tram. “The man wearing the cravat?”
Adrienne settled onto the seat. “Hmm, that’s a good guess.”
Nick sat beside her. His thigh briefly touched hers before he scooched away. “Why? Because he looks ridiculous?”
“Yes. It’s a hundred degrees out here.” Adrienne lifted her hair off the back of her neck and longed for a hair-tie.
The tram’s engine rumbled and barked before lurching into gear, then gathered speed as it pulled away from the park’s entrance.
“Maybe he has a good reason for covering up his neck.”
“Like what?”
“A rash? Scars?”
“Hickies,” Adrienne put in. She rolled her hair into a long cord and attempted to tie it up as she watched the jungle flash by.
“I cannot believe you just said that,” Nick said in a mock self-righteous tone. “Besides, this man is probably the sort who would want to flaunt his hickies. Who is your choice?”
Adrienne glanced around at the few children. They were the obvious choices, but because she really hoped it wouldn’t be one of them, she nodded at a woman with a mane of chestnut-colored hair wearing a pair of silver stilettos.
“She’s pretty,” Nick said.
“Yes, but she didn’t make a wise footwear choice.”
Nick fell quiet. After a moment, he said, “I can feel the falls.”
Adrienne listened and a quiet thunder vibrated in her chest. “So can I.”
The sound grew heavier and more distinct once they disembarked from the tram.
“Amazing,” Nick said as they followed the crowd. “Should we take the upper or lower falls trail?”
“Both?”
“Are you interested in riding the boat?”
Nick’s grin deepened as his stride lengthened. After a few moments on the trail, the fall’s roar drowned out all other noise. Nick stayed directly beside her, and sometimes his shoulder brushed against hers, but he didn’t try to speak to her. They followed the path to the water’s edge.
The boat service was nothing like Niagara Falls’ Maid of the Mist, where people wore ponchos and stood on the deck of an enormous and sturdy ferry. The Iguazu Falls tour included an inflatable boat and lifejackets. A man with a bullhorn encouraged them to quickly find their seats.
“Welcome, everyone. My name is Jorge, and our captain here is Leo.”
Leo, who manned the engine, smiled and waved.
“We are your escorts today,” Jorge continued.
Adrienne’s attention wandered to Nick’s muscles that seemed to be bursting out of his lifejacket during Jorge’ lecture on safety precautions, but she tuned back in time to hear about the legend.
“Folklore claims a big snake called Boi lived in the river,” Jorge said. “To calm its vicious hunger and lust, the natives sacrificed a virgin every year as an offering. But once a brave guarani aborigine kidnapped the woman and saved her from the traditional rite. They escaped through the river. Boi burst in anger, literally exploding the river into the cascading waterfalls that forever separated the man from the woman.”
Interesting that both the Iguazu Falls and Niagara Falls legends had snakes, virgins, and human sacrifice, Adrienne thought. She wanted to ask Nick if he was familiar with the Niagara legend, but since she didn’t have a bullhorn, she knew he wouldn’t hear her. She tucked it away to share with him later.
When everyone was settled in, the boat sped across the water. The closer they came to the falls, the choppier the waves grew. Jorge ditched his bullhorn and began recording the boat’s passengers with a large video camera.
The water sloshed over the sides and the fall’s spray soaked the passengers. Repeatedly, the tossing tide threw Adrienne against Nick’s side. Every time, he responded with a smile. Water droplets glistened in his dark hair, clung to his eyebrows, and ran down his face.
The power of the falls shook through Adrienne, making her feel small and insignificant. In a good way. Yes, her marriage wasn’t what she’d thought it would be. Seb wasn’t who she’d thought he’d be, but then she wasn’t who she’d thought she’d be either.
In the courtroom, she was strong. In law school, they had called her Audacious Adrienne. So why was she such a sniveling coward with Seb? Why did he make her feel like she was something stuck on the bottom of his shoe?
A wave of shocking cold water washed over her. She was too surprised to even scream. After she blinked, her sight returned. Jorge had his camera pointed at her and a grin on his face, waiting to see what she’d do.
She plastered on a smile and leaned against Nick, trying to absorb some of his warmth. Nick draped his arm across her shoulders and pulled her closer.
A few minutes later, the boat returned to quieter waters. Adrienne eased away from Nick and tried to tame her hair.
Once they were on solid ground and away from the roaring falls, Adrienne asked Nick if he’d ever heard of the Niagara legend. He hadn’t, so she tried to recall it as best she could as they followed the path up the steep bank.
“A young bride was so distressed over the death of her husband that she paddled into the middle of the roaring Niagara River. Singing a time-honored death hymn, the girl allowed the canoe to be caught by the rushing current, and soon she and her boat were thrown over the edge of the enormous falls.”
“And she died?” Nick asked.
“No. She wanted to, but the god of thunder caught her mid-descent. He brought the girl to his home behind the falls, where she and the god’s son nursed her back to health. The girl fell in love with and married the god of thunder’s son, and together the family lived behind the falls.”
“Aww, a happy ending,” Nick said.
Adrienne pulled at her wet clothes. The sun had warmed them, but, given the humidity, she worried that they’d never dry and she’d be soggy for the remainder of the trip. “You would think, but no. The girl, although happy in her magical life behind the thundering water, missed her people. The god of thunder, knowing how much she still loved her family, warned her that a giant snake planned to poison the river, hoping the people from the girl’s village would drink from the water and die so he could feast on their bodies.”
“Oh, grisly.”
A woman shrieked somewhere ahead on the path.
Adrienne paused her story while Nick sprinted up the path and disappeared around a corner. Following at a slower pace, Adrienne came across Nick and the woman in the silver stilettos a few minutes later. The woman sat on the road with her legs splayed out, cradling her bleeding hand in her lap.
Adrienne bit back the I told you so on her lips and instead asked, “Is there anything I can do?”
The woman ignored Adrienne, gazed into Nick’s face, and stuttered in Spanish, “The c- critters, they looked so cute and h-harmless.”
Adrienne answered in Spanish, “Even cute things can be dangerous.” She tried to dismiss the mental image of Seb flickering in her mind.
“Come on,” Nick said, taking the woman’s elbow and helping her to her feet. “I bet they have bandages at the ranger’s station.”
“Do they even have a ranger’s station here?” Adrienne hoped her voice didn’t sound as testy as she felt, but she didn’t like the way the woman was leaning against Nick.
“I’m sure they have a first-aid kit where we bought the tram tickets,” Nick said in a soothing voice.
Adrienne trailed after them, fighting her irritation. So what if that beautiful woman in ridiculous shoes was making goo-goo eyes at Nick? Someday he would marry a lovely woman—because he was so wonderful, he deserved nothing less—and he and his wife would make gorgeous babies. And he, because he was so good, would adore his wife and his children. He would never be tempted by a Therese. He wouldn’t flirt with the girls in the office or the interns.
Adrienne’s pace slowed. Even though Nick and the stiletto-she-wolf weren’t galloping up the hill by any means, Adrienne lagged behind as fatigue caught up with her. What am I doing here? she wondered. What am I doing with my life?
She reminded herself that she was supposed to be helping Nick shoot YouTube videos. Looking around, she spotted a trail that led into the jungle. “Huh, Nick? I’m going to see if this is a good place for your video.”
He shot her a glance. “Okay, but don’t wander too far off the trail. I’ll pick up my guitar at the station and be right back.”
She nodded, wondering why it hurt so much to have Nick leave her behind, especially since it had been her idea. On a small knoll, she spotted a boulder protruding from the ground. She sat. Her clothes and hair, still damp, clung to her. The rock was hard. She wondered how she had come to this place in her life. What had made Seb look outside their marriage? Had she spent too much time at the office? Would it have been different if they’d had children?
Thank goodness they’d never been blessed…but why hadn’t they even tried? Would a child have melded them together? Or would she now be a single mother? Or would she have been a single mother from the very beginning, with or without a divorce? She suspected the latter. And if her suspicions were true—as Seb had proved them to be with a hundred percent accuracy so far—why was she even trying to hold onto something that he had let go of a long time ago?
I made a vow before God.
God will understand, Aubrey and both of her parents had argued. But none of them believed in God. Not really. Not like she did. Not like Seb. A small sob broke from her lips and she brushed away a tear. Giving up Seb was like giving up her faith, because he was the one who had introduced her to religion.
“Adrienne?” Nick called out.
She stood and dried her eyes. “Over here.”
Nick pushed through the ferns and jungle leaves. “This is a perfect spot!”
“Really?” She glanced around. The tree’s canopy was so thick only snatches of sunlight filtered through. “It’s a smidge gloomy.” Or were those just her thoughts? “Do you think it would be better if we could get the roar of the falls in the background?”
“We could try it here, then find another place if you want.” He studied her and she flinched away from his gaze. “You okay?” he asked. He swore softly. “I’m being selfish, aren’t I? Dragging you around, making you shoot videos of me.”
“No, not at all!” She put her hand on his arm. “It’s not that. I love that we’re doing this.”
He stepped closer. “Are you sure? Because we don’t have to do this.” He waved his arm. “We can go home, or at least you can. I need to stay in Uruguay. I promised Tio Jose I would help him train Ximena.”
“How long will that take?” Why had she assumed Nick would go home when she did?
He shrugged. “I’m not in any hurry to get back. The Bar is doing fine without me.”
But would she? To hide her confusion, she fumbled in her bag for her phone. “So…are you ready to sing?”
Nick glanced over his shoulder toward the trail. “Just a sec. Let me check.” He brushed through the foliage and returned a few minutes later. “There’s people out there. Let’s give them a few minutes to disperse. Hey, you never finished your story.”
“My story?” she echoed blankly.
“Yeah, the girl who went over the falls. I assume there was a happy ending.”
Adrienne sucked in a deep breath and shrugged. “Sort of. The girl was able to warn her village, but the snake was enraged to find the people had fled to higher country. It searched for them, but the god of thunder rose from the crashing water and struck the beast dead with a single lightning bolt. The snake’s body blocked the river’s flow, and water began rushing directly into the god of thunder’s home behind the falls. The god evacuated his family, including the girl, and they created a home in the sky. Now the girl can watch her people every day, but she can never again visit.”
“Bittersweet,” Nick said.
“Yeah,” Adrienne agreed, thinking of parallels to her own marriage. She could love again, create a new home, but she could never go back to the person she’d been before she had loved—and lost—Seb.
“Are you ready?”
The question startled her, then she realized he was talking about his video. “Sure,” she said, matching his grin. “Let’s do it.”
#
Patagonia has a windswept beauty. Even in the height of summer, the clear air held the promise of frosty nights and crisp days. Nick chose the Seno Otway colony because it didn’t require a boat ride but it was a nearly fifty-kilometer drive from the Punta Arenas airport. He didn’t mind, though. Not as long as he had Adrienne beside him.
They passed a few cars, herds of alpacas, and flocks of flamingos. The birds’ startling pink was almost as surprising as the crystal blue sky.
“I can’t get over the flamingos,” Nick said.
“I know. Me neither,” Adrienne said. “I always think of them being tropical creatures.” She glanced at the tour book they’d picked up at the airport. “It would be amazing if we could see their mating ritual, but according to this, it’s really unlikely. Seems they like their privacy.”
“I get that,” Nick said, his gaze leaving the narrow track of road and sweeping over the undulating, barren terrain.
“What are you going to sing at the preserve?” Adrienne asked.
“‘Birdland’?”
“Like from Manhattan Transfer? That’s a change for you, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “Sing it with me?”
“I don’t know the words!”
“Just repeat after me.” Nick loved listening to Adrienne sing. She didn’t have a strong voice, but it was clear, sweet, and naturally high—all adjectives that could be used to describe her as well as her voice.
Anger and frustration rushed through him. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, wondering how long he could perpetuate this charade. He poured his heart into the song, singing one line at a time, listening to her echo before providing the next line. Slowly, they pieced the song together, an awkward duet in the beginning, but by the end, they were belting out the words and even occasionally harmonizing.
If only life could be as easy as a song.
Nick pulled the car into the nearly deserted gravel parking lot. A wooden fence surrounded the heath. They hadn’t walked very far along the trail before Adrienne clutched his arm. “Oh look! There’s one!”
A black and white penguin stood on a small bluff staring at them.
Adrienne dug her camera out of her bag to take his picture. “This might be the only one we see,” she told Nick.
He waited while she snapped about ten photos of the patient bird. The creature stood so regally, it was almost as if he were posing.
They followed the path to the top of the hill where they both hesitated, overcome by the sight of hundreds of penguins. The birds paid the human visitors little attention, but waddled around, doing their thing.
“Amazing,” Adrienne breathed.
“Yes,” Nick agreed. He loved the expression on her face much more than he appreciated the birds.
They stayed on the path, wandering through the bluffs and tufts of tall grass. After a short distance, they found a bench overlooking the beach and sat to watch. Nick drew his guitar case onto his lap, unlatched it, and pulled out the instrument. He tuned the strings and plucked out a tune.
One penguin let out a squawk.
Nick twisted around to look at the bird as it stood on a small rise, barking.
Adrienne laughed. “That sound is why they’re nicknamed jackass penguins.”
Nick’s hand hovered over the guitar. “He doesn’t like my music.”
“Don’t take it personally.”
“Everyone’s a critic,” Nick grumbled as the bird continued to complain.
Suddenly, hundreds of birds began to bark.
“Oh look.” Adrienne pointed at the water. “I think they’re calling their mates. See, the other penguins are returning.”
Nick laughed. “I think it’s the changing of the babysitters.”
“It’s so cool that they just know what to do,” Adrienne said. The tone in her voice made Nick wonder if she was like him, wishing someone would hand out a guidebook on where to go next.
“I can’t sing with all this noise,” he said.
“But it would be really cool if you could find some way to use it.”
“They’ll probably stop in a few minutes,” Nick predicted. He picked out a song on his guitar, waiting for the cacophony to die down. And eventually it did. He sang a couple of songs, including “Birdland.”
#
The next day they drove out to the Torres del Paine National Park. It was even more isolated and desolate than the penguin preserve. The Towers of Paine loomed in the distance.
“The Towers of Paine,” Nick murmured. “Who thought of that name?”
“Mr. Paine, probably,” Adrienne said, checking her guidebook. “We’ll stay tonight in the hostel?”
Nick nodded but cast a worried glance at the clouds gathering over the mountain peaks as they drove deeper into the park and further from civilization.
After they parked near the trailhead, Adrienne didn’t have any hesitation but tucked the guidebook into her bag and strode down the path. With every step he took, the temptation to kiss her grew. The need to share his feelings swelled inside him.
Thunder boomed in the sunny sky.
“What was that?” Adrienne asked over her shoulder. “It can’t be rain.”
The guidebook had warned that the weather in Patagonia could change in an instant. Even during the summer when the days were warm and endless, the winds could reach up to a hundred and twenty-five miles an hour.
Thunder crashed again.
“I think it must be the sound of the glaciers cracking,” Nick said.
Adrienne’s eyes lit up and she increased her pace. Nick followed. The path meandered through forests of trees he didn’t recognize. As the way grew rockier, he felt less sure about nearly everything. His pretense of being a brotherly friend became increasingly hard to shoulder.
Ahead of him, Adrienne sang a love song. She was waiting for him to join her, but he couldn’t make himself do it. His boots grew heavier until he felt like he had bricks strapped onto his feet. His guitar, which normally felt like an extension of his arm, seemed to weigh a hundred pounds.
The hike went on forever, but eventually they reached the crest that overlooked a surreal blue lake.
“I’ve never seen anything that color before,” Adrienne said, her eyes almost as bright as the glaciers. “This has to be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
He wanted to tell her that she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, but he bit back the words, knowing that if he ever dared to cross that line, their camaraderie would tumble into awkwardness.
But just then a giant condor sailed above them with a loud cry.
Startled, Adrienne jumped and landed against Nick’s chest. His arms instinctively went around her and they each bobbled for balance. He found his feet first and steadied her.
She twisted so that she faced him and grabbed his arms. For a moment, they stood inches apart, her eyes laughing and looking up at him. He took a mental picture, knowing that her proximity was fleeting and rare.
“I love you.” The words seemed to burst out of him, unbidden and unplanned. But once they were said, he didn’t regret them. He knew that he should, but he couldn’t.
Confusion flickered across her face.
“It’s wrong, I know, but I can’t help it,” he said.
“No.” She pulled away. “You can’t mean that.”
“It’s true,” he said, letting her go.
“Traveling like we have, maybe you’ve developed—”
“It’s not new,” he interrupted her. “And yes, these last few days have been amazing, but I loved you long before all of this.” He waved his arms at the glacial lake. “I think I fell in love with you the first day I met you. When Seb brought you home.”
He hated himself for mentioning Seb, but he had to.
“Nick—”
He interrupted her again. “I get that you don’t feel the same. It’s okay.”
“Is it really?” The crease between her eyebrows that he loved so much returned. “Because I don’t think so. You’ve spoiled everything. This isn’t fair to either of us.”
“I know this is where I should say I’m sorry, but I’m not.” She moved to walk away from him, but he took her arm. “I’m tired of lying and trying to hide my feelings.”
She whirled back to face him, her eyes sparking with anger and unshed tears. “We were having such a good time!”
He cupped her face. “Don’t you see? We could have a lifetime—”
She wrenched away from him, stumbling down the hillside.
He went after her.