One Good Reason (15 page)

This island was going to send her insane; she had
no doubt about it. Things between Hayden and Ava had changed and she knew it.
Question was though, what was she going to do about it?

***

Hayden and Ava sat around the campfire waiting for
their dinner to be cooked.

Ava watched the flames of the fire burn, the
different shapes and shades it made. Hayden hadn’t said anything to her since
this morning’s shooting lesson. She was beginning to think he had some sort of
male PMS going on, the way he was acting.

“Can you hand me your plate?” Hayden asked her,
holding out one hand as he used the other to stir the contents in the frypan.

Ava grabbed the nearby plate and handed it out to
him. Hayden instead of taking it, stared down at the small bandage on her
finger.

“What happened?” Hayden asked concerned.

“So you’re talking to me now, then?” Ava replied
uninterested in his show of concern.

“Answer me, Ava. What happened?”

“It’s nothing,” Ava replied, pulling her hand back
and dropping the plate next to Hayden.

“It doesn’t look like nothing to me.”

Ava looked at Hayden; his face was stern and
serious.  “I’m fine, honestly. I cut my finger while slicing up the
pineapple today. I couldn’t find any band-aides, so I had to use this bandage
to stop the bleeding. It’s no big deal.”

Hayden looked between the cut on her finger and
her eyes. After several seconds, he turned back to the fire, seemingly to
believe her.

“You really should be more careful,” Hayden said
crudely.

Ava let out of a breath in shock. She could handle
his long stints of absence while he went for his “walks”, she could even handle
his mood swings, but she couldn’t handle his flat out rudeness towards her,
especially over a simple mistake. Sure she left out the part where she was
distracted, staring at his shirtless body, but she didn’t like being made to
feel like a foolish child.

 “I’ve lost my appetite,” she said standing.
She didn’t wait for Hayden’s response as she turned and took a step off the
log, and then started to walk back towards the house.

“Ava wait,” Hayden called out after her, but she
ignored him. “Ava!”

Hayden grabbed her arm gently from behind her and
turned her into him. They weren’t touching, but their bodies were only inches
away from each other.

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude,”
Hayden looked into her eyes as he spoke.

“Well, you were,” she replied fatly.

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

His apology sounded sincere to Ava, but it didn’t
answer her confusion on why he was acting the way he was.

“You’re just so moody. It’s like living with a
hormonal teenage girl.”

Hayden smiled. “Thanks.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“I don’t mean to be,” he said seriously. 
“It’s just… it’s hard to explain.”

Ava looked down at her arm to see Hayden was still
holding it. His hand was warm and soft against her skin. She sighed in
confusion. “I’m going to bed,” she said as she grabbed his hand from her
shoulder. He pulled his hand back softly. “I really am sorry.”

Ava nodded and walked away. She didn’t feel like
arguing. All she wanted to know was why he was being like this with her. She
was starting to like the old Hayden better; the Hayden she knew back at the
house in the forest. At least that Hayden was easy to understand. She knew
where she stood with him and how their relationship would be between each
other. This Hayden now, she had no idea, and it seemed, neither did he.

14 SWEET NOTHINGS

Paul paced the hotel’s room waiting
for the phone call from Stevenson. Paul was instructed to call after four days,
but when he had, Riley had told him that he would receive a text message with
the details. He didn’t know why Riley couldn’t tell him over the phone and it
frustrated him. So he’d hung up and waited by his phone since. It was now nine
in the morning and he was becoming nervous. It had been nearly two hours since
his conversation with Riley. If he didn’t get a text message soon, he had no
choice but to call him back. The waiting game was already sending him crazy. He
had no idea how Ava was or where she was, all he could do was wait.

His phone call with Stevenson hadn’t gone the way
he had thought it would four days ago. He wanted to be in control of the
situation, get Stevenson to free his daughter in exchange for his story. He
hadn’t intended on Stevenson turning the tables and being in charge of all the
playing cards. Paul had nothing now. This story, which had consumed his life,
and was now the sole reason why his daughter may never live to see another day.
He’d already screwed up her life enough; he wouldn’t live with himself if
anything happened to her.

The story played on his mind day and night. If he
gave the entire file to Stevenson, all evidence of his involvement with
Thornakorn
would disappear, it would be as if nothing had
happened. Stevenson’s ties with
Thornakorn
were a
direct link to all the hundreds, maybe thousands of people being killed by
Thornakorn
and his men.

If he didn’t give the story to Stevenson, his daughter
would be killed. If he did give it to him, potentially hundreds more people
could die because of the weapons being supplied to
Thornakorn
by Stevenson.

His mind pained with confusion on what to do. He
could tell someone about the story and make a copy, but then their life might
also be at risk. He had to keep Ava safe. He had to take the chance that
somehow the story would get out another way. He would give the story to
Stevenson and pray that Ava would be freed. It was all he could do now.

Suddenly, Paul’s phone beeped with a message. He
opened it quickly and scanned the text. The meeting would be held close by in a
city’s warehouse in three days’ time. It was a brief message and to the point.
The last sentence of the message stood out as a clear warning to Paul.

Come alone and tell no one as you are
responsible for her safety.

He stared at the message, knowing that for the
first time in a very long time, he would be a father. He would save his
daughter. He wasn’t going down without a fight, but the fight wouldn’t be with
the story, it would be for his daughter’s life.

***

Ava
stepped out onto the veranda of the house curiously.

She
had been woken by the sound of people talking. Hayden was nowhere to be seen in
the house, yet again. So she’d quickly gotten out of bed and changed to see who
was out there.

She
held her hand above her head to stop the morning glare into her eyes. She could
see on the beach a group of people, including children talking to Hayden at the
water’s edge next to a boat.

She’d
had no other contact with people for days and was curious to see what was going
on, so she walked off towards them.

As
she approached, she realized that the people must have been a small family.
There was a Thai lady and man in their mid-twenties, with a Thai girl who was
probably about five years old.

Hayden
spotted her approaching straight away.

“Good
morning,” he said sincerely with a smile on his face.

“Good
morning,” she replied, and then looked at the family.

“This
is Fern and Jai,” Hayden said pointing to the couple. “And their daughter Mali.
They are the caretakers of this house.”

Ava
smiled and held her hand out to shake the couples hand, while Mali sat in the
sand drawing circles with a stick. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ava.”

The
Thai couple nodded. “Yes. Nice to meet you,” Jai replied.

‘They’ve
come to drop off some more supplies,” Hayden said, answering the question Ava
was about to ask on why they were here.

Fern
gathered a box of fruit and vegetables from the boat and wandered off into the
house to deposit them. Ava was going to ask if she needed help, but when her
mouth opened to ask, Fern just shook her head and walked off.

Meanwhile,
Jai grabbed another cardboard box from the boat. Hayden held his hands out and
grabbed it from him.

“I
hope they will fit,” Jai said, and then looked at Ava inquisitively.

Ava
looked at Jai, and then at Hayden, puzzled by
Jai’s
remark.

Hayden
chuckled. “They’ll fit,” he replied, and walked off with Jai to the house,
leaving Ava alone with the little girl.

Ava
watched Mali continue to draw circles in the sand, unfazed by being alone with
Ava.

Ava
looked back at the house, but couldn’t see any sign of them returning. Ava
wasn’t the best with children, not that she didn’t like them, she just didn’t
know how to interact with them. She didn’t really have any other family who had
children younger than Ava, so she’d never had much to do with kids since she
was one herself.

When
it was clear that Hayden and the couple weren’t returning, she decided to sit
down next to Mali on the sand. She didn’t want to leave her on the beach alone,
as she wasn’t even sure if the little girl could swim. She thought it better
safe than sorry to stay with her.

“So…
My name’s Ava,” Ava said to the little girl. But she didn’t respond, she kept
her eyes on the sand.

“What
are you drawing?”

Mali
still didn’t respond. Her first interaction with a child in years and it was
already off to a bad start.

 Ava
tried a different approach. “Do you like to go swimming,” she asked, looking
out at the ocean.

The
little girl didn’t respond once again. Ava stared at her, not knowing what else
to say.

She
looked back at the house once more, but couldn’t see anyone. She sat there
silently for several minutes, waiting for the girl to say something or
acknowledge Ava, but she didn’t.

Deciding
that maybe the language barrier was the reason for Mali’s lack of interest in
Ava, she decided to braid her hair while she was waiting for Mali’s parents to
return.

Ava
had nearly finished the braid on her hair, which went from one side of her
head, down the back, and hung in one place on the side of her shoulder.

Mali
looked up at her, and then touched her own hair. She got up from the sand and
stood over Ava, looking at the braid in her hair.

Ava
froze as Mali touched the braid in her hair in wonderment. She then took a step
back from Ava and pointed at her own hair, and then at Ava’s hair.

Ava
watched her actions and asked her, “Do you want me to braid your hair?”

Mali
smiled and nodded, sitting down in front of Ava.

Ava
took the invitation, pulled the headband from Mali’s hair, and began braiding
her hair as she’d just done to her own. She hadn’t braided someone’s hair in
years, so she had to concentrate and make touch-ups to her mistakes, but in the
end, she got there.

Mali’s
hair hung over her shoulder, it was longer than Ava’s and thicker too, but it
still looked really good.

Just
as Mali stood up, Ava heard Hayden approaching with Mali’s parents.

“Well,
look at you,” Hayden said smiling. He then grabbed a nearby flower from a tree
and walked over to Mali, placing it just behind her ear in the place Ava had
just created.

“There,”
he said smiling, “beautiful flower for a beautiful girl.”

Mali’s
eyes lit up. She quickly reached forward and gave Hayden a big bear hug, which
Hayden returned happily. She then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and ran
off to her parents who were waiting on the boat for her.

Ava
looked at Hayden in astonishment. She’d just spent all this time trying to get
Mali to warm to her, Hayden gives her a flower, and she loves him.

Hayden
knew what Ava must have been thinking because he looked at Ava with a big smile
on his face and shrugged.

Ava
shook her head and laughed.

Typical.

Just
when she’d thought the little girl had forgotten about Ava, Ava watched as her
parents spoke something to Mali in Thai. Mali then turned around and quickly
ran back to Ava. She stopped just in front of Ava.

Ava
knelt down to her eye level.

“Thank
you,” Mali said, and then gave Ava a quick hug.

Ava
was so shocked by her display of affection for her that she didn’t even have a
chance to hug her back, before Mali had let go and run back to her parents on
the boat.

“Goodbye,”
Hayden said waving, “and thank you.”

“You
are welcome,” Jai replied, pulling the boat out into the ocean and starting the
motor.

Ava
waved at the family who were now travelling out to sea. They waved back at her,
Mali’s eyes still locked on Hayden, smiling.

When
Ava stopped waving, she looked back at Hayden. Hayden looked at her with a smug
look.

“How
do you do that?”

Hayden
cocked his head to the side. “Do what?”

“She
loved you, and you’d barely even spoke a few words to her. Have you met her
before?”

 “Only
once before. I just have a way I guess,” he replied confidently.

“Obviously.”

Hayden
shrugged. “Kids are kids.”

“
Mmmhmmm
.”

“She
must of liked you too. She let you do her hair and gave you a hug as well,” he
said to her. “Not that you seemed to enjoy it though?”

Ava
shrugged. “She caught me off guard. I’m not really good with kids.”

“You
seemed to have done just fine,” Hayden reassured her.

“Yes,
well…”

Ava trailed off in thought, and then she
remembered
Jai’s
strange comment earlier.

“What’s
meant to fit me anyway?” Ava asked.

Hayden
looked confused for a second, and then must have remembered their conversation
earlier. “Come with me, I’ll show you.”

Hayden
started walking off towards the house. Ava hesitated.

“It’s
nothing bad, I promise.”

Ava,
still hesitant about what to expect, started walking after him. “It better not
be,” she warned. 

Hayden
chuckled in response.

When
they got inside the house, Hayden walked over to the box, retrieved a pair of
blue and white joggers, and handed it to Ava.

Ava
took them from him and held them out in front of her.  “And what are these
for?” she asked him, wondering why he would get her a pair of joggers.

“Well,
you want to know where I go for my walks.”

Ava
stared at the joggers. “Yeah…”

“Now
I can show you,” he said. “I would have shown you earlier, but it’s not very
safe walking around the island with only thongs on.”

Ava
looked down at the thongs on her feet and silently agreed.

“So
when are you going to show me?”

“Right
now. If you want?”

Ava
smiled. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Hayden
put his hand into the box and pulled out a t-shirt, shorts, and pair of socks.
“You’ll need these too.”

Ava
took them from him and headed off to the bedroom to change.

“Don’t
be too long,” Hayden called out after her. “It’s best to show you before it
gets too hot.”

“Okay,”
Ava replied, excited about what was to come.

***

Ava
silently thanked Hayden for thinking about the shoes she should wear to explore
the island. The terrain was not as she’d expected it to be. The plant life was
thick, and she needed the grip on her joggers to help her stay safely planted
on her feet, although it seemed Hayden was always only a step away from her,
ready to catch her if he needed to.

It
must have only been over half an hour of walking before the trees cleared and
Ava discovered the place Hayden had been coming to the past couple of days.

They
walked out onto the grassy cliff face, Ava’s face widening into a smile with
each step.

It
must have been the highest point of the island, for she could see everything
from where she stood. She walked closer to the edge of the cliff and looked
down. It was a huge drop, one she doubt anyone could survive if they fell. But
it was beautiful. Everything about it was beautiful. The view, the landscape
around her, it was all amazingly beautiful.