Out of Reach

by Kendall Talbot

  Carter dragged his eyes from the primal duel and returned to Lily. He knelt next to her and she reached for a bottle.

  “You took a while. Everything okay?”

  “Just Pompa entertaining the monkeys. He’ll have to stay in his cage tonight.”

  “Poor rooster.”

  “Poor rooster? He’s lucky we don’t make him into roast chicken.”

  “Ha! Are you going to chop his head off?”

  He cocked his head. “Maybe.”

  “You and I both know Pompa’s safe.” She smirked.

  “For now . . . No promises when I’m starving though.”

  She rolled her eyes, clearly seeing his threat as idle. Which it probably was.

  “I’ll hold the bottle.” She sat cross-legged. “You pour the water.”

  There was sufficient water in the pot to fill up two bottles and still have some left over. Lily took the sweatband off her wrist, dipped it in the pot, closed her eyes, and squeezed the liquid around her neck. Carter watched, mesmerized, as a droplet trickled down her chest and disappeared into the valley of her curves.

  “You know that’s rude, don’t you?” The cheekiness in her voice confused him.

  He snapped his eyes away and swallowed. For a brief moment, he considered that she’d been happy with him watching, but he quickly dismissed the thought as heatstroke stupidity.

  “Come on.” She slapped his thigh. “Let’s get more. Maybe we’ll have enough to actually have a wash this time.”

  Carter simply nodded, and quickly rolled onto his stomach to hide the bulge growing in his pants again.

  They repeated the process twice more. The first time produced enough water to fill two more bottles, and the second time Lily glanced into the three-quarters-full pot and flashed a beautiful smile. “Here’s our washtub for the night.” She began to undo the buttons on her shirt, exposing her cleavage.

  Carter jumped up, eager to get away before she showed any more flesh. “I’ll leave you in peace and get the tent set up.”

  She carried on unbuttoning. “Okay.”

  Carter trotted away. He forced his brain onto setting up the tent and not the gorgeous woman who was stripping several feet away. He spent a couple of minutes clearing the area of vegetation debris and rocks, then unrolled the tent, and unlike the previous night, had it up within a few minutes. He was hammering in the last peg when Lily strolled toward him looking like she’d stepped out of a beauty salon.

  Her hair was slicked back from her forehead, and her skin glowed fresh and clean. “Your turn.” She’d tied her shirt in a knot at her waist and he didn’t need to look hard to note that she’d left her bra off. “Do you want to get another pot of water?”

  He cleared his throat and snapped his eyes away. “No, I’ll use yours.”

  “Okay. I’ll get a fire going. So we can sterilize water for our bottles.”

  “Good idea.”

  Carter dashed to his pack, grabbed his only fresh underwear, and fought the stirring in his groin as he returned to the ravine. He stripped naked, and using his dirty shirt, wiped days of sweat and grime from his body. The lick of the cool air over his wet skin was invigorating, and injected much needed oomph into his weary body.

  The warm air and light breeze had him dry in minutes and he stepped into clean undies and shorts. By the time he walked back to the campsite he felt like a new man.

  His first sight of Lily had him ogling her again. She’d changed into a white tank top, and when she leaned over a stack of wood to blow onto it, his heart jumped to his throat at the view down her abundant cleavage.

  He averted his eyes.

  “I’ll get our beds sorted.” With clenched teeth, he walked to their packs and carried them into the tent.

  Furious that his focus on Lily was intensifying, he gave himself a mental grilling as he rolled out the sleeping bags side by side. He copied what she’d done the night before and stuffed some of his clothes into a T-shirt to make a pillow.

  “Do you want me to make your pillow up?” he called out to her.

  “Yes, please.”

  He unzipped her pack and spied the leather-bound journal. The urge to pick it out and unwrap the leather thong to see what was inside was so strong that his mind launched into a mental devil-versus-angel debate. He drove his fingers through his hair, furious that Lily affected him this way. She was young, way too young for a man like him. Any advances he made toward her would be met with humiliation—of that, he was certain. Avoiding the journal, he plucked out her clothes and made her pillow too.

  “Hey, Carter, come check this out.”

  He tossed her makeshift pillow onto her sleeping bag, flipped back the tent flap, and crawled out. Night had fallen as swiftly as if a giant switch had been flicked. The blazing fire was the only light, illuminating their campground and casting flickering light onto the surrounding trees. Lily was a goddess in the golden glow as she stood, hands on hips with her back to him. Her long, dark hair tumbled down her back to meet the belt around her tiny shorts, and for some reason her hiking boots made her long legs seem even longer.

  She turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Come see this.”

  He walked to her side and followed the direction of her outstretched finger.

  “See that fruit up there?”

  “Oh yeah, the monkeys were eating them earlier.”

  “Good. I was wondering if they were edible.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t plan on climbing that tree, do you?”

  “Of course. How else are we going to get them?”

  He scrutinized the tree. The glow from the fire only reached about twenty feet up. He guessed the tree to be at least three times that high. “They’re a long way up.”

  “So?”

  “Sooo . . .” He dragged the word out. “Lily, I don’t know . . . It looks dangerous.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ve climbed much higher.” She undid her shoes.

  “What about the monkeys?”

  “They’re gone.” She pulled her hair back into a ponytail using a band she plucked from her wrist. “Can you grab my pocketknife, please?”

  Clearly, she’d made up her mind. He scowled, but conceding defeat, went to her pack in the tent again and fished the knife from the side pocket. Outside, she was already on the first branch, straddling it like riding a horse. She grinned too, emphasizing her determination and perhaps daring him to defy her.

  He handed the knife up and she tucked it into her shorts pocket. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she stood on the branch and reached for the next limb. Carter’s heart was in his throat as he stepped back from the trunk and watched Lily’s progress higher and higher.

  The rooster crowed again and Carter was so worried about the monkeys returning that he was tempted to kick the stupid bird. Lucky for Pompa, Carter didn’t want to take his eyes off Lily. Each time she reached up on her toes for the next branch, his heart skipped a beat and a carousel of horrid thoughts whizzed through his brain.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when she finally straddled the branch nearest the fruit. She seemed completely at ease as she leaned forward with the pocketknife.

  “Ready?” she called down to him.

  “Yep.”

  Next second, a green ball dropped from the tree. Carter made a perfect catch but it splattered in his hands, covering them in a brown soggy mess. “Oh shit. I think it’s rotten.”

  “Really? Rotten fruit usually falls from the tree.”

  “It looks like crap. Literally.” He sniffed the brown sludge and was shocked by its distinct chocolate aroma.

  “Taste it,” Lily demanded.

  Carter mumbled under his breath before he took a small bite of the gooey slop. It was soft and slimy and to his surprise, tasted like chocolate pudding.

 
“And?” Lily called down at him.

  “I think it’s okay. It tastes like chocolate.”

  “Fantastic. Here’s another one.”

  She dropped the second fruit, and despite trying a cricket catch to soften the fall, it splattered in his hands too. He tugged a giant leaf off a nearby plant and pried the mess off his fingers and onto it.

  Each time Lily tossed one down, the green ball split open when he caught it. By the time she’d finished, his hands and half his torso were covered in brown chocolate-smelling slop.

  “I’m coming down now.”

  “Okay. Be careful.”

  He waited until she was on the lowest branch before he picked up the nine smashed fruits in the leaf and carried them toward the campfire. Lily was laughing by the time she arrived at his side. “You look like you had an accident in your pants.”

  “And rubbed it over my stomach?”

  “Yeah.” Now she really laughed. “You need another bath.”

  “I guess so. I hope these are edible after all that.”

  “If the monkeys were eating them, then that’s good enough for me.”

  She sat in the dirt next to the giant leaf plate and reached for one of the fruits. Carter sat at her side and scooped a portion too.

  “It smells like chocolate.” She scrunched up her nose.

  “Yeah, I told you. Weird, hey?”

  She bit into it without hesitation. “Yum.” Her eyes lit up and she licked her lips.

  Carter shoveled more into his mouth. The consistency and taste of thick chocolate mousse made it a weird fruit, but despite its appearance, it was delicious.

  She giggled. “It is chocolate pudding.”

  “I know. Crazy, huh?”

  “Have you seen these before?”

  Carter shook his head as he scooped more off the leaf.

  “But you’ve been in Mexico for eight months. You’d think these would be everywhere.”

  “Mmmm. Maybe they’re not supposed to be eaten.”

  “Don’t go saying things like that; I’m enjoying it.”

  “Well . . . just because it tastes good doesn’t mean it’s edible.”

  “Now who’s being the pot-half-empty guy?” She cocked one of her perfectly formed eyebrows, and then took a giant bite.

  By the time they’d devoured the fruit, they both needed another wash.

  “Lucky we hadn’t wasted time boiling that water, we’re going to need it to clean up.” She beamed.

  The chocolate around her lips reminded him of a time he’d taken his daughter for gelato at In the Pink, a world-class ice creamery in Byron Bay. His daughter had taken so long to choose her flavor that the crowd behind her had grown restless. In the end, she’d chosen plain chocolate ice cream. It’d melted so quickly though, that she’d managed to wear nearly as much as she ate and ended up looking like Lily did now. Casting aside the wonderful memory, he rolled to his knees to stand.

  “I’ll get the shirt I used before.” He went to the back of the tent and plucked the wet shirt off the rope he’d secured to a tree.

  Lily was wiping her fingers on a leaf as he returned to her. “That was so good.”

  She licked her lips and Carter had to fight the silly notion that she was deliberately trying to tease him. He flicked the wet shirt over his shoulder, grabbed a bottle of water, and crouched by the fire to clean himself.

  * * * *

  After they were clean again, they returned to the river and with their torches as the only light, they filled the pot again. Back at the fire, they settled the pot over the coals ready to boil out the impurities before they bottled it.

  Carter settled by the fire and felt like every muscle in his body fought against him. Lily, however, looked like she could run a marathon.

  “So . . .” She poked a stick at the glowing coals. “What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever been to?”

  He blinked at her and tugged on his beard. “Well, that depends on what you consider interesting.”

  She sucked her bottom lip and rolled her eyes upward as if considering his question. “Okay, start with the most remote.”

  “That’s easy. Agulinta.”

  She rattled her lips. “Really? I’m surprised you say that. It didn’t take that long to get here.”

  “No, but we had to walk most of the way. All the other remote places I’ve been to could be reached by vehicle, camel, or mule or something like that.”

  “Huh, okay then. Which place did you stay at the longest?”

  He poked at the fire too. “I think that was Pompeii.”

  “Oh wow. I’d love to go there.”

  “It was incredible. Both fascinating and macabre.”

  “What do you mean?” The glow from the fire intensified her frown.

  “You know the story of Pompeii, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well, when the volcano exploded, it hit the town in a matter of minutes. Hardly anyone escaped.”

  “Mmmm, I can’t imagine the horror.”

  “They reckon most victims didn’t even see it coming. It’s an incredible reminder of the power of nature.”

  “Mother Nature sure knows how to wield her fury.”

  The way she said it had Carter wondering if she’d experienced some kind of natural disaster. He let it slide for now. “Anyway, the lack of air and moisture created by the mountain of ash that fell on the city ensured the objects that lay beneath it were preserved in extraordinary condition. During excavation, archaeologists used plaster to fill in the empty spaces that once contained bodies. This meant they could recreate the exact positions the deceased were in when they died. They found men, women, children, babies, dogs, cats, monkeys.” He shook his head. “Hundreds of creatures.”

  Lily shook her head. “Wow, that’d be spooky.”

  “Yep, that’s what I meant by macabre and fascinating at the same time.”

  “I’d like to see that one day.” She curled a loose hair around her ear and he admired how feminine her fingers were.

  His mind drifted back to his photo collection from Pompeii. Prior to going to Pompeii, most of the photos he’d seen of the natural disaster focused on the horror that had struck the life forms. Carter centered his attention on the humans and their day to day lives prior to the eruption. The photo that’d won him the most awards was of a plaster cast of a young woman’s hands. He’d zoomed in on her delicate fingers and had imagined she’d been weaving an intricate cloth when the volcanic ash took her life. His mind drifted to the photos he’d taken in the last four days and he wondered if any of them would win awards. If it was the one of Otomi in the tent after he’d died, it’d be a bittersweet moment. He cast the idle thought aside and rubbed his lower back, trying to work out the knot at the base of his spine.

  Lily twisted from side to side. “My back’s killing me too.”

  Carter was seconds away from offering to give her a massage when he caught himself. He replicated her movements instead, stretching out his lower spine until it cracked.

  The water began boiling and Carter removed it from the coals and settled it on a nearby dirt patch to cool down.

  They slipped into comfortable silence and the jungle noises around them seemed to come alive. The fire crackled and popped. Monkeys belted out their bloodcurdling howls in the distance. Other creatures, birds and mammals whose sounds he didn’t recognize, added to the soulful chorus, and Pompa pecked at the ground with constant repetition.

  Flames danced their reflection onto a nearby tree, but beyond the fire, the darkness around them was complete. He looked upward but saw nothing but black. The dense canopy smothered any chance of seeing stars or the moon.

  Lily yawned. “I think I’ll sleep like a log tonight.”

  “Me too.” He couldn’t hold back the yawn tha
t gripped him too.

  “Do you think we’ll find our way out tomorrow?” Golden flames danced across the pools of her eyes.

  “I’m certain of it. The river’s our ticket out of here.”

  “Good. I can’t wait to eat a big juicy steak.”

  Carter burst out laughing.

  “What?” She smiled at him.

  “I just think it’s funny that you put food over a hot shower.”

  “You can live without showers; you can’t live without food.”

  And in that moment, Carter was pretty sure he was falling for the mysterious, beautiful, and confident young woman at his side.

  Chapter 13

  Lily woke to the sound of the tent zipper opening, and when she rolled toward the noise, Carter was on his way out. It was fairly dark; however, as she could make out the tent roof in the blackness she realized it was already morning. She’d slept right through, and by the stiffness radiating from her neck, she assumed she’d barely moved all night.

  She twisted from side to side, trying to manipulate muscles that stiffened in protest. The last time Lily had felt this physically drained was when she’d carted her furniture up to her fourth-story apartment almost all by herself. If her neighbor hadn’t conveniently appeared as she wrestled her double-bed mattress up the stairs, she would’ve left it in the stairwell and slept on the worn carpet on her bedroom floor instead. That was three months ago, and although some days she hated that place, it was her own. That almost made up for the sleepless nights caused by the scurrying mice. Almost. Despite repeated requests to the apartment manager, very little had been done to eradicate the vermin that’d made Honeycut Apartments their home.

  The freezing cold was another issue. No amount of blankets could eliminate the cold that got right into her bones in the middle of the night. It was ironic that she slept better out here in the middle of the jungle than she did in her own bed.

  She crawled out of the tent and noted that it was indeed daybreak. Carter was returning from the nearby bushes when she stood up and stretched her arms above her head. “Morning.”