The Single Daddy Situation

by Layla Valentine

  “The good news,” the man said. “Is that I know where we are. This island is about fifteen kilometers from the mainland, and there’s an old radio set up somewhere on the perimeter. Once I figure out where we landed, I can figure out how to get to it.”

  “A radio?” Logan echoed.

  The other man nodded. “An old outpost set up back during the Cold War. Hasn’t been used in a while, but they built those things to last. I think there were plans to make a base here, but for whatever reason, that fell through.”

  “Okay,” Logan said. “Let’s figure out where that outpost is, then.”

  Chapter 29

  Logan

  As luck—or the lack thereof—would have it, the Cold War-era radio tower was on the opposite side of the island. The pilot had been in such a rush to land the plane safely that he hadn’t thought to get them to a strategic location. Logan couldn’t find it within himself to fault the man; though he dealt with pressure in his work, he had never been forced to make a snap decision in the midst of a literal life-or-death situation.

  With a compass, a map, a few snacks and a bottle of water, the man set off into the swath of jungle that comprised the interior of the island. Though the exact scale of such a small patch of land was difficult to gauge from a paper map, the pilot estimated a trip through the foliage would take at least one full day. Before the man set off into the wilderness, Emily rushed up to give him a tight hug.

  Once the pilot was gone, Logan felt the start of a knot as it formed in the pit of his stomach. Even if the man made it through the thicket and to the outpost, there was no way to tell how long it would take for their rescue to arrive. They could be stuck here for a day, or a week, or they could die here.

  They were stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean, miles from any form of help. From the stretch of sandy beach on which they’d landed, he couldn’t even see a trace of land on the horizon.

  He’d seen enough survival shows to know that, despite the cloudless, azure sky, the veritable paradise had the potential to become a deathtrap in the blink of an eye. If a hurricane rolled through, he doubted they’d stand a chance.

  Any lingering frustration at the failure of his most recent business venture was abruptly pushed aside by the knowledge of the real danger they now faced. They needed shelter and a fire, but they needed to stay close enough to the water’s edge that they could flag down a passing boat or plane. Logan had no desire to risk his daughter and Mariah’s safety by slinking into the trees—they had no idea what types of wild animals or venomous insects might lay in wait.

  The pilot, on the other hand, had spent time in the Indonesian military. Part of his training had involved survival techniques in tropical environments. Of the four of them, there was no doubt that he was best equipped to survive a trek through the jungle.

  After they had dragged their bags and any pertinent supplies from the beat-up plane, Logan tasked Emily and Mariah with collecting palm branches so they could compose a makeshift shelter. In the meantime, he dug a shallow fire pit and lined the edge with rocks. Aesthetically, it was sloppy—the rocks were all different sizes, and the hole itself was uneven—but it was functional.

  Though she was still a bit rattled from the rocky landing, Emily no longer wore the same haunted expression he had seen when the plane first came to a stop. Whether or not Logan wanted to admit it, Emily’s calm demeanor was in large part thanks to Mariah. As the two wandered around the beach to retrieve palm branches, he caught snippets of their conversation. Mariah asked Emily if any of the characters in the stories she liked had ever been on an island adventure before, and when Emily nodded, Mariah asked for a rundown of the book. As Emily regaled the plot, Mariah pointed out similarities between the story and the island where they had landed. With each comparison, Emily seemed to perk up a little more.

  By the time he had finished helping Mariah fashion the branches into a basic shelter at the edge of the tree line, the sky was alight with the orange, gold, and red glow of the sunset. With no buildings or trees to obscure the view, Logan thought the sight was easily the most brilliant sunset he had ever witnessed.

  Logan tried to talk Emily into staying awake to get a good look at the stars, but she had been through a trying ordeal, and she was exhausted. Curled up beneath the overlapping palm branches, a waterproof jacket used as a blanket, Emily was asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

  He wanted to talk to Mariah, but after the ordeal at the meeting that morning, he had no idea where to start. Apparently, the sentiment was shared. Ever since they had completed the shelter, Mariah hadn’t so much as glanced in his direction. With his stare fixed on the darkening horizon, he pushed down a resigned sigh. At least if he focused his thoughts on survival, he didn’t have to mull over the future of his and Mariah’s relationship.

  A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye jerked his attention away from the dark mass of the ocean as Mariah rose to stand. When she started to make her way toward the water’s edge, his heartbeat picked up.

  “Where are you going?” he asked quietly. He made sure to keep any potential accusatory tinge out of his voice.

  Mariah shrugged and glanced at him over her shoulder. “I’ve never been on an island before,” she answered in the same hushed tone. “I’m going to go wander around down by the water.”

  His knee-jerk reaction was to protest, to make up some excuse about how splitting away from their camp would be dangerous, but he knew the nonsense for what it was.

  Instead, he merely nodded.

  As she turned to make her way along the white sand, he kept his gaze fixed on her. Her long, dark hair swayed with the temperate evening breeze, and the white button-down shirt over her tank top rustled as she walked. Even in the meager light of the fire, her figure was mesmerizing.

  He entertained the idea of following her, but he still had no idea what to say when he caught up to her. And as much as he would have loved to feel her bare skin beneath his hands, this wasn’t the time or the place. Not that she would even want to have sex with him right now. Not after the past couple of days.

  But that was the way he wanted it, wasn’t it?

  He wanted her out at arm’s length where he didn’t have to risk anything to be around her. Where all he had to do was have sex with her and then pretend like the encounter had never even happened. There was no chance of losing her if he never had her to begin with.

  As he watched her close the distance to the water’s edge, he wondered how much longer the mantra would hold true. And more importantly, he wondered if he even believed his own rationalization.

  Chapter 30

  Mariah

  When Mariah awoke the next day, she realized the scenery of the island brought to mind a calendar one of her coworkers used to hang up, back when she worked in the call center. From the salty scent of the ocean carried along the wind to the calls of the tropical birds at their backs, the entire scenario was surreal. But as beautiful as it all was, she hated it.

  She wanted to go home, to get away from Logan so she could collect her thoughts, to call Hazel and tell her all about the failed experiment that was her brief stint at Harfield and Wellner. As childish as she felt admitting the thought to herself, she wanted a hug.

  After her brief jaunt out onto the beach the night before, she had slept like hell. She tossed and turned for most of the night, but she must have drifted off at one point or another, because the sky had been dark the last time she closed her eyes.

  Neither she nor Logan had any idea how long they would be stuck here before help arrived—or even if help would arrive. Though her first inclination was to believe her time would be occupied by basic needs of survival, she had now begun to second-guess the notion. They were in the middle of nowhere on an island. There was no internet, no electricity, no radio, no nothing. Aside from shifting her thought process back and forth from certain doom to hopeful, there was nothing to occupy her time.

  At least Emily had been
smart enough to bring a few books along in her luggage. Lounging beneath the shade of a palm tree, the little girl’s diligent focus was fixed on another story about the teenage girl and her cat, Shadow. Maybe a little later, Mariah would ask her about the mystery that the pair had solved.

  When a hand reached out to touch her bare shoulder, Mariah almost leaped up from her spot to throw a blind punch.

  As he retracted his arm, Logan’s gray eyes widened. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Even after just one day, stubble darkened his cheeks. In the bright sunlight, Mariah even spotted a couple flecks of silver. The scruff aged him, but the rugged edge was a good look for him.

  Mariah shook her head as he dropped down to sit at her side. “It’s all right.”

  He kept his voice just barely above a whisper as he spoke. “We’ve been here for about twenty-four hours now, but even if the pilot got to the other side of the island, there’s no telling when a plane or a ship will get here.”

  Silently, Mariah nodded.

  His expression was grave as their eyes met. “There’s not a lot of food or water left. We need to find some soon, or we’re going to be in trouble.”

  He didn’t have to elaborate for Mariah to know what trouble meant in this case.

  “There’s got to be fresh water somewhere beneath the trees, and there ought to be something edible in there, too. Fruit, probably.” He paused to glance over at Emily. “I don’t know what else is in there, though. And I don’t mean tigers and bears, I mean venomous snakes and bugs. Parasites. I’ll go look for food and water, but I don’t want either of you to come with me. I’ll be able to move faster if it’s just me, anyway.”

  Mariah swallowed against the sudden tightness in her throat. “Yeah,” she said. “You’re right. I’ll stay here with Emily.”

  When he offered her a smile, the look was strained and weary. Pushing himself to stand, Logan turned his attention to Emily as Mariah rose to her feet.

  “Hey, sweetie,” he called.

  The dark hair in Emily’s ponytail swayed as she looked up from the book in her lap.

  With an outstretched hand, Logan beckoned his daughter to them. “Come here for a second, sweetie.”

  Nodding, Emily leaped to her feet and strode over to the shade of the makeshift shelter. Her vivid blue eyes flicked from one adult to the other as she neared.

  “Hey,” Logan said, dropping down to bring himself eye-level with Emily. “I have to go look for some food and water for us, okay? There isn’t any out here, and you remember why we can’t drink water from the ocean, right?”

  Even as Emily nodded her head, there was a faint quiver in her bottom lip. “Because it’s too salty. It just makes us even more thirsty.”

  Her voice sounded so small and sad that Mariah thought there was a good chance she would burst into tears at the girl’s side.

  “That’s right, kiddo.” Logan smiled and clasped her shoulder. “But we’re just about out of water, and I need to go find us some more, okay? It’ll be a lot safer and faster if I go into the jungle by myself.”

  “But, Dad,” she managed, her voice close to a squeak. “You might get lost. The pilot knew where he was going because he was in the army, but you weren’t in the army.”

  Slowly, Logan shook his head. “No, I wasn’t, but I have this.” Sunlight caught the face of a compass as he pulled it from one pocket of his dusty jeans. “See? I won’t get lost. Do you want to know how it works?”

  Despite the despondency clearly evident in Emily’s eyes, she nodded. “Yes.”

  Logan scooted closer and held out the compass for Emily to see. “See the arrow? The North Pole has a magnetic field, and there’s a little magnet in the compass that keeps the arrow pointing north. So, no matter what direction I go, I’ll always know where north is. And if I know where north is, I can figure out where everything else is, too.”

  The first tears slipped down Emily’s cheeks, and Mariah thought she could feel her heart break in two. When Logan wrapped both arms around Emily’s shoulders, the little girl let out a sob.

  As Logan held his daughter out at arm’s length, Mariah rested a reassuring hand between her shoulders. “It’ll be okay, Emily,” she said.

  Logan nodded his agreement. “You’ve been so brave since we got here, and I am so, so proud of you, sweetie. You’re going to stay here with Mariah. You guys have a really important job, one that I can’t do when I’m in the trees.”

  Emily sniffled. “What’s that?”

  “I need you to keep an eye out for airplanes and ships,” Logan replied.

  Circling one arm around Emily’s shoulders, Mariah pulled her into a warm embrace. “We’ll be fine, okay? I’ll be right here with you the whole time your dad is gone, and I bet he won’t even be gone that long. We can practice some of those karate moves I showed you the other day, remember?”

  With another sniffle, Emily nodded.

  “You remember what I said about Bruce Lee?” Mariah asked.

  Emily brushed at the tears on her cheeks. “I thought Bruce Lee did kung fu?”

  “You are so smart,” Mariah said. “He did, but he did everything. Remember how I told you that practicing helped him stay calm?”

  There was a flash of understanding in Emily’s eyes as she nodded again. “He did martial arts because it was good for his body and his mind,” she recited.

  “Exactly,” Mariah replied. “I’ll show you when we practice our karate moves, okay?”

  “Okay,” Emily said.

  When Mariah glanced at him, Logan’s fake smile seemed a little less strained.

  “You guys hang tight here, okay?” he said as he rose to his feet. “I’ll see you soon.”

  By Mariah’s best estimate, Logan was only gone for a couple hours. When he returned, the sun had climbed to the middle of the cloudless sky.

  “Dad!” Emily exclaimed. She leaped up from where she and Mariah had settled down to take a break after a solid sixty minutes of martial arts practice. Emily’s energy might not have waned, but Mariah needed the break.

  The corners of Logan’s eyes creased as his daughter raced toward him. “Hey, kiddo. Guess what I got?” He shrugged out of the black backpack he’d taken with him to the island interior.

  “What?” Emily asked, her eyes alight with curiosity as Logan tugged down the zipper. “Whoa,” she said. “Mariah, look! We have coconuts and, and, what are those?” Scrunching up her eyebrows, Emily cast a puzzled glance from Logan over to Mariah.

  “Mangoes,” Logan answered as Mariah plopped down at Emily’s side. “You’ve had mangoes before. You probably just didn’t see what they looked like before they were cut up.”

  Emily grinned. “Cool. Let’s eat!”

  With a chuckle, Logan shook out a beach towel, spread it over the sandy ground, and laid out the veritable feast he had collected. After dropping an iodine tablet from the airplane emergency kit into the bottles of water he had stashed in the side pockets of the backpack, the three of them sat down around the impromptu tablecloth and dug in.

  Mariah had always liked mangoes and coconuts, and though her opinion might have been biased by her hunger, she thought these were some of the best she had ever eaten. Not only did the meal satiate her pang of hunger, but it was also a source of hydration. For the first time since the emergency landing, she saw a glimmer of hope for their dire situation.

  She felt like a leaden weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Finally, after what might have been the most stressful twenty-four hours of her thirty years of life, she could breathe.

  When she glanced up, her eyes met Logan’s. There was a shadow of something that resembled lust in his face, and in that moment, she would have paid a fortune to know what he was thinking.

  Though a twinge of indignation still simmered in the back of her mind, she couldn’t deny the inexorable attraction she felt when she looked at him.

  As much as she hated to admit it, if they had been alone and he mad
e a move, she wouldn’t have turned him down. He was easily the most attentive partner she had ever been with, and the way he whispered in her ear when he was inside her had stoked a fire she didn’t even know existed before she met him.

  At just the thought, a shiver worked its way down her back in spite of the afternoon warmth.

  She had no idea what he had done to her, but part of her loved it.

  Chapter 31

  Mariah

  Before Mariah or Emily awoke the next morning, Logan had already ventured into the island interior to restock their supply of fruit and water. Though Mariah’s sleep was better than it had been the first night of their stay, she had been plagued by a series of bizarre dreams and nightmares. And, of course, Logan had been present in almost all of them.

  She was lost in a haze of uncertainty, and uncertainty always brought out the strangest dreams for Mariah. When Logan and Emily made their way down to the beach to spend some time at the water’s edge, Mariah opted to stay behind. With her knees tucked up to her chest, she watched as Logan explained gulf currents to Emily while they splashed around.

  When she heard him break down a phenomenon as complex as ocean currents into language even a seven-year-old could understand, she realized why he was so successful in his line of work. The better he was able to explain a business model to a potential client, the higher the likelihood that he would close a profitable deal.

  There was no doubt in Mariah’s mind that he had treated her poorly after they slept together, both a few days ago and four years ago, but what was less clear was his motivation. If his strength and his concern for her and Emily during their stay on the remote island was any indication, his callousness was not because he lacked the ability to care. From every interaction and every conversation they’d had since they were first introduced, she had never been under the impression that he acted with malice.