Chapters (39)
- Cover
- Title
- Author’s Note
- Glossary
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Acknowledgments
Geoffrey looked into the forest. Dappled light fell onto a grove of large ferns, their fronds angling outwards like the raised arms of a charismatic choir as they sang. The undergrowth was made up of greens of every hue.
He wished Clare was there to see it, to enjoy the cool, mottled peace. As much as he enjoyed the wordlessness of the walk, he would have happily exchanged the quiet to be with her and talk, as they had the previous day. About the plants and creatures they saw. How comfortable their boots were. The sweet taste of the water in the streams. How steep the trail was and how their muscles ached.
They had spoken about everything except how they felt for each other and whether those feelings had changed during the past three years. Geoffrey was determined that, before the six days were over, he would tell his daughter that, no matter how she felt and how things might’ve changed for her, his love for her hadn’t.
“There. Coming around the corner,” said Derek. “Let’s go or they’ll think we’re taking a break.”
“Why don’t we? It’ll give us a chance to regroup.”
“Tired, Geoff? Why don’t you hang back with the women?” Derek chuckled and glanced at the sky. “There’ll be time to regroup at the river.”
Five
Five
Faye pulled her bottle from her pack and squirted some water into her mouth. With the others out of sight, she was suddenly eager to leave the forest. There was a gloominess to it now, the dark sky and towering trees shielding the daylight. The vegetation was too close. The air too thick. Even the silence seemed threatening.
She pictured Clare, a small, solitary mound on her mattress in the yard the previous night, and tried to imagine what it was like to be so fearless. Had she ever been courageous? Before the stresses of motherhood, worries about the failing health and eventual deaths of her parents, and the weight of continually disappointing her husband had made her anxious? There’d been a time, in her teens, when Faye would disappear alone into the plantation near her parents’ home for an entire Saturday. Except she wasn’t alone. She had Dingo Rue and Wallis Simpson trotting at her heels. Perhaps that was the difference. She didn’t have any superpowers, but the dogs did. She wished she had a dog with her in the forest now.
As she slid the bottle back into its pouch, Faye had the tingling sense of being watched. Her shoulders and neck stiffened. She shook her head gently, straightened her back and looked around.