it,” Theo said. “Mermaid Hole.”
Angelique breathed a deep sigh of satisfaction. “It’s so beautiful. It’s like a botanical garden complex, with waterfalls, and a flower garden, and a stream. The best bit is where they’ve engineered the river so it wells into these running pools, and you can bathe there in the middle of the jungle. The flowers are all around you, and butterflies, and little birds. And it just feels like you’re in paradise itself.”
“Wow,” Theo breathed. “It sounds great.”
“I can’t believe we live there now,” she said. “I was always there when I was a kid. And when I would come back from Little Ekali that was the first place I’d go. I just felt … so at peace there, you know?”
“Sure,” Theo said. “You know, before I made all this money, when I was back in my younger days, I found my own place like that. I bet it was nowhere near as nice as Mermaid Hole, but it was the only place I had. Where I lived was so busy; all the shacks were crammed together and there wasn’t an inch to move. So I used to run away sometimes, all the way through the little forest at the back of where we all lived. It was so steep I had to step on the little trunks as I went up. And then at the top there was a plateau, with a stream running over it, before it went down the other side of the hill. And when things got hard for me I would just go up there to be by the stream. Things didn’t feel so hard up there.”
“ Exactly ,” Angelique said, squeezing his hand tighter. “It’s like you go there and your troubles… well, they don’t fall away exactly, but they fade into the background.”
She already felt like her troubles were falling away since arriving in Cat Island, the Bahamian island she called home. Though she had loved Dubai, and Hawaii, and the prospect of opening a spa hotel under Carla and Atreus’ Kostas Hotel Group, the reality had turned out to be a lot more difficult than the vision.
Angelique was the type of girl to press on through every difficulty, just to meet her goal, but somewhere along the line the fire had left her. She was no longer sure she was doing the right thing. She needed some time and space to regroup and reconsider.
She looked over at Theo and knew she had made the right choice bringing him here. The fact that she lived in Mermaid Hole now only made things a hundred times better.
“I really hope you like it,” she said.
“If it’s anything like this,” Theo said, gesturing around them at the blooming bougainvillea and painted wooden houses by the roadside, “I’m going to love it.”
Soon they turned off the main street onto a bumpy stone road that seemed to lead right into the jungle itself. There were only a couple of houses on each side.
“Ooh, Mrs. Lavantille has painted her shutters,” said Angelique. They used to be a fading white, but now contrasted the mint green wooden house in a delicate shade of pink.
Theo laughed out loud. “You sound like a little old lady,” he joked.
Angelique laughed along. “That’s what life is like on a tiny island,” she said. “You notice everything new. Everyone you see you know. If you don’t know them, they’re tourists or someone’s cousin, and the next person you see will know.”
“I would love that kind of life,” said Theo.
Angelique almost opened her mouth to tell him to stay, but knew it was too soon. She had already rushed into everything with him, she didn’t want to jump into another big commitment just yet. It was so hard, though. Being with him felt so natural. She felt totally approved of, like she could be herself.
Theo grinned at her, somewhat teasingly. “I bet it keeps you good. When everyone knows you, you can’t really do anything bad.”
“Maybe that’s why we have no crime,” she said.
They followed the bend in the road that led deeper into the forest. The path was shadowed by the canopy, and the air was full of the chirping of birds.
Angelique breathed a deep sigh of satisfaction. “It’s so beautiful. It’s like a botanical garden complex, with waterfalls, and a flower garden, and a stream. The best bit is where they’ve engineered the river so it wells into these running pools, and you can bathe there in the middle of the jungle. The flowers are all around you, and butterflies, and little birds. And it just feels like you’re in paradise itself.”
“Wow,” Theo breathed. “It sounds great.”
“I can’t believe we live there now,” she said. “I was always there when I was a kid. And when I would come back from Little Ekali that was the first place I’d go. I just felt … so at peace there, you know?”
“Sure,” Theo said. “You know, before I made all this money, when I was back in my younger days, I found my own place like that. I bet it was nowhere near as nice as Mermaid Hole, but it was the only place I had. Where I lived was so busy; all the shacks were crammed together and there wasn’t an inch to move. So I used to run away sometimes, all the way through the little forest at the back of where we all lived. It was so steep I had to step on the little trunks as I went up. And then at the top there was a plateau, with a stream running over it, before it went down the other side of the hill. And when things got hard for me I would just go up there to be by the stream. Things didn’t feel so hard up there.”
“ Exactly ,” Angelique said, squeezing his hand tighter. “It’s like you go there and your troubles… well, they don’t fall away exactly, but they fade into the background.”
She already felt like her troubles were falling away since arriving in Cat Island, the Bahamian island she called home. Though she had loved Dubai, and Hawaii, and the prospect of opening a spa hotel under Carla and Atreus’ Kostas Hotel Group, the reality had turned out to be a lot more difficult than the vision.
Angelique was the type of girl to press on through every difficulty, just to meet her goal, but somewhere along the line the fire had left her. She was no longer sure she was doing the right thing. She needed some time and space to regroup and reconsider.
She looked over at Theo and knew she had made the right choice bringing him here. The fact that she lived in Mermaid Hole now only made things a hundred times better.
“I really hope you like it,” she said.
“If it’s anything like this,” Theo said, gesturing around them at the blooming bougainvillea and painted wooden houses by the roadside, “I’m going to love it.”
Soon they turned off the main street onto a bumpy stone road that seemed to lead right into the jungle itself. There were only a couple of houses on each side.
“Ooh, Mrs. Lavantille has painted her shutters,” said Angelique. They used to be a fading white, but now contrasted the mint green wooden house in a delicate shade of pink.
Theo laughed out loud. “You sound like a little old lady,” he joked.
Angelique laughed along. “That’s what life is like on a tiny island,” she said. “You notice everything new. Everyone you see you know. If you don’t know them, they’re tourists or someone’s cousin, and the next person you see will know.”
“I would love that kind of life,” said Theo.
Angelique almost opened her mouth to tell him to stay, but knew it was too soon. She had already rushed into everything with him, she didn’t want to jump into another big commitment just yet. It was so hard, though. Being with him felt so natural. She felt totally approved of, like she could be herself.
Theo grinned at her, somewhat teasingly. “I bet it keeps you good. When everyone knows you, you can’t really do anything bad.”
“Maybe that’s why we have no crime,” she said.
They followed the bend in the road that led deeper into the forest. The path was shadowed by the canopy, and the air was full of the chirping of birds.
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