The Secret Path by Karen Swan (summer beach reads TXT) 📕

woody earth; she could hear yellow-throated toucans yelping, thought she glimpsed a flash of bright feathers as a parakeet flew between canopies, heard the chatter of monkeys not too far away. She felt the forest vibrate and hum in her bones, staking its claim in her heart again and telling her she shouldn’t have stayed away so long; not because of him.

Two sets of headlights were bouncing along the dirt track towards them.

‘Jed!’ Miles cheered, reaching into the leading white open Jeep as it came to a stop and gripping the driver’s hand. ‘I thought we said one sharp?’

‘Sharpish. You’re on Tico Time now, buddy,’ Jed grinned. ‘Time to get out of your straitjacket.’

Miles laughed, doing exactly that as he shrugged off his unlined linen blazer and swung himself into the front seat. Zac slid into the back, doing a fancy-grip handshake with Jed that proved they had met several times over the years now. Tara felt another pang of regret over time lost. Memories wasted.

‘Tara. It has been too long,’ Jed said, kneeling on the seat and looking back at her, leaning his arms on the roll bars overhead. ‘What took you so long?’

Tara felt Miles’s stare become heavier upon her. He knew what had kept her away; he alone in their family knew what Alex had done, and had been adamant their parents should know the full scale of his betrayal. But in spite of their mother’s lingering misgivings, to this day their father still believed she and Alex had been ‘just good friends’ and that the introduction had been facilitated for the purposes of the conservation project alone. She had had to beg her brother to stay quiet. Neither she, nor he – nor Alex too, no doubt – were under any illusions that if the truth was to become known, her father would pull support immediately. And as much as she had fantasized about striking back and stripping him of his prize, she also knew the potential of this project was far more important than avenging her single shattered heart.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t dream of it. In ten years there had never been an apology and he had never made a meaningful attempt to win her back. No midnight phone calls. No pleading texts. Perhaps he thought it was to his credit that he didn’t muddy the waters any more than he already had? He had got what he’d come for and he just let her slip away. She had been collateral damage, that was all; it was unfortunate, but also inevitable. Besides, he knew what he’d done was unforgivable. Irreversible. He’d even tried warning her. ‘He has the power of conviction and if he believes in something, he backs it up, a hundred per cent.’ He’d said that to her once, lying in bed, her believing this was intimacy, never dreaming it was a confession. ‘Whenever he’s done the wrong thing, it’s been for the right reasons.’

The right reason was all that remained now and the memory of their relationship was just a distant twist of smoke, somewhere out of sight, over the horizon.

‘What can I say? Med school was hard, Jed,’ she shrugged. ‘And it’s not much easier now I’m qualified, either.’

‘That’s why you should have come here – to relax!’ he smiled back at her, with simple rationale. Even the way he said the word ‘relax’ made her feel relaxed.

‘Well, at least I’ve brought my friends at long last. That’s my partner, Rory,’ she said, pointing to where her boyfriend was hauling their luggage into the backs of the Jeeps; Rory waved a hand in greeting, looking more like a baggage handler than a heart surgeon. ‘And Dev, Holly and their son Jimmy.’

‘How old are you, Jimmy?’ Jed asked, looking over at the shy, sleepy boy.

‘Nine.’

‘Tall for nine!’ Jed remarked, looking impressed. ‘Do you surf?’

Jimmy shook his head.

‘Would you like to?’

Jimmy nodded.

‘Then we’ll have you surfing by the time you go back,’ Jed grinned, giving him a thumbs up.

‘Jed taught me and Miles how to surf,’ she added to her godson. ‘He’s the best.’

‘Come on, then. You must be tired. Let’s get you to your beds,’ Jed said, swinging back down into his seat.

‘You go with these guys. I’ll sit with the others,’ Rory said to her, immediately seeing how the seating arrangements were going to be restricted and Jimmy would need to sit on one of his parents’ laps.

‘Sure?’ He was always so considerate.

He winked and joined the Mothas in their Jeep.

Jed opened up a coolbox and handed out cans of beer, beads of condensation trickling down the sides. Tara opened hers and took several long, thirsty gulps; the effects of the humidity were immediate, her skin already beading with sweat even at this time of night.

Jed put the steering wheel in full lock and turned them out of the landing area, the other car following just behind on the bumpy track. Tara liked the way her hair lifted off her neck as they drove fast through the trees. It felt so good to be outside again. Over twelve hours had been spent in state-of-the-art, climate-controlled air-conditioned spaces but this felt like the luxury, cutting through the night, below the stars, towards the sea.

She glanced at Jed in the mirror, looking for changes in her childhood friend, but any differences were as subtly evolved as the forest’s – he still had the same heavy eyebrows and black hair worn long and shaggy, an ever-ready smile that dominated his broad face. He was a little heavier, but no grey hairs yet. His father had owned the bar and row of huts set along the fringes of the beach when they first started coming here, gradually expanding his operations to include surf hire and bike rental too, local tours and expeditions.

Everything she and Miles had done, Jed had done with them – as a friend, but as a mentor too. He was seven years older than her – old enough to look