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

‘Ror, you’d gone cycling. I had no idea how long you were going to be.’

‘So you thought you’d just take off for the day?’

She sighed. ‘I just mean, I wasn’t sure how long you were going to be and I felt a sense of responsibility to make sure they all had a fun time. Jimmy’s never even left the UK before. They spend every summer in Suffolk. I wanted it to be an exciting first day for him.’

Rory swung his legs off the bed, draining the rest of his beer. He got up and put the bottle on the makeshift console table, reaching down to a bucket on the floor which held another three bottles of beer, sitting in ice. He was moving stiffly and she suspected that bike ride was going to come back to bite him tomorrow.

‘Look, I’m sorry,’ she said, watching him. ‘It really wasn’t intentional to be gone so long. We’d have been back an hour ago but . . . on top of everything, we got a flat. Jed had to change the wheel.’

Rory rolled his eyes. ‘Really? Tracking down endangered monkeys. Changing wheels. He didn’t perform open-heart surgery on a leopard too, did he?’

Tara gave him a look but let the comment pass; he was irritable and a little bit hurt. ‘Tell me about your afternoon. What did you do?’

‘Not a huge amount. I hung around here in case you came back.’

‘Oh, well that must have been nice surely? Getting some downtime. When did you get back?’

‘About two.’

She winced. She and Jed and the others had only left around one-ish.

‘Your brother and brother-in-law decided it would be the perfect day to climb the Cordillera.’

‘Oh no, they didn’t.’ She winced again. The highest mountains in the range rose above 11,000 feet. ‘I’m sorry. Was it awful?’

‘Put it this way – getting back to you felt like a wholly justified reward. Only . . .’ He spread his arms wide. ‘You weren’t here! And I had no idea where you were! Or when you were going to be back!’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘That’s our first day here, wasted. Gone. And I’ve scarcely seen you.’

‘I’m sorry.’ She rubbed her temples automatically, feeling the vice tighten around her skull a little more.

‘Could you please stop apologizing?’

‘Sor—’

They stared at one another. They were arguing. They never argued.

‘Since when do you even sleep like that anyway?’ he sighed, one hand on his hip as he walked and swigged.

‘I’ve always slept well here,’ she shrugged. ‘I’m not sure why.’

‘I got bitten to buggery.’ He scratched at an angry bite on his shoulder.

‘Oh no. The mozzies always go for you, don’t they?’ she said sympathetically.

He glanced over, hearing her appeasing tone. He blew out through his cheeks, his body slumping. ‘Well, I guess the day’s not a complete write-off,’ he said finally. ‘We can still go for dinner, just the two of us. Get some time together at last.’ He took in her expression. ‘. . . What?’

She winced again. ‘I’m afraid I’ve got to go.’

‘Go?’ he frowned. ‘Go where?’

‘To Jed’s village. It’s about ninety minutes from here.’

‘What – now?’

She nodded. ‘He’s waiting outside for me.’

Rory looked towards the door and back at her again. ‘Why?’

She put a finger to her lips, trying to get him to keep his voice down. ‘Something came up in conversation earlier about his son. He’s sick and has received no medical help whatsoever, no official diagnosis.’

‘Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but why is it your—’

‘From what he’s said, it sounds like cholestatic hepatitis. Holly thinks so too. But I’m worried – from some of the other symptoms he listed, there’s a chance it could be AML too. Maybe.’

Rory blinked. Acute myeloid leukaemia was a tough diagnosis even in a hospital setting. ‘And so you’re going now? Right now?’

‘I don’t think we can afford to put it off. He’s six years old, Ror. And anyway, it’s just for the night. I’ll be back before you’re awake tomorrow, I promise.’

‘Tomorrow,’ he echoed, looking dumbfounded.

‘I’ll make it up to you then.’ She got up from the bed and kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘I double promise. Pinky promise, whatever it is.’

He watched as she got up and unzipped her travel bag. She pulled out the small kit she took everywhere with her – stethoscope, thermometer, blood pressure, tranquillizers, some plasters and bandages – and put it in her rucksack, along with a t-shirt to sleep in and some hardcore insect repellent.

She pulled off her jean shorts and grabbed a towel. ‘I’m just going for a quick shower,’ she said, padding out in her still-damp bikini.

Rory followed her around to the shaky clapboarded stall around the side of the hut, watching over the top as she stripped off and let the water run over her skin. She could see he wanted to get in there with her, that it was crossing his mind to be impulsive, romantic—

‘Jed’s waiting for me,’ she said, lathering her hair quickly and looking back at him through one closed eye. Even a quickie couldn’t be quick enough. ‘I told him I’d be ten minutes. But I’ll make it up to you in the morning – I promise.’

The Jeep rumbled over the rutted tracks, Tara having to hold on to the roll bar overhead as they travelled through the giant trees. The raucous cacophony of dusk had settled but sleep had not yet come to the denizens of the rainforest and she felt eyes upon them from high perches and low, hidden dens.

The air was still hot, impregnated with moisture and swollen with the scent of ylang ylang trees; she remembered Jed telling her an obscure fact once that it was the main scent used in Chanel No. 5 and it had made her laugh to think of a Parisian couture house smelling of the Costa Rican rainforest. The scent felt like a physical thing to cut through, as real as the leaves they would have to push back and the tree roots they would have to clamber over when they parked up. Jed