Page 34 of Take Me Back
“Amazing, isn’t it?”
“Incredible.”
I squeeze him tighter and lose track of time as it occurs to me just how insignificant I am in the grand scheme of life. It seems there’s nothing like millions of sparkling stars to make you feel both awestruck and inconsequential.
It’s a reminder I need. I spend so much time down in the weeds, dealing with problems for clients that seem monumental in that moment, I lose sight of everything else. Maybe that’s by design so I don’t have time to think about the big picture.
As I look at those stars, I make a vow to remember how tiny I feel right now. To remember that the issues in my life are rarely life and death, and give myself the permission tobreathe.I just hope I remember this tomorrow.Freaking Purple Rain.
“How good are your navigation-by-the-stars skills?” Dane asks, interrupting the silence.
I laugh at his question. “I would have to go with nonexistent.”
Dane lifts our joined hands into the air and points at the one constellation that I can identify. “You know the Big Dipper, right? Ursa Major.”
“Yes, but not the fancy term.”
“Follow the last star up and you’ll find the brightest star in the sky. Polaris. The North Star, part of the Little Dipper.”
“Ursa Minor?”
“Good girl.”
“The North Star will always get you home.” I laugh because there’s no way, even with that knowledge, I would be able to find my way home. “Maybe it’ll always get you home, but I’m a different story.”
Dane lowers me to the ground so I face him. “That’s what you got me for.”
For now, at least.
We both stare up into the sky for long moments before voices come from behind us. Dane clicks on the flashlight again.
“There shouldn’t be anything else you need to worry about out here,” he says as we move toward our cabana.
“Are you sure? No man-eating alligators? Or crazy jungle cats?” I try to think of some other kind of tropical predators, and come up empty.
“This island is too small to have a jungle or any cats. There are jaguars on the mainland, though. And no alligators, but there are crocs in the rivers and lagoons.”
“All of a sudden, this island thing is sounding safer and safer.”
He steps onto the pier leading to our door. “This island is about as safe as it gets. People are definitely the biggest concern here.”
There’s probably a lot of truth to that statement. “They have a reputation to protect for tourists to come here, so it’s not like they’d let anything happen, right?”
Dane stops in front of the door to the cabana, and I wobble when I reach out and the railing shifts under my palm.
He extends a hand to steady me. “Careful. I don’t want to have to go diving for you tonight.”
I look out into the blackness of the ocean. There are a few lights from islands in the distance, but not many. We’re truly isolated.
“I don’t want to go in the water at night, so we’re on the same page there.”
He shoves the key into the lock. “Good, because I can’t vouch for what’s swimming around in it when I can’t see.”
A shiver of fear creeps up my spine, and goose bumps rise on my skin. “What could be out there?”
I’m not sure why I think Dane is the authority on ocean baddies, but I guarantee he knows more about it than I do, given his love of snorkeling and diving.
He shoves open the door and flips on the light inside. I follow him in as he shuts the door.
