Page 13 of Unfinished Desire
Tamsyn couldn’t. And more so, she hoped she never would.
Petra flicked a few strands of her long, dark hair out of her face. Usually, she kept it back in a braid, but now it was hanging like a black curtain over her shoulders. “I made the mistake of absolutely demolishing two plates of Pad Thai. Less than an hour later, I was puking my guts out behind the banana trees.”
“I remember that,” Aggie said, laughing. She had a deep belly laugh that rumbled across the table and shook the wine in her glass. Tamsyn couldn’t help it. She laughed with her. The others did too. “You didn’t even make it to the banana tree. I also remember watching a rerun of that episode with my wife, Kath, and all she said was, ‘I saw that coming. We all did.’”
Petra winced through a smile and then pointed her fork at Aggie. “What’s the moral of the story?” She waited for Aggie to reply while she wagged the fork.
Aggie laughed again, then said, “Pace yourself, people.”
Not that anyone slowed down. On the contrary, Tamsyn deposited a handful of grilled halloumi on her plate together with two scoops of charred corn before she swallowed back half her glass of wine. She wouldn’t finish the wine, not yet. Not until she’d properly lined her stomach. So, she broke off another piece of damper and layered it with halloumi and corn before turning to Isla, who had just caught her eye over the rim of her wineglass.
“What about your first reward?” Tamsyn asked. “Did you eat too much?”
Isla set her glass down and shook her head. “We had massages after lunch. I was more excited to get the stiffness out of my back from sleeping on bamboo poles than the lamb burgers.” Then she paused and frowned as if a memory had swooped right past her like a bird. “You know, thinking back on it now, I might’ve seen Sabine and Talia making out at the rock pool,” she said slowly.
“Really?” Tamsyn asked, immediately leaning forward. Season One was ages ago, but even to this day, Pat and Gloria fromOutlast Her Unpackedbrought up Sabine and Talia’s sneaky behind-the-scenes relationship. Four seasons later, they were still the only contestants to ever leave the game together.
“Yes,” Isla said, smiling. “I remember looking up and seeing something. But then the massage therapist pressed into a brutal knot in my shoulder and I kind of lost track of reality. Later, when I remembered what I’d seen, I just thought I had imagined it.”
“I would’ve loved to be at that Sending,” Tamsyn said. She’d watched that episode with her jaw on the floor. “Even Vivian looked completely stunned.”
Isla laughed. “It was definitely something.” Then she reached toward the bowl of butter at the same time Tamsyn did. Their fingers brushed. Tamsyn didn’t pull away immediately. She was more than just surprised when Isla didn’t either. The moment stretched just long enough for Petra to eye their fingers and for both of them to notice her looking. Then Isla snapped her hand back, and Tamsyn did too.
The moment was gone.
Petra sighed, “I’m just going to say it.”
Just like that, the air took on a thick, almost dense quality. Tamsyn could practically taste it, and frankly, it tasted stale.
“Ever since we got here, the two of you have been acting weird.” Petra pointed to Tamsyn with her fork, then to Isla.
“What?” Tamsyn said, though her voice was wobbling, and only liars had wobbly voices. “We’re not acting weird.”
“You are,” Petra insisted. “Yesterday you two spent the entire day ignoring each other, and today you’re laughing and smiling. I have eyes; it was obvious. I tried asking Isla about it, but the ice princess over there didn’t let anything slip. So I’ve come to the conclusion that you two have fucked each other at some point before this game.”
There was a gasp. Then Tamsyn realized she was the one who had gasped. Surely they weren’t being that obvious.
Petra continued, “Now, I’d like to propose an alliance with the two of you, which I can’t do unless we get some truths in the air. Honesty is my policy,” she said, looking every bit as serious as a judge. “And I’m sure Aggie can agree with that.”
Aggie nodded once. “I can.”
Petra folded her arms across her chest. She was wearing a sports bra that pushed her breasts forward. Twice Tamsyn had found her gaze skirting Petra’s chest, which she’d quickly diverted because it wasn’t that she wanted to look, more that she couldn’t help it. Not that Petra seemed to mind. Or even notice. “So, what’s going on between the two of you?” she said, tilting her head to the side.
Tamsyn wasn’t sure where to begin. Or whether she should tell the truth at all. How did one admit—on national television, no less—that they’d fucked someone in some fancy Upper East Side penthouse, said goodbye assuming they’d never see them again, and then run into them on a survival show, only for that person to act like they didn’t know the person at all. Then there was the part where they had agreed to a truce, a clean slate, and a chance to be friends.
Honestly, it was all just a complicated spiderweb.
But before she could say a word, Isla spoke up. “We did hook up,” Isla said, looking down at her empty plate. “It was six months ago and a one-time thing. A mistake, frankly.”
“A mistake?” Tamsyn blurted. Seriously? She wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. Maybe because they were friends now, and she hadn’t expected Isla to admit something like that. Or maybe because deep down, Tamsyn had never thought of that night as a mistake at all.
“Yes,” Isla said plainly.
“I’m sensing some tension,” Nadine chimed in, clearly trying to act as the buffer. But Tamsyn didn’t need a buffer; she needed honesty, the deep-in-the-soul kind of honesty, because surely Isla didn’t actually believe it was a mistake.
“There’s no tension,” Isla snapped, then she flicked her gaze to Tamsyn. “There’s no tension,” she repeated, softer this time. “I’ve apologized for lying. We’re friends now and—”
“What lie?” Petra interrupted.
