Page 76 of Double Exposure

“I have a simple plan,” he says and kisses me.

I sigh and look into his eyes.

“It should be.”

“It can be,” he says and then. “I’m going with you.”

My heart thuds in my throat and I don’t know how this will work, or any details, or what challenges will be there, but it doesn’t matter.

All that matters is this.

Carter Weston

There was no way I was waiting six weeks.

After colluding with her parents and getting the details from her father, I booked a plane to Bali two weeks after she left. Then I found out I couldn’t go because of that fucking blood clot I had in the hospital. I had to wait at least four weeks to fly.

“Eight weeks would be better,” said Harrison. “And no long car rides either.” The guy is a fucking mind reader. I couldn’t even drive to La Mesa.

That’s when I picked up the phone and called Ruth Choi.

It was brutal that May morning when Jade and I video chatted, and she thought I was in Echo Hills. I’d peel myself off a red-eye two hours earlier. But seeing her face and knowing she was ten yards from where I lay about drove me crazy.

When I got the text she was in the pool, I knew my life was about to change. I didn’t know what was ahead, but I knew I wanted a future. You have to be fearless. Love is not for the weak hearted and there's a toughness to love that comes with being bruised and broken. When you're bruised, and you make a decision to love, it's beautiful.

I know I’m ready to take risks. I’m ready to live.

I love her.

Now were at the orangutan refuge with the Nat Geo grew. I help during the day with gear and know her father is happier I’m around. We keep that perk between us two men.

Right now, I’m cooking outside on a rusted grill made from a metal trash can. Roasted sweet potato, vermicelli with vegetables and tofu. I would have made some soft vegetable rolls but the store, a mile away, is out of rice paper.

I returned to camp two hours ago to get dinner going and clean up. The outdoor shower is cold, but refreshing and the water pressure is so hard, it’s practically a massage. Watching Jade at work, with her people, talking her language, sometimes sitting for hours in silence, makes me love her even more.

Our place, our home for four weeks, is a small stucco cabin with a metal roof, bad Wi-Fi and a latrine thirty feet away.

I love it.

We’ve camped at the Lamandau Reserve so Jade and go with her team of two and film the release of two females.

The sound of the beat up truck pulling up momentarily covers the sounds of the forest. The shrill cry of birds and chatter of animals filled the evening sky. It’s twilight and the setting sun shimmers on the water, a large inlet to the sea, slit down the center by a wooden boardwalk.

Grabbing the one large wooden bowl in the “kitchen,” I dump the noodles and vegetables and toss with a sweetened sauce I made up with spices they had at main camp. She’s riding in the back with two people from the compound. Climbing out of the truck, she slings her gear over one shoulder and waves goodbye.

“Hey,” she says, walking up and dumping her gear on the ground.

One of the guys, Kellor, calls from the driver’s seat, “Tomorrow’s at eight, right? Evening?”

She nods and gives the group of three a thumbs up.

I slip an arm around her and pull her in for a kiss.

The truck’s horn blasts four times in quick succession. I laugh and flip them off as tires kick dust.

“I need to hose down,” she says and slaps my ass. “You’re looking all cleaned up.” Jade runs a hand through my hair. “Still damp.” She tiptoes up to give me a quick kiss. Dropping back down she moves to the bowl. “And this,” she leans over the dish of steaming food, “this smells amazing.”

We’ve been here three weeks and I don’t want to leave. I’m beginning to think the hardest part of her job is leaving the people you’ve grown to love and trust in such short time. I can’t go with her on every excursion, but Brock, Riley and I worked out a deal where I can do grants and apps, some accounting stuff from the road so I can be with her on longer trips.