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“Yes, but it’s not so simple. There are areas with big rocks to avoid.”
“Avoid the rocks. Got it,” I say. “Don’t worry. We’ll catch up with you in a few minutes, I’m sure.”
He and Rohan push off and disappear down the river while I wait for Gwen, who comes rushing down a moment later. “Sorry about that. It’s a long hike from here to the out—” She stops and looks around for the others. “I take it they left.”
“It’s okay, we’ll catch up in no time.”
“I hope so because I don’t know the first thing about canoeing. Or camping,” she says, getting into the canoe and settling herself on the front bench seat. “Do you?”
“Oh yeah, no problem,” I tell her, offering her a confident smile. “Thiago said as long as we avoid the rocks, we’ll be fine.”
“Okay, well, since I’m at the front, I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Perfect.” I push the canoe away from the shore, then hold onto both sides and hop in (as seen on TV). The canoe tips from left to right violently, but luckily it doesn’t go over. We both start to paddle, and it takes me a minute to realize we’re both paddling on the left side, which means the canoe takes a sharp right back toward shore. I dip my paddle in the water and hold it in place to turn the canoe. “Might work better if we’re paddling on different sides,” I say.
She turns and gives me a look. “Are you sure you know how to do this?”
“I’m a little rusty, but it’ll all come back to me,” I answer. Total lies. Rusty would mean I had the skills to begin with but let them languish. I don’t have the first freaking clue what we’re doing.
“Listen, Gwen, I wanted to apologize about what I said to you yesterday. It was … harsh of me and I’m really sorry.”
She stops, mid-paddle, and turns to look over her shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ve had people say much worse.”
My gut tightens at the thought of people being mean to her. “It’s not okay. It was uncalled for and mean and I’m sorry I said it.”
“All right, well, thank you. I appreciate you saying that. I know I was frustrating you and I won’t do it again. This whole trip has had me doing and saying things I normally wouldn’t.”
“I’m sure it has. Last night when I wasn’t sleeping I was thinking about the pressure you must be under. Your entire team is counting on you to do the impossible, so of course you’re going to do whatever you have to do to save them.”
She dips her paddle in the water again and propels us forward but doesn’t say anything. I wish she would talk. Hell, I’d even take yelling, because this version of Gwen seems to have lost her spark.
We glide along in silence for a minute until she says, “It wasn’t just about the funding. When I went after Niles and Karen yesterday.”
“Okay,” I answer, wanting to understand. “What was it about then?”
She turns her head to the side. “I wanted you to respect me.”
“I do respect you. You’re a highly educated, highly intelligent person, and you could argue the shoes off a mule.”
Her lips quirk up in a smile I can only see half of from here and I find myself frustrated, wanting to see the whole thing. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
I chuckle a little. “I think so, why? Was it insulting?”
She laughs. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Well, take it as a compliment. It means I have the utmost faith in your ability to argue, which in the right situation, is an incredible asset.”
“I probably missed my calling. I should’ve been a lawyer.”
I shudder, then say, “Eww, God no. Awful people.”
“Are they even worse than heartless CEOs?” she asks, sounding more like herself.
I laugh. “Who do you think we get all our evil ideas from?”
Gwen lets out a loud laugh that echoes off the water and I feel a wave of relief wash over me. Maybe we can salvage the rest of this trip and enjoy our time together, even though, in my mind, I know it’s going to be far too brief. “What if we start over? Forget about the foundation and just be two buddies out here on the Amazon trying to avoid rocks and keep crocodiles from climbing into our canoe?”
Gwen looks back at me and smiles. “Sure, I’d like that.”
