An Ordinary Drowning by Leann Neal Reilly

Author:Leann Neal Reilly [Reilly, Leann Neal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zephon Books
Published: 2012-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

John stood on the berm between the road and the lagoon with the dripping woman shrinking beside him. He dipped his head and stepped sideways, blocking Zoë’s view.

“Wha-what are you doing here?” He didn’t look at her.

“Fuck if I know!” Her voice cracked on the last word and she clinched her hands at her side. “I believed you when you said you were sorry about fucking another woman, that you cared about me. I believed you when you said you just needed to get away from grad school for a while, spend some time in the surf and sand. I came down here to give you a second chance.”

Her words flew at him. She almost wished that they were stilettos, and she didn’t mean those ridiculous neck-breakers that Barbie dolls wore.

He turned and said something Zoë couldn’t hear to his date. She scurried in the direction of the Samurai parked thirty feet from them.

“I didn’t lie to you.” John turned back to face her.

“So I’m supposed to believe that this–this—” She flung her arm in the direction of the Samurai. “That you haven’t been fucking this island bitch all summer?”

The moon had risen over them, bringing John’s features into sharp relief. Shadows underneath his eyes obscured their expression.

“You’re supposed to believe that I never intended to hurt you.” He raised his hand toward her—to ward off her next words or to console her, she didn’t know which.

“My God! Even now you’re dancing around the truth! You think you love her, don’t you?”

John dropped his hand and said nothing.

“What is she to you? Someone not too educated to forget her place? You’re an asshole, John, and I can’t believe I’ve been tearing myself up over you. Let me show you what a real woman does when a man tries to make a fool out of her.”

Before he could anticipate her or even protest, she lifted her right knee to her chest, rising onto the ball of her left foot. A fraction of a second later her right heel connected with his solar plexus, sending him flying away from her. He landed on the soft mud at the edge of Puerto del Manglar. She followed the kick up with a dash and a swing of her left leg that stopped short of his head; as she stood over him, panting, she knew he got the message: she could knock his block off if she chose. Then, after a long moment, she lowered her foot and turned away.

***

Ana hunkered within the scant shade of her doorway, her good eye squinted against the mid-afternoon light. Smoke from her clove cigarette curled and wafted until it was snared within the strands of her coarse hair. On a grass mat before her was a mound of tamarind pods, nearly ten pounds, that she’d collected this morning after scouring the ground near the tamarind trees along the coast; it was the first of the season’s fruit. She’d already washed each pod and now broke them into smaller

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