Castaways by Claire Thompson

Author:Claire Thompson [Thompson, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Romance Unbound Publishing
Published: 2019-02-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The new day promised another relentlessly blue sky. Neither Sam nor Donovan had much of an appetite, but they coaxed each other to eat a few pieces of ping pong fruit, washing it down with water. They’d finally dragged themselves back to the encampment, each lying beneath the tarp in an approximation of sleep until the sun was high enough to give up the charade.

Neither felt inclined to dig for clams or go fishing, though they had nothing left but coconuts and fruit. Sam sat cross-legged on the sand, aimlessly dragging a twig through it.

Donovan came up to stand beside him. “Let’s go do the signal mirror. Come on, Sam. We can’t give up.”

Sam didn’t look up. “You go. I’ll be along in a while.”

After a beat, Donovan moved away.

Sam felt numb. He knew he was letting Donovan down, but he couldn’t seem to rally himself. His determined belief that they would be rescued had been severely challenged when that freighter had moved past them, blind to their best efforts. He realized now that no ship could get any closer—the water near the island must be too shallow. And smaller crafts would have no reason to be out this far. Unless some kind of low-cruising plane flew overhead and looked down at precisely the right moment, they might be spending months—even years stranded and alone.

You’re not alone.

The words drifted unbidden into his mind. That was true at least—he wasn’t all alone. If he had been, he would have succumbed by now to despair, sapping him of the will to keep up the fight to survive.

Sam smiled sadly as he gazed down toward the shore where the tall dark-haired man in tattered clothing was waving his arm in a slow, even arc, the sun glinting off the mirror at intervals. Thank goodness Donovan was able to take charge, now that Sam’s will seemed to have deserted him.

Maybe that’s how it was with real partners. When one couldn’t quite handle what life dealt, the other stepped in to take up the slack. Partners. Did he dare use the term with its implied permanence? Twice now he’d declared his love aloud to Donovan, and neither time had Donovan replied in kind.

He needed to be prepared for the very real possibility that Donovan had only turned to him as a necessary diversion while he waited to return to his real life. And there went Sam, like a lovesick fool, falling head over heels for a guy who might just be using him to pass the time.

“Stop it,” he said aloud, forcing himself to his feet. Brushing the back of his jeans, he realized how they hung on him, slipping almost off his hips when he walked. Even the ring on his finger was getting loose. Where had his good luck gone? “Things are what they are. No point in making yourself crazy, Jamison.”

So, they’d missed a chance. There would be others.

~*~

Warrant Officer Tom Francis glanced at his watch—fourteen hundred hours. He checked the

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