Page 66 of Stains of Desire

Oh, you naughty girl.

I follow her into the river. As much as I want to touch her, I don't. It's too dangerous to stay here, and we need to continue toward Honduras.

Once our clothes are on, I kick sand in the firepit and make sure it's out. I take out a macro bar and hand her half and keep the other part for me.

We eat in silence, walking down the narrow path. The sun rises, and it becomes hotter. Monkeys screech, birds tweet, and the trail widens.

"What do you miss about England?" I ask.

"My mum and sisters. I also miss the culture."

"What about it?"

"My mum always made Sunday dinner for our family. And she saw Millie almost daily. I miss going to the pub for a drink to see friends after work. I didn't do it a lot after I had Millie, but before I had her, it was pretty normal. A lot of the people I saw daily, I grew up with. And I miss football."

"You mean soccer?"

She rolls her eyes and dramatically says, "That's blasphemy."

I chuckle. "You watch it?"

She nods. "Yeah. I have to support my team."

"Are you a Chelsea fan?"

She raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Do you follow football?"

"I've been to some games."

"Nice. So what made you ask if that was my team?"

"You're a Londoner. My guess is it's Chelsea or Arsenal? But you seem more like a Chelsea girl to me."

A huge grin forms. "Why is that?"

"Just my gut."

"Well, I'm impressed with your knowledge. I am a Chelsea fan."

I cockily brush both my shoulders. "I played soccer as a kid."

"You need to not call it soccer."

"I also played real football."

"You mean that American game for wusses who can't handle rugby?"

"Ouch. There's a ton of athleticism required for football."

"Yeah, the real one."

"Have you ever watched an American football game?"

She puts her hand over her face and widens her fingers around her eyes. "Not really."

"That's what I thought. Tell you what, I'll take you to a real football game when all this is over. Then you can make an educated decision."

"What team do you support?"