Page 72 of Surviving Love

Jack scowled. “That’s not true.”

“Whatever you say, pal.” Harold winked at me. “We know the truth.”

I laughed. “Who knew you were so petty, Jack? Oh, wait. I did.”

Jack’s mouth thinned. “I’ll let you borrow my machete to gut the fish, Mason. Just so you know there are no hard feelings.”

“What a guy,” I said, walking over to him. I held out my hand, and he transferred the string of fish to me, along with the machete. I moved away toward the water, my stomach churning. I didn’t have any clue how to clean a fish, but I’d be damned if I was going to ask Jack for help.

“I’m sorry Jack is being a butthead to you, Mason.” Sherry appeared at my side.

Surprised she’d joined me, I gave her a weak smile. “Will you show me how to clean the fish? I don’t know how.”

She put her arm around my shoulder. “Of course I will.”

When we reached the beach, I crouched down at the water’s edge. “Jack can be such a bossy pain in the ass sometimes.” I sighed.

“I don’t know why he cares that you were friendly with Larry. I talked to Larry the other day at the other challenge, and I don’t remember Jack saying a word to me about it.”

“He loves pushingmybuttons.”

“Yeah. It does seem that way sometimes.” She took one of the fish off the line. “Okay, first thing we’re going to have to do is make a slit down the belly, then we’ll cut the head off.”

I swallowed hard. “Okay.”

“Want me to do the first one, and then you do the others?”

“Sure.”

She smiled at me and then turned back to the fish. As she inserted the tip of the machete into the fish’s belly, I had to fight the desire to look away. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to watch the entire process. Sherry made quick work of the fish, and then she handed the machete to me.

“Your turn.” She smiled. “Unless you want me to do them all. We can just tell Jack you did it.”

I frowned. “No. I don’t want to lie or chicken out. I can do this. I find it gross, but I can still do it.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Go ahead and grab a fish.”

I did as she said and followed step by step what she’d done. The most trouble I had was descaling the fish. It was more awkward than I’d expected, and my knife kept slipping.

“You’re doing great.” Sherry smiled encouragingly.

“Thanks. You’re a good teacher.”

She laughed. “Jack showed me how. He makes it look easy.”

I didn’t respond; I simply focused on what I was doing. I didn’t feel like complimenting Jack at the moment.

Sherry cleared her throat. “Um… I wanted to address what you said earlier.”

I glanced up and met her uneasy gaze. “What do you mean?”

She grimaced. “You know, the boyfriend remark you made.”

I winced. “Oh, I’m sorry about that, Sherry. Really I am.”

She waved her hands at me. “I know, but I still feel like I should address it. I feel like everyone in the tribe has misunderstood my feelings for Jack.”

I wasn’t sure we had; she’d definitely been giving him goo-goo eyes since day one. But if she’d decided that wasn’t how she wanted to be perceived, I’d listen. I already felt guilty about the things I’d done with Jack because I knew she’d probably have wanted that with him.