56 Chapter 56 Second Trip To The Island (1/2)
”How did you get here?” Sylva asked incredulously. She stood on the docks with her hands on her hips, glaring at him.
Joseph grinned wide. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, she was so beautiful, even when she was mad.
”I found a note I had left about where I was going.” He held up the paper he had ripped from his journal. He wrote in it so infrequent, it was a miracle he noticed it at all.
”And why did you come back, if all you found was a note?” She crossed her arms, ignoring the few other people who were getting off the boat and looking their way curiously.
”I felt like I lost something important to me here,” he said, looking around the bay at the vibrant colors of the trees and the water. Even the fish in the clear water were brilliant.
”What do you mean by that?” She clearly wasn't impressed.
”I…I felt like l had found something here, something I couldn't remember, something that made my life better, somehow. It was vague, but I had to follow it.” He looked up at the clear blue sky, puzzling over his response. A few wisps of clouds were all that marred the beauty of the sky.
”What kind of life do you have, that you would abandon everything to chase a vague feeling?” she asked sarcastically, clearly, she didn't know his life.
He looked at her for a moment, thinking about all the things in his life that were shavist.
”I have always felt as if I didn't belong. I was a foster kid, found after I was abandoned at 3, in a squatter's apartment, eating dog food. Your island feels familiar to me. Like it's somewhere I can belong.”
Her look turned slightly awkward, but she didn't back down.
”So?”
”I've always felt odd and everyone else always treated me like I didn't quite belong. In high school I took a lot of shop cla.s.ses so I could work on my projects alone. I did terrible in group projects, but I was excellent at carpentry.” Once he started, he couldn't seem to stop. The words tumbled from his mouth like a freshly erupted spring, eager to be released.
”I became a dentist, partly because I figured if people didn't like me, I should take a job where they were supposed to not like the person. My choices were dentist or tax auditor. The tax thing always felt like I had done before, so I went with dentist.”
Her face twitched when he mentioned that, but she didn't say anything. He was curious about the far away look that came into her eyes.
”What about you?” he asked.
”What do you mean?” she asked, obviously confused.
”What were you before you came to this island? Surely you weren't born here?”
”No!” she quickly answered, then looked away. ”I was a different person then. Proud and strong. I had a people then. Now I have a rock.”
”It's a very pretty rock, I a.s.sure you. Though I think that's mostly because you are on it. You'd make anything look better.”
She blushed and his breath caught.
”I'm sure you say that to all the women you've wooed.”
He thought about that for a moment. ”I guess?”
A cute look came over her face as she pooched out her lips to the side in disbelief.