I whittled what I could to make it into a passable fishing pole, then used a stray string from one of the ragged blankets along with a few flexible bamboo stems from which I’d stripped the leaves and attached it to the end of the pole.
“That’s really neat.” Ashley moved closer, crouching beside me to inspect the makeshift fishing pole.
Something about her praise felt good. “Thanks. When I was a kid, I used to make them all the time to go fishing in the creek near my house.”
As Ashley washed our underthings and draped them across the rocks near the fire, I made fishing flies out of bamboo fiber. By the time I’d finished, between the fire and the sun, my boxers were warm and dry, and I was embarrassed with how excitedly I put them on.
I heard a groan and looked up to find Ashley watching me, her top teeth sunk into her bottom lip, a teasing light in her eyes.
“What?” I asked.
“Just a shame.” She clucked her disappointment and then shrugged with a studied nonchalance before she turned to take her own underwear off the stones, dropping the makeshift dress she’d created out of the blanket.
My fingers wrapped around her wrist before I knew what I was doing, and she looked over at me, surprise written on her face.
“Not yet.”
Her smile was slow, brightening as it grew. Then she turned away and went back to tending the fire, naked.
I had to drag my eyes away from the sight to attach the fly to the fishing string, then set out to see what I could catch. I angled myself so I could fish and still see Ashley as she bent over something, her face a mask of concentration I could see even at this distance.
Fishing had always been a way for me to empty my mind, focus on the here and now, let all of my thoughts go. But I couldn’t focus on the fish today—my gaze kept seeing the woman who was still absorbed in whatever she was working on.
Surprisingly, part of me wanted to be selfish and just live with her here forever. But I knew we couldn’t. Sooner or later, we had to figure out how to get off this island and warn everyone back home.