“You did everything right. Ten came and got us,” Pah says, hand moving to stroke Noi’s hair. I notice his hand trembling. “You mom and Ten must be frantic. I’ll start back.”
Nodding, I watch him walk away before turning back to Noi and kissing him hard, all my fear and relief pouring out of me. He melts in my arms, and we cling to each other for a moment. His lips taste of his tears, and I devour them, licking and sucking the salt away. When we part, I plant two more kisses under each of his eyes and then one on his forehead for good measure.
“We’d better go.”
Noi nods and we turn to walk toward the house.
Up ahead, my gaze lands on Pah standing in the curve in the trail, staring at us with a look of shock on his face.
I falter slightly, but don’t say anything as Pah turns and walks away.
His eyes lowered to the path, Noi didn’t see him.
When we reach the porch, Mae rushes down and grabs Noi up in a tight hug, her face wet with tears.
“Phra Phuttha Chao,” she whispers softly in thanks.
“I’m okay, Mae. It just scared me,” Noi says.
Inside, Pah is at the table with Ten. I sit next to him and uncover my dish.
“I’ll bet that was scary, Nong,” I say to my little brother. “Are you okay?”
He nods. “I don’t want to go to the woods anymore.”
“Oat will be disappointed,” Pah says. “You don’t have to be scared, Son, just wary.”
“It was my fault,” Noi says, coming up the porch steps with Mae and slipping off his shoes before approaching the table and sitting down next to Ten. Ten grabs him in a hug, and Noi hugs him back. “Ten did everything I told him to do. He covered his eyes with his shirt, he stayed very still, and then he ran when I said run. But I should have seen that snake before I did. I was toobusy watching where I was stepping, and I’m sure that’s what Nong was doing, too.”
“No, I should have been paying better attention,” Ten says into Sud’s shirt.
“Sud and I will clear the path before we leave,” Noi says, and I nod agreement.
“I’ll hire someone to do it,” Pah says. “I should have had it done months ago. Too many places for vipers to hide.”
Mae changes the subject, and when we’re finished eating, she tells Noi to go upstairs and lie down for a while. I follow him.
“Pah saw us,” I tell him when we’re alone.
“What?”
“He saw us kissing on the trail.”
“Did he tell you that?” Noi asks.
I shake my head. “No, but I saw him as we were leaving. He must have turned back to tell us something.”
Noi looks upset, but I take his hand and smile. “Don’t worry. Maybe it’s better to get it out in the open. Anyway, he’ll probably be angrier at me than at you.”
“It’s no more your fault than mine.”
We stretch out on the bed. Having just woken up, I’m not tired, but the scare must have exhausted Noi because he’s yawning.
“Hey, is that the shirt you were saying you couldn’t find about a month ago?” he asks sleepily pointing toward the chair where a wad of my clothes have been lying for ages. Getting up, I pull the tie-dyed T-shirt from the mess and shake it out.
I put it with my travel things. “Cool. I wondered what happened to it.”
Noi’s eyes are closed, but he says, “If you’d hang up your clothes, you’d be able to find stuff.”