Paradise island

6.Colby

"Colby!"

Colby thought he heard the walls calling his name.

"Colby! Psst!"

They were very insistent, these walls.

"Dumbass!"

Colby turned around to find Sam waving him over to the bookcase by Georgia's bedroom, as the rest of the tour group headed downstairs. Sam was pretty excited about something he'd found. Colby tiptoed over, keeping watch over his shoulder. "What's up?"

"Who does this look like to you?" Sam's fingers held the Ryder Camp book splayed open to a full-page, black-and-white image of a beautiful, nude woman who couldn't have been more than their own age now.

"Kat?"

"Bro!" Sam punched him in the left pec.

Colby snorted a laugh.

"Look at her face. Look familiar?"

Sam was being serious, so he gazed harder at the woman's apple cheeks, glowing bronzed tan, long beautiful hair, and curvy figure. Her body was perfect in every way. But yes, haunting, familiar eyes smiled back at him.

-Doesn't it look like Georgia?" Sam whispered.

"Bro, it does! You think that's her?" Colby asked.

Sam slapped the book closed and set it back on the shelf. "She must've been one of the hippies she was talking about that lived in the tree house camp. That makes sense, right? If she was in her twenties in the seventies, then she'd be..." Sam paused to calculate.

But Colby was more worried about being caught upstairs without supervision than calculating Georgia's age. Not that Georgia or Trey had prohibited them from being alone, but the bedroom part of a house was always the most private"Let's go. We'll think about it on the way."

As they descended the stairs quickly, hoping to catch up with the others before Georgia or Trey realized they were missing, Sam slowed down in the stairwell and paused to examine another interesting piece. He pointed to silver-framed photo on the wall, nestled among many others. This one was also black-and-white and showed the same woman on the beach as in the Ryder Camp book, but dressed in a long gown, holding a baby, standing next to...

"Is that...?" Colby stammered, staring at a shirtless man who looked identical to Trey Weiss. Same sandy blond hair, same height, frame and build, same mustache...even his shit-eating grin was the same.

"Dude, that's what I'm saying!" Sam gripped his forearm hard. "How can Trey be in this old pic from long ago? Georgia looks too young for it to be him."

Their whispers on the stairs had caught their hostess's attention. Georgia shuffled back to the bottom of the steps to peer upward into the stairwell. She caught them staring at the old photo. "Ah, you found Clint." Her big smile faded just a little. "That's my late husband. He passed away in 1998."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Colby said. "We were just saying how much-" Sam elbowed him

"How happy you looked," Colby amended his statement.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Seems like another lifetime ago. It's okay- I have Trey now. Come down, I'm making lunch," she said, and traipsed off, leaving them alone again.

Colby looked at Sam. "Bro, what in the actual fuck?" he whispered. "Did she really fall for Trey because Trey looks like her dead husband?" Sam pushed Colby to hurry up and catch up with the party. "Makes sense, in a way. Maybe that's her type. I don't know."

"Wouldn't Trey be insulted by that?" Colby shook his head. "I know I would."

"Guess not. To each his own," Sam whispered. "Who are we to judge?"