Reckless Girls: A Novel

Lux wakes up early and swims to shore. The guys build a small shelter to keep books, beach towels, and other supplies in. Robbie offers Lux a beer, and she declines. She asks how long he plans to stay, and he says that if he likes the island, he might just stay forever. There is food in his teeth, which she finds gross. He mentions that when a friend of his visited, he was sure that someone was secretly living in the island’s dense interior. Lux shudders to think that someone might be out in the jungle watching them. Jake interrupts and asks if she’d like to walk to the next beach with him, making it clear that he also finds Robbie unappealing. They chat as they walk, and Lux learns that the trip to Meroe had been Eliza’s idea. Jake notes that Eliza was his first love and that he met her again by chance just a month ago. Lux is surprised—she assumed that Jake planned the trip. She’s also startled to see that Jake has a gun. He asks if she’d like to do a little target practice, and she reluctantly agrees. He points out that one can never be too careful out in the wild.

Brittany, Chloe, and Amma headed to London after Rome. In a pub, Chloe shocked Brittany by stealing someone’s wallet. Shoplifting and petty theft were, apparently, habits for Chloe. Brittany was beginning to like Chloe more than Amma. Brittany’s entire family was killed by a drunk driver. She received a considerable financial settlement, which was what allowed her to travel. Amma claimed to have lost her boyfriend, and while Brittany admitted that any loss was hard, she felt that it was nothing compared to losing your entire family. She was beginning to realize that she and Amma had nothing in common. When Chloe suggested that they proceed on to Australia, Brittany was intrigued.

Robbie has now been on the island for four days. Lux’s irritation with him has only mounted during that time, and it is evident to her that the rest of the group feels the same. While Robbie is off exploring, the others sit together on the beach. Lux again notes the tension between Amma and Eliza and wonders what Amma’s problem with her is. Eliza is kind to Amma, as she has been to everyone, and Amma’s behavior doesn’t make sense to Lux. In response to Amma’s barbs, Eliza has begun to treat Amma with less politeness. 

Jake asks Lux if she can head out to the Azure Sky to get a bottle of wine, and she agrees. She easily pilots a small dinghy out to where the boat is anchored and boards. Once in the main cabin, she’s surprised to find Robbie nosing around. She confronts him, and he jokingly explains that he wanted to see how rich people live. He calls her “baby girl,” which she does not like at all. He tells her that if she thinks him snooping around Jake’s boat is the worst thing happening on the island, she’s naïve. Surprised by how quickly her anger mounts, Lux grabs an oyster knife. Robbie puts his hands in the air to diffuse the situation, and Lux orders him off the boat. 

When Lux returns to the beach, the others have noticed Robbie’s presence on the Azure Sky. Jake grabs his gun and confronts Robbie as he swims to shore. When Robbie raises his hands, Jake lowers the gun and tells Robbie that it’s time for him to leave. Jake fires at Robbie as he escapes into the jungle.

Robbie does not return from the jungle, although his boat is still anchored in the island’s small harbor. When everyone goes to sleep, Jake remains on the beach to keep watch. Back on board the Susannah, Lux feels worried. She was creeped out by Robbie aboard the Azure Sky and does not like that he’s still on the island. Nico surprises her by expressing frustration with her rather than compassion, and the two almost have an argument. He does not seem to think that Robbie is the threat that Lux does, and he points out that Amma agrees with him. Lux thinks back to the many moments during which she’s seen Nico and Amma talking, standing a little too close, and adds them to her growing list of worries about the island. 

The next day, everyone hangs out on the beach together. Lux observes how chummy Brittany is with Eliza, noting that Brittany is good at making new friends. She and Eliza appear to have known each other for years. Amma approaches and asks if she and Lux are “okay.” She admits that she knows Lux has been worried about Amma and Nico. She shares that she and Brittany actually met in a grief counseling group—she lost her boyfriend, and Brittany lost her entire family. She adds that Nico is a good listener and reminds her of her boyfriend. Lux understands grief and assures Amma that they are fine. The two notice a noose hanging from a nearby tree. Lux wonders if it is a trap meant to catch birds.

The next day, Robbie still has not returned. The group heads to the brackish pool that Lux visited with Eliza. Lux continues to watch Amma and Nico. Eliza invites Lux to travel to Bangkok, Thailand, with her and Jake. Lux doesn’t accept, but she also doesn’t decline. After a few hours, they return to the beach. Robbie’s boat is gone, and both parties find that the radios on their own boats have been smashed. Everyone is irate. Lux tells Nico that she knew that Robbie was a threat, and Nico berates her for always being so dramatic. Her feelings hurt, Lux contemplates the change in Nico’s behavior. Jake decides to turn his satellite phone on to see if he can contact a nearby boat: Maybe someone will have an extra radio or two. Nico angrily accuses Jake of being a “know it all.” Lux feels puzzled by the rancor in Nico’s voice: They do need radios to leave the island. She decides to spend the night aboard the Azure Sky with Jake and Eliza. When she returns to the Susannah the next morning, she finds Nico and Amma together in bed, naked.

In an email to Robbie from a friend who stayed on Meroe, the friend tells him that the island was wild: It was beautiful and quiet, but something about being on it made him start feeling strange and acting paranoid, always sure that he was being watched.

Angry and upset, Lux heads for the airstrip to be alone. She ends up in another clearing and finds a small shack. She enters it, wary, and sees something strange in the corner that she cannot identify. It’s too small to be a body, but it might be a large duffel bag. A snake scares her, and she runs back to the beach without investigating. She finds Nico on the boat, and the two argue. Initially, he seems remorseful about having slept with Amma, but he quickly becomes angry. He argues that Lux had been a “bitch,” that she’d spent too much time with Amma and Brittany, and that he heard Eliza invite her to Bangkok. Shocked that he would feel justified in cheating on her, Lux gets angrier. She realizes that she doesn’t actually know Nico all that well. She jumps into the water and heads over to Jake’s boat, hoping to grab a beer. In the cabin, she accidentally breaks a bottle. While looking for a broom, she finds a bag of cash and drugs. She turns, hearing a voice behind her. Eliza smiles and tells her that it is obvious that their “little secret” is out.

Eliza explains that she and Jake just deal “a little” hash and tells her that Lux has always been her favorite in the group. Lux beams at this knowledge—the compliment erases some of the hurt of what Nico has done. She heads back to the beach, where Brittany assures her that she is also “Team Lux” and that what Amma did was wrong. Jake approaches and explains that he found a boat heading their way that has an extra radio, but it’s 10 days out. He and Brittany seem fine with the extra days they’ll have to spend on Meroe, but Lux feels trapped.

Eliza felt unmoored as a young person. With her mother in prison, she drifted from job to job, working at a bank and then on a cruise ship. After she saved up enough money, she traveled. She longed for a more luxurious lifestyle but didn’t know how to finance it. She met Jake one day in a bar. Initially, he didn’t recognize her, but she introduced herself. They soon rekindled their youthful romance. Just as she felt pulled back into his emotional orbit, she found the drugs on the cabin of his boat. She realized that his family was still in the trafficking business and that he hadn’t once asked about her mother. He had no remorse. A plan began to formulate, and she agreed to accompany him to Meroe Island.