“Here they are. Come on, let’s go, Mom,” Luis stood, his hand extended.
“Shhh,” she shushed him. “Don’t call me that. This is too embarrassing,” Sandrah said, looking down at her covered body. Thoughts of climbing on top of the man she hunted down, naked, laughing about the experience and one thing leading to another left her thoughts. Shame and anger at herself and Luis replaced them. These people, the show’s crew, couldn’t know she and her son were on this show.
Sitting in the helicopter, riding back to the resort, Sandrah didn’t know how extensive the background checks were. Luis put his arm around his mother, comforting her. Sandrah glanced at the pilot and an EMT tech riding along. “Might as well play along,” she thought, leaning her head against Luis’ shoulder.
She last saw her son, several months earlier for Thanksgiving. She missed him greatly. When or if they got alone time, she would ask him why he’s there, then scold him for being out in the storm – like she was.
“Mom,” Luis spoke in her ear, the noise from the helicopter drowning out their words from the others nearby.
“What?” She asked, irritated at everything.
“Sorry,” Luis said, looking away.
His mother couldn’t stay angry forever. Her relief he was alright overrode her anger toward him for coming on the show. “We’ll talk later,” Sandrah said, smiling, leaning back against him. The female EMT sitting across from them smiled.
When they landed, they were assisted inside the resort. The EMT stitched Sandrah’s arm. “Looks like you caught a cutie,” she said.
“Huh? Oh, him,” Sandrah said, wincing from slight pain, the medication not numbing her arm completely.
“I know you two had a rough time out there, but who knows? Maybe your time wasn’t too bad,” she smiled at Sandrah, winking at her, reminding her without words that she was barely clothed.
“Heh, yeah, who knows.”
Sandrah was brought clothes and told to wait for a briefing. Luis, wearing a new t-shirt arrived a few minutes later.
“Mom,” he said, holding his arms out for a hug.
“I said don’t call me that!” Sandrah fussed. “If they knew you and I were mother and son, ugh, I can’t imagine,” Sandrah held her face, Luis hugging her, holding her against him.
“I guess they didn’t check to see if contestants were related,” Luis offered.
“I guess not. Or pay attention to weather patterns either,” Sandrah added.
She ended his hug, swatting at him. “You could’ve died out there! What were you thinking?”
“Same thing you wanted, to win first prize I guess.”
“I can’t believe they chose you for this show! You JUST turned 18. Does your father know?”
“No. He thinks I’m with friends during spring break.”
“Did you ever think about him seeing you on the show when it airs?”
“He doesn’t watch it. I only watched it a few times. I thought it’d be fun.”
“Fun? Fun to get hunted down by an older woman. You know that sometimes that leads to more!”
“I know. I was hoping, I mean, I uh – ”
“You like older women. Great. You came on here to get laid by an older woman,” Sandrah shook her head.
“Yeah, well, YOU came on here to hunt a younger guy and take him to bed!” Luis accused his mother.
“I, uh, I mean, maybe. I don’t know!”
“Don’t point fingers at me. We’re both in this.”
“And it turned out horribly. We could’ve died! And that poor pilot last night. This is too much, too mortifying. I was naked out there, on you,” Sandrah fought tears.
“Mom, I’m sorry,” Luis calmed down, hugging her while she cried.
“Please don’t let them hear you call me that. Let’s try to get past this nightmare.”
Luis held his mother for a few minutes. Thankful he was safe, she relaxed, her arms unfolding and wrapping around her son’s waist. She looked up at him, caressing his face.
“You look good. I mean, looks like soccer has done you well,” Sandrah said.
“Thanks. You too. I know you’ve been exercising a lot, right?”
“Yeah,” She hugged him harder once more.
A few crew members, including the executive producer entered the room, walking in on mother and son embracing.
“Ah. See? People find true love all the time on our show. Look at you two, a new couple,” he clapped for them.
Sandrah and her son shot one another an embarrassed look, ending their quiet moment.
“Thanks for joining me for this briefing,” the executive producer shook Sandrah and Luis’ hands. They sat in a small conference room at the resort.
“I’ll cut right to it. We will be awarding you two first prize even though the hunt was cancelled. So Sandrah you and him will be able to stay here for an entire week – all expenses paid. We are upping the cash prize as well. You’ll both get $100,000.”
“Um, ok,” Sandrah said, shocked. She glanced at her son, who was just as shocked.
“Great. This is great. You’ll both have your own rooms here, you’re free to go, free to enjoy your week. I need to go. My assistant will take over and guide you from here,” the producer said, taking his leave.
“They better not fucking sue me,” he thought to himself leaving Sandrah and her son alone once more.
Mom and son were silent for a couple minutes.
“Well,” Sandrah spoke up. “This was interesting.”
“Yep,” Luis agreed.
“So,” Sandrah nodded. “I guess we’ll be here a week.”
“Yep,” he scratched his neck.
“Want to meet up for dinner later?”
“Yeah, that’d be cool.”
Mom and son shared another awkward look, Luis stood to leave.
“Luis,” his mother said. He turned around seeing her arms extended.
“Mom,” he whispered in case someone could hear.
They hugged one another once more, Sandrah kissing his cheeks, then his lips quickly – so thankful he was fine.
“I’m glad you’re ok,” Sandrah said.
“Yeah, I was scared, but I made it. I found an old fallen tree, made myself a little shelter. I used a flare to burn what I could for a fire. You made it too. You found me,” Luis kissed her cheek.
“Let’s try to have fun tonight. Let’s try to salvage this horrible experience,” his mother suggested.
“Sounds good, Mom.”
They ended the hug, Sandrah played with his hair, a joyous feeling in her heart. “I’ll see you later this evening.”
********
Mom and son caught up over dinner. They talked about school, his plans for college, and briefly touched on his dismal dating life. Sandrah said hers was nothing special as well before changing the subject.
Another sore spot was Luis’ father. He was engaged and getting remarried soon. Sandrah downed her glass of wine, ordering another and changed the subject once again.
“I still can’t believe they let you on the show,” Sandrah said, sipping her wine.
“Yeah well, I am of age I guess.”
“A high school senior, wanting some older woman chasing after him,” his mother said.
“I did,” Luis shrugged; they smiled and held hands across the table.
As dinner progressed Sandrah was feeling much better about things, forgetting the horrible experience on the show and simply enjoying herself. She even ordered wine for Luis, not caring at this point if he was too young to drink, ordering him not to tell his father.
Both mom and son were laughing, giggling, stumbling their way back to her room.
“Ooh, you want to come to my room huh?” Sandrah joked.
“Well, yeah, I was hunted down by a woman on the show,” Luis slurred.