The jeep rattled as we drove the bumpy unsealed road to Reddell Beach. Neil wore a mile-long grin since the man at the visitor's centre had suggested visiting the dinosaur footprints visible at low tide. Yesterday's vulnerability had passed, but I worried about him.

"Are you sure you're okay delaying camel riding another day?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded. "The weather is wonderful all week." And the ATM in Broome had informed me I'd made my final withdrawal until I could find more work. I thought I had a few more hundred dollars saved, but math had never been my strongest suit. If I did the sunset camel ride, I wouldn't be able to pay Neil for the gas and accommodations. I wasn't ready to tell him we'd made half of the 1200-kilometre return trip for nothing.

"I can't believe I missed this in my research. It's a good thing camels were on your list, Goanna."

He pulled up to a nearly empty dirt parking lot, and we hopped out. The tropical heat faded as the sun neared the horizon, the end of a dream too perfect to be true. Neil was a sweetheart, but he would not twiddle his thumbs while I earned enough money to keep myself afloat then inevitably again a few months from now too. It was a shame because I had met no one like him since... ever. Maybe we'd cross paths again in the future. Sometimes fate wasn't a jerk.

Neil shouldered his camera bag and slammed the trunk door shut. "Ready to go?"

I gave him two thumbs up.

"Is everything okay? You've seemed off since yesterday. Did I upset you?"

"Nah, you are perfect, Tiger." I put all my energy into grinning up at him.

He straightened his wide-brimmed hat. "Did you get bad news?"

"Something like that."

"About your ex?"

"No. Can we not talk about it?" I didn't want our last memories together to be marred by my impulsive spending. "Positive vibes only."

"Deal."

He held out his hand to take, and we walked toward a long sandy beach dotted with a mix of smooth rock towers and stair-esque eroded ones. The ocean receded, exposing teeth-like rocky sections between the sand and shallow water.

His eyes lit up as he scanned the ground. "Let's hunt for some dino prints!"

When we reached the sand, I kicked off my flip-flops to feel the warm grains beneath my feet, even if it meant the occasional rock to the foot arch. Neil kept his sports sandals, and his eyes scoured the earth as if the prints would appear only at a certain angle. Once we neared the wet sand, he withdrew a brochure with photos of the tracks we sought. One was three-toed and obviously a print while the others were more oval, which I'd probably confuse with a natural depression in the rock.

"Think we'll find them?" I asked.

"Tide's low and we still have daylight. Our odds are strong." Neil studied the paper a little more and readjusted our course.

On the horizon, an odd shadow stuck out in the rock. "I think I see something." I led the way until we arrived at a possible track. The leftover water in the three-pronged depression and the sandy-looking rock made the print seem like it was left minutes ago. As if the dinosaur was lurking beyond the rocky point.

"Goanna, you've done it again!"

A grin spread across my face as he rushed toward it to inspect it.

"It's hard to believe these are real and just chilling underwater half the time."

Tiger didn't glance up from the sand. "It seems like something that belongs in a museum, doesn't it?"

I shrugged. "If it were, it would only be half of the experience. We get to see what they saw, walk where they walked."

"The flora, fauna, sea levels and land formations would have been wildly different, but your version is wonderfully poetic." He smiled at me before taking out his camera.

"What print are we looking at?"

"Theropod, a carnivorous dinosaur," he answered without the brochure. I would miss his geeky side, always hungry to learn more about our natural world.

As a salty breeze rolled by, I inhaled the briny scent. The closest things we had to an ocean back home were lakes, which had a fishy odour, but being on the coast brought me peace.

Temporary peace.

I focused on how Neil would purse his lips when taking a picture, how he had no problem lying down and covering his clothes in sand if it meant getting the shot he wanted. Once he retreated out of his world, his face flushed when he noticed me looking.

"Get any good shots?"

"Yeah, the sky is casting beautiful reflections." He stood and brushed the sand off his shorts.

"So whose footprint is next?"

"Sauropod, the gigantic herbivore."

"And they look like...?"

"They are massive, four-footed dinosaurs with long necks. You won't miss them." He grinned, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "But in their tracks, we're searching for a big round foot, probably like a hole. Their toes won't be as visible as the theropod. I'm counting on your superpowers again."

"Sounds like a breeze."

We walked a bit further when I spotted a hole. "This one?"

He leaned down to compare it to the brochure then shook his head. "Keep at it."

I ran up another couple of feet to the next depression. "Here?"

"Not quite."

Neil ended up finding us the print using the directions on the pamphlet after my jokes about every other hole being the print yielded no results. The sun was almost kissing the horizon at that point. I turned to the cliffs, awed by their fiery colour.

"Tiger, look at that."

He whipped around, scanning the area frantically like I'd spotted a live dinosaur until he focused on the beach. "That's stunning. We should enjoy the sunset before I get distracted again."

He almost kept his word, only pausing for a couple of fighting crabs while I smiled at his fascination. In Broome or on the canyoning tour, he hadn't shown the same interest in people, only speaking long enough to elicit the answers we needed.

"Why are you so captivated by animals?" I asked.

Neil shrugged. "You usually know what to expect from them."

They wouldn't hurt him or lead him on. The latter made my stomach twist into a knot. I was being selfish in wanting to preserve our idyllic happiness as long as I could. I knew how painful sudden changes could be, especially when they involved someone you'd grown close to. It didn't matter that we'd met a week ago. We spent entire days together, with our interactions as smooth as the stone beneath the Karijini waterfalls.

We arrived at the beach and sat in the sand. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to channel the ocean's tranquillity. "Neil, I have to tell you something."

He glanced at me for a second before focusing on his hands. "I won't like it, will I?"

With a sigh, I shook my head. "I don't like it either."

He folded his arms together and waited for my answer with sad eyes.

"I can't finish our bucket list, not right now," my tone came out as defeated as I felt.

"Are you okay? Is your family?"

His concern was heartbreaking. I'd miss that. "No, they're fine. I'm just broke."

"Money broke?"

I could feel every grain of sand sticking to my legs. "I have one-hundred and forty dollars to my name, all earmarked to pay you back for gas and the campsite."

"Why didn't you say so when I asked about the gorge tour or before driving here?"

A smarter person would have known their situation then, but I kept stresses at a distance until they disappeared or ruined me. "I didn't find out until Broome. I assumed I had more, but the ATM begged to differ. My plan was to travel here and see as much as possible before looking for work again. When you came along, I forgot I still needed to push on with the working part of the holiday."

"You're on a working-holiday visa too?"

I nodded. Hopefully, that meant he wouldn't run back to Ireland soon, and perhaps we'd meet again someday.

"I haven't explored the working part yet, but that's a smart idea to avoid financial pitfalls in the future. What sort of temporary work is available?"

"Cleaning, restaurant-work, or helping around caravan parks or hotels. Nothing inspiring."

"It's not a career, just a way to earn some money. I'd be happy to join you if you'd like the company. If this was an attempt to tell me to jog on, I'll take the hint. You seem sad, and I selfishly want that to be because you think we're parting ways."

He was such a sweetheart, and correct in his assessment, but I didn't wish to force his hand. "I'd love to work together, but I can't ask you to abandon your list like that."

"You're not asking, I'm offering. And Sadie, you are better than anything on that list, if it's not too bold to say."

My heart melted as our forgotten chocolate bar had this afternoon in the jeep. "Tiger..." but words failed me at that moment.

"Come here." He held his arms open, and I snuggled into his side, leaning my head on his shoulder. When he rubbed my shoulders, I let out a contented sigh. "I should begin a Sadie bucket list. Make her smile, make her laugh, make her stare at me with those enchanting green eyes. They remind me of home."

His Irish accent got me every time. I looked up at him as my heart raced in my chest. Could he feel it?

"Two for three already," he whispered.

After I chuckled, I said, "Three for three."

"Let's see what else. Bug her until I get a witty sarcastic reply, always be honest with her, tell her how amazing she is every day, and make her happy."

"If you were anyone else, I'd say you were full of it."

"I'll prove that I'm not." He stood up and pulled off his shirt to reveal a pasty torso.

"Neil, what are you doing?"

"The beach is empty, the sun's going down, and we have another item to cross off the bucket lists."

He wasn't talking about the Sadie list, was he? Thinking that sleeping together would make me happy. I liked Neil a lot, but...

"Skinny dipping," he said matter-of-factly.

I exhaled slowly. "It's low tide, still light out, and you were vehemently opposed to it. Hardly ideal conditions." The beach was empty, but it didn't mean it would stay that way.

"Shouldn't we be bold if we're going to do it?"

"What about our towels and your expensive camera gear?"

"I'll hide it in the jeep, and we'll fetch the towels." When I hesitated, he added, "Unless you've changed your mind."

"Is it just skinny dipping? Nothing more?"

"From my understanding of the concept, I don't think there's more we could remove. We're not about to peel off our skin."

I rubbed my hands together to dislodge some of the sand. It grated like my inability to trust. "I meant that sometimes when two people who get along rather well are naked together..." My stomach twisted into a knot.

"Oh shit, no. I mean not oh shit... Uhm... Bloody hell, I told you I was going to make you happy then tore off my clothes, didn't I? God, I'm an idiot. No wonder you're worried." His face was as red as the cliffs behind us.

"I enjoy your company, and I'm thrilled you want to work together, and I'd love to. But as for the other thing, we've known each other for a week. It's one of my boundaries."

Neil tugged his shirt back on. "Completely understandable. Sorry, I didn't mean it in that manner and should have thought through my actions. Spontaneity isn't my strength." A jogger flew past us with her dog. "We can shelve this one."

"Maybe we'll find a quiet river someday."

"Surrounded by gum trees and birds. That would be much nicer. Good thinking, Goanna." He tucked his hands in his pockets. "Can I treat you to dinner as an apology for this mess, or would that worsen everything? Just dinner to be clear: food, beverages, and conversation."

I smiled. "That sounds nice."

"And don't worry about paying me back straight away for petrol and the campsite. I want you to have your camel ride."

It was a sweet gesture, and he'd specified it didn't come with strings. But who trusted a new friend that much? "That doesn't seem fair."

"If you want to do it, I'd love to help. Money can always be replaced, but you won't always have this opportunity. You've helped me in so many other ways."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. It's far too soon to give up on Goanna and Tiger's epic adventures."

I grinned as he was one-hundred percent right.