“Much.” I smiled back at him.
“I managed to get us back into the same hotel we were staying at, by the way. I hope you don’t mind?” he asked politely.
“Oh. Thanks,” I said.
“So we should go and book back in.”
“So much for our big road trip,” I said, shrugging and starting to walk back towards the car.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, it’s not exactly like we adventured very far and long. And we don’t really even remember a whole chunk of it either. Other than some very embarrassing bits.”
“At least we have all the photos and the videos to fill in the blanks,” he said. His voice had an edge to it. Teasing, yet . . . something else.
His voice made me stop walking. “At least,” I whispered back to him, feeling my blood heat.
“So let’s go home.” Alex draped his arm around my shoulders then stopped.
“What happened?” He raised my hand to his face and looked at it.
“The ribbon seems to be unraveling,” I said.
He looked at the ribbon intently and then raised it to his mouth. “You mind?” he asked.
I shook my head. Alex gripped my hand tightly, raised his teeth to the string and tried to bite it off. It didn’t work, though and only made it unravel more. Alex started pulling the loose thread, and with every pull, the ring became thinner and thinner and thinner, until the thread finally snapped. We both looked down at the ribbon on my finger.
“Mmmmm,” Alex mumbled.
“What?” I looked up at him, he was still staring down at my hand.
He shrugged. “It’s almost gone,” he said quietly, thoughtfully.
“It is,” I echoed.
He raised his other hand and put it next to mine. His ribbon was still very much intact.
“Yours is fine,” I said. It was almost a question, although I wasn’t sure what the answer to that would be, or what I was really asking with my question.
“Good,” he said, pulling his hand away from mine.
Something stabbed me in the stomach. A painful, uncomfortable feeling. “Good,” I echoed. “Maybe I should tie a new one around me?” I asked.
He looked up at me momentarily, our eyes locked for a second and then he looked away. “I’m sure we can find another one in the hotel,” he offered.
“Sure,” I said, feeling somewhat sad, I didn’t quite know why.
We started walking back to the car in total silence and then headed for our hotel.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
After checking in, we headed back to the bar. Julian was there to greet us with two pink cocktails. We slid into our usual seats and sat down.
“You guys look much better,” Julian said, sliding the drinks over to us.
“Your wife is amazing,” I said, taking a much needed sip.
“She is. But you don’t have to tell me that,” he said sweetly. “You know, I met her right here. She sat exactly where you guys are sitting now.” He then looked at us strangely. “Who knows, maybe this is a lucky spot to fall in love.” He met my eyes and seemed to be trying to convey something to me. Then he looked at Alex, giving him the same kind of look.
