I reached up and touched it self-consciously. “Thanks.”
We stood and looked at each other for a while, and then she pulled me into her arms again. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so bloody worried. Mom was beside herself too, she was even going to fly back home from Barbados with Dan, but then Kyle said he found you and I said I would go with him.”
“At least Kyle was good for one thing, I guess,” I said, and gave her an extra squeeze.
“You need to phone her and let her know you’re okay,” she said, pulling away from the hug.
“I will.” I nodded.
She turned and looked at Mark and immediately blushed again. Her hands flew up to her face and covered her cheeks. “So embarrassing,” she said, fanning herself. She opened her car and started to climb in.
“I’ll see you at breakfast at nine,” I said. “The hotel is on this road, a few blocks up.” I pointed. “You can’t miss it. This place is really small.”
She smiled at me. “I saw it when I drove in.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Mark said.
She nodded, her cheeks going pink again. She climbed in and closed the door. I gave her a wave and then blew her a small kiss. She smiled right back at me and then drove off. Mark and I watched her, and when she was gone, he put his arm over my shoulder and looked at me.
“What say we get home?” he asked.
I nodded. “Please.” It had been a pretty action-packed day and I also wanted a bath and bed. When we made our way to the car, we’d had to walk all the way up the main road, and by the time we got there, we both fell into it, utterly exhausted. I looked at Mark, and he looked at me. And in that look, I could see that something between us had changed. The confession of our feelings had made this feel super real. And full of possibilities.
I started the car and we both laughed when the blue glow surrounded us.
“Don’t you have to take this car back at some stage?” he asked.
“I leased it for a month, so I guess in about a week, but . . .” I patted the steering wheel and couldn’t believe I was about to say this out loud. “Maybe I’ll ask them if I can buy it.”
Mark laughed. “Really?”
“Sure, why not? It’s what got me here in the first place so it’s special, in some way.” I looked in the rear-view mirror to see what Harun was doing on the backseat. He was just sitting there, looking at us again. He always seemed to be thinking something through.
Mark reached over and grabbed my hand. “I’m glad it brought you here,” he said, pulling me into a kiss.
“Mmmm.” I pulled away. “Did you smoke?” I asked, blocking my nose.
“Faizel and I shared a cigar after our set.”
I cringed.
“It was disgusting,” he admitted. “But manly, don’t you think?”
“No.” I swatted the air around us.
“Yeah, Samirah hates it too when we do it.”
“How often do you do that?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Once, twice a year. On special occasions.”
“Well, keep it that way, and warn me next time you’re about to do it, so I don’t almost kiss an ashtray.”
“So, you’re planning on staying here then?” he asked a little tentatively.
“Uh . . . if that’s okay.”
“It’s fine. It’s good,” Mark quickly corrected. We looked at each other and leaned in.
