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Suddenly, they moved apart after hearing Zola’s question. Both felt the need to clear their throats. They looked like teenagers who’d been caught kissing.
“What!” Zola’s grin grew to a full smile.
“Did something happen?” Alton asked, intrigued by their behavior, too.
“We just talked,” Adan answered with forced calm in his voice. He patted Zena on her back. “Just had a friendly chat on the beach.”
Zola looked unconvinced and kept her big smile. “Friendly, huh? I bet it was. I bet it also describes why, when I came to Zena’s room this morning to drop off her maid of honor dress, she wasn’t there.”
“Actually,” Zena followed quickly, “I’d gone for an early-morning jog.”
Zola came back with, “Actually, I tripped over your sneakers when I walked into the room. Soooo...”
Adan and Zena held in their laughter at being caught as Alton and Zola traded stares.
Zena worked hard to shift the conversation from the topic of her whereabouts the night before by asking Zola and Alton about their wedding plans. They revealed that they’d decided to take a short walk through the village to the hut of a local Balian Tenung, a diviner, who would bless them before their ceremony.
* * *
After breakfast, Zola followed Zena back to her villa to try on their d
resses and have Zena braid her hair. The dresses had arrived that morning, and while Zola had already tried on her dress, Zena hadn’t even seen her dress.
As soon as Zola closed the sliding door of the villa and turned around to Zena, she begged, “Tell me everything that happened! I want to know it all! Everything!”
“Nothing happened. It was just a walk,” Zena said, knowing Zola was referring to the events with Adan.
“You know I’m not stupid, right? I may have nearly killed myself in the ocean yesterday, but I didn’t incur any brain damage. I’m operating with all my cards in the deck!”
Zena plopped down on the bed and sighed helplessly, the way a woman does when she’s resolved that she’s in love.
“Everything happened,” she said. “Everything.”
“Oh, girl, this sounds too good!” Zola sat down beside Zena and leaned over for gossip. “I’ll get to that second everything later, but give me the first everything now.”
“You’re a mess. Look, he just told me he loves me and that he wants to be with me.”
“I know all that, Zena. That’s not news. I’m asking for the goods. What did you say?”
“I...I,” Zena stuttered to try to find her words to reveal what she’d said to Adan, but Zola stopped her.
“Tell me the truth. Even if you didn’t tell him the truth. Tell me the truth. Tell me what you wanted to say,” the younger sister ordered wisely.
Zena looked at Zola as if she was the big sister.
“I said it. I admitted it.” She paused and remembered standing before Adan. “I admitted that I was in love with him. And that I’ve missed him. And I’ve been so sad without him. All these years.”
Zola’s back stiffened, and she pulled Zena’s head to her chest. She kissed her forehead and smiled. Both knew the weight of Zena’s admission to Adan. This was an act of fearlessness from a brave woman, who mistakenly thought the most selfless thing she could do was keep Adan away, but the real fear to face was letting him back in. This was peeking under the bed to find ghosts.
As she set up to braid Zola’s hair, Zena went on with her recall about the shooting stars, Adan’s kiss and him picking her up to carry her all the way to his villa. Zola listened to all of this. “Ya’ll are back in love,” Zola proclaimed. “Finally back in love.”
“Well, I don’t know all of that. I don’t know where this is going from here. If it’s going anywhere. I’m just happy we got it off our chests. It was cathartic.”
Zola laughed. “Right. You can say that to everyone else,” she said. “You can believe it if you want. Just know that’s not what Adan’s thinking.”
“What’s he thinking?”
“He’s already purchased a condo downtown—three blocks from you. And he’s moving to Atlanta as soon as we get back.”
