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“Yes and no. I was supposed to come here on my honeymoon. Not exactly here-here, but the islands.”
“How do you feel about that? It can’t be easy for you.”
“It will only be hard if I make it that way. I’m glad I’m here and with you.”
Rafael offers me the last raspberry in the bowl. “Are you finished with the tray?”
“I am.”
He allows the sheet to roll down his body as he takes the breakfast tray to set it on the floor beside him. His body moves back closer to me than he was before, pulling the sheet around us both. I can feel the top of his thigh at my side. He gently grips me around my waist and slides me back against him. My head rests against his left pectoral as his left hand lays lazily over my hip.
“How do you want to spend the day?” he asks.
“Would you be opposed to staying like this?”
“Not even a little. It will give me a chance to memorize every inch of your beautiful skin and we can play a game if you wish.”
“What game is that?”
“The one that I can share is twenty questions.”
“You have others?”
“I do. Dirty ones. We can save those for another time when you decide you’re ready.”
Holy shit. My body is ready right now, but my brain is putting on the brakes.
“I can’t think of any question I wouldn’t answer. Go ahead.”
“Tell me about your family, Bella. I’ve given you a little about mine.”
“Well, my mom and dad have been married for thirty years. They were high school sweethearts. My mother was a teacher for fifteen years. She taught ninth grade English. She’s a hopeless romantic and super overprotective. She excels in hovering. I told her I was leaving on business and that I would have to get a hold of her while I was here. My father is a doctor. He’s a trauma surgeon. He’s a rock. I couldn’t do what he does.”
“It sounds like you’re a blend of both of them. I have this feeling that you don’t mind a good romance, however, you’re methodical and levelheaded.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “Levelheaded? I wouldn’t wish for that side too much, or I might not be here. I’m living my own romance novel right now.”
“You say that as if it were impossible or a bad thing. Don’t you believe in grand romance?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe in it. It’s just never happened to me.”
“Yet you were engaged to be married,” Rafael states.
“I think I was settling for what I thought being married should be, not what it could be. I told him I wanted to grow old with someone not alongside someone. Does that make sense?”
“You want someone to share your joy, not just be a witness to it.”
“Wow. Yeah. When you put it like that, yes, exactly.”
“I watched my parents go through those ups and downs. I don’t know if they were just open with it or if I simply noticed. The one thing I could appreciate is that they weren’t always on the upswing together. Am I saying that right?” he asks.
“Do you mean that they didn’t always have their high moments at the same time, so there was room for each of them to be the focus?”
“Yes, I do. That’s right. I would watch my mother support my father when he would accept an award from his peers or my father being there when she would receive a civic honor. They were as proud for each other as they would be for themselves. I want that for me.”
Those last five words pack a punch. They’re a declaration, not just a wish.
“You can have that, Rafael. So can I. We just have to be willing to work for it and not sacrifice that desire for what might be more comfortable. I nearly did that, and it would have been the biggest mistake of my life.”
