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“We’ve got all the time in the world…” he repeated softly. “Let’s just take a few photos for now.”
* * *
As the sun set,they stayed where they were, both wrapped in the towels to keep warm… until Jax insisted that she come sit with him so they could snuggle, to stay out there a few moments longer.
Nervously, she did so.
His warm body was at her back, holding her in his lap like she was nothing, and was leaned back in the chair. Her towel was draped over her like a blanket, and his arm was around her waist, warm and comforting.
They stared at the stars, the water glistening in the moonlight, and she could hear the faint call of a seagull off in the distance. There were lights and activity farther away, but it was eerily private here, with no other soul in sight.
She could almost pretend they were on some deserted island – alone.
“What are you thinking?” he whispered softly, dropping a kiss on her cheek.
“Me? Oh, I was thinking maybe this is what it would be like to be marooned on some deserted island,” she said evasively.
“It’s like this sometimes in Afghanistan,” he said quietly, and there was something to his voice that caught her attention. “At night, sometimes when everyone is asleep, if you walk out of the barracks and stare up at the sky… the stars are so bright and the world is so silent, it’s hard to believe that people can be so mean, so ugly to each other.”
“I know,” she whispered brokenly, treasuring his soft heart that he was revealing to her.
“Sometimes I wish I could tell them to just ‘be’…” he continued, pausing for a moment. “To look up at the sky and realize that we are just a speck of dust in something so much bigger than any of us can comprehend – but peace and serenity could be in this space, too.”
“I love looking at the stars like this,” she admitted. “So many times you forget to look, or you’re too busy fighting to stay afloat with whatever is going on, that you miss out on these moments.”
“Exactly. It’s like everyone needs to take a moment to ground themselves, draw in a few breaths, and just let it seep into their soul… then maybe things wouldn’t be so bad in the world.”
She nodded.
“I guess I’m a dreamer,” he chuckled softly. “This isn’t how people or war works though, is it? If I told someone who’d had their home destroyed by rebels to take a breath and stare at the stars – they’d probably shoot me out of sheer irritation.”
She couldn’t help the small snort of laughter that escaped her, not at his words, but at how wry his voice was speaking them. It wasn’t funny to think he could get shot or hurt, but rather telling big boogeymen to gaze at the stars to be happy.
“Oh that’s funny, is it?” he taunted, tickling her… making her laugh and hop off of his lap almost immediately to get away as he stood.
“It’s late and the sun will be up early.”
“I like that you are a dreamer,” she admitted shyly, nodding and taking his hand.
“I’m glad.”
As they walked towards the tent, he tugged out his shirt and pants from the inside, before standing up.
“You go ahead and change in here – I’ll be by the plane.”
“You’re going to change out here?”
“No one will see me,” he grinned. “And if they are out here snooping around – then they’ll get a show.”
Mary laughed, shaking her head at his easy manner and realizing he was right. If someone was out here, they probably had bigger problems than if they saw his bare behind. There was nothing in the area for at least a mile in either direction, according to the lights indicating civilization.
Nodding, she ducked into the tent and used the flashlight on her phone to see… and hesitated. Jax had the bedrolls there, waiting, with a dozen roses lying propped against them. Was he trying for something more, coercing her to be intimate with him? If so, then why was he getting dressed and giving her privacy?
That’s not him, she thought quietly, her mind knowing that he’d brought the flowers to make her happy – and that was the only reasoning behind it.
He had no guile, no deception, and she really liked that about him.
Changing quickly, she managed to struggle into her clothing in the small enclosure and grimaced, feeling salt everywhere, rubbing against her skin almost in an abrasive manner. While she was loving the beach, the fact that there was grit in her clothing that hadn’t left the tent made her realize that there was going to be sand in every little thing.
