AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah. The Wi-Fi is better out here.” He runs a hand through his dark hair. It looks more disheveled now than it ever has before, as if he just toweled it off after a swim.
“Right. Did you get it sorted in your room?”
“There’s someone there now, checking on the router.”
“That’s good,” I say, nodding once, nodding twice. “Very good. So uh, do you like mojitos?”
He sighs like I’m being stubborn. “Yes.”
“Good. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
“Watch out for kids,” he says.
I do. I’m super careful on the way thereandon the way back, carrying two overpriced mojitos. I’m so busy focusing on where I’m stepping in my death-trap-flip-flops that I don’t notice until I get back that he hasn’t opened his laptop again.
He’s watching me instead.
I set the mojito down on the table for him. “There we go! Sorry about that. Is your laptop not working?”
His eyes are locked on his drink. “What’s that?”
“A forgive-me-mojito. A… forjito.”
“No, the pink umbrella in it.”
“Oh, that? The bartender added it. I guess it’s a sign of being on holiday, and that you’re enjoying yourself.” I slowly smile, thinking of the dinner the other night. “Want me to take a picture of you drinking it?”
He gives me a dry look. “Absolutely not.”
“You could send it to your colleagues.”
“They’d hate me,” he says and takes a long sip of the minty cocktail. His fingers struggle to hold the umbrella off to one side, and I have to hide my smile behind my own tumbler. “More than they already do, at any rate.”
That’s… an interesting comment. At least he gets a high score for self-awareness.
“Well,” I say. “Enjoy your business meeting, then.”
He nods. There’s still a wet stain on the bottom of his polo shirt, and I can’t look at it too long without feeling guilty. Everyone around the pool must have seen what happened. Maybe they even awarded points.Seven-point-eight for that pathetic performance.Thank goodness no staff saw that disaster, or they’d have been here with extra towels and kind smiles, and I would have felt even worse.
“I will,” he says. “Enjoy your… guidebook.”
It’s almost a mean comment, the way he says it. But there’s something in his tone that makes me suspect he means it to be a dry joke. Maybe he’s just unused to making them.
“I will.” I raise my glass in a mock salute and head away from him and toward a tantalizingly empty lounge chair on the other side of the pool.
I make it under the umbrella just before the first heavy raindrops fall from the sky. The tropical downpour is torrential. The droplets bounce off the stone deck, leaping back up like they’re trying to rejoin the cloud they came from.
I curl up on the lounge chair and listen to the thunderous pitter-patter against the umbrella canopy above me.
Even with the rain, it’s still warm. An earthy, floral scent rises off the surrounding vegetation, while slight mist forms over the hot stones of the pool deck.
It’s magical.
A smile breaks across my face.I have to put this in my book. Maybe the couple will hide somewhere, forced together into a makeshift shelter where they can confess their feelings.
The rain is so heavy, I can’t clearly see the other guests through it. On the opposite side of the pool, is a familiar shape, a smudge of a beige shirt and dark hair. I can’t make out his expression, but it’s probably a frown. And that only makes me smile harder.
The only thing I can see is that he’s turned toward me.
