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“That’s really cool.” It’s more than cool. I never expected Gabriel to be so creative.
Beyond the living room is a wall of glass with a view of an infinity pool with crisp blue water appearing like it’s feeding right into an aquamarine ocean that goes on and on, with no end in sight.
It’s like out of the pages of a home design magazine. Something I would flip through while in line at the grocery store and know I’d never be able to have anything so luxurious.
“I didn’t have the heart to wake you,” Gabriel says, bringing me back to the here and now.
“Careful, or people might realize you actually have a heart,” I tease.
Gabriel raises a brow, pointing his spatula at me. “Careful, or you won’t be fed.”
I want more than anything to feast on him, but I strangle that dangerous thought and smile, giving Tennyson one more kiss on the head before I step away from the kitchen, heading into the living room. I cross to the patio door and slide it open to step out onto the sunshine-filled patio. There’s a vintage bar complete with a hanging wine rack overhead. The patio furniture is sleek and sophisticated with blueberry-colored pillows which is a perfect contrast to the ocean. It’s so beautiful here, I almost cry.
I don’t know why I’m overcome with emotion right now, but I am. Waves tease the shore, giving a little but taking it back just as quickly, and I step onto the warm sand, feeling free. I close my eyes, and tilt my face upward, letting the sun kiss my skin.
A girl like me could get used to something like this. But I can’t. This is temporary. And my heart sinks a little at the thought.
I head back into the house, going through the motions of helping Gabriel and Tennyson finish breakfast. Like a sweet little fake family.
After we eat, I wash dishes and put them away, listening to Gabriel and Tennyson discuss whether this is the sea Spongebob Squarepants lives in.
“He wears a tie too,” Tenny says.
Gabriel laughs and my belly swirls like the water down the drain of the sink.
“Want to fly a kite on the beach today?” Gabriel asks Tennyson.
Tenny doesn’t need any prompting on how to answer. His chocolate brown eyes light up and he grins from ear to ear. “Yes,” he says, jumping out of his chair at the table.
We spend the next twenty minutes getting everything ready for the beach, and I change into a black bikini with a coverup over it. After lathering Tenny and myself in sunscreen, we head down to the private strip of shore owned by my husband-to-be.
“We’ll get the kite to fly high,” Gabriel says as he unravels the string of the red and blue kite.
“Higher than that,” Tenny says, pointing up toward a puffy white cloud.
“Ok, hold the string and I’ll get the kite into the air.” With one muscular arm, Gabriel holds the kite high in the sky as Tennyson runs further down the beach with the string in his hand.
The blustery wind pulls the kite into the air as soon as Gabriel releases his hold on it. It flies into the air and Tennyson keeps a good hold on it. Gabriel and I rush toward him, helping him keep his hands on the spool.
“The wind is disrupting the bridle of the kite,” Gabriel says.
“The what?” I stare up at the kite teetering through the wind.
“The bridle. It’s the string that keeps the angle of the kite up.”
I never really knew there were so many things to think about with kites. “Oh.”
“See the cross spar,” Gabriel says, pointing up at the kite in the sky. “It needs…”
I cut him off with a smile, “Pretend I know nothing about kites.”
He laughs, taking the spool from Tennyson. “Let me get it back in the air and flying right.”
The kite plummets toward the ground, but right before it hits, Gabriel twists his arm and yanks the kite back into the air, steadying it. He holds the spool, tethering the string between his fingers like a pro.
“You really know your kites,” I say to him, holding Tennyson’s hand as the kite soars.
“I love watching things fly. Watching something I’m controlling fly into the sky is one of the greatest feelings.”
