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“How can you be hungry?” I asked incredulously. I doubted it had been more than an hour since we’d eaten in the kitchen.
“I didn’t eat last night or this morning…” She shrugged a shoulder, wrapping the towel around herself. “You’re telling me a few more cheese and crackers doesn’t sound great right about now?”
She had me there. There was something about the heat that was doing something crazy to my appetite.
“I could probably eat one or two.”
“See. I’ll be back in a few.”
I watched her disappear inside the house, leaving a trail of wet footprints in her wake on the patio as she sang along happily off-key to the music, and sighed to myself. I leaned back and got comfier, adjusting the little neck reset behind me as I glanced around the space. It sure beat another Christmas at home, listening to my mother try to tell me what I needed in my life.
Everything I needed, I had right there—peace and quiet.
Abbie put the plate she’d brought out down on the table and dropped the beach towel she had wrapped around herself, kicking it off to the side.
I reluctantly climbed out of the hot tub, stopping to pick up our two wine glasses before joining her at the patio table.
She popped a grape into her mouth and looked at me curiously.
“I don’t want to turn into a prune.”
She laughed easily, sitting down on the nearby lounger then putting her hands out to take the two glasses from me. I grabbed the food and brought it closer to where the loungers were, then went to grab the wine bottle.
I filled her glass with the last of the wine.
She lifted her full glass up in toast. “Good man.”
I laughed at her comment and bowed. “We’ve got more tomorrow.”
“Good.” She slid down in her lounger, her eyes fluttering closed. “This is the life. This is how we should do Christmas every year.”
“Maybe we should make it a tradition.”
“Right. As long as you’re single...” She trailed off with a knowing look.
I chuckled, getting comfortable on my own lounger. “I’ll be single. We can rent a place of our own next year.”
Maybe I’d even start looking while we were there, see what places were typically available and how far in advance they needed to be booked.
I’d put it on my to-do list.
“I like how you think...”
I held my glass out to her. “So, it’s a deal then, next year, another Curaçao Christmas?”
“Another Curaçao Christmas.”
9
Abbie
I couldn’t wait to get our day going. I’d slept awesome last night, the balcony door slightly open, letting the warm sea air into the room, watching the gauzy curtains lift and flow with the breeze and falling asleep to the sound of the ocean outside. I’d never been able to do that in my life, and knowing I could do that for the next two weeks was beyond amazing.
I laid there for a while, listening for signs of Lucas already being up. I waited to hear his footsteps go by to get his morning coffee. My phone told me it was after seven in the morning, and usually, he was up long before then. Unless he’d decided to sleep in, and who could blame him?
I stretched in my Queen-size bed and slid down under the soft duvet for one more moment. As beautiful as the room was, I was itching to see the island.
I looked at my phone on the night table. The battery had gone to zero sometime during the night, so I hadn’t been able to check anything.
