Page 107 of Only After We Met

“Hold on tight,” I said before speeding up.

56

Ginger

I felt a tingling all over my body as we traveled across the island and I observed the countryside: greens, blues full of light, all passing by at top speed. It was so different from London…so full of light and color…and then there was him. Rhys. His back against my chest, his shoulders firm as he drove, his blond hair blowing wild in the breeze. I held on tighter. His stomach was tense, hard. I held my breath.

I didn’t want to think about why I felt that way.

About why everything in him awakened everything in me…

I put aside those feelings and just enjoyed the view, and twenty minutes later, he slowed down as a row of short houses and taller buildings appeared in the distance. He parked and took my backpack before helping me down.

“It’s here? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. It’s calm here. Or as calm as this place can be in the summertime. You like?”

I was already walking toward a sign that read PORTINATX. Not far off was a small cove, curved, with water the color ofturquoise. It made me want to dive in headfirst. There were boats swaying at a distance from the rocky coast. The sun was reflected in the water, which shone as if it were full of crystals. It smelled of summer. I couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s paradise,” I said.

“I’ll show you the apartment.”

We walked a few streets inland from the sea into a kind of subdivision. Rhys took out his keys when we reached a three-story building, and we climbed the stairs to the top floor. I shouted with excitement when I went inside. It was simple, comfortable, decorated in the same blue and white I’d seen everywhere on the island, and a purple bougainvillea rested against the sliding glass door in the living room, which opened onto a balcony with a wood table and a few chairs with gray cushions.

“Follow me, I’ll show you the rest. The kitchen’s not huge, but I don’t use it that much anyway. The bathroom’s here. Here’s my studio.” It was little, with a table full of electronic gadgets. “My room…” There was an unmade bed, with wrinkled white sheets and some clothes tossed on a chair to the side. “And yours, right next door.”

“It’s perfect.”

I walked across the room to open the wood-framed window and let in some fresh air, leaning out a little. I could see bits of blue water between the trees surrounding us. I sighed, happy.

“Do you regret coming? You know you can’t just escape out the window,” he joked.

“No.” I turned around. “I was thinking this is probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. I want to go down to the waternow! I want to… I don’t know, I want to go out and see everything! Are you working today? Tonight?”

“No. I’m all yours today.” He smiled.

“Then what are we still doing here?”

It took me ten minutes to throw the clothing in my bag onto the bed and put on my bathing suit. It was dark red, with a dumb frill around the neckline, but it had been years since I’d been to the beach, and I’d just assumed I’d buy a nicer one once I got here. I put on a white summer dress on top of it and walked out of my room. Rhys was there waiting for me on the sofa, shirtless, in swim trunks. He looked up at me and smiled. I tried not to admire his naked torso more than I should, and we went to the beach with two towels wrapped around our necks and a backpack with fruit and water inside.

We walked down the wooden stairs, and I screeched with joy when I took off my sandals and sank my toes into the sand. How could something so simple be so pleasurable? I asked him, and he laughed. But it was true. And I thought to myself that I should have done that a long time ago. Get away for a week at least. Or a few days. Take a vacation. I hadn’t done anything like this in years. How ironic that I was feeling so happy right when I’d just lost everything. For the first time I could remember, I had no goals in front of me. I was living in the now.

A now in which I took off my dress and blushed as I saw Rhys looking at me, amused, grinning, with a glimmer in his eyes.

“What?” I stretched my towel out on the sand.

“Nothing.” He laid his next to mine.

We lay down. Something about his expression got to me. I tried to ignore it. Even though it was midafternoon, the sun was burning hot.

“Come on. Say what you were thinking,” I demanded.

Rhys looked at me from the corner of his eyes, turning on his towel.

“Nothing, just…your bathing suit surprised me.”

“Why?”