Page 13 of Apple Martinis

“From the sound of it, the break up was recent.”

“A lot recent. With my mom passing away, I saw no reason to keep the house since Ben and I were already living together. He didn’t want to live in mom’s house and I didn’t either. Not really. I left work early one day to go sign the papers at a lawyer’s office because someone had finally bought the house.” I sigh.

“Uh oh. I think I kind of know where this is going.”

“Well if you think it was me finding Ben in our house, on our bed, with his secretary’s ass up in the air as he pounded into her. Then you’d be right.”

“Oh, fuck! That’s just...” He stops, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah. What you just said. Or didn’t say.” I chuckle.

“That’s rough. But you don’t seem too upset over the breakup, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

“I’m not actually. I’ve had time to think it over and I don’t think we were ever truly in love. We might have been in the beginning but there was a lot over the past year or so that made me start thinking that maybe my mom was right about him all along. Guess now, I know she was.” I shrug.

“It’s still shitty as hell for him to do that to you.” He shakes his head. “I’ll never understand people who cheat. I mean, just tell them straight up that you no longer want to be with them so they don’t feel even worse when they catch you with your side piece.”

I can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up from deep inside and he turns to me with confusion on his face. I’m laughing so hard that tears well up in the corners of my eyes before I finally slow the laughter.

“Sorry.” I say with a slight hiccup.

“What was that about?” He asks.

“It’s just refreshing to hear those words from a man. You’re very unusual, Rome.”

“Hopefully that’s a good thing.” He says, stepping up on the rocks and turning to me with a hand out to help me up.

“It’s a very good thing.” I answer as he pulls me up and closer to his body.

I watch his eyes as they glance down to my lips and I reach out with the tip of my tongue to wet them, His eyes crinkle at the corners even further as I do so.

“Come on. It’s almost time for them.” He turns, leading the way but takes me by the hand.

“They always come by around the same time?” I ask as we make our way further out on the rocks.

“Yeah, they tend to follow the same path daily. I see them less often during the winter season so they may actually migrate somewhere else during that time.”

We get to the end of the rocks and I scan the water for any sign. Rome uses the binoculars he brought to look as well. After several long minutes, we both take a seat on the rocks to wait.

“Keep your eyes peeled. Should be coming from that direction at any moment.” He points out to the right of us as he hands me the binoculars.

Our fingers brush slightly and I feel a zap shoot up my arm from the contact. Putting them to my eyes, I adjust them and look out across the water to hide the feelings that are taking over my body.

This man does something to me. Something that I’ve never felt before and I’m not sure what to do about it.

Rome

I watch her intently, enjoying the way her face lights up with each passing moment. I feel a sense of joy at sharing this moment with her. I’ve not met another person that would enjoy watching nature as much as I do.

After a few long moments, I hear Piper let out a gasp, her gaze fixed to a certain spot on the water. “There they are! I see them coming!”

She jumps up in excitement and I stand up beside her. I finally see the pod myself as they slowly make their way closer to the point.

Her eyes sparkle with delight as she lowers the binoculars to look over at me and I grin at her smiling face.

As she watches the dolphins, I watch her instead. She’s so beautiful but at this moment, she’s more than that. I want more than anything to get to know her even more. Sometimes the most magical moments are the small ones. Like the one right now.

They are the moments that make up our lives. The ones that tell us that someone special has entered into our universe.

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