Page 89 of An Adventure For Aster

The last thing she wanted was to come across as this person who had to do everything on a vacation to get their money’s worth.

“I’m providing the adventure,” he said. “I got us here. You’re doing the activities. How is that?”

“I like that,” she said. “You can swim, right?”

“I can,” he said. “What do you have in mind?”

“I always wanted to swim with the dolphins. What do you think of that?”

“I think that’s a great thing to do.”

She did a little body wiggle in excitement. “Then let’s change out of these jeans and get some shorts on. We can walk hand in hand on the beach and get our feet wet in the ocean.”

“You do have a romantic side to you. You argued over the rose petals and candlelight.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s silly. But we are here and I do like to walk the beach and let the water run over my toes. I like to feel the sun on my body too. Then we can come back and see what fun things there are to do here. I don’t want to be ramming all the time though. It’s a vacation and we both work so hard. It’d be nice to just relax.”

“Agreed. I don’t know how long I can sit by a pool, but I’ll do it.”

“Yeah, I’m not someone that sits still much, but I don’t want to be stuffing everything into the few days we are here either.”

They’d be flying home on Thursday morning, so four full days, five nights, which was more than enough.

“Let’s play it all by ear. If you need to make reservations for things, then we’ll do that first and work around the rest.”

Raine was opening her suitcase and pulling out shorts and a tank top, then undressing and folding her jeans and shirt, putting it in a drawer. She’d unpack later, but right now, she was ready to get outside and just enjoy this time with her boyfriend.

“Perfect. See, I don’t have to plan it all out.”

He frowned at her and shook his head, but she poked him in the stomach as if she was joking because she didn’t want to be questioned either.

Time to enjoy herself and put all her fears and past behind her.

29

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

The last thing Aster thought he’d be doing was diving into the ocean and swimming alongside dolphins, but he had to admit it was relaxing...and fun.

Saturday after they’d gotten to their room and talked, they’d changed, grabbed a light snack from a cafe by the beach on their hotel’s property, and walked up and down the beach for an hour talking about how beautiful and peaceful it was.

He wasn’t sure what Raine’s comment about not needing to plan everything meant but then realized she might have been joking.

He didn’t care all that much. He was just thrilled he was able to convince her to come on this trip.

He might have agreed to let her pay for some things, but there was no way she was paying for it all.

Easter Sunday, they’d lounged by the pool, eaten their fill, and had a nice relaxing dinner after exploring the island some. He even let her pay for their meals to get it out of her system right away.

When she brought up snorkeling, he found an afternoon boat tour that included lunch and snorkeling. More than she’d spend and he was able to secure it with his credit card before she could.

She’d been annoyed, but he agreed to let her pay for swimming with the dolphins and then rent kayaks later today to spend more time on the water.

They might not be sitting still much, but they were both relaxing.

“This is exciting,” she said when he parked the rental car he’d gotten. He didn’t want to have to worry about waiting on taxis and being taken advantage of either. They were early and the place wasn’t open by the looks of it so might as well sit here for a few minutes.

“I’m glad you’re having so much fun,” he said. She hadn’t stopped smiling much. He was glad to see it and was positive he was matching her expressions.

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