Page 83 of Our Final Encore

“Didn’t know you were a cook.” I pour coffee into my mug before adding cream and sugar.

“I figured it was as good a time as any to learn. It won’t be long before I’m cooking for our kid, I want to be able to make something edible by then.”

I love him.

Of course I love him, I know that on some level I never stopped loving him, but am I really ready to let him back into my heart the way he clearly wants me to?

Last night was amazing, it was everything I dreamt about and missed for the last five years. But was it really enough to erase all of the bad blood still left between us?

“Uh. Well th-thanks,” I stutter.

He looks over at me as I sit down at the wooden table and grins. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty well.” I’d forgotten how peacefully I sleep when Alex is beside me. So much easier than when I’m alone in my bed.

He sets two plates down on the table full of fried eggs, bacon, and toast with jelly, and then he sits in the chair across from me.

“What do you want to do today?” I ask.

“I figured after breakfast we could go down to the beach for a while. I rented us an umbrella so you won’t get too hot. Then maybe we could get lunch at the restaurant down the street, according to Google they have the best fish tacos in Texas.”

“I'm kind of shocked you’ve planned all this out already.”

He shrugs, taking a sip of coffee. “I’m just trying to make it a stress free weekend for you as much as possible. It’s the least I can do.”

I’m impressed by how much thought he’s put into this. During our relationship I sometimes felt like I made a lot of the decisions and Alex would go along with them, and ever since then I’ve had so many responsibilities in my life with work and caregiving.

It’s nice to feel like I can just relax for once without having to make any big plans on my own.

We spendthe rest of the morning down at the beach. It’s quieter than I’d expected, only a few other families and couples surrounding us. I guess this must be a more private side of the island.

Alex makes sure to slather more sunscreen on me every twenty minutes or so, because apparently he read somewhere that pregnant women are more susceptible to sunburn. I’m not complaining, though. The feel of his hands on my skin is heavenly, it instantly transports me back to last night.

The memory of his hooded eyes, his head tilted back, his mouth moaning my name. It’s too much. I don’t know how I’ve managed to pretend like I didn’t miss it this entire time. My eyes wander over to his bare chest.

“Opal?” His voice breaks me out of my memory, and I squeeze my legs together, trying to stop the throbbing feeling between them.

“Hmm?”

“You wanna get in the water?”

I nod, and he takes my hand, leading me down to the shore. Foamy waves lick against my feet as I get closer to the ocean, the water is nice and warm, but still refreshing.

We keep wading forward until the water reaches our waists. The rhythm of the waves crashing against my body has always calmed me for some reason. I’ve never given any real thought to living at the beach, but after Alex mentioned it last night, the idea has kept popping back into my brain.

Maybe that’s something I need. A change of scenery, a new place to call home.

After another hour of beach time, we stop by a little seafood shack and pick up some take out. The sun is beating down on us now, and between the heat and swimming I’m fairly exhausted.

FIFTY-ONE

Alex

My phone starts to vibrate in my hand, and a photo of Dax appears on my screen. I look up at Opal, still happily eating her lunch. She looks so gorgeous, her hair still a little damp from swimming in the ocean and her skin a tad bit tanner than before.

“A friend is calling me, do you mind if I answer?”

“Of course not,” she smiles.

---