Page 61 of Eat Your Heart Out
35
Gerard
I returned to my room, which we now shared, though she’d stopped in her old room to grab a bathing suit. I assumed she was tired of the same one-piece. I took a minute to shower and get on my swimming trunks. As I left the bathroom, my eyes widened. She was in a two-piece.
I swallowed then let my gaze soak up her beauty. “A white bikini.”
She shrugged with confidence. “You’ve already seen the scars.”
My lips quirked higher. “I like you for who you are.”
“Thank you,” she said then directed me out in the halls.
My heartbeat raced as I watched her sway her hips. While she was calm at the moment, my mind returned to earlier and how she’d broken down in my arms. I wished I could fix everything.
As we reached the top deck and the brightness of the late-afternoon sun blazed, she shimmered as she lowered herself into the water. I jumped in the deep end and swam back and forth to cool off. I had no answer for how to leave Ali alone if that was what she wanted. As the sun went down, I slowed my pace and wished I had a way to keep my heart safe near her.
“So, what was your favorite thing in the Azores?” I asked.
She let out a sigh. “It was tropical and sophisticated.”
My parents’ friends were all worldly. So were the others I knew, really. “So is everyone in Virgin Cove, except it’s not tropical.”
“That’s not how I remember your hometown.”
I shrugged. “We left Virgin Cove, which has a lot of my father’s friends now moving in.”
She splashed as she treaded water. “Yeah, but there are superstores and plenty of room for the normal people to never see your rich folks and family.”
I motioned for her to head back to the part of the pool where she might stand. “I suppose.”
When she could stand, she splashed less. “And in the Azores, the entire island looked like everyone who lived there all knew each other, and they were more like a group who stuck together. No one in Virgin Cove is like that.”
I rubbed the back of my head. “Well, when tourists aren’t around, I’m sure they act like a family.”
She shook her head. “Not all of us have your kind of stability.”
My life until then had been full of dealmaking and stress. “What do you mean?”
“You have two parents who adore you. My father was a trucker. I have a few memories of being young when he’d visit, but when I started school, it was just my mom and me.”
My heart shifted. She was opening up. I needed to keep my words short to give her room to speak. “She sounds like a caring mom.”
Ali treaded deeper again. “She was. She always found a way to make the day fun.”
I followed her. “I’m sure she was cheering for you.”
She bounced up and down as she splashed again. “She… taught me to swim, but I think I she tried to shelter me, as I never really knew how to judge people as good or bad.”
I asked, “Well, would she have approved of our trip?”
She came over and cupped my face. “She’d have loved you. She promised me when watching fairy tales that one day, my prince would come for me and said I shouldn’t settle. I’d forgotten all of that until I started living here with you.”
We swam together as I said, “I’m not breaking out into song, though.”
She kicked her legs higher. “Good. I think my biggest disappointment from those movies is that animals don’t just jump up and clean if I try to sing.”
Good point.We went back to the shallow end.
