Page 90 of Malliko
Angling his head to one side, Malliko looked a tiny bit vulnerable as he asked, “Maybe I misunderstood what it means to be in love for a human. I just thought it was what we are.”
“No, I…” Blinking my eyes, I tried to find a way to explain. “I’m definitely in love with you, but I’m trying not to be if that makes sense.”
“Why?”
“To protect my heart of course. You’ll be gone soon, and I always knew this wasn’t forever.” As I told him, I felt a knot in my stomach and memories of Tania’s warnings from the first night flashed through my head. Taking his hand, I moved us to one of the sunbeds where my towel lay. “Come.” I waited until Malliko sat next to me before I told him, “This time with you is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before and forgetting you will be impossible. Still, I want to know one thing.”
“Yes?” He watched me closely.
“I would do it a million times over. You’re…” I smiled and then I broke into a small laugh. “I was going to say that you’re out of this world, but that sounds wrong now that I know you were born on a different planet.”
Taking my hand, Malliko leaned his shoulder and head against mine. “Are you saying that you don’t regret a thing?”
“Not a single thing.”
“Good.” Turning my head, he planted a soft kiss on my lips. “I feel the same way.”
For a long time, we smiled at each other, caught in a bubble of infatuation, but then he reacted to some shouting. Looking up, we saw the others standing on the platform of the Big Splash. My boys and their friends were whistling and waving at us.
I was just about to create distance between Malliko and myself, but then I stopped myself. It had been six years since my divorce and my children had never seen me with anyone but their father.
Waving back, I didn’t move an inch. While the others rode the slide and moved on to try another one, Jamison came back. He had always been more sensitive than Keith and now he stopped in front of us with a look that spoke volumes without him saying a word.
“I’ll be right back,” I said and went to my son. He was taller than me with a darker complexion because of Jeremy’s being African American.
I led him around the corner where he could feel free to talk privately. It didn’t take long for Jamison to ask the inevitable. “Mom, is he your boyfriend? We saw you from the slide. He was holding your hand.”
“We haven’t put a label on our relationship, but I’m very fond of Malliko. Unfortunately, he’s only staying for a few months so it can’t really go anywhere.”
Jamison’s shoulder fell as he sighed. “Oh.”
The tender moment, when my son put his arm around me and pulled me closer in a sideways hug, would stay with me for a long time. “That sucks,” he said. “He seems like a solid dude, and you know what I thought when I first saw you today?”
“No.”
“I thought that you looked different. Happier or younger. I don’t know.”
Smiling I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I feel different.”
“Keith and I were hoping you would find someone.”
“You were?”
“Yes. We talked about that. It’s been so long since you and Dad split up. And Dad has Shanice. It would be nice if you had a best friend to do things with and travel, you know? Then Keith and I wouldn’t have to worry about you when we go to Hong Kong.”
We had never had this conversation, but it felt nice to have it out in the open.
“Thank you, Jam.” It was my nickname for Jamison when he was little, and he wrinkled his nose and pulled in his lips the way only he could. “It’s been hard, but hearing you say that you want me to be happy actually means a lot.”
Squeezing me in the sideways hug, he said, “Of course we want you to be happy. You’re our mom and we love you.”
His words took me by surprise. My boys had told me they loved me before but this time it felt different. This time there was the love in his concern for me.
“Don’t cry.” He smiled and reached out to dry away the tears forming in the edge of my eye.
“You don’t know what it means to me to hear you say that.”
Jamison hugged me tight and being taller than me, he lifted me a little. “I’ll always love you.”
