Page 30 of The Flirtation
I awoke to Dao’s voice in my ear. “Okay, baby girl. How you feelnow?”
I stretched my arms up in the air. They didn’t look like my arms. They were silky and supple. I was no longer holding my phone. I was no longer holding tension. “Oh my God.” I wriggled around on the table. “I feelgreat.”
“You did it. You relax. Your muscle feel good now,right?”
“They feel so good!” I kept writhing around on my back. “I feel so good.” I didn’t even recognize my own voice. It washusky.
“You take time getting up. I bring you water. Important to drink lots of water now. You detox,right?”
“Right. I detox. Thankyou.”
Dao disappeared and I sat up slowly and looked down at my body. Surely this was the body of some twenty year-old dancer. My skin was smooth, my muscles defined, my body fat—gone! In the dim light of the pavilion I even looked tanned. Now I understood why people didthis.
I gave Dao a big long hug, chugged the water she’d brought me, returned from my room with a forty dollar tip and the flowers that were in a vase, which she accepted graciously, and then went to the patio to see if there was any fruit salad left from breakfast. I was surprised and pleased to find Bucket and Luke at the beachside table, drinking coffee and having a bite to eat. I wasn’t even nervous about seeing Luke. “Well hello there, fellas,” came the sultry foreign voice from my own mouth. “Back from golf-work sosoon?”
Bucket laughed. “Not so soon. It’s been three hours since I last saw you. You had a good massage, I takeit?”
“Three hours?!” How was that even possible? Three hours had passed, and I didn’t even think to check my phone for messages. I sat down at the table and reached for a slice of cantaloupe, noticing that Luke was barely even looking at me. “Wow.” I took a bite of cantaloupe. “Wow. This is delicious. This is the best cantaloupe I’ve ever tasted. You guys need to try this.” I finished the cantaloupe and started popping grapes into my mouth, and savoring strawberries, while Luke and Bucket continued their conversation about Brexit.Boring! But this is literally the best papaya I’ve ever had.I did a little happy food dance in my chair and looked around the estate, and the beach and the ocean. It was so beautiful. I saw Ingrid floating down towards us, and raised my arm up to wave at her. I saw Luke catch a glimpse of my bikini through the long open sleeve of the gauzy cover-up Ingrid had loanedme.
Ingrid smiled her gorgeous smile and joined us. “Looks like somebody’s metDao.”
“Oh my God she’s amazing! Isn’t sheamazing?!”
“She’s a miracle worker. I hope it isn’t rude to say so, Avery, but you look so different without all that tension in your face. You’re literally glowing. Isn’tshe?”
“She certainly is,” said Bucket, as he ran his fingers up his bride-to-be’sarm.
Luke managed a nod and a “yes.” He seemed souncomfortable.
“Luke, you should get a massage. You’d loveit!”
He blushed. “We’llsee.”
“You should,” said Bucket. “You’ve done your work for the day, you’ve earnedit.”
“Oh—Ingrid, Bucket! Where are youregistered?!”
“We aren’t registered anywhere yet. We’re just asking people to find a shell on the beach and write a note to put inside it. Write down your favorite relationship advice for us, or your favorite quotation about love ormarriage!”
What kind of hippie-dippie surf-culture weirdness isthis?
Ingrid and Bucket smiled at our confused faces. “It can be a poem, or a saying,” Bucketsaid.
“It can be a line from asong!”
“That’s a lovely idea,” said Luke, although I could tell he was thinking the same thing I wasthinking.
Who the hell am I to give these two lovebirds relationshipadvice?
Iexcusedmyself and went back to my pavilion suite. I let the cover-up and bikini fall to the floor and stared at my naked self in the mirror. My face had more color in it than usual. I was so toned, all over. There was an indentation around my face where I had been pressing it against the face rest. I rubbed my face vigorously, but the imprint remained. I didn’t even care. It was a badge of honor.I went to the Bahamas and got a three hour massage and all I brought back was this lousy faceimprint.
I took a shower. I hadn’t felt so curious about my own body since I was a teenager. I ran my fingers along my abdomen, along my hips and outer thighs.This is how I’d feel to Luke right now…That brought a tension between my legs. Ironically, I could have used Mr. Potter now, more than ever. There were only a few dozen feet and a few walls between Luke and myself right then. What was stopping me from wrapping myself in a bathrobe, going back outside and putting my mouth on hismouth?
What,indeed.
