Page 98 of And Still Her Voice
What a thrill!
“That was great!” Tommy yelled. “Wanna try it again?”
“Hell, yeah!”
***
That evening he had a surprise for me. This has to be it, I thought.
“Ever seen a green flash?” he asked, opening my door to the rental car.
I’d never even heard of one. I thought maybe it was a movie likeFlashGordon’s Trip to Mars.He drove us to the west side of the island, removing his hands from the steering wheel to describe the spectacle I was about to see. “It’s a meteorological phenomenon that occurs when the conditions are just right.”
We arrived at a place called Sunset Beach. Tommy spread a blanket on the beach. “I promise, you’ll be surprised.” The sun floated above the horizon andI sensed a change in the temperature and an immeasurably subtle vibration on the shore. I waited as patiently as I could for the green surprise.
And then as the dazzling orb disappeared behind the skyline, I saw an emerald flash mushrooming in the space just vacated by the sun.
“This is incredible! I’ve never seen that before.”
“It doesn’t happen all the time, like I said, the conditions have to be just right.”
“How did you know?”
“Magic,” he said, “Just keep watching.”
As I witnessed the spectacular colors in the wake of the flash, I felt his arm slip around my waist and it felt like all the colors of the rainbow had wrapped around me. Surrendering to the energy in his magnetic touch, I couldn’t pull away, and then he found my lips and kissed me, finally. It tasted like rainbow sherbet: lemon, orange, strawberry, peach, and, of course, pineapple. But then he let go. “Oh, one more thing,” he said, pulling away. He jumped up and ran back to his car. Awkward. What kind of kiss was that? I really liked him. I wanted to cry. Who am I with?
He returned with a picnic basket and pulled out a bottle of wine. “I wanted to toast to the end of a beautiful time with you.” He opened the bottle.
I held up a hand. “None for me, please.”
He looked crushed and confused, examining my eyes as if he were searching for someone lost at sea. Now that I’d found him, I knew I’d be lost without him.
“I’d like to enjoy this moment with a clear head. I’ve had the best time with you, Tommy.” I needed to figure out my feelings and I didn’t want alcohol to cloud my thinking or fool me into believing I was in love, especially with someone who wasn’t going to love me back as more than just a friend. I needed to protect my heart and not get hurt again.
He didn’t take his eyes off me as he set down the bottle and then pulled me in for a kiss, holding me as if he had multiple arms to clutch my whole body like an octopus, so tight like he didn’t want to let me go. I could feel his heartbeat. I could sense the shift in the air between us, fate luring me off in an unknown direction. I didn’t want this to end. I’d be on the plane tomorrowheaded back to Los Angeles, to a life I had no clue about. I could see the changing colors of the horizon in his blue eyes, tearing up, and then a shadow fell over him as he looked at me. He got down on one knee. What’s happening?
“Anna, I love you. Please, marry me?”
But we’d barely had our first kiss.
***
In the military, things happen fast. One must act quickly. Two weeks of R & R had flown by and the kiss, while pretty good, we’d still need to work on it. So, with no time to spare, I answered in the affirmative. “Hell, yeah!”
Was that too fast? “But what about a honeymoon?” I asked.
“I promise our life is going to be one long honeymoon.”
The trip back to the base seemed like an eternity. I calmed my breathing and looked out the window, barely noticing the curtain of palm trees gilded by moonlight, the moon also spilling its light like a bucket of glittering diamonds across the water. The anticipation mounted like a tidal wave and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot of the Royal Hawaiian, we rushed into the elevator and made up for all the kisses that had been held back so far—one hundred percent better than that clumsy kiss on the beach. The door opened, slow as a yawn, and before he could unlock the door to our room, I’d pulled my sundress over my head. He fumbled with the key, kicking off his flip-flops as he pushed the door open and then he swooped me up and carried me over the threshold and headed toward the couch. “The bed!” I yelled. He stomped out of his shorts and laid me on the bed. Hungry for his kisses, I grabbed the nape of his neck, pulling him close. He practically devoured me from my lips to my throat to my hardened nipples, chafed from surfing, and finally my inner thighs. I reached down to feel his erection, hard as a surfboard, I thoughtwith a giggle, guiding him inside. Together we let go to enjoy the tsunami that had built up. The most exhilarating experience of my life, when we finished, I wanted to do it all over again.
We lay in bed, spent. “You know my mother always said, ‘why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.’”
“In the military, nothing is free,” Tommy answered.
“Are you sure you still want to marry me?” I asked.
“Hell, yeah!”
