Page 18 of Ever After

“It’s weird because I thought I would be more hurt and heartbroken after finding Aiden with someone else. But I feel more relaxed. It’s hard to explain, but I think all the tension we had was making it hard for me to see what it was doing to me and making it hard to make decisions that benefit me rather than us. Our entire relationship, I always made things about us—never about what I needed. Getting married so young didn’t help either. I was still growing up and finding myself, but since I was married, I was finding myself while incorporating him. It made it hard.”

“I get you. So far, do you feel good about your decision to divorce?”

“I do. I really do.”

Jay turns his head over to me and catches my attention. We both smile at each other. My cheeks are warming up and it’s not from the sun, it’s from his cute smile that’s making me bashful.

“Do you travel a lot?” he asks.

“Kind of. I try to do a couple of trips a year to keep me sane, but I haven’t done much traveling the past few years.”

“Maybe we can change that,” he says with a wink.

“I’m up for it. And I promise I won’t bring all my drama with me.” I chuckle. “Where should we go next?”

“I’m up for Spain.”

“Oh, Espana.” I try to speak with a Spanish accent. “I’ll have to brush up on my Spanish. Do you speak any other languages?”

“I learned Spanish in high school, just the basics, but lost it since I don’t use it.”

“We’ll have to buy Rosetta Stone,” I say.

The waves are picking up, moving us more. I squeeze Jay’s hand a little tighter to keep us from drifting apart.

The next thing I know, I’m coming up for air. A gigantic wave came through and knocked us out of our tubes. I reach up and wipe my hair and water out of my eyes, searching for Jay. The waves keep coming in hard and knocking me down. I’m trying to get to the shore, but the waves are making it hard for me to balance.

I finally see Jay up ahead, running toward me. I’m immediately confused. Why is he running? I scan the beach to see if anything is happening, but everyone is enjoying their time playing in the water or laying out on the sand. The closer I get to Jay, the faster he’s running up to me. My pace slows a little. I look over at a group of guys staring at me, and one guy hit his buddy in the arm and points my way. I turn and look behind me to see if there is something there, but there’s nothing. My gaze shifts back over to the group of guys and, in an instant, I’m wrapped up in Jay’s arms.

“I’m okay,” I say. What the hell is going on?

“Lilah.”

“Yes. What’s going on? Why were those guys staring and pointing at me?”

Jay looks over his shoulder and says, “They’re not looking anymore.”

“Okay, but what were they looking at? And why are you hugging me so tight?”

“Lilah, you lost your top.”

“What!” I say in a high pitched voice. I look down and he’s right. My chest is bare. “Oh, my god. How embarrassing.”

“What do you want me to do? I can get your towel and bring it to you or we can both try to walk together?”

“No, don’t let me go. Let’s walk together.”

Jay walks backward, still holding me in his arms. At least he’s a lot bigger than me. He huddles over me and can cover my front sides.

“I’m sure making your life interesting.”

He chuckles a little. “You sure are. Don’t be embarrassed, though. Shit happens,” he says as he plants a kiss on the top of my head.

The kiss makes my body melt more into his hold. His touch makes me feel protected, and he makes me feel a lot better about myself than I have in a while.

Jay has beengreat to me these past few days. He’s doing his best to make sure I’m making the most out of my trip. My mood has lightened up not having to worry about what I say, so it doesn’t spark an argument. I never realized how much I walked on eggshells around Aiden just to make sure I didn’t set him off.

We are at the beach relaxing, and I'm waiting for my phone to power on to check in with my mom. I promised her I would check in every day. The second my phone turns on, it goes off with text messages and voicemails from Aiden. It’s been like this every day. I ignore them. I text my mom every day, letting her know everything is fine. Before I turn my phone back off, I wait for a response.

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