“I guess I can’t really say no,” she replied, and with that, the two of us started our preparations to fly. I had done it at least a dozen times before, for meetings across the country at the last minute, but this would be her first time, and I could see that she was seriously nervous.
“It’s going to be all right,” I promised her as I helped strap her into the harnesses. Up front, Nathan was getting everything in hand for us to fly. I had called ahead with the details this morning, and I was looking forward to getting out of the city for a while, especially with Amaya on my arm.
“You took my airplane virginity and my helicopter one.” She managed to tease me, even though I could still see the slight panic pulsing in her eyes.
“I think that’s it for airborne vehicles,” I jibed with her, hoping it would distract her. “Unless you want me to fire you into space.”
“We’ll see about that,” she replied, and she tensed as the safety checks were finished the rotors began spinning above us. “Oh my god, this is crazy.”
I suddenly realized she’d reached over and was grasping my hand tightly, her knuckles so tensed, they looked as though they were going to pop out from under her skin. I squeezed her hand, letting her know it was going to be all right as the pilot pulled up and away from the building and into the sky.
She didn’t say much during the trip, staring down at the scenery below us, but she didn’t let go of my hand either, and that was all I needed to keep me happy. We arrived after a trip that felt as though it sped by, Nathan bringing us to a gentle landing at my usual airstrip not too far out from the city.
“Your car is waiting for you, sir.” Nathan glanced over at the two of us with a smile. I nodded.
“Thanks, Nathan,” I replied. I helped Amaya unbuckle from the helicopter and led her to solid ground. Her legs were shaking a little bit, and I couldn’t help but find that seriously cute.
I had prepared a rental car to drive us to the beach, and she slipped into the seat next to me and closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh of relief.
“Okay, maybe I’m just a baby, but I feel so much better in here than I did in the helicopter,” she remarked, and I laughed.
“You’re not a baby,” I assured her. “They’re freaky the first time around. I get that, trust me.”
“Thank you for taking me out today,” she replied. “I really … I just really needed to get away from all that shit in the city, you know?”
“I know,” I replied, and without another word, we pulled out and headed down to the beach. I didn’t want to talk too much more about what the city held for the two of us, what had happened the night before, so I made a beeline for the beach and thanked God the sun was burning up some of the cooling cloud cover.
A grin spread across her face when we came to a halt on the beachfront, and she climbed out, eyes wide as she scanned across the sparkling blue beyond us.
“This is gorgeous, Kristo,” she breathed, and I fought the urge to tell her the view had nothing on her.
“You want to take a walk? There’s a place I know at the edge of the beach, a restaurant. We could do lunch there.”
“I’d love to,” she agreed, and she looped her arm through mine, and the two of us began to hike down the beach. It was so easy to be around her like this, to just chat about nothing in particular, about Cleo, her job, my job, Jolene, and the family. It was times like this when I felt myself start to believe we were honestly a real couple, but at the same time, the two of us were doing everything we could to avoid the conversation that might make that a reality. What had happened last night, we were ignoring it with every fiber of our beings, and we would need to stick to that if we were to make it through today without an argument. As the sun glanced off the water, it caught her ring, sending blades of light shimmering from the metal and reminding me that no matter what happened, this woman was my wife, and we were tied to each other.
We arrived at the restaurant, and even though it was a little cool by the time we got there, she insisted we sit outside. The wind lifted her hair a little as she looked out over the sea beyond us, and her eyes were distant and dreamy as though she was a million miles away from me.
“You okay?” I asked gently, and she nodded, blinking and coming back to reality.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she assured me. “Great.”
We ordered some food—a couple of steaks, at the waiter’s recommendation—and talked more. I knew we were both circling what we couldn’t quite face up to, but I had no idea how to come out and ask her about it. How did she feel about me? Could she give me time to deal with my feelings toward her? Could I wake up next to her again?
We finished up, and she leaned back from the table, satisfied.
“That was so good,” she remarked. “I’m going to tip the waiter enough that he knows how much I appreciate his recommendations.”
“And what tip do I get?” I teased. “I brought you to this place, after all.”
“Hmm, I guess you’ll have to wait and see.” She tapped her finger on her lip playfully, almost flirtatiously. To anyone who might have caught sight of us at that table together, they would have assumed we were nothing more than a happily married couple taking the public holiday as a chance to squeeze in some time together. I wished we could embody that for real.
“What now?” she asked, glancing at her watch.
“There are some shops along the boardwalk.” I nodded in the direction of the street a few minutes from us. “We could head down there and get some stuff for Jolene.”
She nodded, planting her hand over her chest as though she was moved by my suggestion.
“That sounds great.”