“Yes. We make a picture he cannot resist. Honeymoon. Private deck. A pair of people who think the coast is clear. Too few men. A long walk for the wrong ones to do anything about it.”
She takes my hand and squeezes. “I can do this. I think.”
“You can. You are.”
She swallows and nods. The manager sends a cart with a tray. Cold towels. Fruit cut into clean circles. Two flutes and a bottle of the good stuff. I pour two glasses and hand Mina the champagne. She sits on the deck with her bare feet on the warm wood and exhales like the air is finally good enough to live on.
I step inside and call the retreat. Carol answers, “Sleeping. All is quiet.”
“Thank you.”
Jennifer takes the phone a moment later. She does not waste time with comfort. “They ate. We walked. We’re behind a gate I dislike in the right way. Do not call again unless you have good news.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t you sass me either.” She hangs up.
I like that woman. She doesn’t accept bullshit. Reminds me of her daughter.
Mina keeps thanking me for being honest with her. That thanks lands like a bruise, but I’ll never say that to her. It tells me other men did not give her that courtesy, and saying that to her would only dig up a past she has yet to share with me. I’m not sure she’s ready to speak on that.
I wonder if Vitaly was one of the liars in her past. What lies he did he tell her to make control look like care?
As of this moment, we have bigger concerns than her past, and I will not dig her past out of her. For now, I watch what she does when the ground shifts. She steadies. She does not flinch. She might complain the whole time, but she still pushes forward. That is who she is to me. A partner I can trust.
When she is ready, I will give her the chance to trust me too.
I walk out and give Mina what she needs in one sentence. “They are asleep. All is quiet.”
Her eyes close. The line between her eyebrows softens again. She sets her glass down and holds the rail. “Thank you.”
We eat what we can. Mango. Pineapple. Crackers that taste like nothing and everything at once because we did not eat breakfast and the time zones have our bodies confused. The sun drops fast at this latitude. The water turns metal and then ink. Resort staff light torches along the sand. The main lodge sends music into the air that sounds like a heartbeat from far away. I put an arm around Mina and let her lean into me.
She sighs. “I could sleep for a year or not at all.”
“Either is fine. We can get bowls of rice and grilled fish now. Or we can get nothing and call for broth at midnight. Or we can do both.”
“Both sounds right.”
We order nothing yet and stay where we are. The boards creak under the weight of heat leaving them. A fish slaps the surface and disappears.
Her body goes tense against me. “This looks safe. Almost.”
“Almost is the point. Too safe and he will smell a story. Almost safe and he will make his presence known.”
“And end it,” she says quietly.
“And end it.”
Night deepens. The bungalow glows like a lantern. The glass reflects us back at ourselves. We leave the curtains open. If he is here, he will watch the picture and convince himself this will be easy. He will see a man and his wife on a deck. He will count twoglasses. He will think he is the only person doing math, because I must assume I’m safe here.
Vitaly will underestimate me, and I may overestimate him, but only one of us will be ready.
Mina touches the ring and looks out over the dark. “I want to see morning from this bed.”
“You will.”
She breathes out and smiles, small and real. “You’re going to make me believe we have this.”
