“Why are you smiling, love?” Ollie whispered, his voice sleepy and tired.
Glancing over at him, I saw his eyes were still closed as he lay on his side, facing me. The room was still dark this early in the morning, but the moonlit morning sky cast a soft glow over him.
“How did you know I was smiling?”
“I can feel it.”
Turning on my side to face him, I ran my thumb across his lashes. “Because I’m happy.”
He exhaled before the corners of his lips turned up. He was the one who made me happy, and he knew it. His dimple said so.
“Open your eyes, Ollie.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If I open my eyes, it means you have to leave, and I’m not ready for you to go. When my eyes are closed, I get to pretend it’s a Sunday morning and we have no place to be.” A bigger smile grew, and his dimple deepened. “Go on, close your eyes ….”
“Why?”
“Just close them …” His hand moved up my side and behind my back. “Are they closed?”
Letting out a light laugh, I closed my eyes. “Yes, Ollie. My eyes are closed.”
“It’s a Sunday morning, and I already made your coffee before sneaking back in bed with you. You smell it?”
“Mmhmm …”
“The whole day is ours, no work, no obligations … only you and I. The sun is coming up, Mia. You feel the warmth coming through our bay window and the darkness behind your eyelids slowly lifting? Do you feel it? The sun?”
The smile on my face is inescapable as I lose myself in his imagination. “Yes, Ollie. I can feel it.”
“We can take your coffee to the water and finish watching the sunrise, or we can lay in this bed all day. I have a few books on the bookshelf I haven’t read to you yet. Or, we can put on our trainers and walk along the boardwalk, hand in hand, because that’s what we do in the summer on a Sunday morning. What would you like to do today?”
“Mmm … all of it.”
“Good thing we have all day.” He slowly exhaled. “Now, drink your coffee before it gets cold.”
My eyes opened to see Ollie’s still closed, lost in the world he’d created for us. And when he opened them, his smile returned. “One day, yeah?”
“One day.” I wrapped my arm around his waist, and he brushed his nose against mine before kissing my forehead. “What do you want to do when you leave here?”
“You mean after I steal you and take you to the ocean?”
I smiled. “Yeah, like for a living?”
Ollie wet his lips, which I noticed he didn’t only do before he wanted to kiss me but also was a habit when he was in deep thought. “I have three passions, Mia. One is literature, two is helping people and making a difference, and my third, and most important, is you. If I do get out of here, I want to start a non-profit charity.”
“Really? Charity for what?”
“I have this idea of traveling the world and meeting people from all walks of life. Learn their stories, write them, turn the collection of short stories into poetry—into a work of art, a novel. Allow the world to see the beauty is in all of us, even in the most devastating circumstances. This world needs to know what others are going through. You understand?” I nodded. His eyes glowed. “Sometimes even the darkest parts of us can become beautiful when seen through a different set of eyes.”
“What will you do with your novel?”
His grin resembled the flicker in his eyes. “So, each year I’ll make a new novel about people’s lives, their struggles, their hopes, and defeats. Then give the profits back to those who truly need it.” He shrugged like everything he’d just said was no big deal, but I was affected by his vision. “I never needed much, Mia. I hope you’re not in it for the money.” He laughed, and I wanted to kiss him for it. “Well, what do you think?”
“Ollie, I’m just sitting here, listening, and I want to experience it all with you. Watching your face light up when you talk about it …” I shook my head in amazement. “I want to be there. I want to be a part of it.”
