It was her turn to laugh. ‘Go check it out in the morning, see the damage.’ She swatted at a sharp sting on her arm. ‘Ouch.’
‘Did you get bitten?’ He took her hand, looked at the place she’d swatted. ‘Mosquitoes are out in force right now. You got repellent on?’
She was still trying to adjust to the feeling of skin on skin, still looking at his hand on hers. ‘I hate the stuff.’
‘Then the mosquitoes will love you.’ But then he jumped. ‘I think one of the buggers just got me.’
She giggled. ‘They’re persistent, I’ll give them that.’
‘Hey, do you remember that time a fly went up your nose?’
‘How could I forget?’ She’d been sitting on one of the benches with Mateo looking out over the water, having just come up the steps from the beach and a serious making out session they’d hit pause on when they realised they were about to be discovered by some beachcombers. A fly had buzzed around for a while. She’d swished it away, and as she laughed at something Mateo said it returned and its timing was perfect. Or not so perfect – she’d inhaled and up it had gone right into her nose.
‘You were panicking,’ he said.
‘Wouldn’t you be? I could feel it!’ She put her finger against her sinuses on one side of her face. ‘The blessed thing only came out when you grabbed some wildflowers, held them under my nose and the pollen made me sneeze.’
This was nice. Mateo was easy company and there was no wondering what he meant or what he was hiding.
She slapped her arm again as another mosquito decided she was a good target.
‘The perils of the island.’ He was standing so close she felt her heart beat even faster, and before she knew it she was looking into his eyes and was back there as a seventeen-year-old when they’d started dating and he became the first man to teach her what passion was.
‘One of them,’ she said.
‘What are you doing lurking out here, anyway?’ he asked.
‘Family stuff, you know.’ She looked behind her, through the window into the café. Gayle and Louisa must still be ensconced in the kitchen.
‘Family stuff was always a thing for you.’ He reached out, tenderly hooked her hair behind her ear on one side and then did it with the other. ‘You can talk to me, you know.’
She should be talking to her husband. But he was answering the door. To whom, she had no idea.
‘I’m just waiting for Addie,’ she said, looking down the street, but there was no sign of her yet.
‘Well, you know where I am.’ He stepped a little closer, or maybe she had, she wasn’t sure.
‘I do.’
‘I meant what I said, you know.’
She could feel the warmth of his voice raking up feelings she’d thought long since buried. ‘What did you say?’
‘That you haven’t changed all that much.’ He put a hand against her cheek. ‘The way we ended things…’
‘I never forgot it.’ Her words came out soft against the evening air.
‘I hated myself for it.’ He closed his eyes briefly before fixing his gaze back on her.
‘Don’t feel guilty.’ Her face, tilted upwards, left her inches apart from being able to kiss him.
‘I wish you were happy now,’ he said.
Her eyes prickled with tears. ‘I’m doing okay.’
‘You deserve to be more than okay.’ And then his lips touched tenderly to hers, for one brief moment before he pulled back. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.’
‘It’s not your fault.’ Because she’d wanted him to, very much. And she leaned in again, almost kissed him properly, but in that split second, she realised what she was doing.
