“It looks like us single-handedly propping up the London-Dublin airline routes. It looks like us having romantic weekends spending far too much money on fancy dinners in London, and cosy pub lunches in Dublin. It looks like us spending weekends in other places too.”
“Don't you work weekends?” I ask, the thought popping into my mind.
“Sometimes, but the restaurant can survive without me now and then,” he says with another Marty-wink.
I nod. I know I'm causing more problems than I'm solving by resisting him right now, but the truth is I can't dive into these waters with him, not yet. And I need to figure out why.
“Marty, I love you,” I say.
His fist pumps out above his head. “God, I will never get bored of hearing that.”
“Well, I do love you, so please don't forget that. But because I love you, I want to be honest with you.”
His smile drops. “Jenna, please don’t say what I think you're going to say.”
“What do you think I'm going to say?”
“That you don't want us to see each other again. That we'll just stay the most epic of holiday romances, so epic they will have memes, and GIFs, and a Wikipedia page about us. Don’t you dare say that that’s all this is. No way. I want to drag this into the real world, Jenna. I want us to try and make it work. So don't tell me I can't,” he says, and then he pauses, eyebrows heavy and pulled together, pleading. “Please.”
It's not just his words that puncture me. It's the way his hands grip the cup of coffee, paling his knuckles, and it's the way he stares at me like I hold his whole future in my hands, a burden I would be honoured to have but am also uneasy about being given.
“Marty, I will never tell you that you can't do anything. You're one of the few people I've met in my life that I believe can do anything they want. But I am feeling very overwhelmed right now. Not in a bad way, but in a way where I worry these kinds of conversations will eat into the beauty of today.”
“You're scared?”
“Fuck, yes, I'm scared. But that only proves my love. Loveisscary. So I want to ask you to help me with this. Give me today. We have almost exactly twenty-four hours until I leave. That's more than enough time to figure out what happens next, but I don't want to spend the whole time doing that. I want today to be today. I want it to be ours. Not tomorrow's or the future’s.” I force my expression to become more jovial. “I mean, don't we owe that to the Wikipedia page?”
He gives me a quick, gentle laugh but then his expression falls serious. “Just promise me this doesn't end when you leave tomorrow. I don't want that goodbye to be goodbye forever.”
“Marty...” I begin.
“Just promise me this doesn't end tomorrow,” he says again, eyes dark and fixed.
I nod as I consider my reply.
“I think I can promise you that,” I say, and I reach my hand over the table and sigh with something like relief when his fingers touch mine.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Marty
When I go to open the door to room service, my heart leaps. Balancing on top of the tray of covered food, I see an instantly recognisable red and green box.
“You sneaky little fucker!” I bellow at Jenna, then turn back to the man carrying the tray who looks thoroughly shocked. “Sorry, not you. Come on in. Give me all the food, and that board game!”
He walks in and sets the tray down outside where Jenna is after taking a quick shower, dressed in another beautiful sundress, this one a soothing shade of lilac.
“You got us a board game!” I say.
“Oh, it's Scrabble. I wasn't expecting that. Seems Jake needs a little help with his understanding of board games.”
“Is there a board? Is it a game? Am I going to kick your beautiful butt playing this?” I ask grabbing a slice of watermelon and shoving it in my mouth.
When the man is gone, Jenna moves around to grab my robe and pull me close, kissing me, her tongue sliding into my mouth and swirling around my top teeth.
“I just wanted to taste that watermelon on your tongue,” she says and then she moves away as my fingers twitch with indecision about what to reach for first; Jenna, the food, or Scrabble.
Instead, I sink down into the nearest chair and groan as I watch Jenna start plating up food. “Today is going to be the best day of my life, you know that, right? Board games, room service food, sunshine, and you. You, Jenna, you!” I pull her into my lap.
