“What?” Jay asked. Because it was the polite thing to do, even if there was no use to start polite conversation on a moving boat. Mara had forgotten howloudit could get.
“Your family?” Mara screamed, gripping the bench in front of her to keep herself steady. She used her lips to point to Ate Irene and Luna. He still looked confused. “Oh my god. YOUR FAMILY?”
“YES,” Jay yelled back. Both of them were making a valiant effort to pretend that Ate Irene wasn’t doing a terrible job of trying to eavesdrop. “Wedding! We’re attending a wedding!”
“OH NICE,” Mara said, smiling a little too sweetly while she imagined kissing his face off. See howheliked it. “Are you—”
“Best man!”
“Great! Have you seen Marina since—”Since we deeply kissed in front of my house and never spoke to each other again?
Because it could only have been a deep kiss, what they did that night. Mara didn’t have a wealth of experience on the matter, but it felt deep, like he wanted it to last longer, like he wanted to hold on a little tighter. Or maybe she was projecting, and all kisses, deep or not, felt like that.
The boat jerked suddenly, in a way that made Mara and Jay jump, lose whatever grip they had on their seats and slide into each other. Mara gasped, and Jay shouted in surprise. His hand flew out and reached for her shoulder, keeping her steady as she found herself looking into his kind eyes. At the little wrinkles in the corners that were beginning to form as a result of what she assumed was excessive smiling. The boat carried on like nothing was amiss, and yet everything seemed to have changed.
Mara looked up at his face, and, to her horror, angry tears sprung into her eyes. Ohgod.Thank god she was still wearing her sunglasses. As angry as she was, as annoyed and embarrassed, she didn’t want him to let go. And wasn’t that just the most fucking fantastic thing.
“Jay.”
The boat steadied, but his hand stayed. Was that the engine still roaring in her ears or the beat of her heart? Mara couldn’t tell. She could barely hear as it was, but she was already picturing this moment with a soundtrack, like Stevie Nicks, or Armi Millare.
“Mara.”
The smile on his face was like a hand that squeezed fondly over her heart. The tension eased between them, like they’d never left his car. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” she said, because it was true. “Busy.”
“With someone new?”
Anger made Mara move to slide back to her seat, thanking god again that she had her sunglasses on. She was not going to let Jay Montinola see her break. She shook her head. What an asshole. He hadnoidea. “You might need to revise the statistics on your little kiss curse. Didn’t quite work.”
“What?” he asked, and Mara shook her head.
“It’s okay,” she told him. Which was a total lie. Of course it wasn’t okay that he resorted to kissing her to reject her, that he’d embarrassed her and made her feel even more unwanted than before, and—no. She had to stop dwelling on that. She was on vacation. She was going to enjoy herself and move the fuck on.
“Mara…”
“What?” she snapped, turning to him. His hand was reaching out to her cheek, but she pulled back and touched the spot he was about to. It came away wet. “I had something in my eye.”
“Oh. Um. Where are—”
“Um, guys?” Ate Irene asked. Mara looked up just in time to see Irene holding her daughter’s hand while standing in the crowded aisle, facing them. “The boat’s docked.”
And sure enough, it was. The engine had been turned off, and the boat was now floating idly by the dock. It was amazing how quiet the world suddenly seemed after loud noise. The sound of waves lapping lazily against the shore was perfect and tranquil. The crew was busy dropping anchor, tying the boat in various places. As Pinoys were wont to do in every travel situation, people were crowding the aisle, each person seeking to get out of the boat before anyone else, wanting to be the first out for no discernible reason.
“Fastest ten minutes ever,” Jay said, and Mara had to agree. He stood up and squeezed into the line of people, shuffling backward to give her room. She ignored him.
“We’re staying at the Shorewinds Hotel in Station 1,” Ate Irene informed her, turning to face Mara, Luna holding on to her skirts. “Just FYI.”
“I’m right next door,” Mara realized out loud. “Seasprite Stays.” Thank god. She’d almost booked at Shorewinds.
“What anamazingcoincidence,” Ate Irene cheered, enough that even Luna looked excited. “Isn’t that also where they sell that coconut dessert—”
“Cocomo? Yeah. I might have…chosen Seasprite because of Cocomo,” Mara admitted, ignoring the chuckle from Jay.
There was a well-known trifecta of restaurants within ten steps of Mara’s hotel. Cocomo the dessert stand, Sunnydale the café and Amano Po the Italian restaurant. A ten-minute walk away was a restaurant that served world-famous oyster sisig and four-cheese pizza. Another ten-minute walk in the opposite direction was a place that served fruit shakes. Mara’s vacation plans consisted of never straying far from any of those places. And with the beach right in front of all of these establishments? It was a lazy girl’s dream come true.
“Cocomo?” Luna repeated curiously. “Is that good, Tita?”
