‘I won’t. Actually, now we’ve finished lunch, I should find Jasmine to check on a few things. I’ll let you know when I’ve finished so we can go for a walk on the beach.’
‘Bien. A toute à l’heure.’ He leant forward and kissed me softly on the lips. As soon as our mouths met, I instantly wished I could just stay here and continue our kiss but I needed to leave to make sure everything was on track for tonight.
I headed to Jasmine’s office and knocked on the door.
‘Come in!’
‘Hi!’ I said as I entered. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m great! I just got off the phone with Stella – my friend who got engaged at the opening night party.’
‘Yes! That was so romantic. I’m really happy for them.’
‘Me too. They were made for each other. They’re thinking about having the wedding in our resort in Santorini that’s opening soon, which would be amazing.’
‘Wow. I’ve always wanted to go there,’ I said.
‘It’s gorgeous,’ Jasmine added. ‘Who knows, like I said on stage, maybe you’ll have a wedding there in the future.’ A cheeky smile touched her lips.
‘I’m pretty sure you and your partner will be walking down the aisle a lot sooner than me. I’m not even in a relationship.’
‘No?’ Jasmine’s face creased. ‘But you and Gabriel are perfect together.’
‘He’s amazing, but I’m going back to London tomorrow and he’ll be in Paris, so…’
‘I’m sure you can make it work. We have lots of couples from different countries who do. Like Sammie and Romeo, for example. He was from Italy and she was from London and they found a way. A great man is hard to find, so when you fall in love with one, like you have with Gabriel, don’t let him slip through your fingers.’
‘Love?’ My voice went up several octaves. ‘I care for him a lot, but people can’t fall inlovein two weeks!’
Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t even sure I’d ever been in love. What I had with Ricky’s dad was just a teenage infatuation that fizzled out long before Ricky was born. And the relationships I’d had since then were lacklustre at most.
This fortnight with Gabriel was on a whole different level, but just because he’d swept me off my feet it didn’t mean that it waslove.
Surely it took months to have those feelings.
‘You’d be surprised!’ Jasmine said. ‘It happens all the time at our hotels. Some people joke that there’s some kind of magic love dust floating in the air that speeds up the process, but really I think it’s because two weeks here is probably the equivalent to a few months in the real world. Think about it. When you first date someone, you might see them once or twice a week. So in a month, you’ve maybe seen them half a dozen times. Here, you’re with them all day, every day for a week and then you live together for another week. It speeds up the whole process.’
‘Makes sense,’ I nodded. ‘And the fancy surroundings must help.’
‘Definitely,’ Jasmine grinned. ‘All I’m saying is, don’t rule anything out. Instead of seeing challenges, barriers and obstacles, think about the opportunities and what you stand to lose. Take it from someone who almost missed the chance to be with the love of my life because I was worried about a stupid age gap.’
I remembered that Sammie had mentioned something about that before.
‘Does it really not cause any issues for you?’
‘Not at all. In many ways, Alejandro is more mature than me sometimes!’ She laughed.
‘Gabriel’s very wise too. He’s a lot smarter and responsible than men I know who are much older.’
‘Exactly.’
‘It’s more than just the age in terms of maturity though. It’s about life stage. If he wants to go clubbing every night or start a family, that’s not going to work. Those days are over for me. It’s also complicated because his mum is my best friend and I know she won’t be happy if we got together.’
But the thing was, for some reason, I cared a lot less than I did before.
Yes, she paid for me to come here, so in some ways, ironically, I wouldn’t have started falling for Gabriel if it wasn’t for her, so I’d always be grateful. But Gabriel and I had a connection. He was special so, like Jasmine said, I didn’t want to let him slip through my fingers.
Plus, for some reason, Gabriel had implied several times that Juliette wasn’t as perfect as I’d always believed. I had no idea what she’d done to upset him, but he seemed to suggest that it meant that she wouldn’t have the right to question us getting involved.
