“It tickles.”
The little nips take me by surprise, and make me laugh. This might be one of the silliest things I’ve ever done. I look over at Eli who has the biggest grin on his face, and I know he’s thinking the exact same thing.
I’m exhausted by dinner time. My feet feel so soft, and I decide to apply some fresh toe polish. Eli is making dinner again; flanked steak and potato salad. Every time he cooks, I tell myself that I could get used to this. He’s such a good cook, even better than me.
Following a really good dinner, he teaches me a few card games. Then we drink more wine while we listen to some of his records. The wine makes me sleepy, and I instantly regret it. It robs me of my time with him. We make love, sweet and slow. We get tangled up in the sheets, we laugh, and we kiss. It’s perfect. The only thing dragging us down is the knowledge that our time together is about to come to an end.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Day 6.
IT HURTS TO THINK ABOUT IT. This is our last full day together. One week is all we get. Not even a full week, really. It’s closer to six days. Six days and six nights. Tonight is our last night together.
His arms are warm, and his breath is hot on my skin. We’re spooning, and I want to stay like this forever. We haven’t looked at each other yet. It’s still dark out — it’s early. I’m glad we haven’t slept in too late because I want to make the most of our last day. He drops a soft kiss between my shoulders and I smile. “Good morning,” he whispers. I’m not sure how he knows that I’m awake.
“Good morning.”
“What do you wanna do today?” he asks.
“I want to stay in bed all day.”
He laughs into my back. Just then, Floyd makes an appearance, like he does every morning. He shakes us out of our little cozy cocoon. Eli ruffles his furry ears. Floyd licks my face again, which I’m not particularly fond of, but it makes me laugh. Eli gets up to take care of him, and I catch a glimpse of his gorgeous ass before he slips into his boxers.
“I want to take you to Christhaven,” he says. “There’s a market there I thought you might like, and some old towers to see.”
Well, it’s not quite all-day lovemaking, but it does sound pretty nice.
“And then, I thought we could go to Paper Island to eat.”
“Sounds great.”
I make Eggs Benedict for breakfast; a specialty of mine, and then we’re off for the day. We walk Floyd and leave him with Evelyn again. Apparently, she’s a designer, and works from home. She loves to take care of Floyd when Eli is away, which apparently is not too often.
We begin our excursion with a trip to a little outside flea market. There are tons of vendors selling their wares: antique watches, vintage clothing, old records, worn books, small furniture pieces, art, old cameras, and so much more. I’m drawn to the cameras — they’re so cool. It’s hard to believe that not so long ago, cameras were this complicated. They worked around rolls of films, developed in labs by other people. The person who took the picture was rarely the first to see it. And now we snap quick shots with our phones, and we can take as many photos as we wish. I think we take that for granted.
I turn to Eli. “I still remember when I was a kid, and we had this old-school camera. My mom would scold us if we took too many silly pictures, reminding us how expensive each photo was.”
He smiles. “Oh, I remember. Wasn’t it fun going to the pharmacy, and waiting to see the pictures?”
“It was the anticipation that made it exciting,” I tell him. “Delayed gratification.”
“Yeah… there’s no more anticipation these days, no more delayed gratification,” he says with a hint of nostalgia. “Everything is so instant these days.”
I set the camera back down with the others. “You and I, we’re old souls.”
He smiles. “Yeah, we are.”
I end up buying a small glass elephant for my collection, and an old vintage leather purse, in mint condition, from the fifties, I’m told. I also buy some fun pins for the kids. Eli buys a paintbrush and a crime fiction novel.
Not one to ever let me rest, Eli convinces me to climb up this old tower, one of many in Copenhagen. It stands very tall, and is part of an old church. The church is just stunning inside; dark carved pews, al fresco religious paintings, and a massive organ.
At first, the climb is leisurely, but the higher we climb, the more exhausted my legs become, and my breath starts to come out in short puffs. It’s narrow and dark and quite rugged, but quite cool. Thankfully, we stop for a minute or two in a dusty room with broken plaster and cobwebs. A huge bell commands our attention — I feel like the hunchback of Notre Dame climbing up to ring the bell.
The higher we get, the narrower and narrower the steps become, I begin to feel a little claustrophobic. The old worn wooden steps are replaced by copper ones as we make our way to the very top. The view is to die for, and we take a few selfies.
Thankfully, the trek down is easier. We’re both tired and famished when we leave the church. We hold hands as we head toward the boats.
It’s a very quick trip to Paper Island, and although I was famished, I’ve lost my appetite. I can’t stop thinking about what I’m doing to Eli. He deserves to know the truth. I haven’t been completely honest with him because I didn’t want to ruin our short time together. But I’d told myself that I would be honest with him on our last day. Should I wait until tonight?
