“I mean, I still live with my parents,” I said.“I graduated college three years ago and haven’t been able to land a job since then, and I’m worried that this whole thing was a mistake.”
Isn’t this book you’re writing supposed to fix that?He straightened and adjusted his collar and then took one step in my direction.Suddenly all of last night’s excitement bubbled in my head and I wondered why I had even thought to question Aster’s inspirational abilities.
“It should,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.“But will it, or am I letting my hopes get in the way?I mean, we could throw together the most inspired work that’s ever existed, and it still might not be discovered in my lifetime.”
How do you define greatness?
Greatness: eminence, distinction.The word “great” came from an old English term—also “great,” but pronounced more like “gray-yat”—that referred to anything with an exceptionally large size.I swallowed.I didn’t know what answer he wanted, and I feared giving him the wrong one.
Fortunately, Aster didn’t give me an opportunity to answer.He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me toward him and pressed his lips over mine until I felt like he was breathing new life into me.
I tensed, and then I relaxed myself in his grip.I could feel his intention through his hold and tasted it on his tongue, that solid confidence that he would let nothing come between him and his mission and that I had been foolish even to doubt him.
A moment later, he pulled away from me.I disrobed, thinking that my turn to shower had come and that Aster was going to stay here the entire time.My college friends and my parents would have been scandalized if they found out.Whenthey found out.Some day I’d take Aster to meet them all.
Aster placed a hand on my naked shoulder and waited two seconds before removing it.As I stepped to the shower to turn on the water, he reached forward and touched my hand.Not today,he said.Today you bathe in the ocean.
THE BEACH
My cheeks burnedwhen I left the house moments later out the back door, naked as a mythical siren except for my shoes.The sky half-blinded me with its intensity of sun and sky, and the forecast promised us a hot afternoon with only a few clouds scattered in the distance.This didn’t feel anything like our previous dips together.
Aster insisted that I enter the beach without clothes—so that they wouldn’t get dirty, he said—but I believed he made the suggestion because he enjoyed looking at me, and he wanted to see my body in every light possible.I couldn’t believe he could be so direct about it, but I loved his mischievous intent.
I slipped on a pair of worn leather flip-flops before stepping out the glass door, with Aster behind me.The porch was painted a shade of dark blue, peeling in places from wear, decked with a set of stairs leading down to a strip of overgrowth that barred the narrow distance between the lighthouse and the water.The overgrowth consisted of tall wild grasses dotted with patches of white, lily-like flowers on the side nearer the house.On the right was the garden, overgrown and blocked off from easy access through a worn picket fence.On the left was only empty beach and the start of a wooded section with a path, a familiar sight by now but still unexplored.
I scanned the beach first, wary of boats in viewing distance or tourists who had followed the beach too far, and then my gaze rose to the skies.“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” I said.“Someone will come out here.Someone will see us.And you’re still fully clothed.”
Aster unfastened his top button.Is this better?
“That doesn’t even count,” I said.“I’m holding up my end of the deal.Can’t I ask the same of you?”
First, I never said I’d come here unclothed.I met my end of the deal.Second, I thought I could give these clothes a wash,he said with a cheeky smile, sliding the door shut behind him as he joined me on the porch.
There was no breeze, so the waves breaking the ocean looked calmer than usual under the growing blaze of the sun.
“I need to go back,” I said.“I didn’t put on any sunblock.My skin will burn to a crisp out here.”
I don’t think so,said Aster.
I turned.“You don’t?”
He shrugged and meandered to the front of the porch, where he rested his hands on the ragged wooden railing.You’re too beautiful for the sun to spoil.As far as I’m concerned, at least.But we’re not going to be here all day, Stella.This is just for your morning bath.
I didn’t question him further but walked past the green, past the bold white flowers and the unmowed blades of wild grass to the beach on the other side.The first, closer stretch of beach had too many rocks to brave barefoot, but beyond that the sand became finer and more luxuriant.
Aster followed me until he stood barefoot beside me on the beach.He stepped into the water and waded forward until the bottom rims of his pants were wet.Come on.The water’s warm.
I soon learned that Aster had lied about the temperature.The water was ice cold, as I should have expected coming from a body as great as the Atlantic Ocean.As soon as one wave lapped at my toes, I grew rigid and my heart skipped a beat.
“This isn’t warm.This is freezing!”I protested.
Aster frowned and looked at the waves lapping around his ankles.The sand sparkled in the sun, fine and unspoiled by the day.He stepped forward, deeper, and took a breath.It’s warm over here.Come closer to me, Stella.
I caught the tease in his voice.Aster wanted to try something on me, but as I walked forward I noticed that the chill of the water didn’t bother me as much as I neared him.
See what I mean?he asked after a contented sigh.He waded forward until the water reached his knees, and then his hips.I turned my head and saw that already we had strayed a surprising distance from the beach.Again I wondered if someone would come out and see us.
Then Aster tapped my arm.Stella.You’re not doing it right.This is supposed to be a bath, not a stroll through the Garden of Eden.
