Chapter 23
23
JASMINE
So far, our journey to Negril had been a little awkward. Alejandro and I barely spoke. We stared out the windows, taking in the sights of the lush greenery, scrolled on our phones or chatted to Bob about the different reggae tunes he was playing. At least the music kept the atmosphere upbeat because he liked to sing along to the songs and his happiness was infectious.
‘What music do you like?’ Alejandro said.
At first, I thought he was asking Bob as we hadn’t spoken for ages, but then I realised that we both knew that reggae was Bob’s favourite and when I turned to face Alejandro, his eyes were fixed on me.
‘Um…’ I paused, thinking that I kind of preferred the journey when we weren’t talking because then I wouldn’t have to look at him and be reminded just how attractive he was. ‘All sorts. Pop, reggae, hip hop, jazz, soul. Anything happy with a good beat or melody.’
‘But what is your favourite ?’ Alejandro insisted. ‘What do you listen to the most?’
‘Probably 90s and 00s soul.’
‘Like who?’
‘Ah.’ I chuckled. ‘You probably wouldn’t know the artists.’
‘Why do you think that?’ He frowned.
‘Well, because you’re young and maybe they weren’t popular in Spain.’
‘Hmm.’ He rested his finger on his chin. ‘Have you heard of the Beatles?’
‘Of course!’ I rolled my eyes.
‘Or Bob Marley?’
‘Come on!’ I scoffed, thinking that was a stupid question. ‘Even if I hadn’t, I definitely would’ve by now!’ I laughed, thinking about how many of his songs Bob played in the car.
‘But you were not even alive when their music was popular.’ He raised his eyebrow as if to make a point about my reference to him being too young.
‘Touché.’ I held my hands up. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound patronising. I just… you’re absolutely right.’
I shouldn’t have made that assumption. Of course it was possible to like music from a different era to when you grew up, but it just seemed unlikely; that was all I was trying to say.
‘I also like 90s and 00s soul,’ Alejandro said.
‘Really?’ I replied. ‘Like who?’
‘Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill, Destiny’s Child…’
‘No way!’ My eyes widened. ‘Mary and Lauryn are two of my favourites!’
‘They are amazing,’ he agreed. ‘My sister used to listen to them a lot, so I started to enjoy their songs.’
I had no idea.
‘And I love Lucy Pearl too,’ I added, expecting him to ask who they were like some people did whenever I used to mention them, even at the height of their fame.
‘ Sí .’ He nodded. ‘It was a shame that they only did one album.’
My jaw dropped.
Alejandro really did know and like the same kind of music.
A lot of people could have named Destiny’s Child. I mean, hello : that was Queen Beyoncé’s group, so there probably weren’t many people who didn’t know about them.
Lauryn Hill and Mary J. Blige were also pretty successful. But like he’d just said, Lucy Pearl only did one album, which I played to death and I was also sad that they didn’t do more music together.
‘It really was a shame. What was your favourite track?’ I said. It wasn’t a test question. I genuinely wanted to know.
‘That is difficult.’ He rubbed his hand over his jaw. ‘Obviously, the popular ones like “Dance Tonight”, but I also liked “Good Love” very much.’
This was insane.
Was this man in my head right now? Had he hacked my playlist? I adored that song and the way it spoke about finding everlasting love.
‘That’s also one of my favourites!’ I smiled and our eyes locked.
We stared at each other in silence. Never in a million years had I imagined that a man who was so much younger than me, grew up in another country and spoke a completely different language would share the same taste in music that I did.
His eyes really were beautiful. I loved how sometimes they were brown, but then other times they turned lighter, almost verging on green. How was that even possible?
I bit my lip and the sensation snapped me out of my trance. I shouldn’t be staring into his eyes like this. It was making me think about things that I shouldn’t.
Like how amazing he was.
Like how he wasn’t just beautiful on the outside; he was also so kind and considerate. Making me breakfast on the first morning. Encouraging me to see my grandad. Bringing food to me after I walked out of the restaurant.
And looking into his gorgeous eyes was also making me think about things like how good that accidental kiss was and how much I wanted to do it again…
‘“Don’t Mess With My Man”!’ I blurted out, then winced. It sounded as if I was warning another woman not to try anything with Alejandro. But that was ridiculous because he wasn’t my man. And it didn’t matter if maybe a part of me wished that in some other universe, it could be possible, because it was never going to happen. ‘The song!’ I corrected myself. ‘I like that song too.’
‘I understood what you meant.’ He smiled and my traitorous stomach fluttered. ‘I like it too. I have a playlist with a lot of their songs, Mary J. and other great artists. I can share it with you if you want?’
‘I’d love that!’ I beamed.
‘Have you heard of ?Téo?’ he asked.
‘No.’
‘He is American with Columbian heritage and sings in Spanish and English. I like his songs. I can send those too.’
‘That’d be great! I really like discovering new artists. Can’t wait to listen! Maybe I’ll send you some links to songs I like too?’
‘ Sí! Great idea.’
A warm feeling flooded my belly. Right now, I felt like I was one of the guests staying at the Love Hotel because sharing a playlist was one of the daily tasks we asked them to do.
I’d come up with the idea when I joined because I thought it would be a good way to help the couples bond.
Basically, every day, I asked them to add at least five songs that reflected their feelings about their partner, so that by the end of the experience, they’d have a soundtrack of how they both fell in love.
And it worked. I’d lost count of the number of guests who’d commented about how much they loved the playlists.
But at the time, I never imagined that I’d be the one sharing music with a man. And definitely not the younger man that I worked with.
It was fine, though. This wasn’t the same thing. We were just two colleagues who surprisingly both shared a passion for music who’d decided to exchange playlists, that was all.
We weren’t doing it to bond .
And we definitely weren’t doing it to fall in love .
That would be silly. I’d already made a mistake kissing Alejandro in the car. So I definitely, absolutely, 100 per cent should not want to do it again.
At least that’s what common sense was telling me.
But the question now was whether I was going to listen…