CHAPTER 27
*PRESENT*
“Protección”
Maya
We woke up first thing in the morning, ready to start exploring the city. Cassie got us a local guide and didn’t let us know much about our day.
Carlo came five minutes late, leaving us all speechless. He was known for his punctuality. He blushed, and got into the van.
“I think I’m going to win,”
I teased my husband. He rolled my eyes.
“Do you have any proof that he was with Selena?”
I whispered.
“No,”
he said. “Not yet.”
After we all entered the car, we started our little adventure. Just about twenty minutes later, we stopped in a vibrant, small town, with a lot of little shops and restaurants.
We followed the guide to a staircase created in the rock, all the way down to a tranquil, unspoiled beach with large rocks and beautiful seabed.
We sat by the beach, enjoying the amazing weather and contemplating the light blue, almost translucent color of the sea.
Just a couple of families were hanging there, kids making sandcastles and parents refreshing themselves with a swim in the sea.
I posed my head on my husband’s shoulder.
A loud scream made me turn around to find two women raising their voices, a clear dispute between them. The youngest left, turning and walking fast, far away from the other.
Everyone turned to their own thing, the fight long forgotten.
I couldn’t shake the feeling off, reminding me too much of our last time in therapy when I had screamed and left.
When my husband had found me, fuming next to the car, he hadn’t said anything. He hadn’t acted mad or disappointed.
Once I had settled down, I apologized to him profusely and sent a short text to our therapist, understanding if she didn’t want to continue helping us.
Her reply was only:
Don’t worry, I shouldn’t have insisted. See you next session. No hard feelings.
We asked for another session, but it had to be after this trip.
My husband seemed to have forgotten about my outburst and hadn’t mentioned it.
Aaron raised from next to me, and I looked at him.
“I’m going to swim. Are you coming?”
he asked. I removed my top and skirt, leaving me in only a bikini that I had bought a couple of years ago and hadn’t been able to use much. It was black, with enough coverage that I could swim comfortably.
My feet stopped next to the shore, the cold water surprising me. I thought it would be way warmer. The day was sunny, and the weather invited you to refresh yourself in the sea.
Strong hands surrounded my legs, and I found myself on my husband’s shoulders, my face looking at the sea.
He entered the sea with me in his hands. Before I could muster an obscenity, my husband submerged us.
We came back up, and I removed my wet hair from my face. Clear irritation was on my face, and yet my husband just laughed. I pushed out of his arms, and when he came to grab me, I used his distraction to submerge him.
He grabbed my legs underwater, and I followed suit.
Coming up, he started to laugh, and I melted in his arms, wanting, needing to feel his laugh on my hands, his chest moving, eyes sparkling.
I kissed his cheek, leaving my lips longer than usual.
His smoldering eyes warmed me up.
A wave submerged us again.
When we came out, we started to swim, keeping a distance from each other. Our family was close, probably looking at each other; we couldn’t give them a show.
Soon after, the rest of the Willows joined us.
Cassie was quieter and more reflective than usual.
After a little swim, we dried ourselves and ate some ice cream.
Touring the small town, we stopped to buy some souvenirs. I picked a couple of postcards as a keepsake, and a magnet for Sophie. I waited for them to finish outside.
The sound of the wind hitting some small bells made me enter a little shop that was found down some stairs. I entered.
The small shop was dimly lit, some candles lighting up the place. It smelled strongly of incense, a scent that I had discovered on this trip.
An old lady came out from a curtain made of lines of beads.
“Buenas, bonita,”
she said. “Oh, mi culpa. No hablas espa?ol.”
I couldn’t understand what she was saying, so I shook my head.
“Pero entiendo un poco,”
I said in a rusty accent. She smiled at me. She opened her arms, letting me know I could look around.
The shop was filled with jewelry, magnets, soaps, and other trinkets.
A sign on the wall caught my attention. There was only one big word on it.
Protección.
Below it was a bunch of simple red bracelets made with cord.
I huffed.
This couldn’t protect anyone from anything.
I turned around. The lady was putting more soaps in a stack, humming happily.
I turned again. There were other types of red bracelets to choose from. They were the same, except that there was a little pendant hanging, too.
A heart, an eye, a clover, a star.
You could choose from a bunch.
I mean, I obviously didn’t believe in the supposed protection, but it could be a sweet reminder of our little trip.
I bought ten.
Once I left the shop, I found my family outside, looking for me.
My husband came closer, and I started to hand out the bracelets that I’d bought, one for each of them, leaving my husband to the last.
“A little souvenir,”
I said while putting his bracelet on his left wrist.
“Very cute,”
my husband replied, “let me put yours on.”
“Oh, no, this is yours, too.”
I said. My husband looked at me with a puzzled look.
“I already have one. This one is yours,”
he explained, like I was a kid. I rolled my eyes.
“I prefer you wear mine,”
I said, trying to move past it. He sighed.
“Fine, I will wear one on each wrist,” he said.
“Thank you so much, Maya. This is a great idea! We’ll be matching,”
Cassie said enthusiastically. “Wait, you don’t have one. You didn’t buy one for yourself?”
I tried explaining myself, searching for some bullshit, but she wasn’t having any. Soon, I was surrounded by the Willows, and they weren’t having any of it.
“I’ll buy more. Where did you get it?”
Evelyn asked.
“I think it was from that place,”
Carlo replied.
“Guys, it’s fine.”
“Yes, it is,”
my husband said. I looked at him, wanting to thank him for backing me up, when the mischief from his eyes made me stop.
He kissed my mouth, leaving me dumbfounded.
He grabbed my hand and raised it.
I looked up, two red ribbon bracelets decorating my left wrist. He winked.
The Willows applauded behind me.
***
We continued our adventure, this time touring the city center where the runway had taken place.
We got to walk into the Roman theater, listening to the story of Málaga and all the different cultures that lived here during the decades.
We stopped to eat in a cozy restaurant, serving as a good break to rest our feet.
My hair was curlier than usual, after not washing it after the dip in the sea and letting it dry in the wind.
My husband seemed to love it.
After spending a good amount of time eating, we left with our bellies full and feet rested.
We entered La Alcazaba, the Arabian fortified palace that we had seen last night from Cassie’s show. The views of the city were majestic, and we roamed every space of it until the sky turned into a mix of oranges.