Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
WHERE THE OCEAN MEETS THE SKY
A s I sat in the front seat of Oliver’s car, it almost felt as if I was living in a dream world. We had it packed full of my stuff and his, along with Tank in the backseat. There wasn’t much room for him to move around, but he seemed content as his head hung out the window, his tongue flapping in the wind.
Oliver booked an oceanfront room for us from Friday until Sunday. We were able to check in at three in the afternoon, so we left a little before noon, just in case we needed to stop for food or anything.
I looked at the GPS on the screen in his car, noting that we were only about twenty-five minutes away. The entire ride ranged from the music being turned up loud and us being silent, to us talking about anything and everything that crossed our minds.
I made a mental note that I really enjoyed road trips with Oliver.
As I adjusted in my seat, I unbuckled my seat belt and there was a loud ding in the car. I quickly buckled it again and gave Oliver an apologetic smile.
“Are you good?” Ollie asked with a touch of concern in his tone. “We can stop if you’re uncomfortable and get out and stretch our legs.
I shook my head at him, appreciating his worry. “I’m fine. I’ve never been in a car for this long and as comfortable as your seats are, they do get a little uncomfortable after a while.”
“Tell me about it.” Oliver chuckled as he switched lanes and headed toward the nearest exit. “Let’s take a quick stretch break.”
“We really don’t need to,” I told him as I turned to face him. “We’re almost there. I can wait another twenty minutes.”
He assessed me with his eyes and was able to see how adamant I was about the issue. It may have seemed futile to him, but it was important to me. It was something I wanted to prove to myself I could handle. Sitting in a car shouldn’t feel like a difficult thing, but when your body isn’t used to it, it’s easy for your muscles to feel weak.
I wasn’t going to let anything stop me this weekend.
This weekend was about not letting life pass me by.
“Fine, but if I think you look uncomfortable again, I’m pulling over.”
I looked away from Oliver, feeling the heat creep up my neck and spread across my face. I kept my gaze out the window as I waited for my face to cool down. I liked when he got protective and apparently my body did as well.
As we fell back into silence, Oliver granted me some grace and turned the music back up as he switched lanes again and continued heading east. It wasn’t long before we were turning off the highway and heading down Main Street toward where we were staying.
Leaning forward, I turned down the music and put my window down the entire way looking at the little beach shops as we drove past them. I had only ever seen places like this in movies and read about them in books. It was my first time seeing it in person and I loved the quaintness of it all.
People wandered up and down the streets, some carrying bags from the stores, others carrying ice cream. Everyone was dressed in their summer outfits, some in bathing suits with cover-ups on.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Ollie questioned me, drawing my attention away from my people watching.
I looked over at him and smiled. “Didn’t we already talk about pennies?”
Oliver chuckled and shrugged. “How about dinner then? I’ll buy you dinner in exchange for your thoughts.”
“Absolutely not. You already paid for our hotel, I have money for everything else.”
Oliver raised an eyebrow at me. “This is a fight you won’t win, Luna love. I’m covering everything this weekend and it’s not up for debate.”
I raised an eyebrow, half mocking and half challenging him. He could try all he wanted, but there was no way he was paying for everything for me while we were here. The least I could do was buy my own food. He had already paid in advance for everything he possibly could—just to avoid the conflict, I’m sure.
“I’ll give you my thoughts, but they’re free. I was just watching everyone walking up and down the streets. Do you ever think about how everyone else has their own thoughts and is living their own life, and we have no idea what is going on inside it?”
Oliver glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “I mean, I’ve thought about it before, but not often. It’s kind of weird if you think about it.”
“Isn’t it?” I agreed with him as we pulled into the hotel parking lot. “Like every stranger you pass is in the middle of living their own life that might not align with the things happening in your life.”
“Do you think about it a lot?” he questioned me, with his voice tentative. There was a gentleness and it was free of any judgment, yet it made me feel a little strange, like not everyone else thinks like I do.
I shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, it just makes sense now.”
My eyebrows pulled together as I watched him park the car. “What makes sense?”
“The little scenarios and stories you create about people.”
I instantly blushed under his gaze as he killed the engine and rolled up the windows. There were times we went people watching and had this fun little thing we did. We would study the people and try to figure out their life, creating little stories for them as we went along.
“You do it too.”
Oliver smiled at me as he chuckled softly. “I know I do. It’s fun and I like that better than thinking about them having their own lives outside of our imagination. At least in the stories, we can give them happy endings.”
“Well, not everyone gets a happy ending.”
Oliver was silent as he studied me for a moment. “But we do.”
I didn’t want to bring the harshness of reality to his attention, so I simply nodded and smiled in an easy agreement. Oliver let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly before he climbed out of the car. I followed suit and was standing along the side of it as he reached me.
“I’m going to go get us checked in and grab one of those luggage carts.”
I nodded, and watched him walk away without another word. Tank bounded out of the car when I opened the door for him and I grabbed his leash before leading him over to the grass area that had a sign for dogs. He did his business and I let him sniff around while I waited for Ollie.
There was a soft breeze carrying the smell of salt across my skin. I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes as I savored the smell. I had never smelled the ocean before and it was a scent I wanted imprinted in my mind.
Somewhere I could drift off to when my present wasn’t somewhere I wanted to be.
I walked back over to the car, meeting Oliver as he came across the parking lot with one of the luggage carts. He stopped with it by the trunk and popped it open before he began to put things on it. I held Tank’s leash in one hand as I grabbed a bag from the backseat and brought it over to the cart.
“Luna, I’ll get it all,” Oliver told me as he closed the trunk and turned to face me. “Just take it easy and let me, okay?”
Part of me wanted to argue with him and help. After all, it was the least I could do. With all the planning Oliver did, it felt like I was just being a burden by having him take care of me, but it was what he wanted to do.
And if there was one thing I learned in life, it was to choose my battles wisely.
This was a battle I would always lose with Oliver Hart.
I stood by while he loaded the rest of our things onto the cart and then I followed him inside the hotel. We got a few sideways glances, mainly directed at Tank. He confused people with how big he was and his teddy bear personality. He literally would not hurt a flea.
We took the elevator up to the sixth floor and Oliver led the way down the hall until we reached our room. 637 . Oliver held the key up to the door and it clicked as a small light next to the pad turned green. He reached forward and opened it for me, letting Tank and I walk in before he came in with our stuff.
Letting go of Tank’s leash, I walked around the room, inspecting it in awe. There was a massive bathroom in the small hallway that was by the entrance. I peeked my head inside, staring at the huge shower and the soaking tub inside. Two things I never had the opportunity to enjoy, but I knew what I was going to do while we were here.
Absentmindedly, I scratched at my chest and ignored the annoying throbbing feeling as I walked deeper into the room. Oliver was standing there and he turned around to face me with a shocked look on his face. It was a huge room with a small sitting area, a big TV hanging on the wall and one giant king-size bed on the other side.
“I asked for two queens. I don’t know why there’s only one bed.”
I stared at him for a moment and then it registered in my mind. We would be sharing a bed. It’s not like we hadn’t done it already. We slept outside in each other's arms, but were never confined to our own private space like a hotel room.
“It’s okay, Ollie,” I told him with a shrug. “It’s not a big deal.”
He didn't look convinced. “I figured you would have wanted your own bed, so I asked for two queens. I didn’t want you to feel any pressure or think I had ulterior motives for this trip.”
His words took me by surprise and stung a bit. There were times I almost wished he had ulterior motives. Then maybe things between us would seem a little more normal than they actually are. “If you want two beds, that’s fine with me or I can always sleep on the couch.”
Oliver looked offended. “Absolutely not. You are not sleeping on the couch and I never said I wanted two beds. I’m just trying to be respectful and keep you in mind, Luna.”
“So, you don’t want your own bed?” I asked him, feeling the hit of dopamine in my brain as warmth sizzled up my spine.
“No,” he said without any hesitation. Just a simple, pure fact. “I don’t.”
I could feel the color of my skin changing with the heat that crept upward and this time I didn’t hide it. Instead, I smiled at him and walked toward our balcony. Pushing open the glass doors, the smell of salt entered my nostrils, and I inhaled deeply while taking a step outside.
It was truly beautiful. We had a perfect view of the beach and the ocean. It stretched out to the horizon, past where our eyes could see. It was a captivating sight and I couldn’t take my eyes away from it. The wonderment of what could possibly be out there.
As I stared out at the horizon, I found myself wanting to experience it.
I wanted to go to where the ocean met the sky.
Oliver walked out to where I was standing and stopped beside me. He was silent for a moment as we both stared out into the abyss. A smile touched my lips and my heart swelled with emotion.
“The view is absolutely breathtaking,” I murmured as I ran my hand along the railing at the edge of the balcony. I lifted my gaze and looked over at Oliver and found him staring directly at me.
“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
The air left my lungs in a rush and my heart skipped a beat. Damn Oliver and his ability to steal the oxygen from the air around us. I shifted nervously on my feet under his gaze, yet he didn’t bother to look away. He just continued to stare at me with the most adoring look in his eyes.
“Now that we’re here, is there anything in particular you wanted to do?” he asked me.
I mulled over his words as a smile crept onto my face.
“Everything.”