CHAPTER 28
THE BUBBLE WHERE WE HIDE
Lidia
The exhaustion of the day weighs on my shoulders.
It’s a sweet kind of tiredness, the kind that settles in when you know you’ve done things right, when all the details you worked on finally fall into place and your body craves rest even though your mind is still awake, pulsing with a calm, satisfied energy.
Miriam and I spent the afternoon putting the finishing touches on all those little details that still weren’t fully sorted out.
Now everything is ready, set for the guests’ arrival and all the celebrations leading up to that special day.
Although we both know perfectly well that there are things that, no matter how hard you try to control them, end up slipping away. Just like life itself. Just like love.
Barbara and I agreed to meet on the beach for a walk, and as I make my way down the path leading to the bungalows, I find her exactly where I imagined she’d be: leaning against one of the wooden posts, her gaze lost on the horizon, trapped in her own thoughts.
The sound of the sea wraps around everything, the soft evening light paints the water in beautiful colors, and my heart skips a beat.
It’s in that brief instant that I realize just how much I love her.
“I’m here,” I say, catching her attention. “Have you been waiting long?”
“I thought you weren’t coming,” she exaggerates.
“And miss this…” I reply, nodding toward the dark, shimmering sea stretching out before us. “Not a chance.”
Barbara smiles, and something inside me relaxes, as if that simple gesture alone were enough to settle all the emotional chaos inside me.
We begin walking slowly along the sand, still warm beneath our feet.
Every now and then, a small wave reaches us, brushing against our ankles with a soft, cool caress before retreating again.
The sky is perfectly clear, scattered with stars shining brightly above us.
A silence settles between us, but it isn’t uncomfortable.
On the contrary, it surrounds and protects us, as though the whole world has decided to give us this moment just for ourselves.
“It’s been a long day…” I say after a while, naturally breaking the silence. “I thought it would never end.”
“Believe me, I get it. Your father drove me insane. We were organizing the little souvenirs he wants to give the guests,” she adds, glancing at me sideways. “And you can’t imagine how picky he is. I wonder who you got that from.”
I let out a soft laugh because, honestly, I inherited that from him.
“They’re going to drive us crazy,” I whisper, moving a little closer to her. “But I’m glad I get to share this with you.”
We look at each other for just a second, and nothing more needs to be said. We both know how important it is for us to be here, living through this together.
We continue walking, letting the endless sound of the waves guide our steps. Without even realizing it, I drift a little closer to her, just enough to feel the warmth radiating from her body beside mine. Enough to admit, even silently, that I need it.
These past few days, ever since we crossed the line we’d drawn after our divorce, I haven’t stopped thinking about what our lives would look like if we could start over. About what everything would be like if we erased the last two years and focused only on each other.
“What are you thinking about? You’re so quiet,” Barbara asks suddenly, her voice soft and curious.
The question catches me off guard. I stop walking, turn toward her, and smile one of those smiles you can’t hold back, the kind that clings to your cheeks.
“Everything that’s happening…” I begin, shaking my head slightly. “It’s hard to believe that a few weeks in the Maldives and a storm have had more impact than all the times we argued or sat down trying to fix what was happening to us.”
I study her carefully, and suddenly I see something in her eyes that I haven’t seen in years: clarity.
“I know,” she replies softly.
The wind stirs a few strands of her hair, and for a second it feels as though everything around us stands still.
“I handled everything terribly, Lidia,” she continues, and the sincerity in her voice completely disarms me.
There’s no trace of the excuses she used to make back then, nor the justifications that only made me feel small in her life.
There’s only raw, unfiltered truth. I swallow hard, feeling that confession settle deep inside my chest, and I raise my hand to rest it over her heart.
“I got obsessed with organizing everything without stopping to think,” she continues.
“Our marriage, our life, our future… and I didn’t listen to you. I couldn’t hear what you needed.”
“What you needed.” Those words linger between us. Because that’s exactly what happened. That’s what hurt me. That’s what broke everything.
“You just wanted to grow,” I say without thinking. “You needed more, and the girls in Valencia weren’t giving you what you needed.”
Barbara frowns slightly, with the expression of someone trying to understand herself.
“And what was it that I needed?”
“I guess everything felt too small for you,” I reply, not entirely sure whether I’m right or not. “You felt trapped, and you wanted to fly higher. Just like you’ve done in London.”
Her gaze falters for a second before she slowly nods.
“Yeah, well…” she admits in a whisper. “But in the process… I lost you.”
Silence returns, giving space for everything we’ve said to settle between us.
“I didn’t handle things well either,” I add, lowering my gaze to the sand sticking to my feet. “I shut down completely. I got angry. And instead of trying to understand you, I pulled away and built walls around myself.”
“No,” she says, stepping closer to me. “None of this was your fault, so don’t blame yourself for what happened, Lidia. That’s not fair.”
“Barbara…”
“No,” she insists firmly. “I was the one who made decisions for both of us, the one who put my career ahead of you. You, who were the most wonderful thing in my life,” she adds softly. “I didn’t think about you. I only thought about myself, and I made you feel like you weren’t enough.”
I lift my eyes and meet her gaze directly. I’m not used to seeing this side of her—so open, so honest, so willing to take responsibility without hiding behind excuses.
“Let’s not keep talking about it, okay?” I ask softly. “We’re here now. We’re living this. And even though so much time has passed…”
“Everything happened at exactly the right moment,” she says, cutting me off as she closes the distance between us.
Her hands slowly rise to cup my cheeks, and the touch sends an electric current rushing through my skin.
“Do you really think so…?” I whisper.
“Yes,” she says gently. “Because if none of that had happened… we wouldn’t be here now, together, talking like this.”
I stare into her eyes, trying to process her words, trying to believe this is real and not just some beautiful dream that will disappear at dawn.
And it’s there, in those chocolate-brown eyes, that I realize what’s happening between us isn’t just sex, nor some nostalgic longing for what we once had.
It’s something deeper. Something I feel too.
“So what are we now…?” I ask almost automatically.
Her thumbs stroke my skin with endless tenderness.
“What we’ve always been,” she replies without hesitation.
My breath catches for a moment. I want to believe her with everything I have. I need to believe her. Because after so long protecting myself, hiding, running away from what I feel for her… the last thing I want is to end up shattered all over again the way I was the first time.
I gently rest my forehead against hers. I close my eyes and let the moment exist fully, without thinking about tomorrow, without thinking about anything except the two of us here and now.
“This is crazy,” I murmur against her skin.
“A little,” she replies, and I can hear the smile in her voice.
“What if we make the same mistakes again?”
“Well, at least we’ll have enjoyed these days to the fullest…” she replies, though there’s a trace of uncertainty in her tone. “Right now I just want us to turn these days into a dream. We’ll think about the future later.”
I open my eyes and look at her again, realizing there’s a bubble around us every time we’re alone together. A place where everything feels possible. Where the past doesn’t weigh so heavily. Where the future doesn’t seem frightening. Where just being together is enough.
I know it isn’t completely real. I know it isn’t sustainable. I know that sooner or later we’ll have to face everything we’ve been avoiding. But tonight… tonight belongs to us.
I move closer until there’s barely any space left between our bodies.
And I kiss her. Slowly. Without rushing.
Without urgency. As though we’re learning how to kiss all over again, rediscovering every sensation carefully, tenderly.
As though there’s nothing left to break.
As though there’s nothing to lose. Just this. Just us.
As her hands wrap around my waist with both strength and tenderness, as the sea continues whispering its eternal song around us and the sky remains untouched above our heads, I think that maybe this bubble isn’t just a temporary refuge. Maybe it’s the place we’ve always belonged.
The kiss lingers, soft and deep, and I feel her body relax against mine, her fingers threading tenderly through my hair. The scent of salt and night mixes with the familiar smell of her skin, and for a moment time stretches wide enough to make room just for us.
When we finally part by only a few inches, her eyes shine with an intensity that steals my breath away.
She doesn’t say anything for several seconds, just looks at me as though memorizing every detail of my face.
I do the same, tracing the line of her jaw with my eyes, the soft curve of her lips still damp from the kiss, the way the wind moves her hair.
“I don’t want this to ever end,” I confess softly, almost before I realize the words have left my mouth.
Barbara smiles that slow smile that has always driven me crazy.
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t,” she replies, her voice carrying something I can’t quite identify. “Just you and me, trying to get it right this time. Or at least trying with everything we have.”
I nod because right now I don’t want to think about anything else. I only want to feel her hands on my waist, the warmth of her body so close to mine, the sound of the sea serving as the perfect soundtrack to this moment that feels ripped straight out of a dream.
After a while, we continue walking farther down the shore, our fingers now intertwined as though we’d never stopped holding hands, sharing that connection we’ve always had even through the worst moments.
“I remember the first time we walked together on a beach,” she says suddenly, letting the memory surface without fear. “You were still sick from that little boat ride. In the end, you threw up and forced me to stay with you until dawn.”
I laugh softly, squeezing her hand a little tighter.
“And you spent the whole night teasing me, saying I looked like some tourist who’d had too many resort cocktails. But we had such an incredible night.”
“I think that was the night I realized I was falling in love with you.”
She pauses and looks at me tenderly.
“Me too. It just took me a lot longer to admit it,” I confess.
We stop there, staring at each other beneath the moonlight, with the sea witnessing everything we feel and everything reflected in our kisses.
And in that moment I understand that even if the road ahead won’t be easy, even if there are obstacles and unfinished conversations waiting for us, it’s still worth trying.
Because what we have—this connection still alive between us—is too precious to lose again.
Barbara leans in and kisses me once more, this time with more intensity, as though she wants to seal everything we’ve shared tonight. Her lips are soft and warm, and I answer with the same devotion, letting my hands slide up her back until my fingers tangle in her hair.
When we finally separate, she rests her forehead against mine again and whispers:
“We’re going to do this right, Lidia. I promise.”
And I believe her. Because in her eyes I see the same determination I feel inside myself. Because tonight, beneath this sky full of stars and with the sea as our only witness, everything seems possible.