17. James
JAMES
James woke up to warm sunlight on his face and a soft cinnamon scent tickling his nose. He rolled over to see Lauren still sleeping beside him, her curls spread across the pillow, her chest slowly rising and falling. She looked so peaceful that James couldn’t help looking at her for a long moment.
Then, as quietly as he could, he rolled out of bed and slipped into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Lauren was still sleeping when he reemerged, so he went into the kitchen to scrounge up a cup of coffee for himself and a mug of tea for her.
It felt so natural, now, to think of her, too, in the morning and to do these small things for her.
She did the same for him. Without either of them noticing it, they’d become a lot more like a real husband and wife than they’d expected.
James tried not to think about that, though.
He’d decided that he was just going to let this honeymoon unfold as it might.
They were far from home and far from work.
He could allow himself to enjoy a sort of intimacy with Lauren without risking anything — at least, the intimacy of shared drinks and quiet starlit evenings side by side.
“Good morning.”
James straightened to see Lauren coming out of the bedroom, now wearing a pale pink sundress with bows on the shoulders. It was yet another iteration of her.
“Good morning. I made some tea. After this, we can walk down to the main dining room for breakfast.”
“Sounds good.” Yawning, Lauren took a seat at the table and cupped her hands around her mug of tea, as she had so many mornings in the last few weeks. “How did you sleep?”
“Not bad,” James admitted. “You?”
Something crossed Lauren’s face, an expression he couldn’t put his finger on, before she nodded. “Not bad, either. What’s the plan for today?”
“After breakfast, we can head over to a popular beach for snorkeling. I rented a car, which should be waiting for us in the resort’s parking lot.
The beach should be a good place to be seen.
I tipped off a few reporters that we’d be in the area, so there are likely to be a few around.
Then we can take a break in the afternoon before dinner out. ”
Lauren nodded slowly. “Okay. Cool. I’m looking forward to snorkeling.”
“And to the day with your beloved husband?” James teased.
“Yeah.” She met his eyes, her blue ones sparkling. “Sure.”
They ate a quick breakfast of fresh fruit and cereal in the dining room before heading out to the rental car, which was waiting for them just as James had arranged. He took the driver’s seat, and Lauren took charge of the radio.
“No classic rock,” she said, spinning the old-fashioned dial. “How about this?”
Upbeat mariachi music came across the speakers, and James drummed against the wheel. “Perfect.”
“Or…” Lauren switched to a new station, which seemed to be playing some kind of dramatic Spanish opera music.
“Even better.”
She switched to a few more stations before settling on a Mexican pop station.
Even though neither of them knew the words, they nodded along to the beat.
Lauren rolled down her window so that the breeze caught her hair and lifted it off her shoulders.
Her gaze was fixed on the small towns and sprawling coastline outside, so James had the chance to look at her.
Her hair blew in the wind from the open window, and her face was open and relaxed. She was smiling, humming, nodding along to the music. Every once in a while, she’d lean closer to the window to see something in the distance.
They arrived at the beach twenty minutes later. James circled to the trunk and pulled out two bags of brand-new snorkeling gear. Lauren frowned at it.
“How did you pull this off?”
“Easy. I asked the rental company to buy new gear and put it in the car, for a small extra fee.”
Lauren shook her head in seeming amazement. “I still can’t believe how easy life is for people like you.”
“People like me?” James raised an eyebrow.
“I just mean… You can pay for things, and they come to you. I know that doesn’t make everything in life easy, but it must help.”
“It does,” James admitted. He handed her one of the bags. “Shall we?”
They walked down a narrow path to the beach, where tourists and locals had already claimed patches of sand.
Lots of people were in the water, which was as calm as bathwater on this stretch of the beach, splashing around or snorkeling, and even scuba diving.
A few people had set up carts on the beach selling fragrant roasted corn, fresh churros covered in cinnamon sugar, and soda.
“Let’s start with a swim,” Lauren suggested.
They found a free spot to leave their things, and Lauren pulled off her sundress.
Beneath, she wore a white bikini that showed off her smooth stomach, tanned legs, and effortless curves.
James focused on getting the fins and masks arranged. He didn’t want to stare.
“Ready,” she said after a moment. They headed down to the water together, where they bobbed in the shallows to put their fins and masks on. Lauren made a funny face at James behind her mask, and he laughed.
“Let’s go out a little,” he suggested. “At least past where we can easily stand.”
“Sounds good.”
“Have you ever done this before?”
Lauren shook her head. “Never, but I can’t wait.”
They swam out side by side. The water was so clear, James could have counted each grain of sand and arm of coral below.
The first school of fish took him by surprise when they darted beneath them, fast and silver and perfectly in unison.
Lauren grabbed his hand and squeezed, pointing to the fish, and James nodded.
Lazily, they kicked out further. Soon, Lauren grabbed his hand again, this time pointing to a small green turtle paddling its way toward the surface. Then she released his hand and dove beneath the water, her hair streaming behind her, her fins kicking as gracefully as a mermaid’s tail.
Lauren belonged in this underwater world, James mused. She seemed perfectly at home here, just as much as she seemed at home in a boardroom or a ballroom.
They snorkeled a while longer. A few times, when he came above water, James spotted people on shore snapping photographs of them. Good. The whole point of the trip was to be seen together, as if they were any other married couple, and hopefully, it was working.
Toward the end, James spotted a ray gliding between the corals, its wings flapping effortlessly. This time, he grabbed Lauren’s hand and pointed. For a long moment, they watched the ray. James hardly breathed for fear he would scare it away. He’d never seen anything quite so magical.
Then, Lauren squeezed his hand and pointed. Another ray was coming from the other direction. The two creatures circled each other, wings rippling, before gliding away in the same direction. It looked like some kind of majestic underwater dance whose choreography James had never seen before.
Lauren came up from the water, so James followed.
“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” Her eyes shone, and she was breathless with excitement. “Can you believe it?”
“Hardly,” James said, looking at her. “I never expected anything like this.”
“Me neither.” She beamed. “I don’t think it can get better than this. Should we go back to shore and dry off?”
“Sure.”
They swam back, spotting a few more beautiful fish and interesting corals on the way, and got out of the water.
Lauren laid her towel out on the sand and lay back on it, looking up at the blue sky.
Her wet hair was fanned around her head, and she was smiling.
James sat beside her on his own towel, propped up on his hands.
“Thank you for this,” she said. “I know the point of this trip isn’t to see rays or turtles or to relax, but it sure was amazing.”
“I thought so, too. Thanks for coming with me.”
“Yeah.” She grinned up at him. “My company is always a gift. Do we need to get back to the resort?”
James checked his watch and shook his head. “We’ve got time. We can stay a little longer if you’d like.”
“Okay.” Lauren sighed happily. “I just love the beach.”
“That reminds me…” James paused, unsure if he should censor himself or not. In the end, he decided to ask. “You said you didn’t visit the beach until you came to San Valentino. I was wondering about that, but I didn’t want to pry.”
“That’s true.” Lauren tilted her head to look up at him. “To be honest, my family couldn’t afford things like beach vacations. Or nice cars. Or… sometimes, much of anything.”
James’s heart went out to her. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Lauren sighed again, though it didn’t sound as happy this time.
“Honestly, not having much wasn’t the problem.
The problem was my parents. They worked hard, but that meant that they were never home.
And when they were, they were never happy.
It fell to me to watch out for my siblings, to try to feed them, and to try to make the sketchy apartments where we lived feel like home. ”
“That’s a lot to take on at such a young age,” James said. “Your parents shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s not even their fault, I think,” Lauren said. “They tried hard, but they never really wanted to be parents. I don’t think they even really wanted to be together. Life was all about surviving, not about thriving. They had to work insane hours just to feed all of us as best they could.”
“What about your siblings?” James asked. “Are you still close with them?”