Chapter Fifteen #2
Mari shifted slightly, her lips stilled, but then she came back for more.
He kissed her for as long as she let him.
He wanted to touch more of her, learn what she liked and what she didn’t.
But the door leading out to the deck was right behind them, and anyone could walk out.
He held too much respect for Mari to place her in that kind of compromising position. Even if his body was screaming.
He no sooner thought of the glass doors before the sound of people walking out of them had them both freezing in place.
James broke their kiss but held Mari close.
With her face buried into his shoulder, he felt her starting to laugh.
Voices, at least three of them, drifted as the people that walked out moved farther away.
Together, James and Mari silently laughed while holding each other.
When that laughter faded, James caught Mari’s eyes. No remorse . . . only amusement. “C’mon.” He draped his hand over her shoulder and turned back to the door leading inside. “We should get back to the party before I forget that I’m a gentleman.”
Mari felt like a completely different person leaving the ship than she had when getting on.
James met her and Rosa at their door and pushed along with them in the mass of people as they disembarked.
Back on the dock, buses waited to take passengers to either the city or the airport.
Mari stood beside James while the driver placed her bags under the bus.
When the driver reached for his, James waved him off.
“You’re not going to the airport?” Mari asked.
“I scheduled a meeting with a possible vendor. My flight isn’t until tonight.”
“Oh. Did you tell me that?”
“No. I don’t think so. We were too busy for mundane work conversations,” he teased.
She started to look away, then reminded herself of who she really was. A mother, a grandmother, the matriarch of her family . . . a business owner. Not a shy girl blushing every time a man looked her way.
Only James made her feel like that girl. The one that hadn’t experienced the world and was excited to see what came next.
She’d relived that second kiss all night long.
Something was waking inside of her. Emotions long dormant and thought lost forever.
“This is goodbye, then,” she said.
“No.” He shook his head. “This is until we’re both back home.”
“Allora.”
James glanced up at the bus, then back to her. “I’m glad Rosa bullied you to go on this trip.”
“I am, too.”
The driver started to close the door where the luggage was stored.
James stepped into her personal space. “Text me when you land so I know you’re home safe.”
“I can do that.”
He kissed her, briefly, and stood back. “Safe flight.”
Mari turned toward the bus, fingertips to her lips, and climbed inside.
Rosa was humming the tune to the ’80s television show The Love Boat.
Mari shoved her friend’s shoulder with a shush.
As the bus moved away from the curb, Mari glanced out the window to where James stood, one hand in the air with a wave.
“Oh, boy.”
Between the wait time at the airport and the five-and-a-half-hour flight back home, it was after seven in the evening before Mari turned off the airplane mode on her phone to find two messages from James.
The first one said, Do you miss me yet?
The second . . . Text when you land.
Rosa looked over her shoulder. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
“I’m convinced he’s twenty and lying about his age.” Do you miss me yet? Mari rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop her smile.
By now, James was on another flight on his way home.
We landed safely, she replied.
A message from Chloe followed James’s.
Text me when you land, and I’ll leave to pick you up. I can’t wait to hear all about your trip.
Mari shot a message to her daughter, letting her know they were there but still needed to gather their luggage.
With the San Diego airport under construction, there was no reason for her daughter to try and meet them at the baggage claim.
“I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed,” Rosa said as they got off the plane.
“I agree.”
Mari’s phone buzzed in her purse.
She reached for it, expecting to see a text from Chloe.
It was James.
But do you miss me?
Yes, but she wasn’t about to admit it. Are you texting from the plane?
I am. And the guy beside me snores like a trucker.
I didn’t know you can text from the air.
Mari looked up from her phone as the other passengers all jumped from their seats the moment the plane was parked at the gate.
She was seated over the wing and saw no need to crowd into the aisle.
Depends on the airline, but yes. You can.
Do you pay for that? she asked.
Sometimes.
Rosa leaned over. “Is Chloe asking questions?”
“No. It’s James.”
Rosa tried to read his messages.
“Is he still in Florida?”
“No. He’s talking from his flight.”
“You can do that?” Rosa asked.
Mari shrugged. “I’m glad I’m not the only one in the dark about travel.”
Passengers started to move.
I’m getting off the plane. Let me know when you’re home.
She opened her purse to drop her phone in.
James sent a final text.
Ahh, she does miss me.
With a shake of her head, she left it at that.
The chilled air outside the terminal was a far cry from the heat and humidity Mari and Rosa left behind.
Chloe pulled up to the curb, and Rosa and Mari scrambled to get their luggage in the trunk before people started honking.
“I missed you both,” she said, hugging each of them as they wrangled their bags.
Rosa slid into the back seat. Mari took the passenger side.
“Well? Did you guys have fun?” Chloe asked, pulling into traffic.
“It was great,” Rosa said.
“Until Rosa got sick.”
Chloe twisted in her seat to look back. “You got sick?”
“She ended up seeing the doctor on board and everything,” Mari said.
“That’s awful. It wasn’t the whole time, was it?”
“Only a few days,” Rosa said.
Chloe inched the car forward. “You didn’t catch anything?” she asked.
Mari snuck a peek at Rosa. “I was fine.”
“That’s a blessing. Did you meet anyone?”
Another peek at Rosa. Then the practiced words came out. “We met a lot of people.”
“And had a great time,” Rosa finished.
Chloe looked disappointed. “I mean men.”
Even to Mari’s ears, her laugh sounded forced.
“A thirty-year-old hit on your mama before the ship left port,” Rosa said.
“What?” Chloe’s question was nearly a scream with a laugh. “I need you to spill the tea on that.”
Mari nodded to Rosa, thanking her in a way for keeping her promise to leave James out of the conversation.
“He was a child. His mother should have taught him better.”
Chloe laughed all the way back to Little Italy.