Chapter 115: Starlit Serenity

Lisa stood on the deck as the sun sank beneath the horizon.

“Lovely, isn’t it?” he whispered and then from behind held her tight at the waist.

She leaned back into his chest, and he listened to her breath and the beating of her heart. "Excellent. The water looks so inviting."

The pool lay before them, the fading daylight’s rays glinting off its surface, mirroring the increasingly darkening blue of the sky. Already, the earliest stars were starting to pop out, minute pinholes of light at the end of the growing dusk.

“Shall we take a swim?”

Their eyes had an almost silver glow in the dim light, as if there was something more than just invitation behind them. “I’d love to.”

They changed quickly, Lisa in her favourite navy swimsuit and Leo in swim trunks. When they came back out on the deck the night was complete. A light blue hue emanates from the pool lights under the water, the sky above has turned into a black wall with shiny diamonds.

Leo took her hand. "Ready?"

Leo tugged her ahead until their chests were under water, the lazy current from the pool's filter formed tiny ripples that glittered in the starlight.

"It's amazing," she said.

Leo pulled her close, his arms around her waist. Under the water, their bodies glided with the same ease as their dance on land, unencumbered and unrestrained. "Not as breath-stopping as you."

"You're irredeemable."

"I'm honest." Her hands were spread wide on his lower back and he cradled her. "Lisa, do you ever stop and wonder how we ended up here?"

She cocked her head, taking in his face. There was something about his eyes so vulnerable, so that on a glance it seemed that her heart would pop out. "All the time."

They started to glide through the water as one, undulating in rhythm to the silent sound of lap wave on wall tile and the far-off chirp of cricket.

Lisa felt her throat clench. She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek, raking over the evening stubble with the palm of her hand. “I'm real.”

“I know.” Briefly he closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. “But I know how close I was to never getting this. To never having you.”

“Leo...”

“Wait, I want to say this.” She felt her breath hitch as he opened his eyes, and the intensity in them.

“I was just going through the motions before you. I had success, I had money, I had everything I thought I wanted. But I felt empty. I don't even know how hollow I was until you filled in all those holes I didn't even know were there.”

Lisa felt the heat in her chest start to rise, break free and spill out. She drew him in, their foreheads touching. “You saved me, as well you know. I was so busy just surviving, making it through day after day, that I forgot what it felt like to really live. To hope for something more.”

They tumbled in the water, their legs and feet getting twisted beneath the surface, their bodies swaying with the current. The stars wheel slowly overhead, ancient and eternal as they whisper secrets to the listeners below.

"What are you most afraid of?" Leo asked out of the blue.

The question hung in the air between them, heavy with meaning. Lisa considered it, her fingers raking through the wet hair at the nape of his neck.

"Losing this," she said at last. “Losing you. Not because something rips us apart, but because… because life is unpredictable. Because nothing's a sure thing.”

Leo’s arms tightened around her. “I can’t guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen to us. That we won't have to face obstacles or adversity."

"I know."

"But I can tell,”he said aloud in a soft voice,thick with emotion, “That whatever may come, I will face it with you. For us, I'll put my all into this."

"That's all I need." She said.

Leo drew back a little bit, just enough to look into her eyes. “What about your dreams? The ones out there, beyond us, beyond this?”

She smiled, touched by his ridiculous question, by his desire to see her all. "I want to travel more. Go to places I’ve only read about in books. Go to art museums in cities whose names I can’t even say. Paint seriously, not just dabble.” She hesitated, all at once shy. "Maybe... maybe I'll write a book sometime. Nothing profound, really, just stories."

"You'd be so good at that." Leo’s conviction was absolute, unwavering. “Your imagination, the way you see the world — people would love to see that through your words.”

“What about you?” she asked, bouncing the question right back at him. “What are the dreams that keep you awake at night?”

He was silent for a beat, increasing their distance from the shore until they reached the deep end of the pool where they were able to float around a little more. The warm water flowed up to their shoulders and surrounded them.

“I want to build something that matters,” he said at last. “Not just an organization or a commodity, but something that really makes people’s lives better. I want to look back when I’m old and think that I did something.”

He swept a damp lock of hair away from her face. “And I want to grow old with you. Watch our hair turn gray, our cheeks wrinkle from inescapable joy, and finally rest in peace.” Build a life so full of love and meaning that all we have to do is tell the stories.”

Lisa’s heart was too big for her chest. "That sounds ideal."

They bobbed together out toward the shallow end where Leo could stand solid and Lisa’s toes barely skimmed the bottom. The moon had risen higher now and the light was turning the water a silvery white. At some point an owl hooted somewhere in the distance, a lonely sound that somehow contributed to the surreptitiousness of the moment.

“Dance with me,” Leo whispered.

“There’s no music.”

“We don’t need any.” He led her in a slow circle, and they whirlpooled softly in the water.

Lisa brought her head to his shoulder, and felt the solidness of his body holding hers, the gentleness with which he cradled her. Everything else – the world outside this pool, the worries that would have to wait until tomorrow to be dealt with, the responsibilities – all that receded into the background.

“I love you,” she breathed in his neck. “So much it frightens me at times.”

Leo came to a halt, and his hands rose to cup her face. Water ran down from his fingers onto her cheeks like tears.

“Don’t be scared. Love is the only thing you should be brave for.”

And then he kissed her, soft and slow and deep.

The water surrounding them turned seemingly warmer, as if electrified by what passed between them.

Leo’s hands traced from her face to her shoulders then down her arms to his hands resting on her waist. He pulled her tighter, close enough for them to realign breath, and Lisa drew a breath through her ͏mouth at the intimate nearness of it.

They separated gradually and reluctantly, both panting.

Leo pressed his forehead to hers once more, eyes closed, his expression was of such blissful happiness that it took her breath away.