Chapter 73

Luz.

Luz recognizes it as soon as the taxi stops. This is the beach where they landed on that terrible night when Jomari risked his life for her for the first time. A knot forms in Luz’s throat. It’s a strange feeling, bitter and sweet at the same time.

Jomari is about to pay the driver but she insists that it’s her turn to pay because Jomari has already paid their dinner.

Luz then steps out of the car and looks at the sea. It’s so peaceful and glittery that she can barely believe it’s the same sea that almost took their lives.

“Are you okay?” Jomari asks her.

He puts a comforting arm on the small of her back and she steps closer to him.

“I don’t know yet.”

“If you feel that it’s too early—”

“No,” she interrupts him. “I have to do this. And I want to do it with you.”

“I’ll be here for you anytime you want,” he says.

These words touch a deep part of her heart that she didn’t know was still open.

“Thank you, but I want to do it now, before it becomes too big and too scary. Let’s go.”

As they head towards the uneven paths, followed by rocks, he offers her his arm and she takes it. Then she realizes that she should be the one offering her arm to him, because of his leg, but she’s sure she won’t take it if she offers. So she adjusts her hold on his arm so that she can steady him too if he needs it.

“I can’t believe you carried me in your arms over these rocks,” Luz says, thinking aloud.

“I didn’t carry you. I only helped steady you,” he says.

The strong emotions of that night must have muddled Luz’s memories, so that the fact that Jomari saved her life made her remember that he carried her in his arms, like in a movie.

“Anyway, I had two legs back then,” he says quietly.

“I’m sorry, I meant that you must have been exhausted. But I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad that you knew me when I was a full man.”

Luz stops.

“You still are a full man, Jomari. In fact, you are more than that, more than many men and, I believe, you are more now than you were before. What you’ve been through must have made you braver, stronger, kinder.”

He snorts with a disbelieving smile, then changes the topic. “Watch out for that rock.”

Once they’re over the rocks, the beach opens in front of them like a white carpet. Luz had not noticed how beautiful this beach was on that night. But then, on that night, any piece of land would have been the most beautiful thing in the world, just because it meant they were safe.

“This is where you pushed the boat,” Luz says.

“And this is where we lay on the beach to recover our strengths,” she says.

“Correct.”

Luz sits on the sand and lies down just like on that night. Maybe, if they reenact and relive what happened, they can exorcise the demons of that night.

“Can you lie down with me?” she asks Jomari, offering her hand.

“Yes.”

He steadies himself on her shoulder and lowers himself down on the sand. They lie next to each other, just like on that night. The sea gently laps at the shore and all the lights of the ships queueing to get into the harbor glitter in the distance like jewels on blue velvet.

“How does it feel?” he asks.

“Very different from that night,” Luz says.

“In what way?”

“In a good way.”

She doesn’t want to tell him that it feels lovely to lie down next to him. That the demons are gone and all she feels is a desire to roll onto him and kiss him.

“What about you? How do you feel?” she asks him.

“Very good.”

He folds his arms behind his head and stares at the star-studded sky.

“It must be the calm sea. The gentle sloshing of the sea on the beach.”

“I don’t think so.”

“The stars, then. They’re beautiful.”

“No, it’s nothing to do with the stars,” he says decidedly.

“Then the fact we’ve got dry clothes, a stomach full of delicious food, and nobody chasing after us to kill us.”

“For me, it’s not that either,” Jomari says.

“Then, what is it?” she asks.

He turns on his side to face her and she looks up at him. The answer is in his eyes. Her heart somersaults.

“It’s you, Luz. It’s you lying next to me.”

Luz’s breath catches in her throat.

“I was lying next to you on that night too,” she manages to say.

“But back then you were a girl I had just met and decided to help. I already liked you, but now...”

“What about now?” Luz asks in a whisper.

“Now I’ve hopelessly fallen in love with you.”

“So have I.”

Jomari lowers his lips onto hers. It’s the gentlest kiss but still burning. Luz slides her arms around his neck and deepens the kiss. Jomari responds eagerly.

A soft moan escapes Luz’s lips. Jomari kisses even better than she had imagined on those long nights when she had wondered where he was or what it would be like to be his girlfriend.

When they come up for air, Jomari looks into her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Luz.”

“Why should you be sorry?”

“Because you can have better than me. A man with two working legs, for a start. They’re not rare to find.”

Luz smiles and keeps her arms around his neck. She’s not going to let him go away again.

“Jomari, I love you just the way you are. If you want to make me unhappy, then leave me. But if you care about me, let me be the one to decide if you’re enough for me.”

He kisses her again and she responds eagerly.

“Promise that you will never push me away again,” she says.

“I promise to try my best not to. And you promise to tell me if you ever think I’m not enough for you.”

“I promise,” Luz says, already knowing that this is not going to happen.

Jomari threads his arm under Luz’s neck and they snuggle up to each other, holding hands. Jomari’s hands are calloused and strong, dry and warm, reassuring tonight as they were that night.

She would like to suggest they had a dip in the sea to complete the reenactment of that night, but she wonders if his prosthetic leg is seaworthy or not. She will not ruin the mood of this perfect night by asking something that will bring his attention back to what he’s missing.

So she just lies in his arms, looking at the stars and enjoying the warmth of his body against hers, and the scent of his skin mingled with the scent of that sea that brought them home safe and sound after all.

They must have been lying like that for a long time because, when they decide to go, their clothes are damp with night dew.

Jomari insists on accompanying her in a taxi back to Sir’s villa, even if it’s in the wrong direction for him. Luz stops the taxi at the gate.

“No need to pay for the fare up and down the drive. I can walk,” she reassures Jomari.

But Jomari frowns.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea? Do you know who that man is?”

There’s a man standing just outside the gate. He’s not one of the guards because he’s not dressed in their uniform. It looks like he’s waiting for someone—which would be a perfectly normal thing to do in the middle of the day, but not at almost midnight.

“Maybe you’re right...” Luz says.

She doesn’t want to risk another kidnapping. One was more than enough, thank you very much.

Luz looks at the man a little better and her heart stops.