World Tour

Weekend getaway I

Eddy closed his eyes and leaned back in the passenger seat. He'd driven the first couple of hours and now Brett had taken the wheel. He sighed deeply, feeling the stress decreasing with every mile they drove. He closed his eyes and before he knew it his mind wandered off to how he'd inadvertently told his mum everything, a couple of days ago. 

¨What's eating you, son?¨ his mum said. 
What? What was it with everyone seeing right through him all the time? He'd never known he was such an open book. 
¨I can tell you're not okay, Eddy. Tell me what's going on.¨
He'd looked up at his mum's earnest eyes, and it was like a dam broke: the words just tumbled out of him like the tears that welled up at the corners of his eyes. 
¨Oh mum,¨ he choked, ¨we've just been so busy. And... I don't want to get your hopes up... but we want to try and start a family and we've been looking into getting a woman to bear a child for us.¨ He knew she wouldn't know what the word 'surrogate' meant, and he sure as hell didn't know the Chinese word for it. 
¨Mum... it's not going to be easy.¨ He felt the tears running down his cheeks even before she enveloped him in a hug. The comforting kind, that his mum was so good at. And before he knew it he was bawling his eyes out on his mum's shoulder, like he hadn't done for about fifteen years. 
¨Eddy, my son. Let's sit down, I'll make you tea, you tell me everything, okay?¨

And so he had. It had been a relief, he had to be honest. He felt bad about putting strain on her though. She'd nodded, she'd been kind. She hadn't said very much, even though he could tell from her shining eyes how much she wanted them to succeed. 
Well, maybe it was better that she knew they would at least try. 

Brett and Eddy didn't talk much in the car, preferring to sit and chill, knowing that the other was close. There was no one in the world Eddy would rather be quiet with.
It was about another hour until they were getting near their destination. He started navigating in earnest, and soon enough they pulled up to the loveliest little B&B. It really was in the middle of nowhere, which is what he'd wanted. No prying eyes, just peace and quiet. It was beautiful here too. The lovely landscaped garden looked like a place to spend hours in and the countryside was rugged but really nice. The trees were lusher here, greener somehow. 
The white house itself was small but it was clearly very well kept. The outside paneling was wooden and the roof was made of grey slate, that had turned green in the coastal climate. 
They weren't far from the ocean at all; Eddy could hear it in the distance as he got out of the car and walked around to the boot to get the bags out. He could already envision the walks they would have along the beach, and he smiled. 
Brett had walked around the car on the other side and beamed at him when they met up. 
¨Eddy, this is just so awesome.¨ he whispered. 
Eddy grinned. ¨Wait 'till you see our room, hey? It could still suck.¨
¨Somehow I don't think it will.¨ Brett said as he bent over to grab his violin case and his bag. 

He was right. The room was lovely. It was on the ground floor and there was a small terrace outside of the french doors, opening up to the garden. 
Eddy sat on the bed, which was soft and nicely made with white linnen sheets and fluffy throw pillows. He smiled as he thought of the memories they could make on this bed. 
Brett had gone right to the toilet, so Eddy made a start on unpacking. There wasn't very much to unpack, anyway. 
A moment later Brett unexpectedly put his arms around his waist from behind and kissed his neck. 
¨This is the best surprise ever, Eddy.¨ he whispered .
Eddy turned around to kiss him back, but on the mouth this time.