Dear Mister Summers

twenty seven

That was all he said before he walked away and were gone through the joint bathroom. Fully aware of the importance of this meeting with Roberto, Andin quickly got dressed and joined him ten minutes later.

"What about breakfast?" Sebastian asked her curtly, seemingly still annoyed by what had happened earlier. "I already had mine hours ago. Do you want to go and grab something to eat?"

"I am not hungry," she said truthfully. "But I would kill for some coffee."

"I am sure Roberto will provide some," he said unpleasantly as they walked towards the hotel lobby. He signaled the hotel staff and soon a cab pulled over at the front.

"We are taking a cab?" asked Andin curiously. After all, he had a car he could use and if she recalled correctly, he enjoyed driving.

"It is a wonder that I am fine to be inside a car," he muttered under his breath thus she could only hear the sentence partially. "Yes, we are. I'm not driving today."

Andin gave him a brief nod and entered the cab. She gave Roberto's address to the driver and soon they were on the road. Neither of them was talking. But every once in a while, she could feel his eyes on her yet whenever she turned, his eyes were looking out of the window.

Under the bright sunlight, the lawns looked so smooth that they nearly did not look real. The brilliant colors of the spring flowers still carry dew at their centers. A gardener in a straw hat was moving about, hosing the borders, his shoulders damp with perspiration. Roberto met them, sulkily demanding of Andin why she was so late. She apologized, explaining that she had overslept.

Upon hearing her reason, Roberto looked sideways at Sebastian, his frown making it clear he suspected them of having been together all night.

Sebastian's jaw clenched. "Aren't we going to swim?" he asked tersely.

"Let's head to the pool," said Roberto, still a bit sullen. He was wearing a brief white pair of trunks, slung low on the hip, his body smoothly golden from the sun. Against his brown body, his white hair looked even more fantastic.

Sebastian moved away rapidly and they walked after him. Roberto gave her a reproachful look. "You said you were not his girl," he accused.

"I am not. I overslept because I was tired," she said softly. "I have never slept with Sebastian. Sorry to disillusion you, but some of us still have old-fashioned values. If I slept with someone it would be because I loved him. Sebastian is not my lover. Nor would ever be."

"You are a gem, you know that, right?" His eyes searched her face, then he grinned. "There is nothing wrong with being old-fashioned. You do you."

"Thanks, I guess." She shrugged.

"So it's either marriage or nothing?"

Her eyes lowered. Once she might have said that, but now she knew that had Sebastian said he loved her she would not have sent him away. Her own love for him was too strong. "More like love or nothing," she said huskily. "Sex without it is as meaningless as food when one has no appetite."

Roberto frowned, his thin face bothered. "I am pretty sure my mom had said that before but in all honesty, I never expected to find another woman who talked like that."

Andin laughed. "Perhaps you should find yourself one, Roberto."

They reached the pool, strolling at a slow pace. Sebastian had already changed and was standing on the smooth white tiles, staring into the artificially blue water. Roberto paused, a few feet from him, and looked at her wickedly. "Did I not just find one?" He took her hand and planted a light kiss on her knuckles.