I woke up the following morning curled up next to Aaron. My head was on his shoulders, his heart was beating under the palm of my hand. I raised my head to look at him. His hair was a total mess and he was sound asleep.
I smiled at how cute he looked sleeping like that. The big, bad Aaron Woodwords who buys entire areas and threatens people for crashing into his cars, looked like an adorable child when asleep. I shifted a little, not enough to wake him up, just to get closer to him to kiss the corner of his lips.
With slow, gentle movements, I removed his hand that was wrapped around my waist and rolled away to move out of the bed. I had barely made it to the edge of the bed when his arm came back to wrap itself around me. In an effortless, swift move, he pulled me back to him.
I gasped at the impact of my naked back colliding with the hard muscles of his chest.
"Stay." Aaron whispered to me. He kissed my shoulder, pulling me closer into his arms.
"It's morning already," I reasoned, the touch of his lips reminding me of the previous night.
"It doesn't matter, Caroline. Go back to sleep," his voice was husky under the influence of sleep.
"What about breakfast?" I asked.
He loosened his grip around me for a split second, only to turn me to face him. His eyes bore into mine, a little smile appeared on his lips.
"Are you hungry, Caroline?" His voice was suggestive. So was the look on his face.
"I'm not," I giggled, burying my face in his chest.
"Then go back to sleep or I have other interesting ways to make you stay," he whispered in my hair. I snuggled closer and closed my eyes. Within a few moments, I slept again. I was too tired to not to.
********
"We'll die," I told Aaron with utter confidence. The blue ocean water shining with the golden rays of the sun looked just as beautiful as it was dangerous. I leaned over the floating bow rider to gauge the depth of the ocean with my eyes. It appeared to be endless, a path to oblivion.
"We'll die," I repeated. My voice sounded worried now.
"We won't die, Caroline. Trust me," Aaron said. He was checking the snorkels and various other equipment that we were going to use under the water. The private island—the safe haven—looked so close to the eyes, but was miles away from our spot in the ocean which probably was going to be the end for me.
"I can't trust you if I'm dead," I said.
"No one's dying," Aaron kissed my forehead and he ran his hands down my body directly to my swim fins covered feet. For a brief moment, my mind had stopped thinking about my oncoming death, then I realized he had done it on purpose.
Aaron smirked at me as he went over to bring the diving masks. "All you have to do is breathe," he said, putting it around my head. He had already taught me how to breathe through the snorkel. Considering how I have been breathing all my life, it should be a fairly easy task. But somehow, knowing that I would have to do it consciously through my mouth made me anxious. The fact that he had decided to not bring a guide along because he had been snorkeling since forever wasn't helping my nerves at all.
I watched the flex of Aaron's muscles in fascination as he put on his own mask. He still felt like a dream. I saw him pick up the snorkels and sucked in a breath. Not a dream anymore. It was a terrifying reality.
"Not dying," he smiled as he leaned forward to kiss me on the lips before adjusting the breathing tube. He fixed his own then pulled me to my feet.
"Ready?" he asked as we stood at the edge of the rider.
I shook my head. Closing my eyes, I took several deep breaths.
"Let's not do this if you're really that scared," Aaron suggested.
I opened my eyes to look at him and gave him a thumbs up. When he asked for confirmation, I squeezed his hand. As much as I was scared, I really wanted to experience it.
"Alright," he said. Putting on his own snorkel in his mouth, he gave me a nod. We jumped into the water.
Panic struck me as soon as we went underwater. Aaron was still holding my hand. He gestured to me to calm down and breathe. It only took a few deep breaths to build confidence in my breathing skills. Once I was relaxed, I looked around myself.
If there wasn't a snorkel stuffed in my mouth, I would have gasped at the beauty of the ocean. The deeper we dove, the more I was amazed by the sights of the underwater-world. Colorful coral reefs were breathtaking in itself, but combined with the schools of fishes swimming around and the turquoise tint of the ocean water, elevated its magnificence.
Aaron seemed to know the place like the back of his hand. He knew the perfect visual spots, the underwater caves, the shipwrecks and took me to see every one of those.
After hours of swimming around, we got back to the bow rider, and from there back to the island.
All the way to the villa I was gushing about the beauty stashed safely under the depths of the ocean, while Aaron listened with a knowing smile. A small, wooden shed to our right caught my eye as we walked. The wood looked old, decaying at certain parts from the perpetual moisture in the air, but other than that, it was well-maintained. A stone path led to it, most of which was now covered with golden sand.
"What's there?" I asked Aaron.
"Surfing equipment and other stuff," he said. "Would you like to go and see it?" I nodded.
I had expected the place to be covered in dust and sand, given the wood and the amount of sand outside the doors, but the insides of it looked pristine. There was a switchboard near the entrance which appeared to be useless during the day time. The sun rays entering the shed through the door and the spotless window panes was enough to light every corner of it.
"It's been years since I last came here," Aaron said looking over at the surfboards with fondness.
"The last time with your friends?" It was more of a statement than a question. He had already told me a lot of stories about Kevin, Nate and Brian crashing at his island whenever they felt like it.
"Yes. We used to come here often when I bought the island. Then work got in the way," Aaron said, turning and taking slow, predatory steps towards me. "It's no fun to surf alone. If only I had someone to join me."
He faked a sad look while still taking steps towards me. I fought hard to keep the smile that threatened to show my current emotions to him. "I agree. You do work a lot," I said, agreeing with his former statement, and ignoring the latter to tease him.
"That's all you heard?" he asked. He was fighting a smile too.
My back hit the shelf as Aaron took another step closer to me. "No. I also heard that you don't like surfing alone," I said, biting my lower lip to suppress the laugh. His eyes dropped to my lips.
"And what are we going to do about it?" He rested his hand on the shelf above my head and leaned forward. Our faces barely an inch away.
"There is nothing we could do about it," I said. When I bit my lip again, his other hand came up to pull the sensitive skin away from my teeth.
"This is not what I expected from my wife, Caroline Woodwords," Aaron gave out a fake-disappointed sigh.
"Is that why you married me?"
"Yes. I married you specifically to get a surfing partner."
Aaron was doing exceptionally well in controlling his laughter, but with the seriousness he said the last sentence made me laugh like a maniac. He let go of his own resolve and joined me. It wasn't long before Aaron decided we had laughed enough for the day and kissed me senseless.
"I would love to give you company in surfing," I said when he pulled back to look at me.
"And I would love to teach you to surf. You know I'm an excellent teacher," he whispered the end of it in my ear. Memories of the previous night flashed before my eyes. Blood rushed to my face and I ducked under his arm to move away and looked around. Breathing, once again, had become a difficult task.
I looked over at the surfboards and mindlessly tried to pick one up. One failed attempt was enough to teach me my lesson. I backed off. Turning around, I realized Aaron was not behind me. I searched for him in the adjacent aisle through the opening between the shelves.
"I've got something for you," I heard Aaron's voice and followed it to him. And then I stopped.
He was holding a canvas. Aaron pulled out the wooden stand from somewhere behind the shelf and placed it on the floor, topping it over with the white, spotless canvas.
"It's time you finally paint something for me," Aaron smiled.
For a short moment, I was numb, pinned to the ground, not able to move—or say anything. He wanted me to paint. He was asking me to paint.
On our first date, Aaron had said he would like to see me paint someday. It was never going to happen is what I had convinced myself with at that time. The last time I picked up a paintbrush was when mom was still around. She had hid paints and brushes around the house, away from his eyes, for my secret lessons when he was not around. Oh, how I had loved those few hours of colorful bliss. The happiness, the secret lessons, the will to pick up a brush and make the first stroke on a sheet of paper, none of it had felt worth fighting for after she was gone.
For years, in moments when life started to feel like a never ending chore, I had craved to bleed every frustration on a canvas. Even then, the comfort that would come as a result had not felt worth the risk. The first thought of touching paint would soon be replaced by the poisonous lies that I had been injecting my mind with. It was all in your head, Caroline. I had told myself. You don't love to paint. You only love the idea of loving to paint. Mom had always felt a certain calm when she was working, I had felt it too. Would it still be there?
I had always wanted to have this chance and now that it was finally here all I could think about was... Do I really like to paint? Or was it just a part of my mother that I was searching for?
I felt a pair of arms engulf me in a hug. Aaron stroked my hair as I laid my head on his chest. "Missing your mother?" he asked.
I closed my eyes and nodded.
"I know how it feels," he kissed the top of my head. I wrapped my hands around his waist. Tears swam behind my closed eyelids and I felt Aaron's hand get tighter around me.
"After she was gone, I never..." I stopped as a sob escaped my lips. "I never..."
"Do it for her," Aaron said. "And me. Will you, Caroline?"
I raised my head to look at him. The tears in my eyes blurred my vision. I nodded.
"Okay," I said. I'd do it for my mother. I'd do it for him.
But most importantly, I'd do it for me.
- Analia