I gasped at how crystal clear the waters were as we readied ourselves to snorkel.
Feeling slightly silly, I put on the ridiculous flippers and goggles. I had a breathing tube held in my hand as Colin and I waddled our way to the water. I could tell people were still taking pictures of us, but I couldn’t blame them in that moment. I’m sure we looked spectacularly ridiculous, especially as we tried to kiss while wearing those insanely big goggles.
“You know, I should gather up all these fan photos and make our first vacation album out of them,” I said, grinning.
Colin looked upon me with something akin to relief in his eyes.
“What?” I asked.
“You have no idea how wonderful it is to see that sparkle back in your eyes,” he said.
“I’m sorry, Colin. For last night. For what I said and how I spoke to you. I was so angry at everything and I took it out on you. That wasn’t fair. I said things I shouldn’t have, and I don’t know how I can make it up to you. I’m just not used to all this attention, and the way they just— pulled me from you yesterday. It scared me. It scared me really badly.”
“I know,” he said, as he cupped my cheek. “It wasn’t until I realized they were actually leaning over you today that I understood what was going on. What you were actually enduring. When my fame first kicked in, they wanted to be around me. I never experienced being shoved off to the side. Not like they were doing to you. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner, Abby. I was thinking that I’d gotten used to it, so you could too, but I didn’t realize it wasn’t the same experience at all. I’m sorry it just didn’t click.”
“I’m just overwhelmed,” I said, breathlessly. “Just give me some time to deal with it. I’m sure it’ll still make me angry and I’ll need someone to talk to.”
“You mean yell at,” he said, grinning.
“Dick.” He bent down to kiss me again, our lips connecting as people took more pictures. His kiss had the ability to do that. To rip me out of my reality and plunge me into a world where it was only the two of us. We were standing at the ocean’s edge, on one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean, with flippers on our feet, goggles in our way, and breathing tubes in our hands.
And yet, it felt much like we were back in a dingy road trip motel room, with nothing but our bodies to keep us warm, and no one in sight for miles.
“I’m sorry I can’t make this better. If there was something I could do to fix it, I would,” Colin said.
“Your little speech on the bus was a nice start,” I said, smirking. “And—you were right.”
“I was what?” he asked.
“You were right.”
“Come again?”
“You really are a dick,” I said, giggling. “What you said last night about me having to get used to it—it was spot on. I have to find a way to cope if this is going to work, and running away isn’t the answer.”
“Colin? Abby? Is that you?”
I turned my head at the familiar voices and smiled when I saw Bernie and Doris.
“Hey!” I said, as they waddled towards us. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Bernie’s here to try his hand at snorkeling or whatever,” Doris said. “I’m here to enjoy my rented float and never-ending rum punch.”
“Sounds like my kind of woman,” Colin said, grinning. “You guys wanna come out with us?”
“We’d love to. You guys can help keep an eye on Bernie. He’s seventy two, but he thinks he’s still twenty two.”
“The only way to do it, in my eyes,” I said.
“We got married when we were twenty two, Doris. You keep me young,” Bernie said.
“You didn’t say that fifty years ago,” Doris said.
“Nope. But we got to know each other eventually,” Bernie said.
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Colin asked.
“Oh, you kids these days think love is all about courtship and marrying your best friend. But back in our day? We were the tail-end of the generation that still married for property and convenience.”
I felt my jaw hit the ground as we slowly walked ourselves into the ocean.
“Wait. Did the two of you have some sort of—arranged marriage?” I asked.
“Of sorts. Our families would both benefit from us marrying, so we had a couple of months to get to know one another before we tied the knot,” Bernie said.
“You’re kidding,” I said. “Two months before the two of you got married.”
“As crazy as it sounds, yes,” Doris said. “We didn’t really know each other on our wedding day, but it was fated.”
“It wasn’t fated. We made it fated,” Bernie said.
“That doesn’t make sense, Bernie.”
“Yes it does. It means we made the best out of the scenario. We put in the work, we fought through the bad times, and we never went back on the promises we made to each other that day,” Bernie said.
“What promises were those?” I asked.
“Wedding vows, sweetheart. They’re called ‘vows’ for a reason,” Doris said.
“For better and worse. Richer and poorer. Those things,” Bernie said.
“Don’t forget ‘til death do us part,” Doris said, mumbling.
Colin bit back a chuckle as I continued to stare at them.
“Abby, we made a promise to one another to never leave the other’s side. Marriage isn’t just about love and romance. It’s about hard work. It’s about compromise. It’s about knowing that things will never be perfect. There were times where I couldn’t stand to even look at Bernie. But even in those times when a part of me hated him, I still cared for him. He gave himself over to
