“Ten years,” he said. “She was my everything, which is why I've done nothing but work since she died. I had no desire to enjoy life without her in it. But lately I started thinking that she wouldn't want me to live like that, which is why I booked this trip to begin with. But honestly, I almost cancelled it all. The idea of coming alone, well, it –”
“Say no more,” I said.
I pulled a tissue from my purse and handed it to him. He accepted it with a grateful smile and dabbed at the corners of his eyes.
“Now I see why you wanted company,” I said softly. “But why me? Of all the people who would have given their left arm to be sitting right where I am?”
He turned his beautiful, blue eyes toward me and smiled gently. “Because in all the months I'd been coming to the diner, you always were so happy and cheerful. You were always so kind to me. And I figured I needed a little of that in my life right now.”
“And it was worth paying my father's debt for me to keep you company?”
He nodded. “But honestly it was more than just that. I wanted to keep the diner open,” he said. “Where else would I stop in to eat during my travels? It seemed like a sound investment to me.”
So, his intentions were good. I felt guilty for assuming the worst, but who wouldn't have in my place? It all still felt too good to be true though. Though my fears were somewhat eased, I was still a little cautious. I'd started the day ready to work, prepared to put in another long day at the diner with no hope of a break. And yet tonight, I was going to end the day curled up in a comfortable hotel room, having my every whim catered to.
Was it any wonder if all felt so completely surreal?
***
I was wrong about us staying in a hotel. I'd envisioned a Hilton or a Sheraton – some hotel chain you usually expect to stay in when you go on vacation. Instead when we pulled to a stop and Nico opened the limo door for me, I found myself staring directly at the beach. There was no hotel, no flock of tourists crowding the beach with their noise and litter. There was nothing but white sand and brilliant blue water before me.
“Where are we?” I asked, thinking maybe he'd brought me the beach before stopping off at our resort.
“See that bungalow out there on the water?” Nico said, pointing out into the sea. “That's where we'll be staying.”
My jaw hit the ground and I very audibly gasped. We were staying on the water. Like, literally on the water, surrounded by the ocean and several yards from the shore with nothing but a wooden bridge between us and the sand.
I looked over at Nico, still unable to comprehend exactly what I was seeing. I mean, I'd seen plenty of pictures of places like that, but there was always some part of me that supposed it was Photoshopped. As I looked at the gorgeous blue water surrounding the bungalow on the raised platform, I almost had to pinch myself.
“Don't worry,” he said. “There are two bedrooms.”
“Two bedrooms?” I muttered, still in shock that there was a bungalow out here in the middle of nowhere, and now he was telling me it had not one, but two bedrooms?
“Daniel will bring the bags,” Nico said, motioning toward the driver. “Let's go see our lovely little abode, shall we?”
He reached out for my hand, and I let him take it in his. We walked toward the water, and the closer we got, the larger the bungalow became. We crossed the bridge , and it made me a little nervous as it swayed and rolled with the ocean. As we stepped up on the walkway, my knees trembled a bit. Nico caught me, however, his strong hand holding onto my arm for support.
“Careful,” he said. “The walkway gets a little wobbly because of the waves.”
I looked out at the serene, crystal waves as they crashed upon the white sandy shore, and listened the seagulls crying over head. I stared at the water beneath us, amazed that it was so clear; clearer than I imagined ocean water to be. California had some pretty beaches, but nowhere was the sand and water so pure and clean as where we were standing.
“Madeline always loved the beach,” Nico said softly. “It was her favorite place to be.”
I assumed Madeline was his wife, and feeling for him, I squeezed his hand gently. “I'm sorry she can't be here with you,” I said.
“Thank you. But you are here,” he said, raising my hand to kiss the back of it. “And that's all that matters right now. She would have wanted me to enjoy myself, and I'm going to make sure that I do, that we do.”
“Madeline was a lucky woman,” I said, staring into his eyes, which reminded me of the water beneath my feet.
Nico's cheeks flushed a little, then he looked away. We continued walking to the bungalow, and I couldn't stop drinking in our surroundings. I'd never been in a place with such natural beauty and it left me in utter awe.
“I actually bought this property for Madeline,” he said, his voice tinged with nostalgia. “But we never made it out here. The cancer struck fast and hard. We unfortunately, never had a chance to travel again once the diagnosis was given.”
I had no words to offer him, and the more I heard about him and his wife, the more it made sense that he didn't want to come all this way alone. I imagined it had to be hard to be on a property you'd bought for a wife who'd never had the chance to see it.
Even though he explained it briefly , I still didn't understand what made him choose me. I was nothing special; just an ordinary girl working in a diner, struggling to help her father make ends meet. We were lower middle-class, if even that. The diner was all we had, and without Nico's help, we'd have had nothing at all.
I wasn't on his level. He was completely out of my league and I had no idea why he'd choose somebody who quite obviously lacked the class and refinement of the women I was sure he was used to spending his time around.