The hot tub was already full and steaming. Rosemary turned on the jets, poured in half the bottle of Sex Suds, and undressed, sending Kal
to the minibar to procure their drinks so she could ogle him. He returned with half a dozen bottles of assorted hard liquor. They slipped into the heat beneath the foam, taking places opposite each other on the hot tub’s bench seats.
Water flooded over the side of the tub onto the floor.
“Blimey.”
“I hope they’ve got a mop.”
“Well, she did say to thoroughly test it.” Rosemary leaned out of the tub for her towel and dropped it into the middle of the puddle they’d made. “If we ruin the floor, I’ll offer to pay for it.”
“You’re a paragon of responsibility.”
“Give me one of those tiny bottles.”
They sipped whiskey and gin in the slippery foam. The jets worked over the tight muscles in her upper back, and she spread out her arms to give them better access, relaxed and happy.
“Hey, Rosemary?” Kal said.
“Yes?”
“Just so we’re clear, I wanted to say, I’m in this with you for whatever. If you want to write books, I’m game for reading your drafts, or sitting in the audience at your signings, but if you want to climb mountains, you know, I’ll make that work. I’ll help you pack your gear.”
“I don’t—”
“No, let me finish, okay?” He smiled, and Rosemary understood that he was nervous. She smiled back.
“The main thing I figured out today talking to Bill was that I’m going to love you no matter what you do, and I’d rather love you and have you than love you and lose you just because I’m not willing to deal with exactly who you are and support whatever it is you want.”
She understood him. She’d heard the same message in their fumbling conversation across the Fredericks dinner table, but it was lovely to hear it again, to let it sink in and believe it.
“Thank you,” she said.
“No, thank you.”
“The same is true for you, you know. Whatever it is that you find you want to do, however you want to follow your impulse to speak truth to power—even if it means you have to travel, or put yourself in situations that aren’t comfortable for me—I’ll support you. I’ll love you. We’ll find a way to make it work.”
Kal closed the distance across the hot tub and took her in his arms. “Jesus, Rosemary.” The emotion in his voice made tears well in her eyes, and she kissed him, so grateful that they’d managed to get here together. So glad she hadn’t boarded the plane to London and lost him forever.
After that, she and Kal talked about the future. It wasn’t scary.
Tomorrow they would retrieve Yangchen. Rosemary would phone Indira, withdrawing from the team with apologies. After that, they agreed to be in New York for at least a few months. She would write. At some point, he’d have to travel to Kathmandu, and she’d be unlikely to join him. She wanted to keep close to Beatrice for this next bit to make sure she was getting on all right.
He agreed he’d like to see her place in Harpenden, and they tentatively planned a long visit for a month or two in the future.
They talked about using mobile phone apps to stay in touch over distance, video chat to see each other’s faces, and for dirtier purposes.
“You know,” Kal said, “what we’re talking about here…it’s not some conventional life.”
“Do you mean we may never have a master suite and a picket fence? We may not be a couple in a way that makes sense to the rest of the world?”
Kal nodded.
“I’m not afraid of that. I believe we can be together in a way that makes sense to us, that makes our lives better and richer. That’s what’s important.”
“I think so, too.” He smiled. “I’m pretty excited about it, to be honest.”
She splashed water on him. “I should hope so.”