I pick it up.
“I was wearing one like it,” I correct her. “Dreams are funny, Calla-Lily.”
But she shakes her head. “No, it was this one. I feel it, Dare.”
I slide it onto my middle finger, and her eyes widen. “That’s the one. It’s meant for you.”
I smile a little, but I can’t resist. I pay the vendor and keep the ring.
Calla is satisfied, and she plays with it on my finger as we walk. She twists it round and round.
“Don’t you feel it?” she asks me. “Because I do. Something… something…”
She trails off, and anyone else would think she’s mad. But I don’t.
I know better.
“Let’s get away from here for awhile,” I suggest. Her eyes dart up to mine and she glances around us for signs of staff.
“We’ll get into trouble,” she says.
“Worth it,” I reply.
She grins. “Ok.”
I pull her through the thin crowd and we disappear into the next street, which leads to the ocean. We take the trail down to the beach, and once we get there, we take our shoes off and walk barefoot in the sand.
“I love this,” Calla admits. “It reminds me of home. I live near the beach. Above it, actually. In the cliffs.”
I know.
The waves crash against the shore, and a storm is rolling in.
But Calla and I stroll as though we haven’t a care in the world, even though droplets of rain splatter onto our shoulders.
When the wind picks up, we stop, and Calla turns to me.
She stares up at me, her eyes wide and thoughtful.
Before I can say anything, she loops her slender arms around my neck and kisses me.
Her lips are fiery hot and passionate, pressing hard against mine. Her hips jut immediately into my own, and her breathing gets labored right away. Her fingers cut into my skin, and she is urgent.
“I want you,” she tells me. “I’m tired of waiting, Dare. I want you right here, right now… where they can’t see us.”
They meaning nurses, I assume.
I scan the beach. There’s an inlet.... just a little ways away.
I pick Calla up, leaving our shoes in the sand.
She kisses my neck as I walk and I quicken my steps, because God, the wait.
The wait has been killing me.
Has it been weeks or years?
I don’t even know right now.