“Thank you,” Jacqui said. “I can’t wait to see everything!”
When she walked back into the main room, Khizar was waiting for her.
“Would you like to take a walk and get dinner? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“Ditto,” Jacqui agreed.
They left the room and found the hotel restaurant. The host greeted them by name and seated them immediately on the patio outside.
Jacqui didn’t really notice the food, she was so busy taking in everything else. From their table, she could hear the ocean waves breaking on the beach and see palm trees swaying gently. People were strolling on the sand and playing in the water, and she couldn’t wait until she was one of them.
At one point, Jacqui realized she was being terrible company and apologized to Khizar.
He laughed. “Please, don’t apologize. I’m happy watching you be happy. If anything, I’m sorry. I should have taken you down to the beach first. I promise, as soon as we’re done with dinner, we’ll walk down there.”
“In that case…” Jacqui set her fork down and patted her mouth with her napkin. Then, she grinned at Khizar. “I’m done.”
He laughed again and Jacqui felt like she accomplished something by making him laugh so freely. It was a nice sound, and one she wanted to hear more of.
They skipped dessert, and decided to walk straight from the hotel patio down to the beach. Jacqui stopped at the water’s edge and knelt down to trail her fingers in the water. She was awed at touching the ocean, something so big and far away from any place she’d ever been.
Khizar let her take it in in silence, and when Jacqui reached for his hand, he wrapped his fingers around hers. Jacqui tried not to think about what it would be like to have this all the time, but as they walked along the beach, listening to the waves, she hoped that maybe they could find a way.
Chapter 7
Jacqui
With the time difference, Jacqui woke up well before sunrise. She found Khizar in the kitchen attached to the suite, waiting for coffee to finish brewing. When he saw her, he pulled another mug down from the cabinet.
“Good morning,” Jacqui said.
“Good morning,” he replied cheerfully, pouring two cups of coffee and handing her one. “Did you sleep well?”
She took a careful sip and nodded. “So well. I swear, that bed is like sleeping on a cloud.”
“Excellent. Since you’re up early, would you like to go watch the sun rise over the ocean? I can have the hotel pack a breakfast for us and suggest the best place to go.”
“I’d love that. Give me ten minutes to get ready.”
A short time later, they were in a car with more coffee and a large bag of breakfast pastries and fruit. The hotel had offered one of their town cars and drivers, so both Jacqui and Khizar were taking in the scenery from the back seat of the sedan.
The driver took them to a secluded little park where the palm trees formed a canopy and large rocks just right to perch on sat facing east. Jacqui clambered up on top of one of the rocks with her coffee and a pineapple muffin, while Khizar did the same on a rock a few feet away.
They were quiet, sipping coffee and eating. The sun slipped above the horizon, turning the sky bands of purple and pink and orange, the colors reflected in the glass-like water. Jacqui had never seen anything so beautiful.
After the sun was fully risen, Jacqui looked at Khizar.
“I know tradition is to applaud the sunset, but I feel like that sunrise deserves a standing ovation.”
Khizar nodded. “Truly gorgeous.”
He was watching her instead of the sky, and Jacqui wondered for a moment if they were talking about the same thing.
Back at the hotel, Khizar left to take care of his business meeting while Jacqui bought a book from the small store in the hotel and went to sit on the beach. The hotel had little cabanas set up for guests, so she grabbed one and curled up in what had to be the most comfortable beach chair ever.
She read a little, but mostly she sat and watched the people and the ocean. When Khizar found her there a couple of hours later, she was ready to go sightseeing. They walked around a large open-air market, and Jacqui bought souvenirs for her parents and Lyssa.