#Chapter 46 - Tide Pools


    #Chapter 46 - Tide Pools


    Adrian


    My foot taps against the marble floor of the resort''s lobby. I look around the room, which is now busy and vibrant from the people who are visiting, and nce at my mother. She wears a worried look on her face, watching the elevator entryway


    with close eyes.


    "You should go check up on her, dear," she says, worryced throughout her voice. "She may need your help. You did say she was feeling sick."


    "She just needs a few minutes," I breath out. I ce a gentle hand on her back, gently rubbing slow circles tofort her. "Ste will be here. She would not miss spending time with you, you know that."


    "I know, I know," my mother sighs. "I am just worried about her. The poor girl looks so sick and tired...I hope she was able to sleep wellst night."


    "She slept..." I hesitate to respond, sucking in a breath before releasing it, "she slept okay."


    Right on cue, Ste exits the elevator entryway. She wears her brown hair up in a ponytail and has on a casual outfit of a loose shirt, that reveals a bathing suit underneath, and jean shorts. I smile at her, a genuine one, and take in her appearance as she walks up to us.


    “Ste! Adrian said you were feeling sick this morning. Is everything okay?" my mother immediately walks up to Ste and takes her hands in her own. Ste''s eyes move to mine before going back to my mother.


    "Of course I''m okay. I slept really wellst night and couldn''t shake the grogginess. But I''m here now! Are we ready to go?"


    "The car is waiting for us outside," I say.


    The two women nod at me and they turn towards the lobby doors. With a few quick and long strides, I find myself at Ste''s slide. I slip an arm around her body.


    She tenses up and does not look at me. She stares forward, her smile faltering. A pang of guilt attacks my heart.


    She must be upset fromst night. I wish I could tell her that ra came to this resort of her own volition, that I had nothing to do with it, but I doubt that she will believe me if I told her that. Hell, I did not even believe her when she said that she had nothing to do with Sebastian who showed up..


    Life must be having fun by toying with our lives like this, making it extremely difficult to anything productive or effective on strengthening our rtion...orck thereof.


    The drive to the tide pools is beautiful. Ste sits beside my mother, who imed that I am somehow hogging my wife and that I have to share with her. Thement made meugh.


    The dramatic irony that my mother is living in makes me wonder how she would react to the news that Ste and I never loved each other.


    Would my mother''s heart give out? She has been our biggest supporter from the very beginning. She nned our wedding and made sure that Ste and I had nothing to stress over before the big day.


    Without a doubt, I know that my mother will be absolutely gutted to know that Ste and I signed a contract that only despicable people would sign...or people who are just desperate enough to do anything to obtain their goal.


    Ste helps my mother along the rocks of the tide pools. She even bought her special shoes to wear to give her extra grip against the slippery rocks that are covered in algae and other ocean materials.


    I watch them from afar. The sun shines down on them and the wind whips their hair around their faces. I watch as


    #Chapter 46 - Tide Pools


    Ste throws her head back andughs when my mother sshes some water on her.


    "I''m going to get you back for that, Lilian!" Ste''s voice carries over the water with ease.


    I sigh, feelingfortable in the scene that I am watching unfold. If life could have been like this instead of all the drama and angst that Ste and I have been through, I would press the button to go back in time and take it.


    Maybe, just maybe, we could have had a happy marriage together. One that had no contactual surgeries or ended in bright, festering mes.


    Maybe we could have been happy together.


    "Adrian?" Ste''s voice snaps me back to reality. I look down at her and nod my head, humming in response." Your mom wants to find us matching starfishes so we can take a picture."


    "That sounds nice," I fight back the urge to smile, to give in to the beauty and temptation that is Ste.


    Afortable silence falls between us. I help her up a rock and she takes her ce by my side. I look down at her, unable to take my gaze away.


    "Ste? Can I...talk to you about something," I breathe out. I look away, foolishly thinking that by not looking at her face the conversation will be easier to have.


    "What is it?" Ste''s voice is cold yet there is a slight hint of warmth, a small regret of her slight snap.


    "I didn''t bring ra," I watch as her body goes still out of the corner of my eye. "I


    do not know how she managed to find me here, but I didn''t invite her. I-


    "It is okay, Adrian," Ste''s long sigh interrupts me. I look down at her and notice


    her watching my mother with a close and careful eye. "You don''t have to exin a single thing to me."


    "But I want to," I try to force my way back inside the conversation, unable to handle it if she continues to push me


    away.


    "Your life is your life," she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. There is a bitterness behind her words, though, that catches me off guard. "You can choose


    to spend it with whoever you wish. We''re getting a divorce anyways... it''s not like I can police you on who you can and cannot marry."


    "Marry?" confusion isced throughout my voice. "Did ra say something to you about marriage?"


    Ste shrugs. Her hazel eyes nce up at me, lingering on my face, before my mother interrupts us.


    "I found one!" my mother proims.


    "Did you?" St''s voice turns excited like she just turned on a switch to be a different person. "Let me see! I''ming over!"


    I watch Ste walk away from me. The further she gets, the tighter the barbed wire around my heart feels.


    She has a point. I am allowed to love and be with whoever I choose. She doesn''t have any power over it. But why do I feel so conflicted?


    With ra, my childhood crush, things feel so...easy. She agrees to go along with me to events and is always so eager to meet everyone that I know. She wants to be a part of every aspect of my life, making herself at home.


    Ste, on the other hand, is difficult. She drags me along and makes me lose control whenever I am around. She turns my life upside down and yet I can''t help but feel attracted to her, like there is an invisible line that is keeping us together.


    With Ste, I enjoy the challenges she throws my way. With ra, I dread the guilt trips and bombardments of


    #Chapter 46 Tide Pools


    usations of me not loving her.


    I watch as Ste approaches my mother. She beams with excitement and points inside the tide pool. She is so effortlessly kind and hice to my mother when she doesn''t need to be.


    I need to find a chance to speak with her again, to pour the contents of my heart


    out and exin everything that has been going on with the hopes of drawing her back to me. I don''t know what I''ll do with myself if Ste leaves my life.