Page 27 of Love By The Falls

We walk further along; there’s no pathway but I’m familiar with the curve of the beach and finally we reach the spot. The bushes end and there’s a clearing close to the water’s edge.

“Oh, wow,” she says when we reach the shore. “I can see the whole resort from here.”

“The shore on this side of the island is like a big ‘C’, so if you walk far enough, you get a brilliant view from this end.”

She shields her eyes from the blazing sun and stares off into the distance. “The surrounding beauty is incredible. I wonder if the locals know how lucky they are to see this every day.”

“I’m sure many do, but like most people, you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone.”

She turns her back to the sun and drops her hands. “I can’t wait to show Charlie places like this one day. He’d love it.”

“I know it’s none of my business and you can tell me to fuck off, but what happened to Charlie’s father? When you said he’s no longer with you, did you mean…is he dead?”

“No. But I wanted to kill him for the longest time.”

I chuckle at her joke, but she isn’t smiling. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story.”

I never ask a woman about her past relationships. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, but this time, I want to know her story. “I’ve got time.”

She smiles but looks away. “Well, in a nutshell, Jason and I were high school sweethearts. We even went to college together. We had our whole lives planned out. He would become a lawyer, and I would be a teacher.We planned everything out—the vacations we would take, the home we would buy, and the cars we would drive. We discussed having kids, and we agreed we didn’t see that in our future.”

“Then how…”

“Well, we didn’t take into consideration that condoms can break.”

“Ah, shit. That sucks.”

“Yeah. And so did the weeks afterward.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jason wanted me to have an abortion. We didn’t want to have kids, he reminded me. Which was true, but that was before I had one inside of me. I was far along in my pregnancy when I found out, never thinking I could be pregnant. And I respect everyone’s choices, I do, but I can’t explain it. I just knew that I would see this pregnancy through.”

“But Jason didn’t agree?”

“No. He said if that’s what I wanted, I’d have to do it on my own. He wanted no part of it, and didn’t even contest my request for full custody.”

“That’s a really brave thing you did.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know if it was brave. But I don’t regret it.”

“And you still became a teacher.”

She smiled. “I did. My friends helped me and so did my parents during exams. Somehow, I got through it and graduated.”

The woman couldn’t be more than five foot three inches and at this moment, she’s the strongest person I know.

“It’s difficult to stick to something, especially if it changes everything.”

“It’s not easy. But some things are worth it.”

While it wasn’t what she had planned, she made the best of it.

I should be on a plane right now chatting up Teo, but I can’t deny this is where I want to be.

I can still leave, but not yet. Just one more day.

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