The Light of the Blue Pearl (30 page)

Although she had yet to make up her mind,
she figured the understanding nature of both men could only go so
far. She wished though that she could feel a little more freedom
with Ian, since tonight was likely going to be their last
together.

During dinner she reached across the table
and took his hand. “Ian,” she said, her tone more serious than
either of them wanted it to be.

“Yeah?”

“I think we should talk…before I leave
tomorrow,” she said.

“Oh,” he said, his gaze dropping to the
table.

She kept a firm grasp on his hand, not
wanting to let him go, not wanting to end the connection they had
with each other.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I thought you
wanted time to think…before you decided anything?”

She kept her eyes on him, not shying away
from the difficult topic at hand.

“Yes, that’s true,” she said. “But you need
to know something before I leave tomorrow.”

“Oh?” he asked, looking up at her slowly,
afraid to hear the next words from her mouth. “And what’s
that?”

“Regardless of what comes of my thinking,”
she said. “I don’t want you waiting around for me. You have to
admit that a relationship between us would be rather difficult,
given the fact that we live on opposites sides of the country, for
one.”

He looked at her, the fear and sadness
fading replaced by a stern and determined look.

“True,” he said. “But don’t you think if we
both wanted it that we wouldn’t let distance get in the way.”

After hearing himself say the words out loud
they seemed to sink in as well.

“You’re just using that as an excuse,
Ethne,” he said, pulling his hand away. “If you don’t want to be
with me, just say it, you don’t have to sugar-coat or make things
up for my benefit.”

She had expected his anger, which was why
she had postponed this discussion as long as she could.

The back and forth arguments with both Ian
and Scott had tired her. Neither of them would listen to her
reasoning, she knew that was a battle she couldn’t win and she no
longer cared to discuss it.

“Ian,” she said, keeping her hand where she
had left it. “You know how much you mean to me, that’s part of the
reason I’m asking you to let me go. I care about you too much to
make you wait for an answer you probably aren’t going to like
anyway. You have a life in Miami, I would never ask you to leave
it.”

The waiter had returned and was refilling
their water glasses, looking from Ethne’s face to Ian’s and
thinking better of asking if they needed anything else; he left as
quickly as he had appeared.

“Don’t you see, Ethne?” he asked. “You
wouldn’t have had to ask.”

Those words. She wished he hadn’t said those
words. She pulled her hand back and set it in her lap, looking down
and feeling completely lost.

She closed her eyes for a moment trying to
think of what to say, and trying to keep her tears from falling,
they’d be doing plenty of that tomorrow.

“Ian,” she whispered. “I wish you hadn’t
said that.”

“Why not?” he asked. “It’s the truth.”

She took a deep breath and looked up again.
“How can you know that?” she asked. “You barely know me.”

“I know enough,” he said. “And as I’ve said,
if I thought you were going to leave to be with Scott I could
accept that, it would be hard, but I could accept it. But I can
tell you aren’t quite sure of that decision either, and I’m not
pleased with what that means, Ethne.”

“This is too hard, Ian,” she said, taking
another deep breath, doing her best to stay calm, but not having
much luck.

She saw him soften. “I’m sorry, Ethne,” he
said, feeling slightly ashamed. “I just really care about you, I
can’t stand the thought of you being alone.”

“I know, Ian,” she said. “I care about you
too, I can’t stand that I’m hurting you.”

He smiled, reached across the table and
offered his hand again, she took it gladly, feeling his warmth
spread to all of her fingers.

“I’m stronger than I look,” he said. “And
you are too.”

She smiled back at him. “So can we call a
truce for now and just enjoy the rest of the night?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “What did you have in
mind?”

Before she had a chance to answer the whole
room started to shake. She looked over at Ian, his eyes widening as
he jumped up and ran to her side and got them both under the
table.

She didn’t know if under the table was the
best location to be anymore, but figured it was probably the safest
place they could get to at the moment. He held her close and waited
for it to end. She was fairly used to earthquakes, though one never
truly got comfortable with them. It seemed to go on forever.

When it finally stopped, they peeked out
from under the table and saw all of the other people doing the
same, everyone tentatively emerging from where they had ducked for
cover. They all looked like frightened little creatures appearing
from the shadows, a far cry from the relaxed diners they had been
only moments before.

She looked around the room and saw that
damage had been minimal, and no one had been hurt.

Just when she was starting to relax a little
again, although she knew an aftershock was likely imminent, sirens
started going off outside.

“What is that?” Ethne asked, looking to Ian
for an answer to what was making everyone panic.

“I think it’s a tsunami warning,” he said,
getting to his feet and helping her up.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she said,
wondering what exactly they were supposed to do now. “Are you
sure?” she asked, it didn’t sound like anything she’d ever heard
before.

“I think so,” he said. “Never a dull day
with you around, eh?” he said, jabbing her in her side and smiling
a ridiculously calm smile.

“Hey!” she said back with a glare. “What’s
that supposed to mean?”

He laughed. “Oh nothing.”

“Why are you so calm anyway, isn’t this
serious?” she asked, as everyone else around them was headed
quickly for the door.

“I suppose it could be, or it could be just
a precaution, either way we better get out of here,” he said,
taking her by the arm and helping her navigate through all of the
people.

“Where are we supposed to go?” she
asked.

“Wherever they are, I guess,” he said.

“Oh you’re really invoking some confidence
here,” she said, suddenly feeling like cattle.

When they made it outside, the driver who
had brought them to the restaurant from the resort was waiting for
them. He quickly ushered them into the car and started driving them
inland.

Ethne was beginning to wonder if there would
be an “inland” enough if a tsunami actually hit San Pedro. When
they were slowly on their way to…somewhere, her phone rang.

“Hello?” she said. “Scott? …Yeah, I’m fine.
We are headed inland, I guess. Are you okay…will you be okay where
you are?” she asked.

“Okay, yeah I will call you later when
things calm down.” She paused, looking over at Ian, who was
watching her. She added quietly, “Love you too, be safe.”

“Never a dull moment,” Ian said, giving her
a reassuring smile.

T
he sirens were
strange, not quite like what she had heard in San Francisco when
they had tested their system. The driver seemed unfazed, perhaps
used to practice drills, although given the earthquake they had
just felt she doubted this was a drill. Today was sure turning out
to be an interesting day.

Driving was slow; walking may have been a
better plan, though they didn’t really know where they should be
going. She didn’t know how long it had taken them, but after a
while they were with a group of other people in their cars, now
they were simply waiting to find out if there was a true threat.
Ian was holding her hand and was staying quiet; the driver was
listening to the radio.

“So…,” Ian finally said. “Was Scott okay?”
he asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” she said, her mind and
insides a mess, all she could think about was what was going to
happen. She was worried about Scott and worried about the two of
them; paradise had suddenly turned into a confusing nightmare.

They sat there in silence waiting for
something to happen, neither of them knowing what to say or how to
feel. Fear was only marginally gripping her. For some reason she
felt comforted having Ian nearby, his relaxed and reassuring smile
keeping her calm when normally she probably would have been having
a panic attack.

They heard the person on the radio say that
there had been a 7.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Honduras
and that a tsunami warning was in effect until further notice.

It was only about 8 p.m., she wondered how
long the warning would last. For some stupid reason she thought of
her medication, and that she may miss the dose, the ridiculousness
of that thought struck her as funny.

There could be a gigantic wave about to
flatten where they were and her first thought was of her medicine.
She didn’t even know how important the timing was on her
medication. Missing one dose was probably not even a big deal and
it certainly wouldn’t be if a tsunami was going to take them
out.

Before that moment nothing could have
stopped her from getting back to her hotel to take it on time. She
realized she had become almost neurotically obsessed about it, as
though it was the only control she had over whether or not she had
another seizure. The irony was, it was probably a false sense of
control, and most likely made very little difference.

She hadn’t had any seizures for months. They
had become a past thought to her, something that kept her from
embracing her future, not necessarily because of their imminent
threat, but simply because they were a possibility.

The earthquake and tsunami warning were
opening her eyes to the fact that anything could happen, even in
paradise.

Although it was stupid and they were
probably going to be fine, she simply couldn’t stop herself. In
that moment of realizing how clouded her judgment had been, she
leaned over and ran her hands through Ian’s hair before pulling his
lips to hers and kissing him deeply.

She didn’t even care if the driver was
watching them.

Ian didn’t fight her, he wrapped his arms
around her and kissed her back, the two of them feeling like in
that moment they were the only ones on the planet.

After a while they slowly pulled away and
looked into each others eyes. He smiled at her and pulled her
tightly into him as they waited to hear more news.

About twenty minutes later they were told it
was safe to return to their hotel. The driver drove them back and
dropped them off giving them a smile before driving away.

The hotel showed only minor signs that there
had been an earthquake; the staff welcomed them back warmly asking
if they were alright and if they needed anything.

Within minutes they were making their way
back to her room like nothing had even happened.

She called Scott when they were back inside
to make sure he was still okay, and joined Ian on the couch,
falling into it heavily with an exhausted body.

“Not quite like your last trip, huh?” he
asked with a laugh.

“No, not quite,” she said, taking a deep
breath and letting it out slowly.

“So what was the kiss for?” he asked. “Did
you think we were going to die?”

She laughed. “Maybe,” she said. “I figured
even if we didn’t I still wanted to kiss you again before I leave,
no real point in waiting.”

“Sound logic,” he said. “Can’t argue with
it, though I still want another one tomorrow.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at him, even
though the topic of leaving was still not something she wanted to
think about, the ordeal they had just been through certainly put
things into perspective.

“Aren’t your friends going to worry about
you?” she asked. “You’ve been with me for days!”

“Oh yeah…my friends,” he said. “I should
probably check on them, though they obviously aren’t worried about
me, I’ve been with you for days! And not a word – you could have
killed me and no one even cares!”

“Very funny,” she said, handing him the
phone.

When he got off the phone he handed it back
to her.

“Are they alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, they’re fine, though Samantha is
ready to go home.”

“When are you going home?” Ethne asked,
realizing the topic of his departure had never come up. She had
been here for about a week, he must have been here longer.

“Well, funny thing, I’m set to leave
tomorrow too,” he said, putting his feet up and stretching his arms
up before resting his hands behind his head.

“You are?!” she asked. “When were you going
to tell me that?”

“Well, you never asked,” he said. “You do
have a tendency to be wrapped up in your own drama now don’t
you?”

“Again, very funny,” she said. “Seriously
though, you could have mentioned it…,” she thought for a moment
about what that meant. “What time are you leaving?”

“Well my flight from Belize leaves at 3:15 I
think, the other flight at noon I believe.”

She was quiet for a moment; he looked at her
wondering what had caused her silence.

“Why?” he asked. “When are you leaving?”

“Same time,” she said.

He smiled. “Well, that’s quite the
coincidence eh?”

“What are you, Canadian?” she asked,
whacking his arm with a small grin.

“Are you returning through Miami?” he asked,
wondering how far the coincidence would go.

“Yes,” she said, realizing the goodbye just
got extended, and more complicated.

“So we get to be travel buddies again, what
fun,” he said. “I do hope your flying abilities have improved
though, you were quite the nervous wreck last time. I don’t
particularly want to be sitting next to that again.”