I Finally Found Someone 29

Chapter Twenty Nine

Maya

“I thought you liked surprises.”

“Whatever gave you that impression?” I twisted around in my seat, as if that could somehow help me see through the blindfold. “This better be worth it, Mr. Lim.”

“Oh, trust me, Mrs. Lim – you’ll be thanking me later.”

I could hear his wicked grin. It made something twist in my chest – longing, confusion, and that overwhelming desire to just ask him. To lay all of my cards on the table, so I could find out how he really felt about me. We’d been playing this game so long. I just wanted to know if it had become a tiny bit real for him, too.

The sex was one thing. Obviously, our connection in the bedroom was electric. I couldn’t deny that, but I needed more. I didn’t know how I was going to survive the next two years if I had to pretend it was just about explosive encounters driven purely by lust.

All this time, he’d been so secretive about the honeymoon destination. I’d pleaded, cajoled, and earned myself more than a few punishments in the hopes that he’d crack. Just once. But he’d stood firm, right until this very moment, after we landed in some airport and he put on my blindfold and led me into a car.

It was a short flight, but I didn’t think he’d be taking me to wine country again. That was too obvious. He had something amazing planned. Maybe we were just catching a connecting flight to Paris or Japan or something. There were so many corners of the world I’d never seen.

I felt the momentum slowly decrease, and then the car shut off.

“We’re here,” he said.

So, not a connecting flight then. I frowned, waiting for him to open my door for me. Like so many things that started out as totally unnatural to me, it had become a habit. It was a small thing, but it made him happy. I could compromise. Even if I thought it was a little too caveman, I knew enough of his real personality to understand it wasn’t about that.

The door popped open, and he took my hand, leading me out into the fresh sea air.

Instantly, the smell brought me back.

He could have left the blindfold on for the rest of our honeymoon, and there would be no question in mind. I was back home.

Back in Cape Cod.

I took in a deep breath and let it out, slowly. The memories rushed back, powerful and heavy. Tears threatened at the corners of my eyes.

Whisper-soft, his fingers untied the blindfold and pulled it away. I blinked rapidly, trying to conceal my feelings, hoping that my watering eyes would pass for shock at adjusting to the sunlight.

I whirled around, taking it all in. This wasn’t just any beach, this was my beach. I would recognize it anywhere. Some of the houses had changed, the landscape, but not enough to fool me. This place was everything that had made me who I was.

My forehead crinkled as I stared at him. He was beaming at me, hands thrust deep in his pockets, just enjoying the fruits of his labors. And I couldn’t really blame him for that.

“How did you…” I took another deep breath, letting it out slowly. “How did you find out? Did you ask my parents?”

He shook his head, extending his hand to me. “Come on,” he said. “I want to show you something.”

We walked up the beach, slowly, my heart hammering in my chest. There were so many things I wanted to say, but I couldn’t possibly find the words. I never would have guessed this would be the perfect honeymoon, but somehow, he’d just known. This was the place I needed to go back to.

For a moment, I was struck by the strangeness of it – returning back here, not as a townie, but as one of the tourists I’d resented so much. It was hard not to imagine how they’d think of me – whoever was in my parents’ place now, in mine, cleaning up after people like me, not understanding that I used to be one of them.

Because now, it didn’t matter. I’d married into enough money to keep them at my beck and call.

Something like regret twisted in my chest, then I glanced at Richard. The sunlight gleamed through his hair, and my heart thumped even faster.

I didn’t care about the money. All I cared about was him – and that was dangerous.

All along, I’d grown up knowing that a rich boy could break my heart. I had to stay away. I knew better. I’d done so well, on my mother’s warning. And then, I went ahead and fell in love with one anyway.

How monumentally stupid was I?

“Come on,” he said, leading me towards a little copse of trees. Some long-forgotten memory stirred, deep inside my mind, but I couldn’t quite reach it. The details were too hazy, and if I tried to put it into words, it slipped even further away, like a dream after hours of waking.

All that was left was the feeling itself. Something poignant and bittersweet.

My heels were sinking into the sand. “Wait,” I said, letting go of Richard’s hand. “My shoes.”

He waited as I took them off, carrying them in my other hand as he grasped mine again and kept on urging me forward. I laughed a little as my toes sank into the sand. “What’s so important?”

“You’ll see,” he promised.

We’d almost reached the trees. I looked over my shoulder, grasping again for the memory.

It’s gonna be the biggest best sandcastle in the world

My throat constricted. This was where it happened – this was the exact spot where I first learned that very important lesson about rich boys. Of course, Richard couldn’t know that. He just thought he was doing something very sweet and thoughtful, and he was. But I felt that same wave of loneliness wash over me again, bringing the tears back to my eyes.

The sand gave way to dirt, and suddenly we were in the long shade of the trees. The sun was setting, and I wanted to lose myself in the beauty of it. But there was a great yawning emptiness inside me, because no matter how good things were now, I was destined for the same heartbreak again. He’d leave me. They always left.

“Maya,” he said, softly. “Look.”

He was pointing at a tree trunk. I stepped closer, my eyes still adjusting to the relative darkness. There was something carved in it. Blocky, unsteady letters, darkened with age but still starkly visible in the wood.

BW

SK

There was nothing else, just those two sets of initials stacked on top of each other. But it all came rushing back.

We took a break from building the castle when the lifeguard called adult swim and said we were too close to the water. We had to get out of the way. He didn’t want to have to watch us. So we left, going into the woods, and he didn’t care, just as long as we didn’t drown on his watch.

The boy had a pocketknife, and I thought that was very cool and a little bit scary. I wasn’t allowed to have one of my own. He showed it to me, and I gasped and told him to be careful.

He wanted to make a mark in one of the trees. A memory of the day, and how we built the best sandcastle to ever be built.

“What should I carve in it?”

I giggled. “Batman.”

All day, he’d been calling himself Batman. I really didn’t know who that was, except that he wore a scary rubber suit. I didn’t like Batman, but I liked him. So if he called himself Batman, that was okay with me.

He shook his head, his messy hair falling down over his eye. “No. That’s not what Batman would do. You gotta use your secret identity.”

“So? What are you gonna put on it?”

Grinning, he dug the tip of the knife into the bark. “B.W.,” he said. “For Bruce Wayne. That’s what people call Batman whenever they don’t know he’s Batman.”

“What about me?”

“You can be my sidekick,” he said.

“I don’t wanna be your sidekick.” That made me mad. I knew what a sidekick was – less. Not as strong, not as powerful. Not fair. I wanted to be as cool as Batman.

“Fine,” he said. “What about, if you were Catwoman?”

Catwoman. I wasn’t sure I liked that, but it sounded better than being his sidekick.

“She’s smart, too,” he said. “Sometimes she’s bad, but sometimes she’s good. She’s probably just as smart as Batman.” He didn’t like saying that, but he was trying to make me happy. I nodded enthusiastically.

“Okay. I’m Catwoman. What’s my secret…identity?” I had to sound the word out carefully.

“S.K.,” he said, starting to carve. “That’s Selina Kyle. Don’t forget it, okay? Next time I see you, that’s what I’m gonna call you.” He flipped his hair out of his eyes. “And what are you gonna call me?”

“Bruce,” I said. “Bruce Wayne.”

“That’s right.”

The sun beamed through his hair, and I smiled at him.

Richard’s voice cut through the memory.

“Please tell me you remember.”

I stared at him. Shorter hair, thinner face, and yeah, he was a few feet taller. But there was no mistaking it now. He’d brought the memory back to me, and I knew who he really was.

“Bruce,” I whispered, stepping towards him, although my feet felt like lead.

“Hey, Selina.” He was holding back his smile a little, but it still broke through. “It’s been a while.”

“Not so long,” I said, softly. His fingers brushed against my cheek, feather-light, before they came around to cup the back of my neck. Possessive.

“I told you I’d come right back,” he said. “How come you left?”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I didn’t even think to be embarrassed. “Your parents were supposed to hate me.”

“My parents didn’t give a shit.” His eyes locked with mine, and for once, they showed me everything. No artifice, no false bravado. The memory of childhood had stripped away everything dishonest about us, all the walls we’d put up in the many years we’d been apart.

A sob welled in my throat. I felt stupid, so stupid, for believing what my mother had told me. I knew all she wanted to do was protect me, but she’d torn me away from the one promising friendship of my childhood.

Suddenly, it all made sense. The connection we felt back then, the way he could always make me smile, just with a glance. The way we understood each other without having to speak. We’d both become different people – but really, nothing had changed at all. The way I felt about him now, and the way I felt about him then, suddenly mingled in a tidal wave of feelings that threatened to pull me under.

“There was a monsoon that night,” he said, softly.

“I remember.” I nodded, trying to swallow the thickness in my throat. “Washed away everything we built.”

“I was here every year after that,” he said. “But I could never find you again. By the time I was old enough to figure out how to start asking questions, I realized I didn’t know anything about you. Were you here on vacation? Were you one of the townies’ kids? I had no idea. And you grew up…your face changed…”

Taking a deep, shaky breath, I let my hands unclench by my sides. “How long have you known?”

He half-shrugged, his hand still clasped around the back of my neck. “I didn’t remember, at first. I’ll admit that. Not as clearly as you did. But when you told your story, it brought something back. I had to do some digging. I came back here, that weekend I was ‘away on business.’ I had to see for myself, and make sure my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me. As soon as I saw this tree, it all came rushing back.”

Somehow, I’d completely forgotten about the tree. Our fake names carved there, one on top of the other, as if they were waiting for a plus sign and an outline of a heart. But it hadn’t been like that – not back then.

“Something’s missing,” I said, softly. Wondering if he’d understand.

His face broke into a lopsided grin. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Releasing me, he turned towards the tree, reaching into his pocket for something. I swallowed hard and watched as he unfolded the little pocketknife, and the blade glinted in the moonlight.

Carefully, painstakingly, he carved the little plus sign that signified our connection. Then came the heart, a big swooping design, slightly lopsided. Slightly imperfect.

Just right.

I giggled, stepping close to his side as he put the knife away. “I think you might need to see a cardiologist, dear.”

“Really now.” His arm slid around my waist. “Go ahead, you try to carve a decent heart with a twenty-year-old pocketknife. I’ll be waiting.”

My arms circled around him, silently, just holding him and feeling his body pressed against mine. Deep inside, there was a peace that hadn’t been there before. A sense of calm. Belonging. I hadn’t been rejected, all those years ago.

I didn’t know what that meant for the future, but it brought closure to my past.

“I thought that was a pretty good gesture,” he said, softly. A little teasingly. “Don’t I even get a kiss?”

My whole body thrummed. “I want to,” I admitted. “But if I kiss you now, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”

“Oh, Mrs. Lim.” His lips brushed against my temple, hot breath giving me goosebumps all over. “Didn’t you notice how empty the beach was? I’ve had it closed for a private event. Nobody’s here. Nobody’s going to be here, all night.” His hand slid down a little lower, to cup my ass. “Just us.”

I laughed. “You closed the beach? Oh, the billionaire’s kids must be pissed.”

“They’ll get over it,” he said, spinning me around so that we were pressed together, face to face. “Someday, they’ll understand.”

Swallowing hard, I glanced at the tree. “Right here?” The idea excited me, and I was almost afraid to admit it. “Wouldn’t that be horribly wrong?”

“Why?” His fingers travelled up my back, coming to fiddle with the clasp on my dress. “Here is perfect. Less sand. I don’t know if you’ve had beach sex before, but…”

“We were just kids, last time.” I swallowed hard. “This place…”

“Yeah, but now we’re all grown up.” He stepped back a little, letting my unfastened dress sag, threatening to fall and expose my breasts, but not quite. His eyes raked up and down my body. “And how.”

Giggling, I made a show of holding up the fabric to preserve my dignity. “Okay, now you’re making it weird.”

“This place is ours,” he said, his eyes heavy-lidded as he swooped in to kiss me. Well – almost kiss me. He stopped just millimeters from my lips, to murmur. “It belongs to us. The memory. And we can do whatever we want with it. I know you don’t want to lose the innocence from back then. It’s not going anywhere. It’ll always be like that, no matter what happens now.” His hand grasped my hip, firmly. “Let’s make some new memories. Ones we won’t tell the grandkids about.”

It was a joke. Just a joke, a thoughtless little innuendo that absolutely didn’t mean a damn thing about his intentions for the future. I knew that. But when he said it, I couldn’t help but feel a thrill at the idea he might actually want to start a family with me.

That he wanted this for real. Not just for show.

He kissed me, and all thoughts scattered. I clasped my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life as my knees buckled against him. I had no resistance left. Nothing. I just wanted him to touch me, and I wanted to spend a little longer pretending.

We sank to the ground, somehow, the delicious bulk of his body holding me down. The thrill of that sensation hadn’t lost any of its newness, and I moaned into his mouth, trying to lose myself in the moment. Wanting to. But there was another, stronger desire that was threatening to overwhelm me, and I needed to know. Even if the answer would break my heart.

His hand was sliding up my thigh, under my skirt. I froze, then squirmed away. His hand stopped and slowly withdrew.

As I struggled to prop myself up on my elbows, he pulled back, letting me up. Confusion and lust warred in his expression, and I felt terrible.

“I can’t do this.” Tears shimmered in my eyes, and I felt a horrible knot of guilt in my chest. But I had to stop. I couldn’t keep pretending. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, Richard. I thought I could, but I couldn’t.”

 

To be continued…

This is an adapted story.