Vogue | Tony Stark

FORTY SIX - OLD TIMES

"Let's get out of the city."

Esté was stood by the window in her underwear with a cup of coffee in her hand when Tony spoke up. It was a misty morning up in the clouds but Esté enjoyed watching the lights turn on in the skyscrapers one by one, the clouds lifting more by the hour and the sun shining down on them.

"And go where?"

Tony smiled. He'd been messing around in the kitchen doing much of nothing for the last ten minutes while Estélla stood silently by the window. He didn't want to disturb her as she seemed content, peaceful after a time where he knew she'd been anything but.

Plus, Tony wasn't about to cut short a chance to stare at her in a matching red lingerie set for as long as she'd let him.

He walked over to her, standing behind her with his arms around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder. He could see her smiling from the corner of his eye and he pressed a kiss to her cheek, sighing while they both looked out of the window.

"Let's just go up to The Hamptons for a couple of days. Take a break, breathe."

"My parents are still there for another two weeks," Esté said, leaning back against his chest with one hand resting on top of his.

"Even better," he replied, "It'll be just like old times. Give them a call."

Five hours later, Tony and Estélla were driving through the gates of her Hamptons home with overnight bags packed and a backseat full of alcohol and groceries.

She'd called her mother and asked if she and Tony could join them for the weekend, which they of course agreed to. Leonie was quick to wonder how such a change in circumstance had happened but thought it best not to pry. Her daughter sounded happy down the phone and after everything, that was all she and George cared about.

They were both greeted with warm smiles and open arms from Leonie and George, dropping their bags at the foot of the stairs and unloading the groceries quickly in the kitchen before being dragged out into the sunshine.

It was a hot day in late August and despite the mist that morning in the city, clear blue skies reflected on the rippling ocean tide and the patio was hot on the soles of bare feet, a quiet melody playing from the speakers by the pool.

The house always looked beautiful but there was something about the white walls washed with golden sunshine shining on them that reminded Esté of her happy childhood memories, and as she accepted a freshly made mojito from her father and looked over at Tony who took one too, it really did feel like the old times.

"I'm taking a dip, it's too hot."

Esté stood up and stretched her arms above her head, a baby blue bikini sitting on her hips and tied with a bow around the back of her neck, a pair of silver aviators over her eyes.

Tony jumped up from his sun lounger, looking down through his blue-lensed shades at Esté as she shook her fingers through her hair, smiling to himself.

"Race you."

"What?" Esté turned to look at him.

"You heard me. On three," he grinned, looking towards the ocean, "One, two, three!"

Esté couldn't remember the last time she'd ran that wasn't part of a training plan, but she felt free as the bay breeze pushed through her hair and whipped against her cheeks, laughing as she sprinted across the lawn and down the sand, Tony giving her a head start but somehow still beating her to the water by a few feet.

He dived in without a care in the world, plunging beneath the water and surfacing with a shake of his head to get the water dripping from his hair away from his eyes.