Be With Me

Chapter 51

"You two have fun." Cynthia said goodbye to both when they reached the check-in location and she couldn't go further. She was glad they were escaping for a while. Cynthia was afraid for both. They looked restless, broken, alienated from world. They were just shadows walking around. Maybe getting away was the best idea James could come up with.

"Thanks mom." Rafaela kissed her mother's cheek and then grabbed her bag; James did the same.

Cynthia watched them walking away and James held Rafaela's hand. She took a deep breath; something had changed. Suddenly, they seemed closer again, it had been quite a long time since she had seen them holding hands, ever since Liam died, and the day before she saw it and that moment, she was witnessing it again. She agreed with these vacations in every possible way. Cynthia knew they weren't going on proper vacations, only God knew how their hearts were hurting, but it was good for them to be away from everything and everyone and shake Rafaela's evil thoughts away. That was the most important thing and, she hoped they'd bond again, which seemed they were already doing.

After the check-in, James and Rafaela sat on a bench waiting for their flight call. James bent over her and kissed her cheek, she offered him a smile, but he couldn't but notice how broken and exhausted she looked, even if smiling. Even her green eyes had lost that glitter he loved but she was trying, he could tell. They were both trying hard to remain together and that was a good thing.

"Tell me more about this place we're going." She asked.

"What's there to say?"

"Come on... you just got home, saying I had to pack because we were going to Maui. I don't know anything else; I want to know more." She said. James opened his backpack and pulled a brochure off it, giving it to her.

"This is the place we're going." He said.

Her mouth opened. "We're going to this hotel?" Rafaela asked in awe.

"It's not a hotel Rafi. It's a villa, that is all for us." He explained. Rafaela put the brochure on her lap and her mouth opened to speak but no sound came from it.

"What?" She finally said.

"It's all for us." He said again.

"James!" She exclaimed looking back at the house showing on the paper. "How much does it cost to stay in a place like this?"

"$1000 a day."

"James! That's too much money!" Rafaela exclaimed surprised.

"I can pay for this now babe. I can pay for these things now." He affirmed and hadn't it been for the hurt he had inside, he'd be really proud of it.

"Still... you didn't have to. I mean... a room in a regular hotel was ok for me." James took a hand to her mouth to shut her up.

"Don't act like you've never been in a place like that. I am quite sure you've been to places like these."

"When I was living with my parents, yes. When we moved in together..." He shut her up again.

"When we moved in together, I didn't have anything and couldn't give you anything. Turns out that this album took us to where we never thought we would be. I am not sure how much money I have in my account right now. I can give you everything you were used to now Rafi. I can give you these fucking holydays and it's not going to make any difference for us. I have money for this, and I am glad I can provide these holydays for us without your parent's help."

"It's amazing James." She smiled at him and he kissed her lips softly. Anything... he'd do anything, but he could not lose her.

"I hope it looks as amazing when we get there. Sometimes these things are optimized for photos and then suck." He ended up giggling and she did too.