My Kind of Woman

25. The Beach Inspires Intimacy

AN: Hope everyone is being safe! Just was thinking how strange it is to know that people think about this book, that it exists in their minds and they think about Norah, Mio and Jackie.... hmm. I'm so appreciative of every read, vote and comment I get from this, makes my day. The writing in the chapter may feel a little flat, or maybe it only does to me, but I was very busy this week and managed to type this out in two sittings, when it usually takes me a little longer. Anyway, hope you enjoy, this chapter is probably the bravest we've seen Mio yet!

That next day we finally went to the beach.

The first thing I did that morning was slip into that bathroom. Though it was bright, I was cold. The tiles against the soles of my feet made my legs erupt with goosebumps. The windows were closed, those beautiful silver-rimmed windows, so I moved to open them. I stepped into the tub and reached forward to push them open. They had a slight squeak of age to them and swung out slowly, revealing a balcony area only large enough for a single flower pot that had been pushed off to the corner. The railings around it were bluntly pointed like little spears and looked freshly painted.

I just stood with both feet in that bathtub for a few moments, gazing out the french windows. The breeze was gentle; it pushed my hair to the sides of my face. The part of the beach I could see was fairly empty that day. A few couples were tanning on their backs and little toddler legs were furiously working, making tiny prints in the sand.

To my side the door swung open and I heard Mio gasp.

"Sorry! You aren't washing, are you?" She asked. She was standing with her hand gripped on the door and her eyes squinted shut. The sight made me smile, I thought of teasing, but instead I said,

"No, I'm fully clothed. Look."

She opened her eyes, let them roam over my body then blinked at me. "Why are you...standing in the bath?"

"I," she was smiling as I spoke, "I was opening the windows."

"So you got in?"

"I like the bath," I said sheepishly, feeling my face grow warm.

"You do, don't you," she walked up close and ran her fingers around its edge. "It's beautiful."

"Have you used it?" I asked.

She looked up into my face. "Yes. Before."

I hummed and nodded. She was wearing a summer robe, and under it, I assumed not much. I didn't want to look for too long. So I looked at her face. Her lips appeared pinker than usual perhaps in the sun, her lashes were long and dark, the tops of her cheeks were slightly red with the hours she'd spent outside and her dark hair was loosely pulled away from her face in a low knot. She smiled slowly at me staring.

"What?" She said, and when I just shrugged in reply. She said, "we're going to the beach soon."

To quote Nabokov, if my happiness could talk, it would've filled the building with a deafening roar. I would've been happier if it was just us there, on the sand, in the sun, but I was happy nonetheless.

I wanted to take her hands and guide her into the tub. After that, I wasn't sure what I would do. But I just wanted to be, with her. That's all I knew.

I realised I hadn't said anything for a bit when she said, "what's wrong? You don't want to go?"

"I do! I really want to, let me just get ready," I said.

She looked at me like she wanted to say something. I'd often noticed that, her looking like there was something on the tip of her tongue, something that she was dying to say. But there was a conflict in her, something that urged her to not say what she wanted. So those words came through her hands when she touched me, only gently, every time, but obvious.