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There’s a lot of truth in that.
In silence we stroll up the long stretch of sand, and I enjoy watching Arianna dipping her toes into the water and rubbing the sand between her perfectly manicured toes.
She loves the beach.
“Do you do this often?” I already feel less tense. She was right; this is exactly what I needed today.
“At least twice a week. We have some of the best beaches in the world right on our doorstep. Are you telling me you don’t come down here at the weekends?” She motions to the ocean and the crashing waves that make the sand fizz along the shore.
“Never.”
“Well, that needs to change. You need to add more down time into your crazy schedule.”
I need to add her into my schedule, and the ball can’t come quick enough.
“From now on, I’m going to block out time for relaxation into your calendar,” she declares confidently.
“I play tennis on Saturday.” Isn’t that enough?
“That’s an adrenaline rushing activity. What you need is something to help you decompress and sleep better.”
She must have overheard me complaining to my mom on the phone earlier that I didn’t sleep well again last night.
“Okay. Do it,” I agree.
“Great.” Her smile has an air of mischief about it.
What the hell am I letting myself in for?
“Besides walking the beach, do you have any hobbies?” I ask. Having spent dinner with her the other evening, I want to unpeel even more layers to her life.
“When I was younger, I was a gymnast and I was great at Beam, and while I can’t do it anymore, I still try to go to the gym a few times a week. I’m not into watching sports, but when the Olympics are on, I watch it all.”
Interesting.
She adds, “I love watching fantasy movies and reading romance novels. Romantasy is my favorite.”
“Romantasy, what’s that?”
“Romance and fantasy mixed together.”
“Do they have a happy ending?” I ask, intrigued by her love of romance novels.
“The ones I read do, yeah.”
“Do you believe in happy ever afters?”
“I believe we all deserve one, only some of us don’t believe we are worthy or that we will ever find our one true love.” She stops walking, takes a sip of her water and looks out across the horizon to watch the handful of surfers riding the waves.
“Do you think you deserve love, Nathan?” Her voice is full of wonder.
“I didn’t think so until recently.” That’s the truth.
“What changed?” she asks, not looking my way.
“Someone came into my life and made me question everything.” It’s crazy and it sort of annoys me. It all happened a bit fast and hit me without warning.
“Is she special?”