Page 114 of Best Wrong Thing

He laughs and tickles me. “Patience.”

“I don’t have much of that.”

“Obviously. But I’m not going to spoil the surprise, no matter how much you beg.”

“I’m not begging.”

“Aren’t you?”

“No.”

Jacob rolls us onto our sides so we’re facing one another. He traces my face with his fingers. “I love you.”

I grin. “I love you too.”

An hour and a half later, after saying goodbye to Mum—who apparently is in on the surprise—we board a coach. The moment the guide starts talking, I know where we’re going.

I turn to Jacob, eyes wide. “We’re doing the volcano tour again?”

“Yes. Just you and me, the way it should have been last time.”

“We still had fun, and we managed to make the sunset romantic.”

He kisses me. “Not romantic enough. I wanted to experience it with you the way I’d imagined. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Very okay.” I kiss him deeply.

It’s exactly the same as before, except we’re with a different mix of people, and can be completely open about being together.We experience the size and majesty of the crater hand in hand. We take selfies, many of which are goofy or of us kissing. We’re free to have fun, to laugh and to love. Between destinations, we cuddle on the coach.

At Cruz de Tejeda, we venture along a walking trail for as long as we dare, then return to the coach before it leaves without us. We spot lizards and give brightly coloured flowers silly names because we don’t know what they are, and it’s more fun to make them up than to look them up.

At lunch, we feed each other fruit and end up in hysterics. The juice drips down our chins, sticky and sweet and too irresistible not to lick off each other’s faces, even when a few of our fellow tourists tut at us. I don’t care what they think. Now, if we ripped each other’s clothes off in front of them, they might have cause to complain.

We return to Parque Rural del Nublo, where we sweet-talk our guide into taking photos of the two of us with the three huge stone pillars—El Fraile, La Rana, and Roque Nublo—behind us.

“This place is still humbling,” Jacob says.

“Very.” We sit on a rock with our arms around each other’s waists, my head on his shoulder. “Our lifespans are nothing more than the blink of an eye compared to how long these rocks have been here.”

“Maybe, but that’s no reason not to make the most of them.”

“Oh, I intend to live life to the full.”

“I don’t doubt it. I don’t think you could do anything less.”

“Could you?”

Jacob sighs. “I used to spend too much time worrying about pleasing other people, especially Dad.”

“And now?”

“I’m going to do things that make me happy.”

“Good.”

“Hopefully, those things make you happy too.”

“I’m sure they will.”