The Symbolon (20 page)

The flight climbed through a clear New York sky and over the Atlantic. It was the first time Valeria had flown since her return to the States and she had vowed that she wouldn’t let herself get melancholy. Instead, she would focus on this trip and attempt to enjoy it and then, hopefully, she would see Alex when she returned!

Paolo was drawing a lot of attention from the flight attendants and it was getting on Valeria’s nerves. She rolled her eyes at one of the flight attendants
who had been unprofessional enough to begin giving Paolo details of the Mile High Club initiations with a hint of invitation in her voice. Paolo smiled subtly and Valeria guessed that he had already conducted his fair share of initiations.

As soon as the flight attendant left, Paolo’s face lit in amusement as he turned back toward Valeria. “You are a jealous one.” He tapped her nose
. “I remember.”

Pulling away, she wondered why men thought it was appropriate to talk to women like they were little girls—so
condescending! Alex would never talk to her like that.

“I am not jealous of anyone
who chooses to flirt with
you!
Or do anything
else with you
for that matter! For all I care, she can have at you. It’s just, whatever happened to professional conduct? Those women don’t know that we are just friends. I could be your wife for all they know.”

“You were my wife!” he said
, with a glint in his eyes.

Leaning into the window, she huffed, “Well, I’m not now.”

They landed at the airport in Frederiksted,
on the island of St. Croix, a few hours later. Valeria had watched the shades of the Caribbean change from deep sky blue to azure, to an incredible turquoise that she had always believed had been enhanced on Photoshop.

But the area around the airport was disappointing. It was flat and desert
-like and surrounded by refineries. Paolo saw her expression as she looked out at the island. “Valeria, St. Croix is one of the most majestic of the Caribbean islands. You will not be disappointed!” Then he winked at her in a way that reminded her of Alex.

As they walked out of the open air terminal, there was a rum stand and the woman signaled them over. “I don’t think I like rum
,” Valeria said.

“You must try it!” Paolo led her to the stand. The woman poured several different types of rum in small thimbles. Valeria had expected it to be like shooting vodka. But to her surprise it was delicious! After a few tastes, she nodded to Paolo that she was done and they climbed into their limo.

Sitting in the backseat, Valeria watched with horror as their driver pulled out on the wrong side of the road. Then she relaxed as she realized—thank God—that the other cars were also driving on the “wrong side” of the street! They headed toward the center of the island, winding their way over the crest and through a small rainforest, and then they came to an overlook that revealed a remarkable view of the north shore of St. Croix.

As the limo looped through the coastal town of Christiansted, Paolo had the driver pull over. They strolled along the waterfront with its wood buildings and narrow alleys with small
, but elegant, tourist shops framed by palms. In a jewelry shop, Valeria fell in love with the simple elegance of the Croixian bracelet. It was a sterling silver band with a hook that latched in a U.

Paolo tossed his card on the counter to purchase it for her, and Valeria shook her head disapprovingly. She wasn’t going to wear any jewelry purchased for her by any man, except Alex! She handed the jeweler her own card and then asked him to wrap a gold Croixian bracelet as well. She would give the gold one to Weege for taking care of Charlie. Valeria would have loved to purchase one for Camille also. But Camille, the sister of her heart, her closest friend in the world, could never see her again…because of the charming man
whom she was vacationing with.

Valeria wished that she could hate Paolo forever, but she seemed to be incapable of holding anger or hate in her heart for any length of time. It just wasn’t
within her. And, frankly, he was growing on her. Still, she would never forget what he did! She was certain that a part of her acceptance of him in her life was that those sweet months in Italy seemed almost like a dream, almost like it had never happened, except for Paolo’s presence. She had to know that it had been real! The purpose of this trip, and the only reason she agreed to see Paolo at all, was for the chance to see her beautiful Alex. Just the thought of Alex caused her heart to jump as tears briefly rimmed her eyes. Then she remembered the promise to herself and she shook off the tears. She had spent enough of the past few months in mourning.

They strolled along the wharf and stopped at a seaside restaurant. While eating her salad, Paolo struck up a conversation with the bartender, who convinced Valeria to taste a few more flavors of Cruzan rum
; it tasted good and went down like juice!

They were joined by a very charming sailor, known as “Black Beard
,” who had an extraordinarily long beard—though it was now white. Captain Jim, as he was known by the locals, told Valeria about sailing to Buck Island and how magical it was. She explained to him that she was afraid of the water, but with Valeria’s courage artificially amplified by the rum, she agreed and Paolo booked a trip that left within the hour.

Realizing that she hadn’t even brought a swim suit, she went into the dive store. To her disappointment, they only had bikinis in her size. After searching through their meager selection for a few minutes, she finally found a black
one that covered a little more of her than the others had. She purchased that and a white cotton cover-up and wore it and some flip flops out of the store. Paolo was wearing swim trunks and a white polo shirt. She had to admit that he looked good. Soon, they saw a catamaran with a sail that had a caricature of a jovial sailor with a long black beard.

They boarded and Paolo encouraged Valeria to sit on the netting
, but the memories of the netting of the catamaran from last fall made her nervous. Paolo ordered her a rum punch and that loosened up her fears and, soon, she easily went to the front of the boat with him. As the catamaran moved its way out toward Buck Island, Paolo pulled off his shirt. Valeria noticed several women eyeing Paolo. She also noticed that Paolo was fully aware of his affect on women and completely enjoyed it—knowing exactly how to play it so that all eyes were on him. Paolo leaned back against the incline of the cabin in front of the boat and moved his arms so that they flexed and then rubbed lotion over his chest and shoulders as several of the girls’ jaws hit the floorboards. Valeria rolled her eyes and, with a smirk, looked off in another direction.

“What?” Paolo asked, with mock innocence. Valeria just continued to shake her head in mild amusement.
“What?”
he asked again, both of them fully aware of the game being played.

As they approached the island they were surrounded by dolphins that swam synchronously in front of the catamaran, crisscrossing in front of them. Valeria’s face lit in absolute delight!

Twenty minutes later they pulled between the reefs near the deserted island. Captain Jim explained that Buck Island had been named a National Monument by JFK who had sought to preserve the reefs. The air smelled of coconut oil and rum punch. Paolo tried to encourage her to snorkel with him. Evidently, there was a path through the reefs that surrounded the island. But there was no chance she would do that. Paolo went off…followed by a half dozen young girls.

There was a little boy
who was terrified of the water. She knew how that fear felt! But with the help of the rum, Valeria found herself attempting to lure the boy into the water with her. As she climbed down the ladder into the warm Caribbean, she noticed something moving toward them in the water that was disc shaped. She decided that it must be a ray. While everyone on the boat clamored into the water to swim with the ray—or with Paolo—Valeria sat in the very shallow azure waters of the deserted Buck Island. It felt extraordinary, like bath water!

She had finally convinced the little boy to join her
, and they sat on the very edge of the water as they happily built a sand castle. The ray seemed to agree with their location and joined them. She saw it approaching and, somehow, with its shape and the soft sand, it moved swiftly and smoothly underneath them. If she hadn’t seen it, she wouldn’t have known he was there.

While excited for herself that this shy creature had decided to join her, she knew that the boy would not be so pleased.
When the boy looked through the two inches of water in front of him and realized there was an eye in the sand, if he could have walked on water, he would have. Fortunately, he didn’t have that far to go. Valeria worked to hide her giggles. Why was it that every other person there had attempted to draw the ray to them, but it chose the one person, the little boy, who wanted to avoid it!

The crew started a fire on the island and grilled fresh fish and vegetables. Paolo retrieved two large plates and they sat on the warm sand while they feasted. She had to admit it was delicious and that she was enjoying herself. After lunch, Paolo returned to the snorkeling trails, while she
laid back, catching color for the first time in...well, she thought, probably the first time!

He would return now and again, encouraging her to try to snorkel. He did convince her to put a snorkel in her mouth—though she refused to put something in her mouth that had recently been in someone else’s mouth and then hastily rinsed in a tub. Her gag response would kick in.
So he washed it thoroughly for her and then she kneeled in the shallow waters near the shoreline and floated. He held on to her and she wanted to push his hands away, but frankly, even though the water was only a few feet deep, she was afraid. There was a moment though—with her face covered by a mask, where she watched the sun lacing through the water onto the white sand, being lulled by the cool water lapping over her sun-warmed back, and feeling the gentle current rocking her—that she actually enjoyed herself.

As she dried in the sun after her brief swim, Paolo
returned from the boat with a creamy brown drink.

“What is it?”

“It’s called a ’Nilla Killa.”

She took a sip of it.
“Hmm! Delicious! Thank you.”

“You need more lotion!” He grabbed the sunscreen and
, before she could object, he was moving it over her shoulders and back. His thumbs ran over her neck and she leaned into it. It did feel good. She knew that he was spending far more time working in the lotion than was required. She also knew that she should inform him of such.

Finally
, she pulled forward and said, “Thanks, I think that’s plenty.” Paolo immediately stopped.

“I’m going back in
,” Paolo said abruptly, as he rose and disappeared into the water.

Laying back on her beach towel, with her drink and the sun and cool breeze, felt good. She hadn’t felt
this good in a very long time. Granted, much of that was due to the rum, but it didn’t really taste like there was much alcohol in her drink. Suddenly, Paolo stood up in the waist deep water, looking comical with his mask over his face and the snorkel dangling from his mouth.

“Valeria, come quickly! You must see this!”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

“Come
, Valeria. I promise, you’ll be very glad you did!” he encouraged.

Resigning herself
, she reluctantly grabbed her mask and snorkel and joined him.

“You do not need to swim this time
,” he said as she began to slip her mask on. Suddenly, a pod of dolphins began swimming around her. Her jaw dropped in wide-eyed amazement.

“Dolphins!”
She stood watching them as they circled them and played. They were so close she could touch them! She got her nerve up and brushed the back of one of them.

For nearly
ten minutes, the dolphins played around her. The look in Paolo’s eyes was just as amazed. Soon, other tourists were trying to video the event and pushing their loved ones near Valeria to get a picture. Paolo offered to hold the camera so that a father could be in the shot with his children. Then, just as quickly as the dolphins had come, they left.

Valeria heard the blow of the conch shell, announcing that it was time to
return to St. Croix. During the trip back, she comfortably laid on the front of the catamaran and sunned herself. The breeze and the cool air from the sea were delightful, and the crew kept the rum punch flowing.

Paolo glanced at her. “You are turning pink. You should roll over.”

With a shrug, she rolled onto her stomach and adjusted her towel.

“You need more lotion.” He immediately began massaging the warm lotion into her
skin and, this time, she simply enjoyed the feel of his skilled hands on her back and neck.

Everyone on the boat was still
talking about the dolphin’s behavior at Buck Island. The crew went on and on about how they had never seen the dolphins circle someone like that before.

“Valeria, do you know why the dolphins came to you?” Paolo asked as he added a stroke of sunscreen to her shoulders.