On the Island

We rode the elevator to the third floor. I slid the key card in, and when we entered the room, the first thing I noticed was a huge king-sized bed piled high with pillows. A large flat screen T.V. hung on the wall across from the bed and four dining chairs and a table sat next to a roll top desk and mini refrigerator. The living room area had a coffee table, couch, and two chairs arranged in front of another T.V. The air conditioner blasted frigid air into the room. A tray of four plastic-covered glasses sat on a low table by the door. I unwrapped two, walked into the bathroom, and filled them at the sink. A

We checked out the rest of the bathroom. A giant glass-walled shower occupied one corner of the room and a marble counter with two sinks and a basket of soap and shampoo stood between the shower and a deep Jacuzzi tub. Two white robes hung on a hook by the door.

“I’m going to call Sarah, so I can get my mom and dad’s number. I told her to have them wait by the phone. How many hours behind Chicago are we?”

“I think eleven. When I talked to my dad he said it was already 8:00 p.m there.”

A

“Because she’s probably calling everyone you know and they’re calling her back. Her phone will probably be ringing for the next several days. Let’s get in the shower. You can try again as soon as we get out.”

We stayed in the shower for almost an hour, scrubbing and laughing. A

“I’m never going to take another bath for as long as I live. I’m officially only taking showers,” A

“Me, too.”

When we finished, we dried off and put on the bathrobes. A

I picked her up and set her on the counter, then took her face in my hands. We kissed for a long time.

“You taste incredible,” I said. “You smell pretty good, too. Not that I ever minded when you didn’t.”

“This is better, though,” she said, resting her forehead on mine

“Yes.”

We left the bathroom, and I stretched out on the bed with a room service menu in one hand and the T.V. remote in the other. “A

It was hard deciding what to order because we wanted everything. We finally narrowed it down to steak and French fries, spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, and chocolate cake.

“Oh, and two giant Cokes,” A

I called room service and placed our order. A

“You’re naked under that robe,” I reminded her.

“It won’t take long.”

I cha

She put a piece in her mouth and said, “Yep.” She lay down on the bed next to me and I watched her suck on it. She sat up and untied my robe. Opening it, she ran her hand gently along my side. Despite the pain, my body responded to her touch immediately.

“You have some spectacular bruises developing here,” she said. “What happened?”

“There was a huge tree trunk in the water.”

“You don’t get along well with those,” she pointed out.

“This one hit me.”

A

“How long until room service gets here?” she asked.

“They didn’t say.”

A

When room service knocked on the door a little later, I tied my robe and answered it. The man that delivered the food put everything on the table and as soon as I added a tip and signed the check, we spread it out, taking the lids off.

“We have silverware,” A

“And chairs.” I said, pulling one out and sitting down next to her. I handed her some garlic bread and cut a piece of steak. I groaned when I put it in my mouth. We fed each other bites off our forks and drank our Cokes. Our stomachs filled up fast; we weren’t used to such heavy food, or so much. A

We stretched out on the bed afterward, to let our food settle. A

“I’ve never been so content in my life,” she said.

I muted the T.V. We had been watching coverage of the tsunami while we ate, amazed at the amount of devastation. Indonesia seemed to have been hit the hardest and the death toll had already reached the tens of thousands.

“I feel terrible saying this because so many people have died, but if it hadn’t been for the tsunami, we’d still be on that island,” A

“I don’t either.” I stretched my fingers toward the nightstand and turned the clock radio on, fiddling with the dial until I found an American music station. Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” was playing, and I smiled.

A

She snuggled closer, and I held her tight.

“Has it hit you yet, T.J.? That we’re safe and we’re going to see our families again?”

“It’s starting to.”

“What time is it?” she asked.

I turned my head toward the clock. “It’s a little past two.”

“It’s one in the morning in Chicago. I don’t care. I’m going to try Sarah again. There’s no way she or my parents are sleeping anyway.”

A

“Try again in a little while. You’ll get through eventually.” She handed me the phone and I put it back on the nightstand. “A

She snuggled back into my arms. “Yeah?”

“What about John? Don’t you think Sarah probably called him?”

“I’m sure she did.”

“What do you think he’ll do when he finds out you’re alive?”

“He’ll be happy for my family, of course. Other than that, I don’t know. He’s probably living in the suburbs with a wife and a kid by now.” She paused for a minute and said, “I hope he gave my stuff to my parents.”

“Where will you live?”

“With my mom and dad. Wherever that is. They’ll want me to stay with them for a while. Then I’ll get my own place. I still can’t believe they sold their house, T.J. They always talked about buying something smaller someday, maybe a condominium, but I didn’t think they’d actually do it. I grew up in that house. It makes me sad to know they don’t own it anymore.”

I kissed her, and then I untied her robe and slipped it off her shoulders. We made love and fell asleep afterward. When I woke up it was 5:00 p.m. A