Her mind wandered back to the years she spent there and the countless traumas that came her way.“Good point,” she murmured.“I guess for the patients, though, it was the end of the excitement and the beginning of long days of nothing to do but recover and heal.”
Jorge returned with two lemonades.“Did you guys venture out at all?”he asked.
“No.Neither of us really wanted to.”
“We started to, but the police carrying SIG Sauer SIGM400 rifles quickly turned me off,” Jorge said.“I’d rather not know why there were so many obviously untrained uniformed men so well armed.”
Jerry lifted his head.“Thatwouldbe a tad disconcerting,” he said as he shifted his chair and sat up.“So Olive, why are you thinking about my holes?”
Olive grinned, “Deep subject, holes.”
Jerry grinned.“I’ll tell you someday.”
“Why not now?”
“Okay,” he agreed amiably.“See that?”He pointed to the scar on his thigh.“Got shot right there.”He turned his body and tossed a thumb toward his back.“See that?Got burned.”
“Very informative,” Olive said.
“Very hot, actually.You already know about this one,” he said while flexing his scarred left biceps.
“Some of my best work.But why all on your left side?”
“I’m right-handed?”Jerry shrugged.“Etiam sanato vulnere cicatrix manet.”
Emma piped up, “Even though the wound is healed, the scar remains.Publilius Syrus.”
“Non turpis est cicatrix quam virtus parit.Ibid.,” Jerry quoted.
Olive surprised them both by translating, “No scar is ugly which is born of valor.”Jerry cocked an eyebrow.Olive said, “I’ve been brushing up.”
Jerry said, “No need.You’re perfect in every way.”While Olive pondered that, he turned to Emma.“Erin said it was kinda like a souk but filled with tourist junk.”
Olive frowned.“What’s a souk?”
“A marketplace in the Middle East,” Emma said.“Like a bazaar.Bunch of stalls.Everyone trying to get your attention, barter with you.”She took a sip of her lemonade.“I liked going to them, but nothing really stood out to me.Then we turn a corner and there’s like fifteen police or militia or whatever they are standing around with their fingers on the triggers of their automatic rifles, weapons off safe, and all the fun kind of evaporated.”
“I don’t blame you,” Olive said.She imagined that would be a little scary, especially if you didn’t know why and what.“Did you just turn back around?”
“Yeah.Nothing we’d want to get mixed up in.”Jorge leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.“We’re on vacation.Not a mission.”
“Preach,” Jerry said with a grin.“You two both would have just gone ahead and strolled right on in if it had been the latter.”He stood up and stretched his arms over his head.“I’m going to cool off in the pool.”
Olive slipped her sunglasses off and stood up, shifting the straps of her swimsuit.“That’s a great idea.”
They strolled side by side around the pool, the deck warm beneath their bare feet, and reached the deep end.Only a single towel lay crumpled on a nearby chair.Most of the other passengers had gone ashore.Jerry launched into a smooth dive, slicing the water with barely a splash.Olive followed, the cool water enveloping her, sending a shiver of delight down her spine.She swam upward, tilting her head back as she broke the surface, her hair slicking away from her face.Wiping water from her eyes, she felt Jerry’s arm slip around her waist.She opened her eyes, a grin spreading across her face, and looped her arms around his neck with ease.
“Having fun?”Jerry’s voice carried over the gentle lapping of the pool water.
Olive grinned, her feet dangling in the cool water.“Definitely.”
“You know what I keep thinking?”His gaze steadied, searching her face as the sun glinted off the deck.
“What?”
“That we get to spend the rest of our lives together, having little adventures like this one.”
Her chest tightened, warmth spreading through her as she blinked back tears.“God is good to bring us together.”
