“No wonder you said not to bring heels, Bette!,” Tina exclaimed, turning to Bette. “Uh, huh,” Bette laughed, wondering how Tina would take this, knowing how particular the blonde was about her footwear.

“Why not start now?,” Bette asked, as she shucked her own heeled step-ins.  She bent to remove Tina’s wedges, smirking at the blonde as she looked up. With a shrug, Tina nodded.  One way to get into the island life, right?  She thought naughtily, next Bette would probably ask her to strip everything off, to
go au naturelle.  Emphasizing beauty and luxury, the place did seem to beckon such hedonism.

Dani had thoughtfully brought a canvas bag and handed it to Bette, so she could drop their shoes into it. “Happens all the time,” he laughed.   He turned to walk ahead of the couple, in the direction of the main island, heading towards the main beach house that served as a gathering point for guests.  Tina clasped Bette’s hand, feeling a surge of affection for her wife, gazing around her in wonderment as they walked over the softly padded boardwalk, taking in the beauty of everything around them: clear, aquamarine water teeming with exotic sea life, colorful coral underneath the boardwalk/bridge they were traversing.  They walked quietly behind Dani, exchanging glances, breathing in the fresh, salted air, and gentle breeze.

The sun was setting as they neared the edge of the boardwalk.  Bette paused to turn Tina around gently so that they could both enjoy watching the sun set over the far horizon.  Bette was pointing out the white band in the horizon, about a half a mile away, explaining that the resort was naturally protected by a rim of reefs circling both islands– and the plume of white “foam” that they could see was actually formed by waves crashing against that far-away barrier.

“This is spectacular, Bette,” Tina whispered, as she took in the clear blue of the sky above, followed by the  ribbons of orange and pink surrounding the setting sun, and then the white plume of the waves crashing in the distance, and finally the aquamarine of the gentle sea water flowing underneath them.  They criss-crossed arms behind each other, leaning against each other to silently watch the setting of the orange-hued solar body over the edge of the world.