“Oh so that's how it is?” I ask, kicking water back at him before he has a chance of coming back with a smart-alec response.
I quickly steer Dobin back to the shallows while he wipes the salty water out of his eyes.
“Come on slow coach” I shout back to him, just to really wind him up.
I wait for him to join us, before we head back to where we started.
“Just you wait, I'm going to get you back for that” he threatens, jokingly.
“Get me back? You started it, if anything I still owe you one!” I retort.
“How do you figure that out?” he has me, I don't owe him one at all, but I can't admit I just made it up for something to say back to him.
“I just do” I settle with facetiously.
“Alright, I'll take my punishment like a gentleman” he laughs.
We return the horses just after 12.30, and head for lunch. We decide to be a little social and take lunch in one of the restaurants, but seeing as the only people I know here are Blair and John and the only people Carlos knows are staff and family, it's still unlikely we will be disturbed.
We are proven right when we spend two hours on the veranda of the restaurant, in full view of all passing guests and yet speak to no-one but each-other the whole time; and frankly I wouldn't want it any other way.
We talk of the future, where we want to be in years to come, how big a family we want, what pets we'd like. We agree we both want three children, one boy and two girls, I'm more of a dog person, where-as Carlos likes cats more, so we compromise on one of each. I want to work, but when I have kids, I want to be there with them, so would give up work. Carlos suggests that we save enough money to both be able to stay at home with them as one big close family, which I agree sounds like a dream. When you think of these things you always assume one or the other, if not both of you will have to keep working, but I guess with Carlos it's entirely possible that we won't, we can just have our cake and eat it too!
In one way it might seem wrong to be talking about things like this so soon, even if we are doing it more in a way of how we see our future rather than actually planning our future together, but as the discussion goes on it just feels so right. It may be those rose tinted glasses fogging my vision, but we seem to be on the same page about everything, it's like pieces of a jigsaw just falling seamlessly into place.
After lunch we move back to the beach, the wind has got up, so we huddle together under a palm tree and watch the waves roll in.
“Hey guys” Blair and John appear, popping our private little bubble. They don't hang about, instead just agreeing to be at ours by seven tonight, before making their excuses to leave us to our romance.
We spend the rest of the day inseparable, as usual, but our embraces are tinged with even more longing than normal. I feel a certain desperation to envelop him, as if I need to absorb a part of him into me, so that when I leave I can take it with me.
Carlos manages to put into words the feelings I am having, “You know, when you leave, you will be taking my heart with you sweetness, because without you, I don't think it could go on beating”. It's exactly right, when I go a part of my heart will be left behind too, loving him just as much as it does now, but in the process, it will be breaking in two.
Whenever you start a relationship, there is a tiny part of you that keeps in mind that your heart may get broken, but it's easily forgotten about in the throws of passion, but when you know exactly what date and time your heart will break, it's impossible to put it out of your mind. I imagine it's like knowing the day you will die; you can live your life to the full, appreciate every last second of it, but that day will always be looming over you, darkening everything you do.