“He just threw it all away? Was he angry that she’d been doing that?”
“No, he just couldn’t deal with her being gone. They’d been together since university. They loved each other deeply . . . and when she died, he turned into a bitter bastard. Nothing I could do was good enough for him. When Christophe turned eighteen, he decided we were old enough to be on our own. He moved to Paris and left us behind in the house we grew up in. I was fifteen.”
“Lord, I can’t imagine what that was like for you.”
She stroked his arm with the palm of her other hand and traced the silver hook on his bracelet with one finger.
“Do you still like to fish?”
Julien shrugged, letting out a heavy sigh. “It’s been a while.”
He stood up to clear the table, and she followed suit. He turned to face her, looped an arm around her waist, and pulled her close to him. He kissed her, and his mouth stretched against hers to deepen the kiss, until he remembered her burns. He pulled away, and she rested her head on his chest. He stroked her hair with one hand, and as she let him hold her, she felt the tension in his body ease. He exhaled.
She raised her face to look up at him, and he came closer until his face was less than an inch from hers. He kissed the tops of her closed eyelids and, very delicately, the scarlet streak of red that the burn had left just under her eye.
“Maybe I’ll stay home today,” he murmured. “Gloria and the others can make do without me.”
Lumi shook her head. “Julien, it’s not good for us to get into this . . . bubble, where it’s just me and you,” she said.
“What else is there?” he asked, his eyes dreamy.
“Julien.” She tried to sound stern but suspected it wasn’t working. “Go to work. Handle your biz.” She gave him a playful shove.
He shook himself. “Yeah, yes. I guess you’re right,” he said. “We’re catering a graduation dinner at DAX tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
She nodded emphatically. “Yes. Sounds good.” And with that, she picked up her purse to leave.
“Lumi?” he asked.
“Yes?”
He started to say something but bit his tongue. “Take care of yourself for me,” he said.
The spa tub was deep, not so deep that it activated Rafelina’s fear of drowning, but deep enough to wet Lumi’s, Jenny’s, and Rafelina’s ponytails as they soaked in it. Halved lemons bobbed on the surface of the water. The spa room had been darkened and fitted with a violet light. A canvas dotted with thousands of tiny luminous points was stretched over the standard stucco ceiling, giving the impression of a starry sky. It had been three weeks since the kitchen incident. With caution, Lumi had agreed to do a spa day with her two best friends.
“I better taste like lemonade by the time I get out of here,” Rafelina said.
Lumi splashed her and laughed, and Jenny gave Rafi a polite smile.
“It’s nice to have both of you here,” Lumi said. “I know you got to meet when I opened Caraluna, but it’s been a while.”
“It’s nice to be here,” Jenny said with a sigh, sinking farther into the warm water.
Lumi draped her burned hand and arm over the edge of the tub. With her other hand, she flicked away the lemons that floated over and bumped into her shoulders, sending them bobbing over to Rafelina. The steam rising off the water made her burns itch, but she wasn’t going anywhere. She needed this.
“You’re kind of freaking me out, ma,” Rafelina said. “You seem strangely okay for what happened.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay.” Lumi threw her head back and heaved a long breath. “I’m not okay. Of course I’m not okay. But I have to keep going. I’m not going back to the state of mind I was in after I lost Caraluna.”
Jenny reached toward Lumi and patted her arm, while Rafelina put an arm around her shoulders. The tears spilled over, and Lumi allowed them.
“You’re not going back to that, Lumi. You’ll see. Everything will be just fine. You’ll get through this,” Jenny said.
Rafelina nodded and squeezed her shoulders. Lumi leaned her head back against Rafelina’s arm and breathed deep, letting the steam and salts do their work.
On the edge of the tub, a tall, thin woman with a towel wrapped around her head cleared her throat. “Excuse me, are you ladies almost done? I’m waiting for my turn to become tea. Also, you’re doing it wrong. You’re supposed to brush your skin while you’re in there.”
“Hmm . . . dead skin and lemon tea? Not a winning combo in my book. Let’s get out of here,” Rafelina said.
They stood up, wrapped their white spa towels around their bodies, and walked down the tiled steps to the locker room. Rafelina spied the infrared sauna and stepped away from Lumi and Jenny.
“Do you mind if I check that out real quick?” she asked.
“Not at all. I’d better not, but I’ll wait for you in the locker room. You should go too, Jenn.”
Jenny gave her a nod. “Thanks, Lumi.”
Lumi watched them disappear behind a heavy pine door across from the spa tub, then trailed into the locker room. Aside from a kind-eyed woman folding disposable bras by the sinks, it was empty. She sat on one of the wooden benches between lockers, hugging her towel close to her body, and took a sip from the water bottle she held. There had been a bar set up with cucumber water, hibiscus tea, and copper cups at the entrance to the locker room, but she decided on plain bottled water. She’d learned it was best to limit outside information that could interfere with her senses when she found herself feeling open and relaxed.
The quiet time allowed her to check in with herself. Twenty minutes in the tub had left her feeling like jelly. Her skin tugged in the burned places, but more than causing pain, they itched. As she sipped the water, she noticed that her chest seemed to have grown more expansive; there was more space for her to breathe. In silence, she gave thanks for good friends and hot water, neither of which was a given.
37
Lumi
Evening fell over Manhattan, streaking the sky with pale orange, rose gold, and, finally, violet. Lumi was pulling on her jacket to go and walk the streets of Inwood to search for good pho when her door buzzer rang. She glanced up at the clock in surprise. She wasn’t supposed to see Julien until the following day, and she hadn’t made plans with her friends since she fell into this bubble of playing doctor the old-fashioned way with him.
A moment later, a knock came on her door. Julien stood before her. He smiled widely when he saw her, but she detected restlessness behind his smile.
“I know we said tomorrow, Lu, but I couldn’t wait that long to see you.”
She was secretly relieved. She had felt a dull ache all day, her body missing him in the places he had been. Plus, she could use his soothing touch after being itchy all day after the spa.
As she studied him, she detected an edge of irritation. She reached forward to stroke the side of his face with her unburned hand, letting the stubble prickle her palm. He laid his hand over hers and pressed it there, savoring the feel of her cool palm against his face.
“Everything okay?” she asked softly, searching his eyes.