The Act of Forgiveness

29

"Don't you think you're going a bit overboard?" I asked wearily, stepping off the dock and onto the swaying boat in front of me. I glanced behind my shoulder in anticipation to Jaspers answer, only to see him smirking and shaking his head.

"Why wouldn't you want a sunset cruise?" He asked rhetorically, grasping the metal railing to step on board.

We were with two other couples and the captain. He spoke broken English as the six of us were all from the states. We understood him though as he explained the safety features and where the life vests were. The boat was a decent size, probably twenty feet long and we would only be on here for about two hours.

Jasper had purchased this little excursion when he first booked our vacation, claiming that he had always wanted to go boating one day. I had never been either, but I didn't think that the beginning of my pregnancy would be a good time to start.

"I hope I don't get nauseous." I mumbled to Jasper as we settled on the couch type seating.

The lady across fro me looked up and grinned. "I have sea sick patches if you need one!"

I paused for a second, glancing between her and the receding shore behind her. "I'm actually pregnant and I'm early into the pregnancy, so I don't know if the motion of the boat would make me feel more nauseous."

We started moving just as I finished my sentence, my body lurching lightly as we began accelerating. The Mexican air was humid all day, so the light breeze was nice as it ruffled my hair.

After my explanation, her face softened and she grinned. We were only about four feet apart and the wind wasn't loud so it was easy for her to hear me.  "Congrats! Is this your first?"

"No." I started with a smile growing on my face as I leaned closer to Jasper, my shoulder tucked under his arm. "We have a little girl, but we didn't want to bring her on the boat so she's with the resorts daycare for the evening."

"Aw, that was smart. Can you imagine any of our kids on a boat when they were little?" She asked the man to her side as a laugh bubbled through her lips. Her husband turned and shook his head as a smirk played across his face. Adoration was clear in his eyes and it felt like such an intimate moment so I adverted my eyes.

The other couple was farther down the boat and were talking between themselves quietly. The girl suddenly blushed and looked away and the boy laughed out loud, tugging her closer. She cuddled into his side and leaned her head on his chest, closing her eyes contently as the boat continued through the water.

"I'm Gemma, this is my husband, Anthony." Gemma suddenly redirected my attention as she pulled away from her husband after discussing their own children.

"I'm Poppy and this is Jasper." I replied, swinging my thumb towards his chest as he sat quietly beside me. This was normally the breaking point when meeting someone, whether they recognized Jasper or not. Thankfully, this couple seemed to be in their late 30's, so they might not even care that they were sitting with an international musician.

"Nice to meet you guys." Anthony spoke towards us for the first time, not giving any indication that he recognized him. We began more small talk, discussing their kids and Evelyn, where we were from, and how much longer we were staying. It was nice to talk to other adults that we didn't know, it made me feel like I fit in a little more. I love all of Jasper's friends and they have quickly become my own friends too, but most of them didn't have kids so I often felt a little left out.

After forty five minutes from when we first left we slowly began to idle in the water. We could still see a sliver of the shoreline that we had left behind, but it was almost 360° of complete ocean. The water was so clear that i was having a hard time distinguishing how deep it was. Standing completely still, the ocean was the color of a turquoise gemstone, complete fascinating as nothing polluted the water.