Because the Night

rewind! rewind!

There's something Lily didn't tell Diego, that night of the last mission. The last night they saw each other. 

After the hike, Diego conked out so deeply that he didn't hear the knock on the door. At first, she thought it was  mistake. Then the knock came again. Then, she was sure it was a ghost. She knew this place was haunted—at least, out in the employee dorms, she was surrounded by other people. 

Diego looked so peaceful sleeping, so untroubled, that she couldn't wake him up. Lily pulled her sore body out of bed, put on her crumpled up pajamas, and answered the door—only to find Moses on the other side. 

"Hello?" 

"Is that supposed to be a a question?" he said.

"No, I mean. It's a statement. Hello. You're here. Sorry, I just wasn't ready—we weren't ready. We're taking a nap," she said, letting him peek into the room, where Diego was sleeping. 

"I knew you had both retired after our busy afternoon, but I didn't realize you were in the same room."

"Oh, did you go to the dorm first?" she asked, picturing him bursting into a room of women in half-dress. 

He nodded curtly. "They were surprised to see me," he said, and smiled, just a beat. "Well, now that I found you. Can you put on shoes?" 

"Um," she said. Then paused an uncomfortably long amount of time. "Let me go wake Diego up."  

"That won't be necessary," he said. "I'll wait out here until you're decent." 

Decent? She didn't have any decent clothes here. Just pajamas, and underwear which she promptly took off the moment she saw the man's son. Lily found the athletic she'd worn earlier today, and ignored their slightly sweaty odor, undeniably crusty texture. She hoped Moses would, too. 

Lily pocketed the room's heavy metal key, and joined Moses outside the door. "Come," he said, and soon then were walking down toward the far end of the hotel, near the veranda where she'd met Diego that very first day. 

She had no idea that her life was about to change that afternoon. She was running around, trying every door and hoping it might lead to something more interesting than the reality she was stuck in—unemployed, aimless, heartbroken. if she had known what she'd find on the other side, that might've ruined the fun. 

Looking back, Lily wanted to hug her younger self, who had been so wounded over the loss of her college boyfriend. The breakup was mutual, yes. But the pain was still a dull throb, like waking up the morning after a workout and wondering why your body feels different. She wondered, those days, what she was missing—then remembered it was Colin.  

One fast cure for heartbreak? Finding someone better. Not better as a person, but better for you. And Diego was. 

She was giddy. Almost tempted to thank Moses. Thank him for every decision that led to this man walking into her life, and melting over the months, until he was finally brave enough to be with her. To try.  

But she didn't do that. Instead, she walked in silence until they got to where they were going. He had a destination in mind: A row of empty rocking chairs that overlooked the lake. Moses put out his arm, as if to instruct her to take a seat. She chose a chair in the middle, and he sat next to her. 

"Is this the part when you tell me I failed?" she asked, after a beat. "Or you wait to see what I'll say, and then make a judgement based on that?" 

"You think so little of me," he said. 

"Diego told me the rules. Every move is being calculated. You're probably looking at how much I'm moving the rocking chair. Let me warn you now: I'm a thrill-seeker when it comes to rocking chairs." She moved back and forth with vigor, and shot him a smile. He didn't reciprocate. Any notion of fun evaporated. Despite herself, Lily calmed down on the rocking.