The wedding demanded more energy than a week of CrossFit training. While the occasion was one that went off without a hitch and brought her more joy than she ever imagined, it tapped into Becca’s reserves. She was in a constant state of vacillation. In one moment, overstimulation from the excitement made it difficult for her to stay on any one topic. Within the next, exhaustion implored her to just sit down and allow sleep to do its magic.

With the constraint of being refined to one seat for six hours, Becca gladly surrendered to the fatigue. However, her first attempt to lean on the head rest offered her comfort one degree short of being able to sleep. She tried twisting to her side. That didn’t work. Her body clashed with the armrest between Donovan and herself.

A thought struck her. The boundary lines had changed. They were more than friends. She could raise the bar and rest on Donovan’s shoulder. It wasn’t an invasion of boundaries. Better yet, without the bar, they both had more space and no hips were injured in the process of getting comfortable.

At first, Becca leaned into Donovan’s shoulder, but something was off, so she loosened the seat belt to reduce the space between them. No matter how she moved her neck to make an adjustment, she found that his shoulder was too high for her. Resigning to herself that the first position wasn’t going to work, she raised his arm and rested her head on his chest. Sighing in relief, she nestled into him.

Donovan’s chest rumbled to mirror the purring of a cat. He sank into his seat and set his cheek on the top of her head.

Being this close to him woke parts of Becca that had remained dormant for so long she forgot they had influence over her decisions. Her eyes popped open with the new awareness. She laid still while taking an inventory of the rest her body. It followed her heart and was open to the possibilities of being married.

“Becca,” he whispered.

“Am I too heavy?” She hoped the answer was no. Granted, the closeness made it difficult to sleep. Regardless, Becca preferred the current arrangement to sitting in her seat alone.

“No,” he tucked his head to speak directly in her ear. “In less than half a day we’ll be at the hotel and can play husband and wife games.”

Being with him alone in close quarters erased the shyness. The time had come to tear down the boundary she had used to keep him at arm's length. Becca wrapped her arm around to reach his other side. “I know I have to, but I cannot wait.”

He kissed the top of her head and whispered. “I love you.”

She smiled and whispered back, “I love you too.” It was the first time they said it, and she believed it to be true.

––––––––

THEY MET LLOYD AGAIN at the baggage carousel. In the crowd of tourists, he wasn’t too hard to miss. The man was at least six-foot-tall and wore his typical Montana wear: a short sleeve button down plaid shirt tucked in to show his massive belt buckle. His sometimes overly truthful, yet affable nature, combined with how he presented himself made it easy for Becca to find herself in agreement with the women who took a liking to him. In his own way, Lloyd was an attractive man, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Donovan.

Rested from her five-hour nap, her conversations skills returned. So, when Lloyd raised his hand in greeting from across the carousel, she wandered in his direction. “How was your flight?”

Lloyd cricked his back. “Long. The seating doesn’t work well with my size.”

Donovan stood rather close to Becca. “Lifting the arm rest gives both people more room to move.”

“If I play my cards right, I might be as lucky,” Lloyd pulled out his cell phone, looked at the face, and rejoined the conversation. “What hotel are you staying at?”

“The Hyatt on the beach.”

“What are the odds of that?” Lloyd marveled. “We are too. That will make it easier for us to get together.”

“What are the odds?” Donovan replied with a false enthusiasm he had used on occasion with Becca. Like the time she had invited him to the cooking class at the community center. He said he’d attend with her and then conveniently caught a stomach bug a half hour before they were supposed to leave. She wondered what kind of a “stomach bug” he’d get this time. 

The alarm went off alerting them to the arrival of their baggage. “You taking a cab?” Lloyd asked. “If so we can ride over together.”

“Yes, we’re using the cab system,” Donovan said. “The last time I was here...” he cut himself off and threw a quick glance in Becca’s direction before picking up where he left off, “it’s cheaper and easier to take a cab or a shuttle bus to the excursions.”

Becca remained silent as she tried to work out when Donovan was in Hawaii. He’d never mentioned it before. She shrugged off the question by deciding it must have happened during one of those seasons in their lives where they weren’t talking. Not because they were at odds. At the time they were focusing on making their respective relationships work. Over the years, their boyfriends and girlfriends had been jealous of the friendship between Donovan and Becca. Now that they were together and married in Hawaii she understood why ex-boyfriends were suspicious of Donovan’s intent. 

Donovan parked both bags in front of Becca and waited for Lloyd to join them. He kissed her on the cheek and slowly pulled her to his side for a hug. When she was close enough to be the only person to hear what he said, Donovan whispered. “I cannot wait to get to the hotel and show you the difference between friends and lovers.”  Her honeymoon concerns drifted away with the Hawaiian breeze and the newlywed bliss she heard other people talk about settled happily into the newly opened space in her heart.