A few days later and Max and Zoe had arrived in Venice. They were sitting in the hotel room. A beautiful, spacious, white room with a huge clean bed that had the most pillows either of them had ever seen in one place.
"Come on, you". Max smiled down at the gently sleeping Zoe as she stroked her hair, seeing her shake her head in determination to sleep. "You go if you want to" She reasoned. "I'm not leaving you. Not for a second… You'll have to come to the toilet with me" He was met with a slap from a very soft cushion and a head placing itself on his lap.
"Zoe…" He manoeuvred himself so he was lying down, face to face with her. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he needed to say something. Something had to change, and right now, he was the only one she'd let close enough to have any chance at helping.
"You're beautiful" he kissed each of her closed eyelids, and was met with a "hhmm" in response. "Look at me, co-ome on, I'm not that ugly" He joked and she did open her eyes to look into his, at the same time as shuffling closer and wrapping a hand around his middle.
"Tell me what's going up there?" He pointed to her head and the brief silence alarmed him.
"You know what, Max, maybe you're right, maybe we should go for a walk" She spoke hastily, immediately getting up and looking through her suitcase trying to find something to wear. It was nice, she thought, it was nice not to 'have' to wear tight dresses and smart high heels to work and wear comfy, casual things.
"How does this look?" She looked towards Max, now reclining against the headboard, studying her intently. "Beautiful, always beautiful" He told her. "I look fat, I look dirty, I look…" She didn't know what to say anymore, she tugged at her hair, exasperated. Max frowned. "No, you don't." He moved towards her, standing behind and wrapping his arms around her waist, kissing her neck.
"Come, let's go" He encouraged her, gently pulling her arm, distracting her from the mirror, patting his pocket to make sure he had the key to their hotel room and slowly moving towards the door.
Downstairs, the sun shone brightly, bouncing off the river at the bottom of their hotel's street. Max and Zoe glared into their sunglasses, Zoe's hand safely encased in Max's. They made their way toward the river. Neither of them could remember its name, but neither of them cared. This trip wasn't really about names of rivers; they could look those up later. This trip was about Zoe's healing and happiness.
They sat on a bench looking out onto the river. People passed them, mostly talking in Italian. Zoe liked that; she liked the fact that she couldn't communicate with them; no-one was going to ask her more difficult questions than what she wanted to eat, and it gave her conversations with Max a certain privacy – no-one could understand their conversations. Not that they'd really had any. Max had tried, of course he had, but it was like talking to a dog – he wasn't sure if she understood all the time and he certainly wasn't getting any in-depth answers.
Zoe looked up at him, her eyes meeting his and a smile appearing on her face. It was a small smile, but a smile none-the-less, and it made Max's heart skip a beat. "You know…. You know I love you, don't you?" Zoe asked him. He wasn't sure if she'd said that before, but weirdly, these last few weeks had shown him that more than ever before – they hadn't had sex for ages, but she'd stuck with him, let him comfort her and let him in, what more could she do to show she loved him? In response, he lowered his forehead to hers, silently asking for permission to kiss her. She answered his plea by moving the bottom of her face up to his, gently touching her lips to his.
She was beginning to feel better. With Max by her side, each day was starting to feel more bearable than the last.
Max had dragged Zoe to a restaurant nearby. It was beautiful, they sat by the window and watched the boats bob along the canal outside. The sinking sun was glistening on the water, its coloured reflected in the gently undulating blue.
"So… what do you want to do tomorrow?" Max questioned. He was keen to look around Venice; to see some of the sights and to make the most of their time there.
"Ohh, I don't know. Is there anything interesting round here?" Zoe asked; she'd neglected to look at the guide book, and her memory was failing her.
"Well. There's a Palace. St Peter's Basilica?" Max tried. "Mark. St Mark's Basilica" he corrected himself, his trademark grin sneaking onto his face.
Zoe thought for a moment. She was glad that this moment was making her life more normal, that things were becoming more steady. She smiled at him. The first true smile that she could remember, and as he looked into her eyes, surprise at her sudden positivity showing, they realised that things would be OK. One way or another.
I hope this story is alright. Is it dragging too much? So sorry for the slow updates… please review if you're reading this and let me know how you're finding it? Thank you J