Bette reached for Tina’s hand, then stood up also.  She agreed with her wife: they’d have to talk about this.

“Bernd, let us sleep on it, alright?  It’s a generous offer, really,” she said.  She extended her hand to shake his, pursing her lips in a half-smile, half-frown again. As he stood up, Dani had walked over to them.

“Oh…Mr Bernd!  So you’ve met Bette and Tina!  They are staying in the honeymoon villa…,” he was explaining.  He was handing Bette an envelope with the bill she’d asked him to prepare regarding the use of the dhoni and the drinks and dinner that he’d arranged for them.

Bernd eyed the envelope and intercepted it, tearing it up. “On me,” he told Dani.  “Anything they want, Dani, ok?”

Bette and Tina looked at each other, “No…no…Bernd, please,” Bette started.

“Look…however you decide, you’ve already given me good ideas, a good framework to think about. Before you suggested it, I wasn’t thinking about the vision you had…not at all.  But you’re right, and right in pointing out the potential for the place,” he answered, waving his hand at her protests.

He turned to look at Tina, “I know what I proposed wasn’t easy to take.  We started off on the wrong foot tonight, but I do want to end up on the plus side of the ledger!”

He shook Bette’s outstretched hand, “Any arrangement that works for you…works for me…”

He clapped Dani on the back, then turned to head towards the boardwalk.

“Where’s he staying?,” Tina asked.

“In one of the regular villas on the other island,” Dani answered.  “He’s a really humble guy.  Doesn’t ask for special treatment when he’s here.  Plays volleyball with the staff who are on break. Helps around the scuba shop – because he likes to scuba.”

“But rough around the edges.  Not …how do you say it?…um…smooth,” he ended.

“Hmmm…,” Bette and Tina said together, as they continued to eye him, as he reached the boardwalk, and began to start his walk to the other island.

They bade Dani a good evening and walked towards their own villa, arms circled around each other.

Halfway to the villa, Tina glanced at Bette, who was looking up at the stars.  She smiled.