I took a hesitant step forward. “Are you Mama Poppina?” 

“Well, don’t yuh be shy; come closer!” 

Upon seeing me vacationing alone on the island, the cab driver, bellhop, and two fishermen insisted I find Mama Poppina. Who better than the locals to direct me, so I located her, running a cart of rotten fruit by the ocean. 

“Ya! I can tell yuh need some love in yuh life. Yuh insides are hollow. And mi fruits are magic!”

Oh no. No, no, no. I’ve been steered toward a crazy woman. Probably smokes something I shouldn’t know about. 

But I just got here, love fresh fruit, and don’t want to be rude, so I ask, “Do you have anything maybe… less ripe?” 

“Less ripe? Less ripe, yuh say?” 

“Well—“

“Now, yuh listen to mi, mi fruit here’s always set out at the right time. Nothing wrong wit some wrinkles and softness. Look at de lines on mi face. They tell a story.” She plumped her bosom. “Look at de softness here.”

I didn’t know where to look and glanced back at the battered and bruised fruit, struggling with why I was sent to her.

“Yuh dun know wha yuh need, child, but mi know wha yuh need.” She picked up a bunch of shrivelled grapes and jiggled them in the air. “Dem go wit yuh heart.” 

“You think a shrivelled grape is what I need? You see me as a shrivelled grape?” I shook my head and waved away her offering. “Thank you, but—“

“Yuh bite into one of dem, and yuh will find de love yuh need. Yuh can trust Mama Poppina.” She extended a hand with the grapes toward me. “Get yuh one. Pull it right off de stem wit yuh teeth, and oooh mi, yuh tastebuds will tank yuh.” 

Against my better judgment, I accepted the grapes. My nose wrinkled as I plopped one into my mouth. 

And… it was… delicious! 

“Mi see de smile, child.” She jabbed a finger toward me. “Mi told yuh. Now yuh listen to mi words. Don’t use yuh eyeballs and judge de outside a someting or someone; use yuh heart to see de insides.”

I nodded, my mouth full of more grapes. She shooed me away with her hands. 

“Yuh run along. Open dat heart, and yuh find love. Don’t forget wha Mama Poppina told yuh.”

“I won’t, and thank you.” 

~oOo~

Days later, without a fleeting glance from a man, I found myself sitting atop a cliff, hoping the breathtaking view would lift my spirits. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it? I was born on this island, and used to come here before my parents moved us to London.” 

Turning, I saw a tall, dark-skinned man with a trimmed beard framing a face I’d called effortlessly handsome. 

Before I could answer, he continued in his British accent. “I’m Malik, and if I may intrude, why do you look so sad?” 

“I’m Addie.” His comforting eyes convinced me to share more. “My husband was my everything for thirty-seven years.” Tears stung my eyes. “I don’t know how to live without him.”

Malik extended his hand toward me, “The best way to feel alive again is to do something that scares you.”

“Can I trust you?”

“Yes, but better to trust in yourself.”

I accepted his hand, and minutes later, I did the unthinkable—and stepped off the edge. 

Heart-pounding fear turned to freedom, then a thrilling, blissful release. My head poked above water in time to see Malik’s body pierce the surface with a narrow splash. He emerged with a knowing grin. Something forgotten reawakened inside me with that jump—a youthful wildness. 

Exhilarated, we swam toward a sea cave, then sat side-by-side in the shallows.

“It’s our private window to the world,” he said, pointing to the opening of the cave.

“Malik, it’s magical.”

“It’s all waiting for you.” He took my hand and drew it to his lips for a gentle kiss. 

In the days that followed, I remembered how to laugh again. 

Malik and I glided across the shimmering sea in kayaks. We swam with turtles and fed the monkeys sweet fruit. At night, we dined, then danced by the turquoise waters, moving in a swaying rhythm, hips brushing to the beat of the steel pan band. Whenever my joy felt like a betrayal, Malik whispered in my ear, “You’re allowed to be happy.” 

Despite our age difference, he swept me up in a whirlwind romance. It began with a simple gesture: he tucked a windblown curl behind my ear and drew close. “I love your hair. It’s the color of moonlight.”

“No one’s ever said that about my gray hair.”

He didn’t see me as a shrivelled grape. And neither did I. 

Until he leaned in, I’d forgotten the butterflies of a first kiss. The quiet just before. When his head tilted, I closed my eyes. His lips touched mine. Guilt flickered for a moment before something new blossomed inside me, and I  tasted the courage to begin again. 

~oOo~

I was thankful my remaining vacation time passed slowly. Malik said that’s because we were on island time. 

When it came time to say goodbye, it was an intimate farewell—a memory to treasure in my heart. That vacation became the beginning of life after Robert. 

Before I left, there was someone special I needed to see—Mama Poppina. 

“Ooo, child, tell mi wha yuh found.”

My tanned face pinkened. “I found a little romance.”

“Ooo weeee, mi told yuh de grapes were right for yuh.” She shimmied her shoulders, laughing. “Tell mi more.”

“Well, I’m not in love with the man I met, but I did find love of a different sort—a love of life and a love of myself.

“Ooo, dat the most important love of all. Yuh love yuhself first, then yuh can love someone else. Remember Mama Poppina told yuh dat.”

“I’ll never forget, and I’d love more of those gorgeous grapes, please…”