Three Nights in Somebody Else's Life (Holiday Love)

Lyrics

On the back of the shelf, behind the sensible winter things.
A small blue bottle.
Duty-Free, August 2023.

I bought you at Heathrow, Terminal 5.
A name I couldn't pronounce. "Vague d'Azur."
Wave of Blue.
Seemed right.
I was going to be someone who smelled like that.
Someone who didn't check work emails.
Someone whose biggest decision was sand or stone, red or white.
A new passport stamp, a new scent.
A clean slate for seventy-two hours.

And that's what you smelled like.
On Calle de la Luna, under the broken streetlamp.
Three nights in somebody else's life.
Your real name, my real job... we left those at baggage claim.
It was just the heat, and the salt, and the cheap blue smell of being away.

We met at Maria's place.
She’d seen it all before, you could tell by her smile.
You spilled your drink, I laughed too loud.
The reggaeton from next door was our soundtrack.
We walked the shore, the sand still warm from the day.
You pointed out a constellation I’d never seen.
Or maybe you made it up.
It didn't matter.

And that's what you smelled like.
On Calle de la Luna, under the broken streetlamp.
Three nights in somebody else's life.
Your real name, my real job... we left those at baggage claim.
It was just the heat, and the salt, and the cheap blue smell of being away.

The taxi to the airport arrived at six a.m.
The air was cool.
No numbers exchanged. No last names.
Just a nod. The kind you give a co-conspirator.
A shared, successful secret.
The little bottle went into my carry-on, wrapped in a t-shirt.
A souvenir of a person I was for a weekend.

It's still half-full.
Sometimes I pick it up.
But I never open it.
Some ghosts are better left where they are.
Perfect.