Connection - Part Ten
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
It’s a perfect, golden day in Port Sitka. The air is full of whispers from the falling leaves and the peaceful ocean. The Sitka spruces on the clifftops extend gracefully up from their bed of fog, which can’t hide the evergreen giants. Only the youngest trees still shyly growing up from their nurse logs have disappeared into it completely.
The rest soar some two hundred feet into the air from their high point up on the cliffs, reaching for a sky that glows with sunshine. The ocean scatters the golden light in handfuls of sparkles, gusts of iridescent spray.
Outshone one and all by Faith and Robin, whose shared brilliance makes the glorious landscape into nothing more than a background for them. That glow doesn’t come from the white of their wedding outfits, either. It’s purely due to the utterly overjoyed, beaming expressions on their faces.
Dusk has fallen by the time they come out through the door of Harbor Lights to join the party happening outside. Everyone present lets out a resounding cheer at their arrival. Faith laughs radiantly, and Robin stops in her tracks, staring at her with smitten eyes.
The dress that Rose made for Faith floats and moves around her with soft, angelic airiness. Very modest in design, true to Faith’s style. She wore the necklace that Maggie gave her, flowers of coral and gold which set off her every natural color perfectly. Her pastel pink hair is styled in thick curls, heavy with white flowers, her face bright with laughter and happiness.
Robin pretends to faint backwards into her nearby crew. They catch her with a great deal of cursing and loud shouting and laughing, shoving her around while she resolutely stays limp. Faith bursts into giggles and begins swatting sailors at random with her bouquet, trying unsuccessfully to break it up.
“What a wedding,” Ralph snickers, watching the growing fray with obvious amusement in his eyes. His chin is on his palm, his elbow resting on the bar table we’re gathered around. “Fortunate that Rose decided to go with the pants for Robin. Did she know she’d be flinging herself headfirst into some sailors?”
“Probably,” I answer, suppressing a laugh as the sailors – without breaking up the original gang of shouting chaos from before – start hustling Faith and Robin towards the dance floor. “Robin stayed at their cottage for a couple nights, and I’m guessing that was enough time to know.”
“So is this the Jamie Keane effect?” Noah plucks an apple from the decorative fruit bowl on the table and starts rolling it back and forth in his hands. “You meet a person once, you’re invited to the wedding?”
“Hey, we did more than just meet those two,” Ripley protests, tugging on his already half-undone tie. “We contributed to this wedding, in a way. Jamie more directly, ‘cause of the flowers. Did anyone even ask you for those?”
“No, I just whipped up a little something. I get that Robin is a woman of the sea, but the idea of no flowers at her wedding besides the bouquet! When she told me, I had to-”
“Of course.” Ralph glances away from the dance floor to flash me a swift grin. “Of fucking course.”
“Don’t laugh!”
“Alright, if I can’t laugh I’m going over to the bar.” Ralph nods at the second bar set up for the night just outside of Harbor Lights, where Aiden is waiting for my drink. “Ripples? You coming?”
Ripley falls into step beside Ralph with a suffering sigh. “If I’m expected to go out on that dance floor then we’ll need to get me a drink.”
They set off, leaving me alone with Noah. At the last second Ralph doubles back, takes the apple from Noah’s hands, and puts it firmly back in the display.
Noah waits until he’s gone, then picks up a plum instead. I watch him roll it around on the table, pick it up, and start idly tossing it from hand to hand.
“I’m so glad everyone came along!” I glance over at Gage, Noelle, and Logan, who are seated together at one of the picnic tables. “I know it’s sort of random to bring them to the wedding, but Robin said it was open, and I thought the Hollins brothers might like to see Port Sitka. I’m glad you came, too. I know you’ve had your hands full with all the – everything going on.”
“Oh, you mean my car repairs?” Noah widens his eyes at me, lets out a low whistle. “Dude, you have no idea. I got my work cut out for me. Right now I’m trying to decide what to do about the broken decklid. I crunched it, and I think-”
“Crunched it?” I break in, baffled.
Noah blinks at me, equally confused. “What?”
“You said – what do you mean, you crunched it? The decklid?”
“No, the situation. Like what to do with the decklid. I’ve thought about it, and made conclusives. Crunched it.”
“Oh. I think crunched is only for numbers or data, dude. Like, I crunched the numbers. It’s not for just regular thoughts.”
Noah tilts his head to the side, apparently skeptical. “Now, that can’t be true, because crunch time can apply to anything.”
“Yeah, but…” I trail off, then let out a helpless laugh. “Nevermind. Forget it. I’m lost, somehow.”
“Maybe you should crunch on it and see where that gets you,” Noah offers primly, making me bite my lip in silent laughter.
“Don’t go around telling people you crunched on your car, Noah. They’ll get the wrong idea. I actually don’t even know what kind of idea they’ll get.”
“Well, now that you told me not to, I’m gonna,” he decides, tossing the plum higher into the air. “So there.”
“That should be the Raunier family motto,” I sigh affectionately. “If you think that plan makes you the winner in this situation, you’re tragically mistaken.”
“Time will tell,” he says solemnly, drawing another laugh from me.
But I find myself quickly growing serious, taking a closer look at his profile. Realizing that he’s been making a lot of jokes tonight. A lot. Way more than usual. Like he’s trying, instead of doing it naturally.
My eyes drop to the plum in his hand, which is suddenly making me nervous. “Maybe put that down?”
“Why? I got it under control.”
“Alright…” I take a long look at the determined, slightly strained smile turning up Noah’s lips. “Is, um… is everything okay, man?”
“Everything’s great, bro!” Noah does a flourishing swirl with the plum in his hand, and then – to my horror – draws it back like he’s winding up for a pitch. “Check this – oh – shit-!”
Judging by the aghast expression on Noah’s face, he only meant to pretend to throw the plum like a baseball. Regardless of his intentions, the plum soars out of his hand, across the wedding, and straight towards the bottles lined up on the outdoor bar. On a collision course with a lot of glass -
Only to be snatched out of the air at the very last second. Aiden catches it with lightning speed, about an inch away from crossing the bar top.
He widens his reproachful blue eyes at Noah, spreads one hand incredulously, and mouths: Why?
“Wow, Aiden,” Noah says, deeply impressed. So are a few sailors near Aiden, who immediately begin cheering and applauding. “Barehanded, fastball, no problem. Does he have to be this good at every sport? It’s kind of annoying.”
“Be glad he is!” I sputter, pressing a relieved hand to my chest. “Okay. Now that I’m not panicking, that was very hot of Aiden. My god.”
“See? Won my boy some points with you. So that’s great and no one is mad.”
“Yeah, no… no one’s mad.” I turn back to Noah, concern beginning to sneak into my words. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”
He slaps my shoulder agreeably. “Everything’s great!”
“Alright… I just can’t help noticing that you’re kind of, um-”
“Because really why should I worry?” he goes on, as if he didn’t notice me talking. He taps his tattooed fingers on the table, staring off into the middle distance. “Yes, she’s my sister, but she’s also a grown woman, right? She doesn’t need me to interfere in her business. Maybe she wouldn’t even want me to. Besides, Logan’s not gonna pull anything without Gage speaking up, which means Noey will be okay. So everything is fine. I can just wait, and do nothing, and just hope – hope for the best. It’s not like that’s a tall order. Pretty simple thing, in fact. Simple enough that even I can manage it. Pretty sure I…”
I stare at Noah in startled silence as this sudden rush of words trails off. Like it got lost along the way, and has now stopped to look around and figure out where it ended up.
“Aw, Noah,” I begin sympathetically, in a much softer voice, “I’m sorry, I know it’s been-”
He cuts me off with a wave of his hand, agitatedly twisting one of the piercings in his ear. “Nah, it’s good, I’m all good. I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Okay, but you can tell me-”
“You know another reason why this sucks,” Noah abruptly forges on, “Is that I remember complaining to her all the time about Logan when he was in the picture during high school, just like she always complained about me hanging around with Ralph. I mean – we didn’t listen to each other, obviously, but the point is it was easy to talk about shit like that, because it was easy to talk about whatever. Now I’m not in that place I could talk from before – we’re not in it, do you know what I mean? So I just have to hope that it will all be fine. And know it’s on me, that things are this way.”
He stops to catch his breath, then adds, in even more of a rush - “But does that really mean I have to feel guilty and bad all the time, like it’s my fault? All my fault? Seems like kind of a heavy punishment…”
“Did – someone tell you it means that?”
Noah blinks, still not looking at me, then shakes his head. “No.”
I fall silent, staring at him with wide eyes. He doesn’t notice. He’s gazing out at the dance floor, watching Faith and Robin have their first dance. Not really seeing them. From the blank expression in his eyes I can tell that he’s very far away right now.
Oh, god… oh, Noah. My heart suffers a deep stab, taking in the sight of him. I noticed he was unusually quiet in the car, but I thought that was because Logan was being exasperating, and Noah didn’t want to show how annoyed he was.
This is way more than just annoyed, though. It’s an extreme trial for me to see him so downcast, verging on unbearable. I stand there struggling with myself for a minute.
I haven’t said anything yet about what I’ve noticed. In part because I wasn’t sure before, which is no longer the case after the incident at our house. Also in part because I didn’t want to tell on Gage, but…
I glance at Noelle, then back at Noah. He’s staring blankly down at the table in silence. When he feels me looking at him he lifts his head, a smile quickly coming back over his face.
“Anyways, why are we talking about this? It’s a wedding.” He slaps my shoulder again, lifting his beer to his mouth. “Think it’s cool that I didn’t bring a gift? My plan was to grab whatever Raj had just finished working on in his wood shop, but it turned out to be a bat house. Guess my mans is feeling the holiday spirit. Seemed like a weird gift to give someone you don’t know that well, though. Especially if they live mostly at sea-”
I interrupt this rush of desperate talk about nothing by briefly touching a hand to his arm. I catch his eyes with mine when he stops and looks at me inquiringly.
“Noah,” I murmur, at a soft, confidential volume, “Haven’t you noticed that Logan has a rival?”
Noah blinks at me, confused and taken aback. I give my head a very slight nod at Gage, who’s sitting beside Noelle, saying something that’s making her laugh. With a completely serious expression, but a warm smile revealing itself in his eyes.
Noah follows my gaze to him. He stares blankly for a second, then looks sharply back at me, his grey eyes going very wide.
“Gage?”
“Yes, man! Didn’t you see how he reacted when he found her like that at our house?”
“Well – ‘course he’d be worried and upset seeing her that way, dude, they’re friends. They’ve known each other for a long time. All the way back to high school I remember Gage being especially… ‘specially fond of Noelle…”
Noah trails off uncertainly. His eyes drift back to Gage, blinking hard.
“You really think…?” he murmurs, half in disbelief.
“Alright, you guys want to hear my opinions on things? You want me to just make wild claims with no evidence, speculate and come to conclusions based purely on my own feelings?”
Noah spreads a hand at me, widening his eyes. “Yes, goddamnit!”
“Okay, then – he’s crazy about her. He’d do anything for her.”
“What-? Really?” Noah takes a second to let that sink in, then instantly perks up, his grey eyes growing bright with eager hope. “Dude, oh my god, imagine! That would be-”
He breaks off, wincing deeply as he makes a secondary realization.
“Aw, man.” He glances at Gage with anguished sympathy, running a hand over his jaw. “Poor guy. Fuck.”
“Yeah, but…” I answer slowly, then trail off, watching Noelle dissolve into giggles at something Gage said.
Noah arches a baffled eyebrow, nodding his head at Logan. “You know damn well what she wants in a man. You’re seeing him, right there. Hell if I know why, but that’s how it is.”
“I don’t know, Noah… what you want changes with time, right? With you? And it’s not always easy to admit that. To anyone else, and especially to yourself.”
His eyebrows drop low in confusion. “She’s still saying all the same old things about it.”
“Yeah, well… I wonder.”
Noah stares at me, then looks at Gage and Noelle, then looks at me again.
“Don’t get excited,” I add hastily, alarmed by the expression on his face. “Do I have to say again that this is all based on nothing, and therefore meaningless?”
“No, I understand,” Noah answers, inaccurately, I think. “Look – how do we get Gage to say something to her about it? She definitely doesn’t know. Maybe if she knew-”
“Noah, do not jump in and start interfering!” I catch his arm, dropping my voice to an urgent whisper. “You’re doing so good, okay? I only told you this to help you hang in there while Noelle sorts things out! You know that short of talking to her about it there’s nothing you can do right now, and…”
His face falls. “And she has no reason to listen to what I say.”
“She – maybe she will, Noah, in time,” I answer coaxingly, resisting the urge to hug him. “Things are going good between you, right?”
“Yeah. No disasters yet.”
“Oh – oh, no.” My eyes widen as I spot a problem on the far side of the party. “There’s a disaster brewing right there!”
Maggie looks lovely in her navy dress, with a flawless, charming white hat pinned to her hair. She arrived in time for the ceremony, with Kaden and two Caterina bodyguards in tow. We were all delighted to see her, including – unexpectedly – Noelle. The two of them took to each other instantly, and lapsed into a long and animated conversation in French, both of them having enthusiastic opinions to express on each other’s outfits.
That was all great, but – I just noticed that Maggie has sat down to take a break and sip on her iced tea. She’s talking to Logan. He’s saying something to her in his usual way, and from the frown on her face, she’s thoroughly unimpressed.
“Noah, we’ve got to get over there!” I catch his arm and drag him through the crowd. “Maggie is gonna form an opinion on Logan, and she’ll tell him right to his face! She can’t help it, it’s how she’s hardwired!”
“Sounds okay to me,” Noah grumbles, letting me pull him along nonetheless.
“Not at Faith and Robin’s wedding!”
“Alright, but we’re not done talking about this thing with Gage, Keane!”
“Later!” I whisper back, then draw up to a stop in front of Maggie and Logan.
Logan has just finished whatever it is he was saying. Maggie gazes at him with her delicate brow furrowed, her eyes narrowed in thought.
Right as we get there, she pats Logan’s hand in sympathy, then sadly announces: “You are a fool, I’m afraid.”
Logan blinks a few times, then leans closer, cupping a hand to his ear. “What was that? I didn’t hear you.”
“I said-” Maggie begins at a louder volume, then stops and looks up in surprise when I quickly grab her hand.
“Hey, Maggie!” I interrupt breathlessly, drawing her to her feet. “I’m sorry to steal you away, but I – I’ve been dying to hear about the bakery! Noah wants to hear, too!”
Noah – who’s broken out into a grin of enormous affection – folds an arm around Maggie’s shoulders, clearly trying not to laugh. “Come tell us everything, Mademoiselle Molotov.”
“Oh, I like that!” she says enthusiastically, making Noah beam with approval.
I start to follow them, then pause. “Sorry, Logan, do you mind?”
“No, it’s fine.” He lowers his voice confidentially, smirking a little. “Think I was trying to explain something too complicated for her. Should’ve known better than to talk stocks at a teenager. There are plenty of adults it’s too complicated for.”
Being one of those adults, and being irritated on behalf of Maggie, I make a little nod my only reply, then turn to see where the others went. Logan has taken out his phone to run his eyes over a column of shifting numbers and charts, so I don’t think he wants me to stay, anyways.
My wandering eyes fall on Noelle. She’s in a silky, moss-green dress with a sheer hood, which she’s wearing up over her long dark hair. Kept in place with elegant pearl hairpins. It’s a very chic outfit, as always. I’m not at all surprised that Maggie was impressed with it. Noelle looks almost excessively beautiful sitting and talking to Gage, who seems to be having a hard time focusing on what she’s saying. I notice that Bhavini’s little boy is lingering close by, having the same problem.
Amused by the smitten expression on his little face, I draw closer, just in time to catch the end of the story Noelle is telling the group around her.
“So I’m already in disgrace myself. I rush downstairs to find Noah, and I’m like – what did you do with it? We need to put it back right now. We’re already in huge trouble, but maybe this way we’ll be in slightly less trouble. And he looks at me all guilty, and goes: I ate it.”
“What?” Raj gasps, half laughing, half dismayed. “No. Oh, Noah. Oh, my god.”
“I know,” Noelle giggles, shaking her head. She looks up at my arrival, fixing me with a bright smile. “To catch you up, Jamie, I was telling these guys about-”
“No, please,” I groan, waving a hand at her. “Don’t tell me what Noah ate that he wasn’t supposed to. I’ll only start worrying, as if that would help with anything.”
“I called the poison control hotline later to make sure we were all good,” Noelle assures me, then adds, with a heavy sigh – “How many times have I said that sentence, growing up with Noah!”
“Why would he eat it?” Raj asks weakly.
“That’s what I asked. And do you know what he said? It was an accident.”
“How?” Raj asks incredulously, as Gage begins to laugh.
“I don’t know. At that point I had given up and grabbed him and bolted for the door.” Noelle closes her eyes despairingly, although she can’t keep a waver of laughter out of her voice. “The owner was so angry. He called up our parents and everything! I told Noah, that’s the last time we’re breaking into someone’s restaurant, even when it’s an emergency.”
“I doubt that turned out to be true,” Gage laughs affectionately. “If I know you, then-”
“I wouldn’t be upset if you broke into our restaurant!” Bhavini’s son suddenly blurts out, in a breathless, earnest rush. “I would say you could come in, and I’d be nice to you, and I’d have dad cook everything you wanted! And you could stay for as long as you want…”
He stammers into silence, perceiving that we’re all staring at him in surprise. He blushes deeply, suddenly mortified.
“Now, see?” Gage says warmly to Noelle, giving Bhavini’s son an encouraging smile. “Our man here knows something about hospitality.”
Noelle bestows a kind smile of her own on Bhavini’s little son.
“I can see that!” She lets out a sparkling laugh, gently pinching his cheek with her slender fingers. “Aren’t you thoughtful? So well-spoken, too!”
He stares up at her with huge, dazzled eyes, then startles violently as Bhavini calls out for him, going past with a few friends towards the dance floor. Looking grateful for an excuse to flee, he bolts after his mom until he catches the skirt of her dress. Stealing shy glances at Noelle over his shoulder, with that same helplessly smitten expression still on his face.
Gage is looking at Noelle with almost the exact same expression. Unlike Bhavini’s son, he manages to get control of it before Noelle turns back to him.
Raj gets up, announcing his intention to go find Noah and insist on an explanation for why he ate whatever it was. I immediately decide to go with him. This way Gage and Noelle can have some time to talk alone. I have no intentions of interfering with this whole situation, but then again, a little nudge here and there… hopefully no one would begrudge me that.
We leave them be and set off to find Noah, but I’m stopped halfway across the wedding by Maggie.
“There you are, Jamie! You said you want to know how the bakery is doing?”
“Oh – yes!” I really did, so I draw her aside to the edge of the party where I can hear her better. “How’s it turning out?”
“So good! That old building!” She clasps her hands happily, then grows very grave. “The design before… my god! Never in my life… but we are undoing all that, of course.”
“I’m so glad!”
“And all must agree that the products are excellent,” she continues austerely, taking a sip of her iced tea. “You have seen the beautiful cake Faith made for this wedding, ¿sí? Once you taste it, or the ice cream, you will be asking me how to place advance orders.”
“I’ve already tried the ice cream, and I’ll ask about that right now,” I answer flatly, drawing a giggle from her. “I can’t wait to see how it looks when it reopens! I have total faith in your taste.”
“Ah, your friend Noelle has excellent taste, too!” Maggie’s admiring eyes dart to Noelle’s dress, then back to me again, a puzzled frown falling over her face. “But I must tell you, your friend Logan…”
“We, um – we only just met.” Unable to help myself, I just ask. “Your thoughts on him, Maggie? I’d be curious to know.”
“I’m afraid he is a fool,” she says apologetically, delivering this withering verdict as if it’s simply an unfortunate fact. “And with a startled face.”
Despite myself I have to bite back a laugh at that. It’s not that Logan has a perpetually startled expression, so much as I’m sure he was full of shocked disapproval after anything at all Maggie might have said to him.
“Well, he’s – handsome.”
“A handsome fool, then,” Maggie says airily.
I bite my lip, fighting to hold myself together. “What about Gage?”
Maggie blushes, a laugh rising up with her words.
“He is an artist, but I can’t tell what kind. Very handsome! There is something about him… he is especially, ah-”
She breaks off, struggling to find the right phrase. I’m certainly not going to supply it for her, not in this case, because I suspect it might be nasty hot.
I wait until she gives up with a flutter of her fingers.
“Oh, you know what I mean! And he has good eyes, like a pretty moorland.” She leans closer, taking my wrist with the air of someone imparting confidential advice. “But my uncle tells me, there are many handsome men, and what is more important is to find what is rare. For Gage, that’s his smile.” She gestures to her eyes, instead of her lips to demonstrate. “So much sweetness there! And you can tell there is a lot more, inside. Many - ¿cómo se dice? Many – layers of it.”
I give Maggie a warm smile, full of fondness. She looks somewhat puzzled by it, but she returns it wholeheartedly.
“I was supposed to tell you!” she says, remembering suddenly. “My uncle sends his love, and asked me to say again that you and Aiden are always welcome to visit him at the villa.”
“Oh.” I blush a little, hoping desperately that she doesn’t see it. “That’s – so nice, thank you! How has he been faring, having a lit stick of dynamite like you running around the house?”
Maggie giggles affectionately. “He’s complain a lot, and always give me scoldings, and sighs, and calls me impertinent. But also sometimes he gives me very nice expensive presents out of nowhere, or plans special days for me. And he always wants me to eat breakfast and dinner with him, and to be in his room when I am reading at night, and he comes in to check on me when he comes home late. All the boys say he is very happy, so all the boys are very happy, too. Khoa was just saying so yesterday.”
“The boys!” I laugh, unable to stop myself.
“Denver is teaching me to ride horses,” Maggie says brightly. “But he has not taken me out for a week, infelizmente. He says I scare him! I ask, why ride a horse if you’re not going to run free and go fast, hm? Noah agrees with me.”
“Of course he does,” I laugh helplessly, halfway between affection and dismay. “Poor Denver!”
“Oh, Gage,” Maggie says warmly, noticing him and Noah approaching us. She reaches out a hand to him, and he automatically takes it as he comes to a stop. “Your brother was just telling me about your distinguished family.”
Gage grimaces apologetically. “Sounds like a dismal conversation.”
“It would be impertinent for me to agree,” Maggie says, smoothing down her dress, “So I will not say anything.”
Gage raises his eyebrows, his green and brown eyes full of silent laughter. Noah drops his head and clears his throat to hide his own.
“What do you say, Gage?” he asks, bouncing his shoulders to the music coming from the wedding. “Should you and me and Maggie go take that dance floor by storm?”
“I’ve been told I dance like everyone in Animotion’s video for Obsession,” Gage answers thoughtfully.
Noah catches his lanky shoulders and steers him towards the dance floor, breaking into an enormous grin. “Now this I’ve gotta see.”
They fall into step beside Maggie, who leads the way. I follow them over to the dance floor, spot Aiden standing at the edge of it, and come up behind him.
He huffs out a laugh when I burrow and nuzzle my way under his arm. He wraps it around my shoulders and kisses my temple, the warmth of his lips delicious in this cold autumn air.
“There you are, Linden. I’ve been holding your drink for a minute.”
“Oops!” I take it from him, slightly abashed. “Thank you, and sorry!”
“No worries. I assumed you were off helping someone with something. Did you try the cake? It’s so good.”
“Faith made it! The ice cream, too. You’re not allowed to have that, it’s strawberry, but I had some. It was incredible.”
“That so?” Aiden smiles down at me. “Good thing she’s been restored to her bakery, huh?”
“For a number of reasons,” I answer, turning my gaze out to the dance floor.
It’s full of people now, but Faith and Robin are at the center of everything, slowly swaying together like they haven’t noticed the change in music at all. The dusk breeze flutters Faith’s dress and Robin’s jumpsuit, the indigo-tinted air making the white fabric glow. Faith touches her fingertips to Robin’s long auburn braid, leaning up to say something to her. Whatever Robin answers draws a shy bubble of laughter from her wife.
I look up at Aiden, my chest full of warmth. “Feels good, doesn’t it, Guardian?”
“Hm.” He rests his chin on the top of my head, stroking his thumb over my shoulder. “Yeah. It really does.”
~~~~
The whole wedding is a swirl of bright warmth in the chilly autumn twilight. The air is full of happy celebration, the feast cooked up by Bhavini’s family is glorious, and when later we all go spilling down to the harbor our group is glowing. Literally.
The wedding invitation asked guests to wear something that glows, to make sure we don’t lose anyone when we go out on the water. The sailors slip beanies and jackets with reflective strips over their wedding outfits. The ladies have gotten creative with the request, wearing glowing stick-on jewels or glow stick bracelets. Maggie, with her Caterina flare for the dramatic, went for glow-in-the-dark body glitter. Noelle borrowed some from her, so the two of them sparkle like laughing fairies as we make our way down to the docks.
Aiden added a subtle little firefly to my malachite necklace, which the cutting is loving. It’s basking in its tiny chip of personal sunlight, humming against my chest with gentle, steady warmth.
The overall effect of all these lights is beautiful in the darkness of the night, enhanced in some intangible way by the bursts of laughter rising from the rowdy group. The lights of the pubs and bars flicker out on the waters of the harbor, and Moondancer glows with the twinkling lights strung up all over her deck.
“Are we invited for this part?” Gage asks, as the sailors around us begin springing up onto the other boats strung with lights. “It’s okay if there’s no room. I know we weren’t on the guest list-”
“Oh, sure, the more the merrier!” Robin tosses her head at the boat moored nearby, handing Bhavini’s son up to her on Moondancer. “Hop aboard Bay Lady. Christian has space.”
“Oh, do I?” Christian calls back, setting Maggie on the deck and reaching down to help Kaden up. “At this rate I’ll have to take that big bed out of Moondancer and tow it behind us with more guests!”
“Tow me, then!” Robin shouts, her eyes sparkling with a wide grin. “I’m the prime candidate for that kind of ride! Captain Cole knows her way around a bed. Ask Mrs. Cole.”
Ripley bursts into laughter, stopping halfway onto the boat to get a hold of himself.
“Roo!” Faith giggles, hiding her face behind the sleeves of the oversized cardigan she’s wearing over her wedding dress.
Robin stamps a kiss onto her forehead, then sweeps her up onto Moondancer’s deck. “Up with you, beautiful. Gage, you and yours get on Christian’s boat. We’ll find somewhere to stow even a lanky one like you!”
“Much obliged,” Gage says, grinning broadly.
I turn to look for Noelle, then pause in surprise. She and Logan are having some kind of quiet, heated discussion right behind us.
“-that you’re going to be tired tomorrow,” Logan is saying warningly. “Especially if you don’t calm down.”
“Calm down?” Noelle repeats, her whispered voice brimming with indignance.
“You’re the one who says you need someone to check you. Well, I’m telling you, you’ve been all over the place tonight.”
Noelle draws back, hurt and frowning. “What, just because I’ve been laughing a lot? Besides, I don’t care if I’m tired tomorrow! It’s a boat ride, it sounds fun-”
I hastily glance away again as she turns to gesture towards the boats. I think Aiden is the only other one who heard all that. Our eyes briefly meet, then snap to Robin as she calls out:
“Alright! Anyone else coming along?” She helps one of Faith’s friends from the bakery up onto Moondancer, then cups her hand around her mouth. “Last call!”
“Me!” Noelle calls, striding out from behind us. “I’m coming, too!”
She sweeps forward, her long dark green dress swirling around her legs, her hood flouncing around her hair, her eyes flaming brilliantly with defiance.
Gage, who was leaning down from Bay Lady to assist anyone else coming aboard, just stares at her for a second when she accepts his extended hand. He clears his throat and hastily pulls himself together, helping her up.
“My god, I’m a lesbian,” Robin announces, watching Noelle climb up onto Bay Lady.
Faith leans down from Moondancer to swat her shoulder. “Always misbehaving! Why did I marry a sailor?”
Robin turns around to grin up at her, radiant with happiness. “You did, didn’t you? We’re married.”
Faith blushes deeply, glowing with her own happiness, then blushes harder when Robin leans up to kiss her nose.
“Anyone else?” Robin asks, as Aiden and I climb up after Noelle.
Logan hesitates for a second. Looking immensely irritated, he quickly takes himself up onto Bay Lady with the rest of us. He’s the last one on board, and once he’s there, mooring lines are pulled up all over the docks.
Rose and Leyla have had enough partying for one night, but they stand on the docks to wave at us, laughing at the chaotic excitement happening on the decks every boat pulling away. A few scattered cheers go up as our little fleet sets out onto the water, the laughter spilling out onto the soft waves.
Noah is shouting a heartfelt plea for control of the speakers. I’m on the other side of the boat, but he must have gotten what he wanted, because after a moment a bouncing dance beat rises up from our boat, earning a secondary cheer from the boats around us.
With Robin at the wheel, Moondancer sails out ahead to lead the way. Our Bay Lady falls in behind her with a snap of crisp white sails, Christian laughing and cheerfully slapping his hand against the wheel in time to the music. Demir watches him with adoring eyes, completely missing whatever Kaden is saying to him.
I lean into Aiden, grateful for his warmth. Shivering a little, but happy. I tilt my head back to grin up at him, and he grins down at me.
When I look forward again, my eyes land on Noelle. She’s standing at the railing of Bay Lady, holding it with both hands in silence, her face turned out to the ocean. Besides Logan, she’s the only one not in a good mood. It’s a shame, because she was in high spirits all day before this. The wind flutters the hood pinned over her hair, and the glowing glitter on her arms sparkles in the moonlight. Otherwise she’s motionless, her slender shoulders rigidly tensed up.
Gage, watching her from a few feet away, hesitantly edges closer. With a very grave, solemn expression on his face he leans over to say something to her. Whatever it is, it startles her into laughter instantly, her grey eyes opening very wide. She closes them in helpless exasperation, trying to get a hold of herself, then begins laying down a severe scolding in French. Unable to stop laughing, which somewhat undercuts the bite of the reprimand.
Gage stands there and absorbs it in meek silence, his expression sorrowfully apologetic. Except for his eyes, where his warm smile shows itself just a little.
I lean back against Aiden, a soft sigh of relief escaping me. I was worried that I assumed too much, telling Noah what I did earlier. The last thing I want to do is give him false hopes about the other possibility on the table.
With each minute of watching Gage and Noelle together, I’m worrying about that less and less.
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