Beth frowns. “You watched it already, didn’t you?”
I wince. “I’m sorry. I know I promised to wait until you finished the book, but with everything that’s happened lately with Matt and my job ... I needed an escape.”
Beth’s expression softens. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to rewatch the first season until we get to season two, which I also downloaded.”
I bite my lip. Beth gapes at me.
“Oh my—” She scoffs, swiping a strand of hair off her cheek. “You watchedbothseasons?” Her jaw drops open in horror. “You did!”
I wrinkle my nose. “I’m sorry.”
She swats me playfully on the arm. “That’s okay. I get it.” She sighs, glancing toward the bow. “I’ll just become best friends with Gigi instead.”
She cracks a smile as I turn to watch Gigi now standing near the bow, holding onto a shroud and staring out at the water. Gigi lifts the back of her hand to her cheek.Was she wiping away a tear?
No,I think, as Gigi’s lips form a wide smile and she angles her phone toward the sky to get her full body into the camera. We hit a wave from a speedboat cruising by, and I gasp as Gigi stumbles to the side of the boat, dropping her phone on the deck before doubling over on the lifeline’s wire cable.
Adam rushes toward Gigi from the other side of the boat, and I cover my mouth with my hand as Gigi manages to pull herself upright before he reaches her. Beth gasps as Gigi falls to her knees to rescue her phone before it slides overboard.
I keep my fingers pressed to my lips as Adam helps Gigi to her feet. He looks on in amazement as Gigi returns to the bow and resumes recording as if nothing happened. I shake my head, turning around to watch downtown Seattle shrinking in the distance.
“It’s so beautiful out here on the water.” Beth shades her eyes with her hand, eyeing another sailboat going by as my thoughts drift to my girls at home with my sister. I feel a pang in my heart at how much I’m going to miss them these next two weeks.
“You okay?” Beth asks as if reading my thoughts.
“I’ve never been away from the girls this long.”
“They’ll be fine.” Beth pats my knee. “Plus, you can video call them through Starlink every day if you want. And I’m sure they’re having fun with their auntie.”
She’s right. I recall the excitement on their faces when I told them they’d be spending the next two weeks with Aunt Kate. She’s always spoiled them, since she has only boys. My girls were so ecstatic, they jumped up and down when Kate promised to take them back-to-school shopping at Bellevue Square later today. They’re probably there now.
My thoughts shift to Matt. Before I can stop myself, I imagine him enjoying a lazy, naked Saturday in bed with his college-aged girlfriend in her crappy one-bedroom apartment. My chest constricts, and I thrust the thought from my mind.
From the corner of my eye, I clock Gigi moving toward Adam who’s standing beneath the sail at the middle of the boat.
“I’ll take another drink,” she yells over the wind. “Hey, Adam? Could you open another bottle of champagne?”
Captain Nojan’s voice booms from the stern. “Not until we maneuver through the Sound. This is a busy channel.”
I turn to see him gesture at the small sailboat sliding through the water on our starboard side before pointing to a cargo ship ahead.
“I need Adam on deck while we navigate the Sound,” the captain says. “If you want a drink before then, you’ll have to get it yourself.”
“Fine.” Gigi huffs and unsteadily makes her way toward the companionway past Beth and me. She pauses when she reaches the steps, casting a look at the two of us over her shoulder. “Anyone else want more champagne?”
I shake my head. “I’m good.”
“I’ll take one,” Beth says, following Gigi below and leaving me alone on the deck with my thoughts and the two-man crew.
I study the snowcapped Olympic Mountains to my left beyond Sequim, then Whidbey Island on my right. We’re flanked by evergreen-covered land on each side.
A pop erupts below deck, followed by a playful shriek from Gigi. I look down the stairs toward the noise. Gigi’s mom is a recovering alcoholic, very active in AA for all the time I’ve known her. Because ofthat, Gigi hardly touched alcohol in high school. She offered to be our designated driver on more than one occasion.
I spy the southern tip of Whidbey Island before the boat turns northwest. I think of Gigi’s husband, absent from our send-off. Is Gigi just letting loose or numbing herself from something in her seemingly perfect new life?
I stare straight ahead in the direction of my hometown, dreading the thought of sharing the boat’s close quarters with a drunk Gigi for the next two weeks. If somethingiseating away at Gigi, I doubt it’s from the new life she’s created, but rather our old one.
The one we’ve never quite managed to escape.
