“Jake,” I cried, twirling to see him standing in the doorway, still rambling with one hand planted over the doorframe. Liam hunched over behind him, arms filled with bags and out of breath. “How in the world … when … what?”
Then I was in his arms, and Jake lifted me off the ground in a bear hug. “Ollie sent a text, said it’s time. You think I’d miss my maid of honor duties?”
“I told Ollie three hours ago!” I turned to face Ollie, who had his arms crossed over his chest as he relaxed against a table in the small room. Tears fell freely down my face. “I told you like three hours ago! How?”
Ollie only lifted his shoulders again in response.
Jake pumped his fist in the air. “I’m maid of honor bitches!”
The mid-fifties temperature brought strong winds against the ship from the Bay of Biscay, and the four of us bundled up at the stern of the boat. With the sunset came a fiery sky, burning the day into the same colors you’d see on a battlefield. It seemed like forever had passed since Mrs. Morrigan’s funeral and saying goodbye to Cora, but it was only hours ago, and we’d conquered the somber day, and the night was near. The dying sun’s reflection bounced off the deep blue bay, creating stars over the water. Ollie held me closer.
Dinner had passed, and we sipped on spiced apple hot toddy’s. The warm bourbon mixed with cinnamon slithered down my throat, warming my chest through the cold winds of October.
“I still can’t believe it,” Jake shook his head, “Lynch is your dad.”
“Bloody hell, I fucked the Devil’s daughter,” Liam muttered, hair cut short, matching Jake’s. “Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned.”
“Don’t remind me, mate,” Ollie growled.
“Lynch isn’t so bad,” I said, leaning back against Ollie’s tall frame. “We have lunch once a week now in Shere Village. He has this dry sense of humor I’ve never noticed before. But enough about Lynch, I want to hear what you two have been up to.”
Jake and Liam exchanged a smile, and Jake turned to face me as Liam ran his palm down Jake’s covered arm. “We’re moving in before the holiday.”
“Oh, Jake, that’s amazing.” I grabbed his free hand and gave it a squeeze. “Where are you guys moving to?”
“Liam’s actually from Manchester, and I’m from Windsor, so the long-distance has been killing us over the last six months. As long as we can both find work in or outside of London, that’s where we’re going.” Jake glanced over at Liam, his blue eyes lighting up. “Liam has a job with a tech company but believes he can transfer. I’m back in school, working part-time.”
“What are you in school for?” I asked, my eyes sliding between the two of them and noticing the way they smiled at each other.
“I want to get my teaching degree.”
We spent the rest of our night catching up while our drinks overflowed. Eventually, the chatter settled, and the four of us curled up over the poolside chairs, wrapped up in pillows and blankets under galaxies and the matte black sky above. Ollie and I tangled with one another, looking up at the stars. “Thank you,” I whispered, my head resting into his warm neck. “For Jake. Not so much Liam, but I suppose they’re a package deal now.”
Ollie’s chest rumbled against me as he quietly laughed. “It wouldn’t have been the same without Jake here.” His palm held my cheek as he pressed his lips against my head, then returned his eyes toward the sky. “You say there’s something about sunrises, but for me, there is something about the mid-night sky. When the lights go out, the world opens up. Quiet. Peaceful.” A shiver runs through Ollie, and he released a long exhale. “The unknown isn’t so scary when it’s this spectacular.”
“What are you proposing?”
“I say after the wedding, after I’m done with Dex, we take off and travel the world. I can collect my poetry and get my second book together, and it would be a great opportunity for your photography. We can tag team the Earth. You and I. What do you say, love? Are you ready for an adventure?” The excitement in his tone moved through me—an electric current of curiosity.
I didn’t ask about our home, about Lynch, or the life we’d made in the last five months. Traveling had always been Ollie’s dream, to meet people from all walks of life and experience the greatest wonders this world had to offer. And I wanted nothing more than to capture every single smile and spark in his eyes. “I’ve been ready.”
With one eye barely opened, I was staring at a little boy who was staring down at me, wearing a puffer jacket with his head covered in a knitted cap pulled tightly over his head. “Mum!” he called out, pointing down at Ollie and me with a twisted expression. “Are they dead?”
“Zeke, dear, leave those two lovebirds alone, will ya?” The mom called back across the back of the ship, and the wild organ inside my chest flipped at the sound of his name.
The boy ignored her, taking a step closer as the sun beat down over us, fighting against the harsh sea winds of the early morning. “Are you in love?” he eagerly asked, and a lump formed inside my throat. Attempting to shake the shock consuming me, I nodded. “Is it forever? Because mum says when two people sleep together, the love is forever.”
My head snapped up to Ollie, whose still and asleep with a blanket pulled halfway up his face, his eyes closed.
“Well?”
It was bright, and I squinted my eyes as emotions threatened to spill out over the stern and into the blue waters. “Love is forever,” I confirmed, easing his troubled mind. “We are forever.”
The boy smiled, turned his back to me, and took off running across the ship to his mom, shouting, “They’re not dead, mum. They’re in love, forever!”
“Oh, that’s good, dear,” his mom celebrated, sending me a wave.
I waved back and curled back under the covers, eyes wide open with every hair raised over my chilled skin, gazing out into the sea with an unbidden smile.
