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“It’s hard not to when he won’t let you come home.” Her words are frosted with bitterness. She’s not happy with Elio, and I get it.

“True, but it’s more complicated than that. The Russians are trying to kill him. It’s not safe in the city, and I want to be here with him.”

“I don’t understand, Ees. You hardly know him.”

“Actually, that’s not accurate.” I dive into an explanation of our secret past and my lost memories. It’s one of the few times my chatty friend has been shocked speechless.

“That is … that is so … romantic,” she cries. “Oh my God. I had no idea.”

“Neither did I, not until yesterday.”

“But it sounds like a part of you did know.” Her tone softens, which is a relief. She’s opening up to the idea that Elio and I were meant to be together.

“Yeah, I think I did. And now that everything is out in the open, I feel genuinely optimistic for the first time since I was a teen.”

“Oh, Isa. That’s wonderful.” She’s quiet for a second before she continues, her tone taking on a note of worry. “I hope D and Elio will find a way back together, too. I’ve never seen DiAngelo so withdrawn. It’s heartbreaking.”

“I hope so, too. DiAngelo isn’t the only one struggling. I’ve tried to encourage Elio to attempt to reconcile things, but I’m not sure if or when it would happen. Whatever happened back then left scars much deeper than the one on his neck.”

“We’ll simply have to keep at them. They need one another more than they want to admit.”

“I agree.”

Terina and I talk for a solid hour, catching up on all the mundane details of our lives that we usually cover at our regular coffee dates. Hopefully, we can get back to those soon. Plus, I’d love to introduce Evie to Terina. I think they’d really hit it off well.

After ending the call, I check my email and confirm I don’t have anything new from Wolf, then unpack the bags of my stuff Elio brought from my dad’s house. With that final measure of business done, I go in search of Elio and find him manning the bridge.

“Mind if I join you?” I ask, poking my head inside.

“I’d love for you to keep me company. In fact, come here.” He slides out of the tall chair and pushes it back so that there’s room between him and the controls. He then positions me in front of him. It’s the middle of the day, so I know he’s not planning to do anything spicy, but that’s immediately where my mind goes, reliving the delicious orgasm he gave me while I was sitting on these very controls.

I clear my throat. “What are we doing?”

“I’m teaching you to drive the boat.”

“What? No, that’s way too complicated.”

He brings his lips close to my cheek with a chuckle. “How about I just show you some of the basics?”

With his arms wrapped around me and his deep voice teasing my ear, I’d agree to practically anything. I nod and force my gaze to drift across the glowing screens.

“Some of the screens, as you can see, are camera feeds. This one is the radar showing any other boats in the vicinity and whether we’re en route to cross paths.” He points at a black screen with green rings in a bull’s-eye formation and lots of moving numbers in red text outside the largest circle. “This one is the ECDIS map—it shows our course and speed in relation to the land, along with sea depth. We also have two compasses and two additional radars, since those data points are so important.”

What he’s showing me seems so complicated, yet it’s only a fraction of the screens and devices in the small room. “How did you learn all of this?”

“I started on a smaller, older boat. We’ve upgraded twice since then. This was the first yacht we purchased brand new, and the manufacturer had a week-long instructional orientation.”

“Did it scare you to drive such a big boat?” I ask, fascinated by this side of him.

“I’m not sure if scared is the right word, but I was extra cautious. You can literally sink a shit ton of money in one of these things.”

I can imagine but also don’t want to. Thinking about the ship sinking makes my tummy a little woozy.

“When you say it’s the first boat we purchased brand new, who do you mean by we?”

“Not me, really. The Greek.”

“And he’s dead now?” I clarify.