Page 84 of Sail Away with Me

She sat down and gave him a horrified look. Sail rolled his eyes. “Get your mind out of the gutter, dirty girl.” He winked, as if he needed the extra to send her mind into overdrive. “It’s something private, between us, and I don’t need anyone bugging me about it.”

“Sounds ominous.”

“Not even close,” he told. Before he sat, he took the box out from under the tree he’d put there after they decorated. She’d since added her gift to him there as well.

“Grab yours to,” she told him before he sat down.

Sail carried his to the couch. He set Galvin’s box on her lap. It was lightweight and wrapped perfectly.

“Should we open them at the same time?”

“We could, but then we’d miss each other’s expressions. How about we flip to see who goes first?”

Galvin agreed. Sail took a quarter out of his pocket and told Galvin to call heads or tails.

“Heads.”

“It’s tails.”

“You go first,” she said, excitement filling her.

Sail slid his hand under the open piece in the back and pushed his hand through until he had to turn the gift over. When all was said and done, he held a frame on his lap. Galvin had taken the photos of him published after his win, along with the frontpage news article, and had them framed. The gold plate at the bottom read:

sail

. . .

Sail Carter

Safe Sea ILCA Regatta

Champion

“Galvin, this is . . . wow!”

“I got the idea when all these amazing photos had been posted online. I reached out, with the help of Crew, to the organizers and asked if we could have the files. They sent them all. I picked my favorite six,” she told him. “You can have the rest of the pictures. There are some really great shots.”

Aside from pictures of Sail with the trophy, there were two photos of him on his boat, one of him where his body was almost prone to the water. It was the first time Galvin really got to see what Sail could do on the water. Watching from the shore was only an iota. Seeing the shots the photographer captured had been eye opening.

“This is amazing. I’m just in awe.”

“You’re pretty talented,” she said. “Margaux put this together for me.”

“Thank you.” He didn’t bother setting the frame down when he kissed her. “Thank you for being on that journey with me.”

“It’s been a fun ride.”

“And it’ll continue to be one,” he said as he cupped her cheek. “Now open yours.”

Sail sat back and waited as she tore the paper away from the medium sized box. It was lightweight and she had zero guesses on what it could be.

With the paper gone, she picked the tape keeping the flaps of the box down and then removed an ungodly amount of tissue paper. Two things sat in the box. A black velvet box and an envelope.

“The little box first,” he told her. Sail took the envelope out of the box and then moved the box to the floor to give her some space.

With a shaky hand, she lifted the box out of the box. Her heart pounded frantically in her chest. Jewelry, any type this early in a relationship, was nerve racking. She lifted the lid and sighed heavily at the locket nestled against the black velvet.

Carefully, Galvin removed the chain from backing and let the necklace dangle mid-air while she studied the intricate pattern on the locket.

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