Page 12 of Hot Saltwater Kisses

“Look, it’s… Not right now, okay?”

For a moment, it looked as though Nia would let it go. Then she shook her head and twisted to face me on the couch. The glow of the TV played on her features. “It’s been three years, Milo.”

I managed to hold her gaze for a beat, then dropped mine to the floor. “Flights are expensive. And it’s not like... Katie is busy, like I said. And there’s no one else left, so...”

“She’d love to see you.” Nia curled warm fingers around my elbow. “And you could always, you know... I mean, they’re your parents. If you justtried?—”

“No.” I hoped it sounded final and let a smile follow to show I wasn’t mad. Just tired. After a brief skim of my hand down her shoulder, I got to my feet. “I’m off to bed, yeah? Have a good sleep.”

Sadness flickered across her face, then she returned my smile. “You too.”

On impulse, I leaned down for a hug. “Thank you, okay? I appreciate the concern. But I’m okay—really. Life’s good.”

“You put up a‘Live, Laugh, Love’sign, I’m gonna fire you.” She hugged me back, and I closed my eyes for a second, settling into the here and now. This was home, and I truly was okay.

Yeah, so I had a few ghosts lingering in the darker corners of my mind. But who didn’t?

4

The next morning, Logan and Tom showed up twenty minutes early to help us carry the gear down to the boat. Not even just their own, which Des had personally dropped off earlier—no, they were expressly happy to pitch in for the rest of today’s dive group too.What.

“Trying to prove something?” I asked Logan.

He shrugged. “Just that I’ve been raised by the right dive instructors.”

“You know you’re not supposed to help,” I said even though things would move a lot faster with four people instead of two. One trip down the stairs with everyone shouldering a tank, then all of us traipsing back up for a second, final trip—Nia and I would have needed twice as long.

“If anyone asks,” Tom said, “tell them we insisted.”

“Why hit the gym if it’s just for show?” Logan’s tone made it a rhetorical question, Tom nodding along, and that was that.

Nia distributed tasks while I set about attaching tanks to dive vests, making them easier to carry. The rising sun cast a golden glow over the world, the air already thick with the promise of the day’sheat. When I hoisted my camera over one shoulder and a tank over the other, a bead of sweat tickled its way down my spine.

“What kind of monster isthat?” Tom asked, pointing.

“Don’t listen to the mean man, darling.” I patted my camera’s underwater housing, two strobes sticking out like robot arms. “He doesn’t know any better.”

Tom perked up an eyebrow. “If it starts talking back, I’m out of here.”

“You’ve never seen an underwater camera before?” Logan asked Tom.

“Most people bring a GoPro,” Tom said. “Not a midsize truck.”

“Most people just want underwater selfies that’ll make them look cool,” I said.

“And you’re—what? Creatingart?” While Tom’s words poked fun, I could tell it was playful, just a normal part of how he seemed to interact. Yet it bumped up against the memory of a different voice, rougher, mocking me just like that and meaning it.

I looked away. “Jesus, no. I’m not that pretentious.”

“Actually,” Nia said, “Milo is really good. Just likes to sell himself short.”

Logan shot me a smile that deserved to be bottled up for a rainy day, dimples and all. He opened his mouth, and I cut off whatever he’d been about to say. “Flattered as I am by all this attention”—Nia snorted, and I ignored her—“let’s hustle. Finish this and we can snag a real coffee from the kitchen before we leave.”

“ThoughtIwas the boss,” Nia said.

“Coffee,” I told her as though it were a complete sentence.

“Fair point.” She grinned and turned to lead the way, petite frame belying the ease she showed in lifting a weighty dive tank. Tom followed, balancing a stack of fins and masks, with Logan just behind, carrying another tank.

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