Page 73 of Austen

They stood in front of the gelato shop, peering through the glass at the flavors.

“Pistachio,” she said, pointing to the light-green gelato in the bin.

“In a cup?”

“Yes.”

He ordered in Spanish, then, “I got chocolate.”

“Boring.”

“I’m a simple man.”

She laughed.“Hardly.”

“Well, some things need to be simple in my life.I need to leave room for the more complicated problems.”

“Like getting your boat back?”

He sighed.“I hope I’ll get my boat back.It means something to me.In my head, I sort of thought if I had a yacht, then the rest would come after that.”

“The rest?”

“I don’t know.A wife?A family?I saw us taking trips through the Caribbean, the kids jumping into the pool or taking out the Jet Skis.”

Us.She didn’t let the word land.But...

“And your wife?What is she doing all this time?”

He glanced at her.“Swimming with the sharks?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Kidding,” he said and winked.

But her throat had warmed.Really?She’d be lying if she didn’t admit that the thought had bumped into her a few times yesterday in the sun.What might it be like to?—

“Maybe she’s helping me figure out our next charity.”He paid the vendor.“I’m not looking for a trophy wife.I want a partner.Someone who sees life the way I do and wants to do something about it.”

“How do you see life?”

He received his gelato and she did hers.They’d both gotten cups, and now he let go of her hand and ate his chocolate with a spoon.“This is good,” he said.

She took a bite of her pistachio.“Yes, it is.”

They walked over to a table, and he pulled out her chair.She sat down, watching the foot traffic as couples walked by hand in hand.

“I don’t know—I guess I see life as a problem I need to solve.”He sat opposite her.The night settled over him, his gray eyes hooded, and he embodied a subtle sense of intrigue and confidence.Superman in a suit.

“I look at medical issues or defense issues or communication issues and think, what can I do to fix that?I think it’s my mom in me.She was a trauma nurse, always trying to figure out how to think faster on her feet, helping the doctors respond better and quicker to patient problems.She worked very hard, but she also loved her job.Her only vacations were to see me in San Diego, where I was stationed, except for the year she won a cruise.She got it as a prize for being the top nurse at her hospital.We went together.It was an interior cabin and we got seasick because of a storm, but we had a great time.That was right before I shipped out to Afghanistan.”

He’d finished his gelato.“She told me that she loved the ocean.I don’t know why, but I put it in my head right then that I wanted a boat.”

“Sad that she never saw the yacht.It’s beautiful.”

“Thanks.I used to keep it at a dock near my place north of Miami.But I’ve been spending more and more time in Mariposa, so I transferred her down to the island, taking her back and forth when I can.”

“You have a place in Miami?How many places do you have?”

---