Page 144 of Falling Overboard

It was several minutes before he responded.

How long?

I was a little surprised. I had half expected him to beg for me to wait. To offer to come with me.

He had to stay on the ship.

I don’t know. A month?

This time he responded immediately.

Okay. Take all the time you need. I love you. I’ll be here when you’re ready.

It was like someone was performing open heart surgery on me with a rusty, dull knife. Every cut was excruciating, the worst pain I’d ever felt. It made me wonder whether I had made a mistake.

My car arrived a few minutes after his last text, and it was a relief to climb inside because it meant I wouldn’t try to find a way to sabotage my recently made plans and stay put, waiting for Hunter.

And as the car pulled away from the curb, the desire to stay increased. Hunter had told me once that it was normal to feel sick when I did the right thing and he was correct.

I had to be strong. Distance and separation would be best for both of us.

But deep down I was afraid that I was wrong.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Lucky

On the plane ride home, I considered texting Georgia and having her get the full story from Emilie during the crew’s next night off. It wouldn’t be hard. After a couple of drinks, Emilie was fond of oversharing. If anything, she would probably be happy to brag about how she and Hunter had pulled the wool over my eyes.

But Emilie’s side in this didn’t matter.

The only thing that did was whether or not I was willing to believe Hunter.

And honestly? I’d let Georgia interfere too much already. It was her doubts and fears that she’d expressed to me just before I saw the kiss that pushed me toward disbelief.

Not that I’d needed much of a push, with my dating past.

The farther I got from Italy, the more I started to question the conclusions I’d leapt to. Did I really think that Hunter was the kind of man who would lead me on for weeks as some sort of game? Because he saw me as ungettable and thought it would be amusing to make me fall in love with him? While keeping Emilie in his back pocket to pull out whenever he felt like it?

That would have meant he was some kind of psychopath, and that was the last thing Hunter would ever be.

You know him,that voice inside me said.You know him and love him and he wouldn’t deliberately hurt you.

If he was telling the truth ... then Emilie had cornered him and forced herself on him, which was not okay.

And entirely within character for her.

I took a car home from the airport in Hartford and thought about what I would do next. TheMio Tesorowas not the only superyacht in the ocean. Tomorrow I would email some crew agents and send them my CV. I wasn’t going to have a recommendation but that was okay. I could go back to being a second or third stew and just start over with my savings plan.

The car went past my nonna’s old bakery. The building had remained empty ever since the bakery had been foreclosed on. I was still going to reopen it. It was just going to take a bit longer than I had anticipated.

When I got to my sisters’ apartment, I knocked and heard Chauncy barking. Rose opened the door and her face lit up when she saw me. “Lucky!”

She hugged me tightly, which was so unlike my younger sister that I felt like I’d stepped into a parallel universe.

“Come in, come in!” she said, taking my bags from me. Chauncy jumped up on me until Rose told him to get down. He did so immediately and I scratched him behind the ears to reward him for being a good boy.

Lily was seated on the couch with her foot propped up, in a cast. Definitely broken. “Are you doing okay?” I asked.

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