Page 20 of Heart Strings
The last time I truly felt content…My eyes drift back to Aidan.
“Your response time was a bit slow earlier,” he says. “Are you okay?”
“I’m mortified.”
“It was an accident. So you’re no Grace O’Malley,” Aidan says. Of course not. I’m a sheltered girl from Austin, not an Irish pirate queen. But I do envy her access to cannons and swords. “And that’s okay. I’m no Blackbeard.”
“Although you made a real effort with that facial hair.”
Afternoon light illuminates the ginger threads in his beard as Aidan swipes a hand across his jaw. “My manager says it makes me look virile.”
“Blech. Something about that word just rubs me the wrong way.”
Aidan grins. The perfect teeth peeking out from his new beard still throw me off, but it’s a great smile. “I remember.”
A splash rouses my attention. A thin slice of silver cuts through the waves gently sloshing against the hull and a porpoise breeches the surface.
“Lark! Look.”
She squeals and clamps on to Callum’s arm as the porpoise circles our stranded hooker. A second fin and sleek back cuts through the surface. Briefly, a rainbow forms in the mistyexhalation through its blowhole. The rest of the group shuffles across the deck to watch.
“There’s another one,” Aidan says. Soft laugh lines frame his eyes when they meet mine.
I grab the rail to lean closer for a better look. My fingertips brush the familiar warmth of Aidan’s knuckles curled around the same piece of wood. Electricity shoots up my arm.
And…I don’t pull away. I let my pinkie and ring finger rest atop his hand. There’s a certain magic in sharing an experience with him. He knows how to be in the moment more than anyone else I’ve ever met. We used to lie on his couch and play old records in the dark, basking in the sonic landscape. He’d trace his fingers along my scalp as we listened. Holding each other, letting the music wash over us, every sensation heightened and my heart rate slowed because there was nowhere else I needed or wanted to be. These few seconds while we watch the porpoises surface, feel the gentle breeze, and hear the lapping waves are the closest I’ve gotten to that feeling in two years. For so long, I’ve been working relentlessly toward the future, playing the role of the perfect daughter. Aidan always gave me permission to live in a moment that was perfectly imperfect. When we’re together, he’s so present that I almost forget the past.
I’ve missed that.
“Can you believe this?” Saoirse says.
At the sound of her voice, my hand slips away and tightens around the rail.
Callum exchanges a glance with Aidan before he guides Lark by the elbow. “Let’s see if there are more porpoises on the starboard side,” he says.
“But these ones are so close—” Her voice shifts higher, and she scuttles across the deck. “Oh! Yeah, let’s see.”
Rory, Deirdre, and Anvi follow suit and move to the other side of the boat. Subtle. Real subtle.
Lark loves to fix people up. She’d even tried to matchmake for her own fiancé before they got together and keeps an eye open for eligible men and women for Saoirse. She’d better not try to pull anything with me and Aidan. Moving backward isn’t an option and there is no future with him.
The moment is ruined, anyway. The captain’s fishing rod twitches and Aidan goes over to look.
Lark notices I’m alone and scoots onto the bench beside me. “Hey. I don’t want this maid of honor thing to be one more stressor. If there’s too much on your plate with rotations—”
“No, no, no! I’m good.”
“Are you sure? You looked kinda out of it earlier.”
I nod rapidly. “Yeah, I just zoned out for a second, but you can count on me. I won’t ruin your wedding, too.”
Lark gestures to the bay around us. “How is this ruined? It’s beautiful—the sun is shining and I’m enjoying this view with the man I love and my favorite people. Seriously. Chill, Lo.”
She waves the rest of the wedding party back over.
“Lark and I were talking earlier,” Callum begins. “And we’re gonna need some help on Wednesday.”
I already had to request Wednesday afternoon off for my follow-up care appointment at the oncologist’s office, so it’s good timing.
