Page 48 of Starfish and Coffee
“That’s our old house.” Alex pointed to one of the boathouses attached to the dock.
Matt studied the small floating boathouses. There were six of them, three on each side. They were all painted sky blue, with numbers hanging on the doors. Matt’s gaze stopped on number five as he tried to imagine Alex’s family of four living in the small space.
An image of a young Alex walking in and out the door formed in Matt’s mind, and he smiled. “I didn’t know you lived on the docks.”
“Yup,” Alex said as he worked on unloading the truck. “My dad was a crewman on all those big fishing boats over there that Teddy rents out. He did all the stuff tourists don’t like to do, bait the hooks, and gaff the fish. It was a shitty job, but it had better perks than working at Frank’s does. He always got a cut of the tourists’ catches, and Teddy let him take out the boats whenever he wanted on his days off. All he had to do was pay for the gas. We never starved, but we atea lotof seafood.”
Matt nodded, still dazed by the knowledge that he had passed Alex on the beach all those years never knowing he lived on the docks. He started helping Alex unload as he tried to process the information and then admitted, “I always thought you lived on the beach.”
“Nope. I was a fisherman’s son. How cliché is that?”
“What’d your mother do?”
For one moment, Alex’s features flashed with sadness before he gave Matt a smile. “She was a nurse.”
“Then how’d you two become cooks?” Matt asked with a frown. “I had assumed one of your parents taught you.”
Alex grimaced as he set the two spearguns on the curb. “Teddy offered us jobs and reduced rent on the boathouse, but neither of us wanted to work on the ocean. We were both happier taking care of the rentals for Grover and cooking for Frank.”
“Why?”
“It reminded us of him. Doing my dad’s job, it would’ve been like replacing him.” Alex looked away, shaking his head. “It was just too painful right after the accident. It took us a long time to start fishing again. Now it’s different. It’s like reconnecting with them every time we get out there. Hell, we put their ashes in the ocean. Going out there is like being a kid again. It makes me feel like everything’s okay. That bad shit doesn’t happen to good people.”
Matt had the sudden urge to kiss Alex right out there in the open. This wasn’t a simple fishing trip Alex had invited him on; this was sharing a part of himself, and Matt felt extremely honored to be going.
“That’s awesome, having a legacy like that,” Matt said with a smile. “My dad just left me a large chain of department stores.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“Yeah, I can think about him every time I get an ulcer. That’ll be my way to reconnect, ’cause God knows he always had one.”
“I’m depressed now, Matty,” Alex said with a look of horror. “You are a cynical bastard.”
“Have you met my mother?”
“Don’t remind me.” Alex winced. “She clearly hates me. She actually called me a sea urchin to my face the last time she came over to your place.”
“And you wonder why I’m cynical?”
Alex laughed and reached out to squeeze Matt’s biceps. “You need to lighten up, man.”
Matt grinned. “That’s what you’re for.”
“Okay, then.” Alex smiled back, sounding pleased. “Let’s catch some fish.”
* * * *
The fun of fishing with Alex wasn’t catching the fish—it was watching Alex.
He could actually hold his breath for five minutes under water like Holly claimed. Matt wouldn’t have believed it if he didn’t see it with his own eyes. It was like he was made to be part of the ocean. Matt went in with him just to watch as Alex dived down so deep he was hard to see. Then he’d come up out of the wrecked plane at the bottom of the shallow waters with a fish on the end of the spear more often than not.
Alex could load the speargun underwater in less than five seconds; then he’d turn around and do Matt’s too because he was determined for Matt to play with him. The sun was shining so bright the surface of the ocean sparkled like a million diamonds were dancing over it. It made everything underwater so easy to see with the masks, and Alex’s jubilation for the sport had Matt pushing to go farther and hold his breath longer. Even if his lungs were on fire, seeing how Alex moved underwater, his fins moving faster, taking him deeper and deeper, was worth the agony.
Plus shooting fish underwater with a speargun was the best kind of manly fun. If Matt hadn’t already accepted that he was probably going to be gay for the rest of his life, this would’ve done the trick. He surely wouldn’t have had this much fun on a date with a woman.
When Matt actually shot something after several failed attempts, Alex was more excited than Matt was when they broke the surface. He pushed his mask up and then grabbed Matt with one arm, treading water easily as he tilted his head and kissed him full on the lips before Matt even had a chance to get his mask off.
The kiss had the salty tang of the ocean. Their skin prickled with goose bumps from the mild chill in the October air, and they were still holding their spearguns. Matt’s had a snapper at the end of his, but they didn’t let any of that stop them.
