Page 134 of If All Else Sails
“Stop being so shocked every time he shows up. We’ve been over this. Peter loves you. After two years of being back in touch, you need to realize he’s not going anywhere.”
Easy for her to say. She has Jacob. Who, despite his penchant for dating the kind of women he won’t bring home and planning terrible trips, has always been there for Josie.
It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since I reached out to Peter, only to discover he was never mad at me for leaving him as the restaurant group heir. But hedidfeel abandoned after I shut him out. Dad apparently told him all kinds of lies about me, mostly centered around me thinking I was better than Peter. Nothing at all has been resolved with Dad, but I didn’t really expect anything to be. Mom says to give it time, and I smile and nod like I believe time is all it will take.
With Peter, it took a phone call to set things right. One. Reconnecting was so easy that I hate thinking of all the time wasted, years we could have spent being actual brothers and friends.
But we’re working on making up for it now. Even if it still feels new.
I dip my head to bury my nose in Josie’s hair. Thisalsofeels new. Though she still smells like coconut pie, she now smells like coconut pie while wearing my rings on her finger. I like seeing them there, just as much as I like seeing my own wedding band. A reminder that we’re a matching set now.
Or, a little bit of a mismatched set, but a set all the same.
Josie giggles. “Did you just smell me?”
“Yes. And I’ll do it again.”
When I bury my nose in her neck, Josie’s giggle turns into a laugh. “Maybe you should stop now that we can see the whites of their eyes. Why don’t you worry about tying up the boat?”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” I mutter, hiding my smile when Josie laughs again.
Unfortunately, she throws her head back this time, and for just a few seconds too long, takes her eyes off where she’s going.
“The dock!” I shout, just as Jib lets loose a stream of barks while Josie fights with the wheel.
Someone screams shrilly. I’d place bets on it being my mother. Actually, by the looks of it, both of our mothers screamed. They’re clutching each other, dressed completely differently, with Josie’s mom in Birkenstock sandals and mine in some kind of flats she probably bought at Saks. The two of them have become a littletooclose despite their differences in shoes.
Don’t get me wrong—I’ll take all the family harmony I can get. It’s just that Josie’s mom and my mom together...getideas. Like the smaller yellow sailboat tied up on the other side of the dock. They have yet to take the sailing excursion they keep talking about, which is probably why they’re both still alive.
“Whoops,” Josie mutters, correcting, then overcorrecting, then managing to straighten up and avoid plowing right into our dock. “I’ve got it!” she calls loudly, definitely more for the people waiting than for me.
There’s a cheer, and I want to roll my eyes because I’ve never had—nor wanted—anyone cheering for me when I didn’t crash into the dock. Then again, this is Josie’s first trip with her certification, where she was officially the captain and I was the first mate.
It also happened to be our honeymoon.
Or—the first one, anyway. The one Josie knows about.
While all the people waiting here for us were a surprise, I have my own surprise waiting for Josie. I know she meant it when she said this was where she wanted to spend our honeymoon, on the boat where we erased the lines we’d kept drawn between us for years. The place where we started to draw new ones and have built so many new memories.
But what I want is to have a honeymoon where we aren’t crammed into a small bed with an uncomfortable mattress. One where we don’t need to plot our daily course and watch out for shoals and weather or anything else.
I’m talking all-inclusive. Luxury. The kind of vacation I’ve never taken the time for and Josie’s never had the money for. We leave tomorrow, and the wink Toni gives me as we disembark tells me she’s got all of Josie’s things packed and ready to fly out to St. Thomas in the morning.
It takes five minutes to get off the dock through all the hugs and pats on the back, Jib running between everyone’s ankles and miraculously managing not to knock anyone into the water. She reunites with Jab, the only one of Jib’s litter still in the family. My mother fell in love with the runt, who looked just like Jib. And now dresses like her too. Mom and Josie shop online for their outfits together.
It’s oddly endearing.
Someone—or more likely, considering the way our moms are flitting around,someones—have decorated the house. White and pink balloons arch across the lofty living room alongside flowers and a three-tiered cake.
“We already had a wedding,” I grumble to Josie.
A bigger one than I wanted. Though we kept it private, our friends and family plus various teammates past and present ended up making it much larger than I hoped. The idea of saying our vows in front of so many people made me twitchy,but Josie being Josie, she surprised me the morning of our wedding by bringing the officiant to a private room in the church. Our actual, official wedding took place with just him and the two of us in that room.
Most people wouldn’t think it would matter. But Josie knows me, and she knew it would. To me.
Reciting our vows together, privately, took all the pressure off the ceremony with the audience. I was able to relax and actually enjoy. To look at the woman who was secretly already my wife.
Watching her across the room now, I wish I could chase everyone out with my hockey stick and have her alone again. But she’s laughing with Toni, Peter listening in with a big smile as Jacob tells a story. I’m not going to drag her away.
