Page 86 of If All Else Sails
He’s saving me from myself and my stupid mouth. And returning us to the plane of existence where we really shine: the one where we’re sniping at each other with our words. The pinch in my chest turns into warmth.
I scoff. “I didnotblackmail you! It was a bargain.”
“You say bargain. I say blackmail.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Thank you.”
“Wasn’t a compliment,” I say. “I’ll add that you’re stubborn and infuriating.”
“My, my,” Wanda says, and when I glance over at the other two people at the table I’d momentarily forgotten about, she’s fanning herself with a menu, a knowing smile on her face. “Barely friends, indeed.”
I’m saved by the arrival of the waitress, but I don’t miss Wyatt’s little smirk before he hides it behind his menu.
After we order, the conversation moves to safer topics: our respective travels, our final destinations, and our boats. I don’t try shoving my whole foot in my mouth again, but Wyatt and Ican’t go more than a few minutes without verbally sparring. We spend a good five minutes arguing about Jib’s wardrobe.
The funniest part? Wyatt’s argument wasn’t about the existence of a full wardrobe but thekindsof clothes I packed. I’m not even sure he realized this, but I’m very much looking forward to pointing it out at just the right time.
As the four of us walk to the marina together after dinner, Wanda and I hang back while Greg and Wyatt have a serious discussion about college basketball. I had no idea Wyatt liked sports other than hockey, much less had such strong opinions about them.
“Can I offer up a word of advice?” Wanda asks, and when I nod, she smiles and bumps me with her shoulder. “Better started than perfect. Better tried than unknown.”
She looks at me expectantly, then laughs at what I’m sure is a very blank expression. Her words sound like AI’s attempt to write a fortune cookie.
“I’m afraid you might need to be more basic,” I tell her. “Say it again, but like I’m five years old?”
She laughs, tucking an arm around me. Greg, hearing the sound, glances back, and she waves, but it’s more like she’s shooing him away. I try to imagine Wanda and Greg around my age. She said they met when they were both nineteen, got married just a week after they met, and have been together ever since. It’s kind of adorable.
I lean into her, smelling a soft lemon scent. I’m suddenly very homesick for my mom for the second time this summer. Turns out my parents have been in South Dakota, not South Carolina, and have had spotty reception.
We talked two weeks ago, and I filled them in on what Jacob did—Mom onlytsked—and then somehow didn’t tell them that I’d stayed on with Wyatt. I’m not sure why, though Istrongly suspect both of my parents would have been delighted by this news.
They’ve always loved Wyatt—even after the kitchen incident the first time Jacob brought him home. Without ever hearing the full story involving Grocery Store Girl, Mom and Dad thought the whole thing was an indication that Wyatt had a crush on me. They quickly stopped teasing me about it when I threatened to stop coming home, but telling my parents I’m sailing with Wyatt would have been like throwing fresh kindling and some gasoline on the embers of a fire. So I just...omitted that part of the story. Easy to do when they wanted to tell me about their trip. I was relieved when they drove into a dead zone and the phone cut out.
Right now, though, with Wanda’s arm around my shoulders, I wish for five minutes with my mom. I’d confess everything and maybe even ask for advice.
Wanda squeezes my shoulder. “What I mean is, it’s better to try now than to wait until the timing or circumstances feel exactly right. If you wait until things are perfect, you’ll be waiting your whole life. And if you never take the risk, you won’t ever know.”
“Do you mean with Wyatt?”
She laughs again. “Yes, I mean with Wyatt. There’s something brewing there.”
“Brewing like a storm, maybe,” I mutter, kicking at a warped board on the dock. I glance up at the man in question, who towers almost comically over Greg. Not for the first time, I consider how strange it isnotto be intimidated by a man Wyatt’s size.
But then...I’ve been touching him, getting sometimes comically close to him since the day I arrived in Kilmarnock. Not once do I remember feeling nervous or uncomfortable,the way I usually do around men. Especially big men. Most especially athletes.
I swallow, my head swimming a little as I consider this. And Wanda’s words. And Wyatt’s attempts to talk earlier.
Nope. Still not ready to think about this.
“Brewing like the verybestkind of storm,” Wanda says with a wink.
But I don’t believe her. It’s brewing like a hurricane, gaining strength off the coast, ready to wash away my safe little town.
Greg and Wyatt stop under a light by the dock to argue, moths circling the flickering bulb overhead. If we don’t get inside soon, the mosquitoes, who love me with a very unrequited love, will suck all the blood from my body.
“His coaching style is ruining the players,” Greg says loudly.
