Amy cuts in, her voice soft. “I think what Charles is trying to say”—she gives her a pointed look—“is that you are incredible and so worthy of love that lifts you up, not tears you down.”
“Yep. That’s what I was saying,” Charlie says, which pulls a soft giggle from me. “We want you to be happy and cherished, and it’snothappening with the tech bros and finance guys.”
“You need a nerdy man,” Vivian chimes in. “An oddball who worships the ground you walk on.”
“Nerdy men are the best,” Charlie declares, dramatic and loud. “If he’s obsessed with microbes, scoop him up and never let him go.”
Mateo appears in her frame, a wide, goofy grin on his face. His brown hair is a tad too long and falls in front of his eyes. Wrapping his arms around Charlie’s shoulders, he places a kiss on the crown of her head. She smiles up at him, the love between them almost nauseating, if only because they have what every person longs for—the precise thing I’ve been searching for on all these first dates.
What they found may be hidden treasure—one I don’t have the map to find.
“I have to agree with mi bruja,” he says. “Wenerdy menare quite the catch.”
“If you know of any, send them my way,” I joke.
The last thing I need is them trying to play matchmaker for me. It would only create awkwardness when whoever they set me up with realizes I’m difficult to date.
“I’ll keep an eye out.” Mateo focuses on Charlie. “Dinner will be ready in ten.”
“Oh,hellyes,” Amy cheers, her voice echoing through Charlie’s sound. “What did you make?”
“Spicy ramen,” he says, and Amy frowns. “Don’t worry, I made a separate version without the spice so it won’t upset your stomach.”
“Gracias, Mateo,” she says as he disappears from view. “He estado practicando.”
“Tu pronunciación es mejor,” I tell her.
Pride swirls in her gaze. Amy asked me for Spanish lessons, and I was shocked she chose me to teach her instead of Mateo. That is, until I learned her intent is to surprise shit talk with him when he least expects it. She calls me once a week for lessons, and my mother joins in on occasion to teach her all the swear words and slang.
She continues to say “estoy embarazada” every time she pronounces something incorrectly. Instead of saying she’s embarrassed, she’s declaring she’s pregnant.
We’re working on it.
“When are you pitching your ideas to Jett?” Vivian asks, steering us back on course.
I’ve spent the better half of the week researching Australia and its biodiversity to find where the organisms he listed are located so I could build the best possible itinerary.
“Tomorrow,” I say, nerves churning in my stomach.
There’s no way to anticipate his response to my ideas, but I’ve done my best to make the presentation engaging without overwhelming him with heavy or hard-to-read text. It required research, but I found fonts identified as the easiest for thosewith dyslexia to read. I want to add a few fun animations before tomorrow, but the plan is there.
It’s also detailed out in a spreadsheet. Though that’s guaranteed to overwhelm him, so we’re going to start with the presentation and then move to the spreadsheets if he’s interested.
“A few weeks isn’t enough time to travel the whole country,” I admit, “but we can hit most of the East Coast, which covers a range of ecosystems and endemic species.”
“Oh, Neptune, you sound like a real-life scientist,” Charlie squeals. “Did you know the grey nurse shark has intrauterine cannibalism, where the first embryo to develop teeth inside each of the two uteri will eat their younger siblings?”
“Uh…I did not.”
“Well, now you do.”
An uncomfortable silence settles over the call as we all sit with the information she shared, broken only when Mateo calls out, “Read the room, bruja.”
“All I’m saying is there’s some cool shit happening on that continent.” She shrugs. “Oh, we might find a mantis shrimp.”
Latching on to the topic, she chatters about the shrimp’s punch strength until Mateo calls out for her and Amy to eat. The screen flickers as they disappear, and then it’s Vivian and me. I refuse to start the conversation I know is inevitable.
While we worked on the vessel, Vivian heard the majority of my complaints. I would vent in our cabin after a long day of putting out tiny fires, and occasionally, I’d tell her some of the odd things Jett said that felt like unintentional flirting.
