Page 26 of See You Next Tuesday

Oh, god, Anya thought. Now my humiliation is complete.

“Not at all.” Anya gathered herself, sitting up as straight as she could while wearing an absurdly long life jacket (the only one that had been big enough to fit over her chest—and not completely). “All I mean is, I may have judged you a little. And I’m sorry if I didn’t give you a fair shake.”

“Okay.” Gabe nodded slowly, looking at her. “So do we, like, forgive each other? I mean, you didn’t really need to apologize to me, but—”

“I forgive you, Gabe,” she said, and she saw his whole posture relax.

“Yeah?” He smiled.

“Yeah.” She smiled too.

“Um, excuse me?” Jill called out from her kayak twenty feet away. “Are we going to see any bioluminescence on the bioluminescent bay?”

“The full moon is actually the worst night to be out here,” their guide responded. “The lighter it is, the harder it is to see.”

“So why did we come?!” Jill shouted, sounding on the brink of losing it.

“Because you had a reservation!” The guide looked really happy he had the right answer—and that’s when the air pressure dropped and clouds started rolling in.

“Oh god,” Simone called. “Is it gonna rain? Should we go back?”

“No, this is what we wanted!” the guide said. “Don’t worry, it’s not a lightning storm.”

But there was considerable chatter among the group, as the guide hadn’t inspired a great deal of confidence so far.

“What do you think?” Gabe asked Anya. “Should we risk death?”

“I’m game if you are.” She felt lightheaded—she wasn’t sure if it was all the wine with dinner, or the relief of finally getting everything out in the open with Gabe, but suddenly everything felt silly and easy.

And then she felt the first raindrop.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Here it is! Oh! Oh.”

As the sky got darker, the surface of the water began to glow. And every time a raindrop hit the surface, it sparkled like a little diamond.

“Gabe,” Anya breathed.

“I know!” he exclaimed, looking like a kid again—a happy one this time. The sky opened up, and the rain started to pour heavily all over them, soaking Anya to the skin, but she didn’t care, because the bay was exploding with a thousand sparks of light. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Anya said, and Gabe nodded. “Would it be weird if I said a prayer right now?”

Gabe looked at her with a sort of wonder. “I didn’t know you were religious.”

“I’m not, really.” She spoke loudly to be heard over the rain. “It’s this thing my mom taught me, this Hebrew prayer we always say when we do something new, or we’re feeling grateful. It’s called the shehechyanu.”

“Is that what you sang before?” Gabe asked.

“When?” Anya scrunched up her nose, trying to remember.

“The other day.” Gabe leaned forward. His hair was soaked, strands of it stuck to his forehead. She fought an urge to reach out and push them back. “You were swimming in the pool, and then you stopped and sang something?”

She suddenly felt self-conscious. “I didn’t know you could hear me.”

“Yeah.” He gazed at her, and her whole body tingled. “You should definitely sing it. It was beautiful.”

Anya’s heart was thumping, and her voice was low and shaky as she sang the words she knew so well, acutely aware that Gabe’s eyes were on her the whole time.

“What does it mean?” he asked when she was finished.