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“I wanted to apologize for earlier,” he says. So that’s all this is.
“When I was forced to witness your full frontal?”
“That too, I guess.” He cringes. “But I meant to apologize about what I said in the hot tub. I was being insensitive and making assumptions about you. And I know those assumptions came in part from my past.”
“Let me guess. You normally get rejected by women who attract a lot of male attention, and therefore you’ve decided they’re all shallow, awful people who sleep around too much?”
Sebastian rolls onto his back beside me and shoves his hands into his hair, making his elbows butterfly up and out, blocking his face. I can’t see his expression.
“When you say it like that, I sound like an asshole.”
“So you’re not?”
“I don’t want to be. Honestly, I don’t have a great relationship history. You’re not wrong about that. But it’s not from getting rejected. I’m usually the one walking away.” He lowers his arms and wraps them over his belly before turning to look at me. I raise myself up on one elbow. He’s not helping his case at all.
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I say. I don’t care if he’s an asshole. That’s his business. “But please don’t put your baggage on me.” I flop onto my back again, making the net bounce. I can feel Sebastian rocking beside me, his weight solid and warm.
“Are you always this blunt?” he asks.
“Not usually.” I bite my lip, considering. “But we seem to have met in the middle of a pre-existing fight. I’m treating you accordingly.” Why do I want him closer, that solid warmth pressed against me?
Sebastian chuckles, and I have to stop myself from smiling along with him.
“That’s my fault,” he says. “That first day on board I was…” He trails off, his hands twisting over his stomach. “I was in a bad headspace.”
“But now?”
“It made me misjudge you, and for that, I’m sorry. You’re different than I thought.”
“I am?”
“You are.” This time, he rolls onto his side and looks down at me. Something stirs low in my belly. “You’re actually very generous. You seem to make the people around you laugh a lot. And maybe you take relationships more seriously than I expected.”
“Oh.” I’m too stunned to say more. I am drawn to reach up and run my knuckles over his stubble, to pinch his lower lip with my thumb, but I don’t.
“I tend to make up stories about people,” he says. “That’s normal for me. But also, I’m not usually so wrong.”
“Like those people over there?” I gesture at the couple across the net. I need him to look away, or I’m going to do something stupid. “What’s their story?”
“Honeymoon cruise,” he says. “Look how she’s got that white dress on. Low cut but not too low cut. And the way he’s holding her close, with that drunk-on-happiness sort of look.”
“That could mean anything.”
“Look, they both have wedding bands on.” Sebastian leans over me, peering at the glint of gold in the moonlight. I get a whiff of his musk, and something else on his skin, something minty. “And see? They’re super shiny, bright gold, even in the dark.”
I twist Anna’s gold band around my ring finger. By now it’s soft with age, and hasn’t been polished in a long time. Sebastian might be right.
“Shall we ask them?” I want him to be wrong.
“Come on, you want to interrupt that?” He gestures at the couple. They’re kissing now, a long, slow romantic interlude. The woman giggles into her husband’s mouth. “Tell you what. If we see them again in daylight, let’s ask. Drinks on me if I’m wrong.”
“All the drinks on board are free, Sebastian.”
“Fine then, a drink in port.”
“You seem awfully confident.” In more ways than one.
“I know I’m right. They’re in the early days. For now, everything is roses and rainbows. The other person is perfect, everything they could ever want. But eventually, someone will break the trust. Someone will discover secrets. And then it will all come crashing to an end.”
