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“Wow. You have an imagination.”
She shrugged. “I like to think about what other people’s lives are like.”
I wondered if she wanted a different one when she was growing up. If she felt stifled at the pizzeria as the youngest of so many siblings. “Did you want to be someone else?”
She laughed. “I love myself, and I’m happy with where I am.”
Maybe that’s why Gia was so attractive to me when other women weren’t. She was extraordinarily confident in herself and didn’t need a man to fulfill anything inside her. “Have you thought about creating your own life story outside your business? Like falling in love and starting a family.”
She shook her head. “I’m focused on the business.”
“Have you had any long-term relationships?”
She stiffened in my arms. “Just one in college. Looking back, it was only serious for me. He was just having fun.”
Was this the man who’d changed Gia’s outlook on life?
She elbowed me in the side. “What about you? Any girlfriends?”
“I dated a girl in college for a couple of years. I thought it could lead somewhere, but she wanted to move back home to Oregon. This will always be my home. I love the bay and crabbing. Oregon doesn’t have Old Bay.”
“You gave up a woman over Old Bay Seasoning?”
“It was more than that. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, and neither could she. It was a realization over time that we wouldn’t work out. But it was fine. We had fun in college.”
“I wish I could see things so easily. When our breakup happened, I was surprised. I thought we had something, and he didn’t see it that way at all.”
“You fell for him.”
“Yeah, I guess I did. At home, I felt looked over. As soon as the first boy paid attention to me, I was a goner.”
“I bet it was nice not having your brothers there to stop anything from happening.”
“That too. Although they protected me from heartbreak. I see that now. I couldn’t have gone through that in high school.”
“It was a learning experience.” Except I worried it might be a wound for her, the thing that was keeping her from opening up to me. I hated that for her and for me. We had so much potential, if she just had the courage to reach out and grab it.
“Thank you for bringing me. This is so much fun.”
I loved her like this. Relaxed and happy. Enjoying life. I intended to do many more outings, just like this. Maybe we could make boating a weekly thing. I wouldn’t mind having someone to share this with.
“Let’s head to the cove so we can swim and relax.”
“That sounds perfect.”
I showed her how to steer and let her do a little of the driving until it got trickier near the cove. It was a larger cove that accommodated my boat, but few people spent time here. That’s why I loved it so much. I dropped anchor, grabbed the food, and took it on deck.
We ate on the deck, the breeze rustling our hair. There were sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and crackers with water. It was the perfect day.
After we cleaned up lunch, I asked, “Want to rest in the hammock for a bit?”
We managed to both get in the hammock, my arm under her neck, as it swayed in the breeze. I’d put this hammock here for relaxation, but I rarely ever used it. We stared up at the mostly cloudless sky, content to be together.
We must have drifted off, waking up a short time later. “Are you ready to go swimming?”
“Yes,” she said as I helped her get out of the hammock without falling. We went to the back of the boat, and she pushed down her shorts, revealing red bottoms that curved high on her waist.
I wanted to strip the suit off her and taste her, but I promised her a day on the boat, and I wanted to give her the full experience.
