Other than that, there’s just a tiny bathroom—the head, as Nico keeps reminding me—at the other end of the boat, some storage cabinets, and that’s it.
In addition to “decorating” with my books and photos, I’d made a curtain for the window in the little cabin, and bought a cheerful pineapple rug for the kitchen. Still, there’s no escaping the fact that it’s cramped.
Brittany and Amma don’t seem to mind, though. As we eat our dinner—the first of dozens of meals of rice and beans ahead of us—they say over and over again how cute everything is, with Brittany taking photos of the space from every angle.
“How long have you had this boat?” she asks now, taking a sip of bottled water.
Nico is sitting across from her, next to me, and puts his elbows on the table as he looks around. “Bought her a couple of years ago. Been fixing her up ever since.”
“Why the Susannah?” Amma asks. She only ate about half of her dinner before pushing it away.
Nico shrugs. “The boat had a stupid name when I bought it. Zephyr Breeze. And, like, a zephyr is a breeze, so what the fuck? Anyway, I was dating this girl named Susannah, so…”
I already know this story, but every time I hear it, my chest tightens uncomfortably. It’s something about the way he just waves her off despite naming a whole fucking boat after her. And it makes me wonder if someday, some other girl will look at that L on Nico’s arm, and he’ll give that same shrug and say, “It was for this girl I was dating, Lux, it wasn’t a big thing,” and that’ll be it.
“I thought it was bad luck to rename a boat,” Amma says. She leans back in the booth, pulling one foot up onto the cushion and wrapping her arms around her knee. “Might be tempting fate.”
She’s smiling a little, teasing, but I’d never heard that before, and I glance over at Nico.
“Some people say that,” he replies with a nod. “But I don’t know. Never been much for that superstitious shit.”
He smiles suddenly, bumping me with his shoulder. “Anyway, the person you should be asking is Lux. The Susannah is her boat, after all.”
I roll my eyes even as Brittany sits forward. “Wait, seriously?”
“No,” I say. “Well, technically. On paper.”
A couple of months ago, I came home to find Nico had a bunch of paperwork for me to sign, transferring the boat into my name. Apparently Nico’s dad had called, and they’d had some big talk about taxes or something. Honestly, I didn’t really understand much of it, and Nico kept insisting it wasn’t a big deal, that it would make things “easier” on us financially if the boat were in my name. So that’s how I technically became the legal owner of the Susannah.
Not that it meant much—it was still very much Nico’s boat.
Leaning forward, Brittany props her chin in her hand. “Okay, so now we know about the boat, but what I really want to know about is you two.” She gestures between us. “Tell me everything. How you met, was it love at first sight, all the really personal, dreamy shit.”
I laugh at that, and Nico grins, throwing an arm around my shoulders and pulling me in closer. “Oh, totally love at first sight. For me at least.”
I roll my eyes even as I smile. “He’s lying. We met while I was working at this restaurant with the ugliest uniforms you have ever seen. No man has ever fallen instantly in love with a woman in khaki shorts.”
“I did,” Nico insists. “I went back every night for two weeks just to see you in those khaki shorts.”
“Of course, my coworkers and I felt sorry for him because as you can see, he’s super homely,” I add, making Brittany and Amma laugh, as Nico jokingly jostles me.
“Anyway,” Nico goes on, “I finally sacked up and asked about her, and she came to my table, and that was that.”
“We’ve pretty much been together ever since,” I say, smiling at the memory of that first night, remembering the thrill I’d felt when Nico slipped his hand in mine, that sense that, finally, I was anchored to something. To someone.
Brittany is still smiling at us, her eyes bright. “I love everything about this,” she says. “Meant to be.”
I lean my head on Nico’s shoulder, feeling the familiar, solid warmth of him.
Meant to be.
I wasn’t sure if I completely believed in that kind of thing. Fate, destiny. I think Nico walked into my life at the right time, and I think he liked that I needed rescuing, that he could offer me something I wanted so much. Not just another person to share my life with, but adventure, new experiences.