My stomach lurched, and Finn hastily removed his hands, quickly busying himself with cleaning the grill while I awkwardly cleared my throat and pulled my ponytail behind my shoulder again, as if it could hide the tattoo I’d nearly forgotten was there. Needing to move, I pretended like there was still packing up to do, opening and closing coolers like an idiot.
When neither of us had anything left to fake it with, Finn sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I know it’s not my job to do it, but… I want to apologize for Gisella. Safe to assume she hasn’t been the saving grace you expected when Leah went down.”
I was surprised by his acknowledgement of the situation, my eyebrows creeping up into my hairline as I folded my arms over my chest, eyes on the guests in the water. I was also relieved that we were moving on from the tattoo, that my body was cooling a bit now that his hands were no longer on my shoulders.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Hopefully Leah will be good as new in the morning. I will admit… I was hoping for the version ofGisella that we had the first charter. Not sure what happened in between.”
He glanced at me, his expression unreadable. “She… doesn’t really take anything too seriously.”
“I’ve noticed.”
We shared a smile, the tension from before floating away on the soft breeze. I relaxed a little, enough so that I finally asked what I’d been wondering since that first crew meeting.
“How long have you been with her?”
Finn’s throat bobbed. “It’s pretty new. Just a few months.”
Even though I’d asked, the answer didn’t bring me any sort of relief. I stared out at the horizon, letting the sound of the waves fill the space between us, wondering how serious a few months could really be.
Then I remembered we’d only been together four months, and my stomach pitched more.
“So… why is she here? If she doesn’t take this seriously, I’m assuming that means she doesn’t really care to advance. What’s her end goal?”
Finn shrugged. “She loves to travel. The money’s good. She thought being on a show would be fun.”
“So she doesn’t really have any ambition?”
Finn’s expression flickered, his shoulders tensing slightly. “I didn’t say that.”
“No, sorry,” I backtracked, suddenly feeling like I’d stepped on a nerve. “I just… you have so much desire, so many dreams. I guess I’m a little surprised you’d be with someone who…”
Finn was watching me closely as the words died on my tongue, his jaw tightening.
“But I guess that’s kind of nice,” I added quickly, forcing a lightness into my voice. “Because I’m sure she supports your dreams. And if she’s not tied down, that means she can follow you wherever you want to go.”
The last words were quieter, the bitter truth of them like an ice pick to my chest.
She would follow him.
Like I didn’t.
A muscle in Finn’s jaw ticced. He was silent for a long moment before he blew out a slow breath. “Actually… Gisella helped me see that the restaurant was a mistake.”
My head snapped toward him, brows furrowing. “What?”
Finn didn’t meet my gaze.
I scoffed, shaking my head. “Please tell me that’s a joke…”
He still wouldn’t look at me, his body tight from the muscle straining his neck all the way down to where his feet were planted in the sand.
“Look, I don’t know what happened, but that restaurant wasn’t a mistake, Finn. It was your dream. I mean, it meant so much to you that you walked away from yachting.”
It meant so much that you walked away fromme.
He finally looked at me then, his expression dark, something simmering beneath the surface. “You’re right. You don’t know what happened.”
The accusation in his voice turned me to stone.