“Okay. Throttle’s here—push forward to go, pull back to slow down. Right now, we’re in idle. Give it a little push.”
She settled into the captain’s chair, and he took the one next to her, ready to jump in if there were any problems.
After a second of getting oriented, she pushed the throttle forward with caution, and the boat responded with a gentle surge. Emma grabbed the wheel tighter.
“That’s it. You’re driving.”
“Oh, wow!” She grinned as the breeze caught some tendrils of hair, whipping them over her lightly freckled features. “This is amazing! Way better than a car!”
“Keep it straight. Follow the channel markers—red on the right going out.”
She steered them through the harbor at a crawl, her eyes darting between the water ahead and the wheel in her hands. Other boats rocked in their slips as they passed, and a fisherman on a nearby dock raised a hand. Emma waved back with the enthusiasm of someone who had just been given the keys to the universe.
“Can I go a little faster?” she asked.
“A little. We’re still in the no-wake zone.”
She nudged the throttle and the bow lifted ever so slightly. A small squeal escaped her—joy, pure and uncomplicated—and Eli leaned back and let himself enjoy the ride.
He almost pulled out his phone to take a picture for Kate but didn’t want to make Emma self-conscious.
She looked so young. So unbroken. He longed for Kate to see her daughter like this, with the wind in her hair and the shame temporarily blown off her shoulders.
After a few minutes, he guided her off the throttle and let the boat drift toward the center of the harbor, where the water was calm and they were far enough from the docks to feel alone. The engine idled to a low hum. The boat rocked gently. To the west, the sky was starting to shift toward the early colors of sunset—pale gold bleeding into the blue.
“This is so peaceful,” Emma said, her hands still on the wheel, even though they weren’t really going anywhere.
“It is.” He sat down on the bench on the bow, facing her. “One of my favorite places to think.”
She was quiet for a moment. Then, without looking at him, she said, “So. I know you know…that I know you know.” She added a self-conscious grin. “We all know.”
He smiled. “Yeah. And nothing your mom told me changed how I think about you. Not one bit.”
Emma’s jaw tightened. “That’s nice of you to say.”
“It’s not nice. It’s true.”
She let go of the wheel and pulled her knees up, hugging them. “I feel like…it’s all anyone’s going to see when they look at me. Like I’ll always be the girl who sent that picture. Which is ridiculous when you think about what they see on Instagram and such. I mean, it wasn’t…you know. Full frontal or anything.”
She flushed and he looked away, letting her embarrassment and blush fade.
“Can I tell you something?” he finally asked. “From the perspective of a man who’s been alive a lot longer than you?”
“You’re not that old.”
He laughed. “Please. Fifty-three. Ancient by your standards. But here’s what I know, Emma. You are not defined by the worst thing you’ve ever done. Nobody is. The people who try to reduce you to one mistake? They don’t get to decide who you are.”
“They kind of do, though. When you’re about to be a senior in high school and every single person has seen me make a fool of myself? Yeah. I mean, what did I expect that worm to do? Delete and ask for a date?” She snorted. “Trust me, he did neither.”
Worm was right. Serpent, more like.
“I hear you,” Eli said. “At seventeen, your world is your school and your friends and what people think of you. That’s enormous. I remember.”
“You remember being seventeen?”
“Vividly. I was an idiot at seventeen.” He thought about lovesick Eli pining after Tessa. Such an idiot. “Most of us were.”
A small smile flickered across her face, then faded. “My dad didn’t think I was just an idiot. He thought I was…” She trailed off.