Page 61 of Share with Me

“Jekyll over there looks peaceful.” Brinley put on her sunglasses.

Facing the wind, it swept her hair back. Ivan saw little baby hair at the edge of her forehead. And a tiny little brown spot—a mole or a birthmark—on her right earlobe. She had no earring holes in her ears. In fact, she wasn’t wearing any necklaces that he could see. All she had on was a watch and a small cross-body purse.

“SISO will be playing there New Year’s Eve. I hear most of the board members will be there together with some guests from ASO.”

“ASO?” Brinley raised an eyebrow. “Scouting for talented musicians?”

“One never knows.” Ivan glanced at his old watch, its surface scratched and the leather straps falling apart. Matt’s thrift shop probably had some straps he could swap these out with. It was almost one o’clock.

There was commotion all around them. Words in Korean filled the air. He knew it was Korean, but he couldn’t understand it in spite of it being Grandma Yun’s mother tongue. He looked to see if he could tell what was going on. Tourists and locals were pointing toward the Sound and cameras were clicking.

“Look, Brin!”

They both looked in the same direction as everyone else on the pier. There between Jekyll and the pier, a pod of whales breached the surface tension of the water. They screeched and dropped back into the water on their swim south.

“Oh wow. All the way from Greenland.” Brinley dug for her iPhone and tried to snap a picture as another North Atlantic Right Whale breached the waterway.

“And Canada.” Ivan was so excited he didn’t realized his left arm had gone over Brinley’s shoulders and was sitting there around her neck. Apparently, Brinley didn’t either as she kept taking photos.

Then she snapped a close-up photograph of Ivan’s face.

He hadn’t expected that. “What was that for?”

“A moment with the whales.”

“And with you.”

Brinley snapped one more time. “I’ll email it to Zoe and your brother can look at it.”

The whales moved on, but the moment remained.

Ivan wanted to retract his arm, but it wasn’t cooperating. Brinley didn’t seem to mind or notice. Either that or she had quickly become so comfortable with him that she had expected it.

Expectations?

This can’t happen.

They were of different faiths. Ivan was a Christian and Brinley wasn’t, as far as he knew.

Grandma Yun had mentioned briefly that Brinley had been asking about heaven.

Good.

That meant she didn’t know much about it.

Not so good.

This trajectory he was on could only end badly because he couldn’t give her what a non-Christian might expect out of a relationship.

Relationship? What relationship?

We’re just keeping each other company.

Sure. And they had bought twin coffee mugs. His and hers.

But we’re accidental chaperones and chauffeurs for our elderly relatives.

Sure. And they had planned on eating lunch. Together.

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